MG3 ON THE ROAD

 Review & Photos by Rob McSorley

What Is It?

The MG3 is a five door supermini aimed squarely at rivals such as the Ford Fiesta, VW Polo and Renault Clio. Importantly it’s the first all-new MG model (the larger MG6 combines new and old engineering) to be launched by the newly regrouped MG MOTOR UK, with the majority of the development work taking place on British soil.

First impressions of the styling are positive with an upright stance but some nice detailing. At the front neat upturned LED running lights and a racy lower valance and blackened headlights add a healthy dose of character as does the black rear diffuser with square tailpipe. We also really like the Fabia-esque floating roof with blacked out a-pillar and bulging arches with stylish black alloys. 

Currently the MG3 is only available with five doors and a petrol engine mated to a five speed manual gearbox but this could change further down the line if the new car is a success. Value-for-money is its trump card as the range kick off at just £8,399. Standard equipment is far from sparse. 

Peugeot's New 108 Comes With Added Sophistication

How do you make a small car look premium?

That was the challenge facing Ivo Groen, project design director at Peugeot Design, and his team as they collaborated with Citroen and Toyota to develop the 108/C1/Aygo replacement.

Volvo Sales On The Up

Despite the run out of a number of models, Volvo's order book is growing significantly thanks to a change in the way the company talks to its customers in the UK.

Sales director Jon Wakefield said that the order take for the first month of this year is already running 58 per cent ahead of January last year and comes off the back of 3 per cent growth in 2013.

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About The Prize

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Morgan Freeman

It has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive. Assuming the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent, the Dark Knight sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good. For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act. But everything will change with the arrival of a cunning cat burglar with a mysterious agenda. Far more dangerous, however, is the emergence of Bane, a masked terrorist whose ruthless plans for Gotham drive Bruce out of his self-imposed exile. But even if he dons the cape and cowl again, Batman may be no match for Bane.. -- (C) Warner Bros.

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Terms and Conditions. One entry per person. All entrants must be 12 years or older. This competition closes on 20/02/2014. The winner will be announced on 21/02/2014.

Greater European Input For Future Hondas

Honda's new European developed and UK-built Civic Tourer, on sale from mid-February, is expected to herald a new era of greater European input into Honda's vehicles, including the next generation Civic, due in 2017.

DriverVIBE on YouTube

With the popularity of YouTube soaring we thought we would give this video review malarkey a go for ourselves. 

Check out the results below but rest assured Rebecca (@RebeccaRacer) and Mat (@mat_watson) your jobs are safe...!

 All photographs and text are the exclusive property of Rob McSorley (except where stated otherwise). They are made available for your personal viewing enjoyment only. No images are within the Public Domain. The photographs may not be copied, reproduced, redistributed, manipulated, projected, used or altered in any way without the prior permission of Rob McSorley (info@DriverVIBE.co.uk).

5 More Cars You Probably Didn't Know Existed

Words by Rob McSorley

In July 2013 we published a post featuring 5 Cars You Probably Didn't Know Existed and now we have another five from all over the globe.

Honda Insight ON THE ROAD

Review & Photos by Rob McSorley

What Is It?

The Insight is Honda’s rival to the hugely popular Prius. It’s a compact family hatchback that has been designed to offer spacious accommodation and ultra-low running costs. Taking its name from the first ever Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) hybrid which originally launched in 1999 the current Insight has been priced competitively against Toyota’s Prius.

Visually the Insight could easily be mistaken for Prius but that shouldn’t be much of a surprise as both have been designed to slip through the air with minimal drag which is most evident when looking at the shallow angle to the rear window. Despite its advancing years the Insight still looks fresh with similar styling up front to the Civic and modern rear lights both of which were revised at the beginning of 2012.

Under the bonnet there's a 1.3-litre 87 bhp petrol engine with a 14 bhp electric motor sat by its side. Power is fed to the wheels via a CVT (continuously variable transmission) for optimum efficiency. With a high-power, nickel-metal hydride battery pack under the boot floor feeding power to the motor the Insight can charge its itself whilst coasting or braking.

Volkswagen Confirm Large SUV For Production

The biggest news from Volkswagen at Detroit concerned a car that isn't there.

The CrossBlue concept, a large SUV which VW North America regards as vital if it is to hit its 2018 target of 800,000 sales a year, has been confirmed for production.

The CrossBlue was unveiled at the same venue 12 months ago, and VW's American sales people could barely contain their excitement at the possibility of adding it to their line-up. It is a car which would primarily be for the US market, although China and Russia are two other countries which could be interested.

It is still to be decided where the production version will be made, but it will be in one of VW's North American plants - Chattanooga, Tennessee or Puebla, Mexico. Unlike Chattanooga, Puebla is already equipped to use the platform which will underpin it, but the plant is currently working to capacity.

VW sold only 476,000 cars in the US last year, hampered mainly by an ageing Jetta and Passat and the absence of the latest Golf. The new Golf arrives this year but is a relatively small volume car in the US. The CrossBlue, a seven-seat family SUV larger than the Touareg, would make a major contribution towards VW hitting its 800,000 sales target.

The new cars on display at Detroit include a Passat BlueMotion powered not by a diesel engine but by a variant of the 1.4 TFSI unit, and the Beetle Dune concept, a raised and more rugged version of the latest VW Bug. VW says it is production-ready, but its prospects will depend on whether it could pay for itself.

All photographs and text are the exclusive property of Rob McSorley (except where stated otherwise). They are made available for your personal viewing enjoyment only. No images are within the Public Domain. The photographs may not be copied, reproduced, redistributed, manipulated, projected, used or altered in any way without the prior permission of Rob McSorley (info@DriverVIBE.com).

Volvo XC Coupe Shows Face Of The Brand

Volvo is showing the face of the 2015 XC90 on its XC Coupe concept at Detroit.

The lights, grille and front-end styling are what will be seen on the large SUV replacement, while the rear lights are also close to those that will appear on the XC90.

The XC Coupe is the second of three concept cars Volvo has developed to illustrate the flexibility of its new product architecture, which will underpin an entire range of 60, 70, 80 and 90 series models. It follows the Concept Coupe unveiled at Frankfurt last September. The last of the trio will appear at Geneva in a couple of months.

Although none of them is planned for production, Volvo says they are important in getting people used to how its design language will change with the new XC90, and the versatility of its new SPA (Scaleable Product Architecture) platform.

There will also be a set of advanced safety features, including the world's first animal detection and crash prevention system. As he introduced the car at Detroit, Thomas Ingenlath, Senior Vice President Design at Volvo Cars, highlighted Volvo's key focus on saftey: "Enjoying a car with great power and capabilities, at the same time as you are safe and protected, gives a great feeling of joy and freedom".

The current XC90 has been around for 13 years, but will go out of production this summer and the new model goes into production next year.

Along with the new architecture, Volvo is developing a new family of powertrains which will make it independent of former owner Ford within four years. They will include a development of the company's current diesel plug-in hybrid drive system.

All photographs and text are the exclusive property of Rob McSorley (except where stated otherwise). They are made available for your personal viewing enjoyment only. No images are within the Public Domain. The photographs may not be copied, reproduced, redistributed, manipulated, projected, used or altered in any way without the prior permission of Rob McSorley (info@DriverVIBE.com).