_One of Volkswagen’s star cars at the recent Tokyo Motor Show was the 2012 Passat Alltrack.  More than an all-wheel-drive Passat Estate, this, it says, has real off-road ability.  Open to order in April, it arrives in July.  At its heart is the Haldex 4x4 system – now much more sophisticated than a part-time 4x4 device.

The motor vehicle’s classic drivetrain evolved before the First World War.  A front-mounted engine “face forward” (radiator ahead) and drive out of the back to a gearbox which transmitted power by way of a propeller shaft to the rear axle.

The first successful four-wheel drive light utility vehicle was the US Army’s World War II Willys Jeep.  The conventional 4x4 system uses a transfer box through which drive is diverted and distributed to all four wheels.  It remains the set-up for serious on/off road dual purpose vehicles including SUVs and luxury off-roaders.

In 1982 Audi invented the Quattro 4x4 system.  A hollow shaft running through the transmission did away with the transfer case and auxiliary axle for drive to the front wheels – to the benefit of cost, weight and efficiency. A bevel gear distributed power equally front and rear (later variably) but no low ratio gear set.

Electronics paved the way for the Haldex system.  Front wheel drive with the engine placed transversely across the axle had become the mainstream motor car layout.  Space was gained elsewhere but, under the bonnet, it was tight.  The Haldex solution was to run a prop shaft from the engine but locate the multi-plate clutch for the auxiliary drive at the end of it integrated with the rear axle.

An electric pump supplies oil to this unit and a rise in the oil pressure forces the clutch plates together.  The more this happens the more drive is directed to the rear wheels – continuously variable but can be 100% RWD if needs be.  It is part-time (“on-demand”) 4WD – there might be a trickle of torque to the rear axle (say 10% sometimes) but until the process begins the car’s “default mode” is FWD.Best of both worlds is the idea – economy and lower emissions of 4x2 in normal conditions but 4x4 there when you need it.  The current iteration is Haldex IV but a Haldex V unit, lighter and yet more pro-active has been exhibited.  It already senses signs of slip or abnormality (steering, yaw angle, etc.) fairly early on and brings in the rear axle to try to counter a slide or loss of traction pretty promptly.

Additional rear drive is there for fast acceleration or lane changing and cornering even in dry conditions.  It’s useful for powerful front drive cars not just for traction (when the front axle would struggle to cope with all the torque) but also steering and handling generally.  No low ratio of course but it’s quite an asset off-road.

The Haldex unit is used by a raft of major manufacturers and has become the ‘generic’ term for this kind of 4x4.  Haldex AB of Sweden sold its Four Wheel Drive Transmission division to USA’s Borg Warner at the end of last year.  A major player in this area it now covers almost every type of 4x4 configuration.

Most compact SUVs are, basically, ‘jacked-up’ front-drive hatches. The Haldex device allows some 4x4 credibility at (relatively) little cost.  Electronic input can enhance off-road capability and Land Rover does this for its Freelander and Range Rover Evoque line-up.  So does VW/Audi with the Tiguan/Q3.

With saloons and estates, Volvo, Vauxhall and Skoda recently expanded the range of Haldex 4x4 variants beyond top-performning V60 T6, Insignia VXR and Superb V6 to a broader range of Diesel models.  Volkswagen UK offered it on the V6 Passat VI – but not with the current Passat VII from 2010.

Elsewhere 4x4 versions of the Passat 2.0 TDI 140 & 170 are available.  VW calls its Haldex cars “4MOTION” and a Passat 4MOTION here has been mulled over for some time.  Now, inspired no doubt by Audi’s Allroad quattro 4x4 and Skoda’s Scout variants, it’s decided to go for a more bespoke Estate-SUV crossover.

Length and width stay the same but the Alltrack is raised a useful 30mm. This should reduce the risk of grounding and new front and rear ‘bumpers’ aid approach and departure angles.  More to the point is the “Off-Road Driving Programme” which (up to 18mph) adapts the ABS braking, electrionic differential, torque and hill descent controls to the terrain.

If Skoda’s application of this (Yeti/Octavia) is any indication, it should be good.  Volkswagen UK have (thankfully) spared us any fake 4x2 FWD variants and the two models offered are both Diesel engined: 2.0 TDI 140 or 170.  The former mated to a 6 speed manual gearbox, the latter hitched to VW’s DSG Dual-Clutch Automatic (also 6 speed).  Prices will be announced closer to the on-sale date but the cheaper 140 with manual gearbox stands out as the clear car of choice.

By Huw Thomas
First published in Welsh Farmer, the newspaper for the National Farmers union of Wales
_

_"Increasing the speed limit on motorways from 70 to 80 miles per hour for cars, light vans and motorcycles could provide hundreds of millions of pounds of benefits for the economy," so said then Transport Secretary Philip Hammond on the plan to increase the national speed limit.

In saying so, he is either being naive or disingenuous, although to be fair, selling the plan at a Tory Party conference as 'greater harmonisation with our European neighbours' would have been rather more difficult.

Polls show that many of us admit to breaking the speed limit on the motorway, and regard 80mph as a 'safe' and comfortable speed in the UK. Some other European countries have their speed limits set at around that limit.

_Vehicles are almost immeasurably safer now than they were when the current motorway speed limit was imposed more than 40 years ago. Safety campaigners say our record as having the lowest death and casualty rate on the roads will be put in jepoardy, and any higher casualty rate as a result can't be justified.

There is also concern over what people will regard as a comfortable maximum should the speed limit be set at 80mph. Will we see more people travelling at 90mph given that prosecution is rare from breaking the current limit by 10mph?

And now that driving bans are imposed when the speed limit is exceeded by 30mph, will drivers have to be caught exceeding 110mph before they lose their licences?

Whatever people say about vehicle safety, it might be true that an accident at 70mph would not be much less harsh than one at 80mph, there would be less time to react at 80mph so the chances are casualties would increase.

The argument that raising the speed limit will boost the economy is bogus. If we could merely increase the rate of economic recovery by the speed we travel on the roads, then why limit us to a mere 80mph? Surely 100mph would be better.

And what of all those motorways that are slow and congested at peak times? How many times have you driven past a motorway message board showing a 40mph maximum when your average speed is no where near that?

Many van fleets - along with heavy trucks surely the blood in the arteries of our road network that keep the country going - who take their responsibilities seriously already limit their vehicles well below the 70mph limit. There will be no benefit here from reduced travel time.

And those HGVs are limited to 56mph and have strict rules regarding the length of time spend on the road each day.

But older vans run my smaller organisations with perhaps less professionalism are more likely to be the ones without ABS and electronic stability control.

Some argue that it will make little difference other than decriminalise a proportion of the population who are otherwise law abiding. But if these people aren't prosecuted now for travelling at 80mph, where is the benefit in spending taxpayers' money conducting an expensive consultation and then potentially having to spend more on new speed limit signs.

And finally we come to the other 'economy' - fuel economy. Fuel consumption higher at 80mph than at 70, although estimates vary on how much higher. But it would appear that while many people complain about the cost of fuel, they would welcome measure that would see its consumption and cost increase by as much as 20%.

Perhaps the real economic benefit is in higher fuel duty and VAT receipts from increased fuel consumption.

Far from boosting the our struggling economy, the proposal to raise the motorway speed limit to 80mph is merely dabbling around the fringes of feel-good politics during austere times.

By Simon Harris
First published in Fleet News.

Mitsubishi’s L200 has reigned supreme over the Pick-Up pack here for a long time.  Paying scant regard to the sensibilities of suburbia’s ‘Green Gospellers’ and ‘Khmer Vert’ militants, it set the pace in taking the working 4x4 light truck into (higher margin) retail and “lifestyle” territory.

Warrior and Animal initially, Warrior and Barbarian now, these take 80% of sales over the (increasingly differentiated) more workaday ‘4Work’ & ‘4Life’ models.  Current series L200 dates from 1996 but the “go-for-it” styled version arrived in 2006 with a “re-fresh”, some useful revisions and up-grades last year.

So, what is going on?  Pick-Ups are classed as Light Commercial Vehicles, but since retail (private or similar) sales are such a feature now, how do they stack up against the car market?  Contrary to “popular belief” UK car registrations peaked in 2004 at 2.579m units – well before the 2008-2009 “crash”.

The 2009 total was 1.994m with a slight recovery to 2.031m in 2010.  Half year figures for 2011 are 1.030m but the SMMT predicts a final year total of 1.93m - slightly worse than 2009 but incentive schemes came to an end last year.

Year to date, Pick-Up sales are up 38.4% (to 15,585 from 2010’s 11,264) – the general LCV trend has been fairly positive (post-downturn, van registrations climbed back steadily for 17 months but dipped in July).

Historically, pick-ups peaked in 2006 at 40,103 but by 2009 they were down to 18.870 with a slight rally in 2010 to 19,508.  First half results for 2011 were 14,196 with July taking the figure to 15,585 so that 38.4% seems sustainable.  High point for Mitsubishi was 2003 when it took 45.5% of the sector.  Leading still with 23.9% for 2009, it stayed at No.1 for 2010 with 6,418 registrations.

However, by the end of April this year, Nissan’s Navara had nudged ahead with Toyota HiLux, Isuzu Rodeo and Ford Ranger at 3, 4 and 5.  But  SMMT figures for the first half of this year show that Mitsubishi got back on top with 8,036 units, Nissan 2nd (7,896), Toyota 3rd (6,632), Isuzu 4th (2,724) and Ford 5th (2,630).

Isuzu’s sales growth has outperformed the market quite impressively this year and it does well to compete so strongly in the ‘premier league’.  Importer and distributor International Motors is a private company but the franchise here is a 100% pick-up outfit and a “full time focus” on this sector seems to be paying off.

Main sellers are Rodeo Denver/Denver Max and 2.5 Turbo Diesel.  Single (4x2 only) and Double cab models are on offer as is the larger 3.0 litre TD engine which has been a long-term favourite for those who want power and torque.

Latest variant, Denver Max Plus adds much of the kit found on the top of the range Denver Max LE but without the body-coloured hard top and locking tail-gate for the load bay, for example.  A new model joins the range next year.

And new models can’t come too soon for many here as anxious marketing eyes are turned towards Volkswagen’s first serious foray into this part of the market. (The VW Taro, an adopted Toyota made little impact some years ago.)

“Car-like comfort and refinement” is a much-overworked phrase here.  But VW’s new Amarok gets very close.  There are two 4x4 variants: ‘4MOTION Selectable’ - 4x2 rear wheel drive on-road with 4x4 or low-ratio 4x4 for off-road work and ‘4MOTION Permanent’ all-wheel 4x4 with drive directed wheel by wheel for grip.

The latter is high-ratio only and is clearly pitched at the retail market  since its payload is 750kg compared to 1,064kg-1,119kg of the Selectable 4x4 models. It’s braked trailer weight limit, however, at 2,800kg is higher (2,690kg otherwise).  Cargo area for all versions is big at 2.5m2 and can take a Euro pallet sideways.

The 2.0 litre TDI VW Group engine (much modified for these vehicles) comes in two power outputs: 122 PS or 163 PS but both have six speed gearboxes and all vehicles a full Electronic Stability Programme as standard. Startline, Trendline and Highline are the model range names with asking prices (OTR but excluding VAT) between £17,830 to £22,410. It went on sale in May but securing sufficient supply from the VW Argentina factory, apparently, has been a problem.

That might be a breathing space for others. The one advantage Mitsubishi still has with its Super-Slect 4x4 system (Warrior and Barbarian) is that, apart from 4x2 normal driving, it offers high ratio four wheel drive on or off-road together with a low ratio transfer box.  Nonetheless, it and the other main players will be bracing themselves for a shake-up in the Top 5 pecking order for pick-ups.

Thanks to the SMMT for access to and use of much of the statistical information above.

By Huw Thomas
First published in Welsh Farmer

What a total and utter thrill, after flying all over the world to test the best technology mankind has devised, to drive one in its 100th year that scores only 10 out of 100!

Is this a Brit version?
The picture gives it away immediately that it’s an early Model ‘T’ Ford which revolutionised early car manufacture when a production line started up in the States in 1907. My 1912 test car is from the Old Trafford plant in Manchester, built during its second year of operation.

Can it still thrill?
The model I was doing my best to keep in a staight line, will be 100 next year, but has seriously retained its skill to thrill. It might have been my worst total score, times seven, but was probably the most thrilling and scary drive of my life.

Is it easy to pilot?
You get three floor pedals and a two feet tall brake lever, but forget all you’ve learnt, as these pedals bear no relation to current cars, so driving IS a nightmare. For starters the one on the right is the footbrake and works directly on the transmission to the rear wheel drive.

So it's crazy-pedal time?
The left hand pedal is clutch-cum drive, which you press to start off in low gear, then forget about it while driving unless you want to court problems. It works in collaboration with the brake lever which you put into a central position and let the pedal out to hit your top, or only other, gear. The middle pedal can only be used when stationary and puts the Model T into reverse!

Do you get a horn?
You have to concentrate so hard on pressing the right pedal, there’s a tendency to ignore the steering, but do so at your peril in this priceless relic. And your hooter is a big rubber ball that you depress alongside the foot pedals, to work the brass horn.

What about luxuries?
Well, there is ‘aircon’ of sorts, but you have to lift up the top half of the windscreen to benefit from it! The ignition is a swift jerk on the starting handle and, sitting inside the open-top ‘convertible’ with you, are four coils for the four sparking plugs. The headlamps work when you pour water on carbide crystals, in a brass tub on the running board, and make your own gas.

What are its stats?
I’d like to report it’s at least comfy, but it ain’t. Thrilling, it certainly is and, with a good wind and a straight road, you can near the 42mph limit using all 20bhp. Even then you only average 18mpg but believe me, 100 years ago when horse and carts ruled, you really must have felt like the king of the road.

Was it a world first?
The amazing thing in these early cars, they had huge 2,890cc side valve engines giving such trendous torque they ran on tickover. In 1907, Henry Ford devised the world’s first production line, to meet demand, and made a car every 12.5 hours, eventually reducing that in Britain to every 93 minutes.

Is it really bad?
Driving is frankly a nightmare. Although there were cord-clad leaf springs on each wheel, suspension is virtually non-existent, relying largely on the air in the ultra thin tyres. Braking is a further nightmare, where they only work ... eventually. Then there’s steering that’s as stiff as old Harry.

Any bad points?
The steering, suspension, roadholding, fuel economy and draughts, but I adored every minute in the old girl.

Fact file
MODEL: Model ‘T’ Ford
ENGINE: 2,890cc 4-cyl petrol
PRICE: £110 new, now priceless
POWER: Max 20bhp
TORQUE: Amazingly good
EMISSIONS: Enormous
ACCELERATION: Dreadful
FUEL: 18mpg average
MARKS OUT OF 100: 10

By David Parry-Jones

Do you know which is the world’s oldest family owned motor car maker still in production and which, for decades has had customers queuing up, often for years?

If your answer was Morgan, then it is pretty certain that you are a keen motoring enthusiast.

When HFS Morgan (known as HFS) built his first three-wheeler machine way back in 1910 he hit on precisely the right formula, keep it light, simple and with adequate power; something that applies to this day with the firm headed very effectively by the founder’s grandson, Charles Morgan.

Based in the splendidly scenic area of the Malverns, the factory comes as a surprise to anyone visualising a vast car plant that turns out models by the million. What looks in part rather like a collection of not very big sheds, houses a workforce of around two hundred annually producing fewer than 800 cars.

Each one though is painstakingly assembled by hand, using many of the techniques that HFS would still find familiar, including separate steel chassis and wooden frames covered in hand-beaten aluminium panels. There are also some state of the art techniques such as the Super Sports models which use a bonded-aluminium chassis and super-formed aluminium body panels.

The production of the Classic range of traditional two-seater open sports cars with their long, multi-louvered bonnets, cut-away doors and low, stylish looks is particularly interesting. Each galvanized steel chassis frame is fitted with all its mechanical parts such as engine, gearbox, steering, etc to become a drivable chassis by one man in about a day.

Interestingly the solid rear axles with their old fashioned leaf springs have to be sourced from GM Holden in Australia, the only place where they are now made. Engines outsourced from such as Ford are of 1.6, 2.0 or 3.0 litre with respective power outputs of 110, 145 and 226 bhp.

It is in the body and wood shops where traditional hand skills are most evident. The ash body frame is made up of 95 individual pieces of wood, all cut out on the premises, glued and screwed together and the whole dipped in preservative.

The curved wooden wheel arches are produced using a wooden jig that dates back to the 1950s. It is worth knowing that in the obligatory crash safety tests these Morgan bodies perform outstandingly well because of the ability of the wood to absorb energy in a crash.

Another group of skilled workers conjure-up bonnets, wings and the like from large sheets of aluminium using the sort of panel-beating tools that were in use a century ago. Throughout the factory the work pace seems positive but unhurried with everyone seeming to take an interest in what they were doing.

Painting and trim come towards the end of the process. According to model, one can choose from a virtually unlimited range of paints and leather, whilst the option list even includes a bonnet strap of the type beloved by racing cars in days of yore. This is one of the very few factories where an owner can see their car during construction and collect it from the factory.

An unusual feature that new owners might notice in the delivery bay is a large stuffed owl mounted in the rafters; its function is said to be to deter smaller birds flying in through the big doors and settling on the clean cars.

As well as the production area, the Morgan museum and well stocked gift shop are well worth visiting. Most unusually no formality is needed to join a conducted tour of the factory, simply check in advance by telephone, 01684 584580, that space is available and book your place. The cost is a modest £10 and well worth it.

I rounded off my visit with a run out in Classic 2.0 litre 4/4 Sport fitted with a Ford Duratec engine. For lovers of nostalgia such a machine provides an exhilarating experience. The ride is decidedly hard, the steering direct but wonderfully responsive (no power steering) and the gearbox a tad notchy.

At anything above walking pace there is wind in your hair, a feeling of sitting close to the road and all the right noises if you put your foot down. To use one of these cars for fun and holidays would be great, but for commuting or seriously long trips needing more than a modicum of luggage, then one would need to be a real enthusiast – but plenty of them do exist.  A real plus is that the depreciation rate of Morgans is splendidly slow, whilst some older models command very substantial prices.

If you do visit Morgan and fancy maybe putting some adventure into your motoring, then take advantage of the very rare facility of hiring a car from the factory. It costs from £130 a day to £795 per week. Put simply, see, try and buy. Prices of new Morgans start around £31,000.

By Roy Brooks 

Talk of CO2 emissions at just 80g/km and 83mpg on the combined cycle, would suggest I'd been driving the latest hi-tech economy model.

Other figures of note were 11 and 290,000: the former being the age of the car in years and the latter, its mileage.

The figures belong to a Honda Insight I drove recently – not to be confused with the Honda Insight five-door hatchback launched in 2009.

This is one of the original Insight coupés launched in 2000, and is being retained by Honda UK for promotional purposes to demonstrate the reliability and durability of hybrid technology.

I drove the car recently to remind me what the future used to be like.

Back in 2000 when petrol-electric hybrids were a new and little understood concept, the Insight cost £17,000.

Toyota’s hybrid car – the more ‘conventional’ four-door, five-seat Prius – had a slightly lower asking price. Both were eligible for a £1,000 discount in the form of a grant through the government’s PowerShift scheme, which also incentivised LPG-converted cars.

But the Insight’s perceived (and actual) impracticality – it’s a two-seat compact coupé – probably worked against it as much as nervousness at its advanced technology. Fewer than 300 were sold in the UK.

As well as its electric motor-assisted performance, the car also had many aluminium body components and tipped the scales at just 850kg – even with the air conditioning as fitted in the car I drove.

This, along with the economical three-cylinder 1.0-litre engine, enabled it to achieve its 83mpg on the combined cycle and 80g/km.

Only now, 11 years on are we seeing that kind of fuel consumption again, and the lowest CO2 emissions we are likely to see in 2011 from a car powered only by an engine is the forthcoming Kia Rio with its new 1.1-litre diesel engine.

I took the Insight on a 50-mile route that combined motorway driving (not the greatest environment for a hybrid, where it doesn’t take advantage of the electric motor assistance), and some mountain roads in Snowdonia.

It was on its second battery – but it was replaced fairly recently, and only because of a drop off in battery performance rather than any failure to perform.

Another modification was a modern aftermarket audio system with USB port that allowed me to charge my phone while driving.

Like all cars with a bias towards fuel economy, there were some flat-spots in the performance at low revs.

The Insight also comes with a five-speed gearbox, unlike many modern low-CO2 models, which either have six-speed manuals, or some kind of automatic transmission optimised for fuel economy.

The Insight must also be the first car that has a gearshift reminder that encourages changing up or down through the ’box at the best time.

But unlike many modern hybrids, it’s actually good fun to drive quickly. Agile when cornering, nimble when nipping through gaps in traffic, and like petrol Hondas of old (whisper it) quite an adrenaline rush above 5,000rpm.

The Insight yielded its position to more user-friendly hybrids in the Honda line-up – the Civic IMA saloon, the later Insight, the Jazz Hybrid and, of course, the sporty CR-Z coupé.

But it laid an important marker at the end of the 20th century of what can be achieved with hybrid technology. And, as we’ve discovered since, it was just the tip of the iceberg.

Earlier this month I represented Wales in a demonstration run of high-tech low- or zero-emission vehicles from Brighton to central London.

Toyota had organised a 'cup of nations' between journalists from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales driving Auris Hybrids.

It was part of the RAC Future Car Challenge, which included more than 60 vehicles using conventional internal combustion engines, hybrids, battery electric or hydrogen fuel cells, and it would have been good to find out which of these power sources had the lowest environmental impact.

The first frosts of this winter experienced by many of us this month has perhaps done enough to remind us if the disruption caused by last winter’s snow.

Switching to cold weather tyres (merely calling them winter tyres doesn’t do justice to their breadth of ability) is high on the agenda of the tyre companies and fast-fit giants, even if it’s appearing much lower in the list of priorities of motorists.

I’ve decided to take the plunge on a car I’ve been running on long-term test since June for Fleet News, courtesy of ATS Euromaster.

It will be interesting to see if cold weather tyres will make a difference to safety and keeping the car running where if fitted with standard rubber, we might have considered avoiding travel by road.

The Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Titanium X Sport is fitted with 235/45 R18 ContiSportContact tyres as standard. The cold weather tyres – selected by Michelin-owned ATS Euromaster – are Michelin Pilot Alpins, although Conti alternatives would have been available.

While we would heed advice against travelling in harsh conditions, we expect to see improvements in tyre performance on cold days, particularly in wet or slippery conditions.

Cold weather tyres have a more complex tread pattern than standard rubber, and are made with a different compound that allows improved contact with road surfaces when the temperature drops to seven degrees Celsius or below.

Braking distances are reduced while traction and grip levels are improved.

The flip side of this is that effectiveness is reduced at higher temperatures. For example, a car fitted with cold weather tyres would have a slightly longer stopping distance than standard rubber on a dry road at 20 degrees Celsius.

So timing is important, and advice suggests the change should be made in October, while the switch back is best done in late-March or early April.

While an extra set isn’t free of charge, the cold weather tyres simply become one of several sets of tyres a vehicle would use during its life.

The actual cost of the tyres should be negligible, while it might result in savings through reduced repair costs. Ask your insurance company if they can make you a lower quote because of the lower risk of an accident.

Research by ING Car Lease in Holland – where almost 50% of vehicles switch rubber during the winter – has shown slightly fewer accidents involving cars using cold weather tyres, but also significantly lower repair bills in the accidents as a result of reduced impact speeds.

First impressions of the tyres fitted to the Mondeo are favourable: the car delivered power much more smoothly than normal when tackling roundabouts driving through a torrential downpour.

The car also felt much more stable when ploughing through water streaming across the road, when on the standard tyres there might have been a split-second loss of steering feel as the water temporarily comes between the tyre and the road.

It will be interesting to see how they perform in proper wintry conditions though. I will be comparing experiences with colleagues to see if the Mondeo continues to work if their cars are grounded.

By Simon Harris

Three new upper-medium cars made their debuts at the Paris Motor Show.
Highest profile, it being in France, was the Peugeot 508.

Then, perhaps more important in terms of volume, was the so-called ‘new’ Volkswagen Passat.

Finally, but arguably the most impressive of the three, was the Kia Optima.

The Peugeot 508 was shown as a four-door and SW estate. Peugeot has said the 508 saloon will sell more units in China than saloon and SW combined in Europe

Many countries in mainland Europe prefer the estate to the saloon. In the UK it’s different. We quite like hatchbacks even in cars this size.

Although saloons imply ‘upmarket’, we badge-snobs in the UK don’t buy that unless the car wears a posh badge.

Volkswagen can get away with it. Our tolerance as car buyers for both the Jetta and Passat is very high.

It’s is just as well because the latest Passat unveiled at Paris – which Volkswagen earnestly referred to as ‘seventh generation’ – was rather disappointing to look at.

A re-skin of the current Passat rather than anything new, the big news was some hi-tech safety kit.
As well as a collision-mitigation braking system – already available on the Honda Accord and Volvo S60 and V60 – the Passat also has the ability to sense imminent collisions from the rear and accelerate to avoid them, or at least help minimise their impact.

The Kia Optima, on the other hand, was refreshing. The company’s design chief Peter Schreyer seems to have found a ‘face’ for the brand, and the Optima will replace the Magentis in 2011.

Perhaps it’s most surprising of the three because we’ve had to become used to Kia (and Hyundai) improving very quickly.

Not only does it look elegant and purposeful, it has an interior to match. And it will come with a 136bhp 1.7-litre diesel with CO2 emissions of 113g/km.

Yes, the Peugeot 508 might scrape to 109g/km next year with the introduction of stop-start e-HDi technology, but its 1.6-litre diesel will produce 115bhp. The Passat Bluemotion will also reach 109g/km but using its 105bhp 1.6 TDI engine.

Kia’s potential should not be underestimated, and when the well-established European brands come up with designs at the same time that appear complacent, they risk losing more than market share.

By Simon Harris