The new Audi A6 saloon is lighter, greener and more tech-heavy than ever.

The mini-A8 styling is more evolutionary than revolutionary, but underneath the skin are some key changes.
Initially the A6 comes with a choice of four engines: a range-topping 3.0-litre petrol lump and three TDI units.

And because all new A6 engines are linked to efficiency-enhancing systems like start-stop and energy recovery the average consumption across the range has been dropped by 13 per cent. Importantly the A6 has also undergone a serious weight loss programme by adopting a composite steel-aluminium construction.

With the catnip figure of 94g/km CO2 expect company car buyers to cock a snook at the mainstream market and plunge for the new premium compact from Lexus, but can the CT200h take on the BMW 118d and Audi A3 diesel?

Never before has the luxury arm of Toyota launched a car so small and so un-Lexus-like, but perhaps never before has it launched a car quite as important as the CT200h, for the hybrid hatchback has the potential to expand the brand to a whole new group of people.

Every 12 months the Toyota group loses 10 per cent of its customers to a premium brand, but only 10 per cent buy a Lexus. However, more than a third of those same people buy a car the size of a CT200h - in other words, a BMW 1-Series or an Audi A3.

It must be that time of year when every energy company known to man sends an 18-year-old in a suit around to my house in a desperate attempt to make me switch suppliers. One company even offered me a free football shirt for my trouble.

Goodness me those lads - who've obviously been sent on 'Close that Deal' selling courses by Americans in white suits - must live a lonely existence if, as I suspect, everyone is like me and slams the door shut in their face and says "no thanks".

The job must be hell. We all know the biggest problem with asking a girl out is that she might say no. Well, that is how I imagine it must be like being a door-to-door a salesman, being rejected 30 or 40 times every single day.

I have been driving the great Renaultsport Clio 200 complete with a genuine designer label attached.

The question is, does this already brilliant little hot hatch really need the Gordini treatment (and the inevitable higher price tag)?

Walk into any Renault dealer with £16,810 in your pocket and you will leave a very happy person should you opt for a Clio 200 Cup.

Deliriously happy in fact because the Renaultsport Clio 200 is a fabulous car that offers endless amounts of grip, no torque steer and sack loads of fun. But to have this same car with the Gordini styling will cost you an extra £2,940