Road Test: Lexus GS450h F-Sport

Price as tested: €72,950

+ Drivetrain, refinement, comfort, chassis balance, quality
– Silly grille, numb steering
= The best hybrid we’ve yet driven


Here’s a funny thing. Lexus can’t tell me how much torque the new GS450h has. Nerdy fact that it is, a healthy torque figure is deeply significant for driving both relaxed and invigorating. A lack of torque is inimical to fun and lots of it gives you that lovely, deep-down thumpy feeling as you accelerate hard out of a tight corner. It’s what makes American V8s so addictive and its absence is what makes small petrol engines such hard work. Normally you just look up the figure, either in Newton-Metres (Nm) or foot-pounds (lb-ft) in a car’s technical data list. And it’s not that the GS has no torque; quite the opposite. You can feel its presence every time you tap the throttle.

The thing is that the GS450h, a hybrid as was its predecessor and almost every other Lexus, draws its torque from two sources. A 3.5-litre V6 petrol with 352Nm and an electric motor with 275Nm. Add the two together and you get a fairly tyre-shredding 627Nm or about what you’d get from a 1970s Can Am racer...

It’s not that simple though, says Lexus and I seriously doubt that the GS ever gets the full combined 627Nm or the rear Bridgestones wouldn’t be long for this world. Instead, the fearsomely clever computer management system (which can presumably calculate lunar orbit trajectories and file your tax returns) juggles and apportions the power and torque outputs of the two motors until you have an essentially seamless whole.

Now, hybrids have been criticised in the past, and frequently on these pages, for not being up to snuff. The idea of backing up a downsized petrol engine with an electric motor seems entirely sensible and effective, but never in the past have we driven a hybrid that either lived up to its fuel economy claims or gave us much in the way of driving pleasure. (The Honda CR-Z gets a by here because it’s fun in spite of being a hybrid.) The old GS450h was fun enough in a straight-line, drags-strip kind of way, its combination of petrol and electric grunt sufficient to hurl it up the road in a most uneconomical fashion, but it felt a bit lead-footed in handling terms and its economy and emissions were soon out-classed by the new hordes of hyper-efficient diesels.

This GS then, has rather a lot to prove, both as a hybrid and as a car. Can a hybrid ever match or beat the latest diesels in economy and emissions terms? Can Lexus produce a truly convincing challenger to the likes of the BMW 5 Series?

Well, you certainly can’t accuse Lexus of keeping its light under a bushel this time around. The new GS, when seen from the back and side is crisply handsome and subtly muscular. And that new grille, with its chrome fangs? Well, I can certainly see what Lexus was trying to do – to inject both distinctiveness and aggression, but for my money it just doesn’t work. It look inelegant and a bit OTT. A shame.

There’s better news on the inside though, where the previous GS’s slight sense of clunkiness is banished by a very slick and stylish cabin, with beautifully simple, clear instruments, a big central screen for controlling the infotainment and HVAC systems and a distinctly inviting sense of comfort and style. The seats a big, comfy and supportive. The space in the rear seats is excellent. I love the way that, when you push the Sport button, the instruments switch from a charging metre to a red-lit rev counter.

Way out back, boot space has dramatically improved. In the last GS, the hybrid system’s batteries ate so deeply into the luggage room that you were left with a narrow slot that wouldn’t hold very much at all. Now, thanks to better packaging, there’s a decent (if not class leading) 482-litres. That’s better.

Slip behind the wheel and push the starter button and there’s the usual hybrid car silence as the batteries take the strain for the initial few metres. When the 3.5-litre 292bhp petrol V6 engine comes to life, you’ll struggle to notice it. The usual Lexus superlatives of refinement and noise suppression apply.

Where that V6 really makes itself felt and heard is when you accelerate hard. We’ve become so used, over the past few years, to big executive cars being exclusively diesel-powered, so the crisp, sharp-edged snarl of the GS’s engine as it passes 4,000rpm (the point at which most diesels just give up and go home) is as refreshing as lemon zest and just as tasty. Combined with the batteries and electric bits, it makes for a very satisfying drivetrain to use, probably the best hybrid we’ve ever tried. There never seems to be a gap in the power, or a step when one system or the other dominates. The CVT gearbox doesn’t seem to suffer from the same problems that afflict over continously variable ‘boxes, such as letting the engine needlessy blare its head off at high rpm when accelerating. And it’s decently economical too. Lexus claims 6.0-litres per 100km on the combined cycle, which you probably won’t get near, but we averaged mid-sevens and that’s about what you’d get out of a comparable 3.0-litre diesel. Impressive.

Impressive too that emissions have been kept down to a Band B-friendly 139g/km, so you can match a BMW 520d buyer for tax smugness while matching a 535d for performance. That’s quite a combination, and it’s nice to notice how often the car automatically kicks into EV mode, not just when cruising around town, but also on the open road. It makes you feel like it was worth going down the hybrid route, even if in reality, a constantly-running diesel is little less efficient.

Our F-Sport spec test car came with option four-wheel-steering, and eighties Japanese obsession that seems to be making something of a comeback. I can honestly say that, in spite of trying, I could never actually feel the rear wheels doing anything much, but there’s no doubting that the GS felt unusually agile and chuckable for such a big car. A shame that the steering is too remote and distant for you to truly enjoy punting it along, but there’s no doubt that a pretty terrific chassis dwells beneath; an achievement made even more impressive when you remember that the GS’s is still packing the extra weight of all those batteries. Impressive too that the ride quality is generally excellent, only occasionally feeling too firm and mostly just cosseting nicely.

At €72,950, the F-Sport’s rear-steer and sporty bodykit and wheels may seem a bit of an extravagance over the cost of a €59,950 Executive model, but there’s no doubt that for the first time, Lexus has really hit the 5 Series market dead-on. It won’t be to the tastes of the me-too hordes who will only ever buy German at this price level, but here at least is a hybrid that’s a frugal as it should be and as invigorating to drive as you’d hope. Here is a Lexus of true character and enjoyment, as well as the expected quality and refinement.

Lexus GS450h F-Sport
Price: €72,950
Range price: €59,950 to €76,250
Capacity: 3,456cc
Power: 345bhp
Torque: See text
Top speed: 250kmh
0-100kmh: 5.9sec
Economy: 6.0-100km (47.0mpg)
CO2 emissions: 139g/km
Tax Band: B. €225 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: Not yet tested

Road Test: Volvo XC60 Ocean Race AWD

Price as tested: €47,757

+ Looks, beautiful cabin, decent economy, ride comfort
– Awkward driving position, roly-poly handling
= Looks better down the yacht club than most

Galway resident that I am, I guess the Volvo Ocean Race means a bit more to me than just the badge on the side of a few posh Swedish motors. It’s a bi-annual pageant that’s coming to the West again this year, bringing with racing yachts, a truly global competition, a party atmosphere and the inevitable face paint stalls. It’s fun.

To mark the occasion, Volvo has of course produced a series of cars that tie in with the firm’s sponsorship of this famous round-the-world race for big sailing yachts. Tick the VOR box on your order form, and you get nice chrome kick plates, soft leather upholstery with ‘sail-inspired stitching’ and (this is my favourite bit) a loop of sail rope to pull the luggage cover back and forth with.

Underneath our Ocean Race spec XC60 was something rather more unusual. All wheel drive. Now, when the XC60 was originally launched back in 2008, it debuted as a four wheel drive car, but when the front-drive DRIVEe version was launched in 2010, we all figured that the all-paw XC60 was dead and dusted. After all, what would be the point in spending more money, more tax and more fuel on a car that’s never going to go off-road anyway?

Well, the winter snows of 2011 put paid to that assertion, and so Volvo was keen to point out that yes, you can still get an XC60 that lives up to the billing of its chunky, handsome bodywork and high ride height. We didn’t get the snow, but it could come back at any moment...

While the all-wheel-drive traction is certainly a welcome returner and it has its uses even if winter has become spring and is heading once again for summer, let’s be totally shallow and admit the real reason we like the XC60 so much; the way it looks. Yes, yes, skin deep beholders and all, this is a seriously handsome car and the VOR-spec Electric Silver Metallic paint really shows off the lines to great effect.

That beauty continues inside, where the gorgeous biscuit leather upholstery, faultless ergonomics and pretty main dials all work their usual Volvo magic. Ah, but there’s a flaw and quite a serious one. This is the first time we’d ever driven an XC60 with a manual gearbox and it has shown up a quite awful deficiency in the driving position. Quite simple, the seat points one way and the wheels and pedals point another. In fact, so bad is the offset that the only way to drive the XC60 comfortably was to steer with the right hand while resting the left on the gearshift. It honestly felt like steering from the wrong side of the car and brought on swift and merciless backache. Considering Volvo’s hitherto unimpeachable reputation for comfort, this needs sorting, and fast.

Mechanically, all is well though. The 2.4-litre five-cylinder diesel engine is not long for this world, being as Volvo is committed to replacing all its current engines with a new family of four-cylinder petrol and diesel turbos, no bigger than 2.0-litres. That’s a shame as it’s one of the very few truly characterful diesels around. With five pots beating, it sounds great when revved hard and is very refined at all other times. Decently economical too. Volvo claims 5.7-litres per 100km for the car, which you’ll never manage, but our average of 6.9l/100km seems about right for a 4wd car of this size. It’s also surprisingly sprightly, with a big slug of 420Nm of torque punching hard from low down the rev range, making it feel just a touch of a GTI SUV...

Handling wise, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Thanks to long springs and high profile tyres, the ride is very comfy and well sorted, but the handling does suffer from too much body roll, all of which seems to happen early and at low speeds. This means that the XC is actually better on a country road than it is in town, where roundabouts can make it feel a touch lumbering and lurchy. The feel-free steering, which weights up a bit oddly depending on what you’re doing, doesn’t help either. Best to stay on the motorway, where the XC60 is in it’s element, swishing quietly along and a loping, friendly efficiency.

For the rest of the practical stuff, the rear seats are decently spacious and the boot, although a little shallower than is ideal, is fine.

So, if we get snow in July, just in time for the Volvo Ocean Race to return to Galway, XC60 AWD owners could well be quids in. As will anyone who decides to buy on; it’s a very likeable, pretty and practical car. Fix the awful driving position and there’s no doubt that this would be our favourite compact SUV.


Facts & Figures

Volvo XC60 VOR AWD D3
Price: €47,757
Range price: €43,707 to €58,445
Capacity: 2,400cc
Power: 163bhp
Torque: 420Nm
Top speed: 195
0-100kmh: 10.5sec
Economy: 5.7l-100km (49.6mpg)
CO2 emissions: 149g/km
Tax Band: C. €330 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star: 94% adult, 79% child, 48% pedestrian, 86% safety assist

Road Test: Opel Insignia 2.0 CDTI EcoFlex

Price as tested: €29,680

+ Cracking diesel, looks, sharp chassis, quality
– High price, noisy, stiff ride
= Opel finally makes the diesel grade

OK, can we just start here with an oft-heard complaint? GM in general (pardon the pun) and Opel especially, really needs to work on its diesel engines. With the Detroit-based bosses still thinking that diesel is something you put in a Kenworth or Peterbuilt, Opel has always lagged behind its rivals in DERV development.

Er hang on, we may just have to revise that old cliché as the updated engine in the Insignia EcoFlex is one of the best you’ll come across.

On paper, it’s very impressive, with 160bhp yet 115g/km of Co2 emissions, one of the best power-to-emissions figures you can find, and a match for the 1.6 diesels that you’ll find in most of the competition, none of which can match the Insignia EcoFlex’s punch. How does 0-100kmh in 9.5secs grab you?

It is surprisingly noisy though, grumbling and rumbling away to itself almost constantly, a fact which could damage its prospects were it not for one facet of its performance; its fuel consumption. Opel claims 4.3-litres per 100km (about 65mpg) on average and, amazingly, we reckon with a bit of  care, you could actually manage that. Leave off the aircon, turn down the heated seats and make full use of the stop-start system and you might be able to crack a 60mpg average on a long-ish journey. That is massively impressive for such as big car, and the Monopoly card in its back pocket that keeps the Insignia EcoFlex out of noisy diesel jail.

Elsewhere, updated as it is the for new year that’s in it, the Insignia feels and looks just as impressive as it did when launched in late 2008. It’s still a seriously handsome car, looking very Secret Service-y if you get it in a dark metallic, or very Garda-y if it comes in the same shade of bright white as our test car did. Still, with Brendan Gleeson making Guards iconic these days, maybe it’s a look that could catch on.

Inside, there are some minor trim updates that keep things feeling fresh and it has to be said that the Insignia is, along with the Skoda Superb, one of very few ‘mainstream’ cars that can seriously challenge the premium brands for cabin fit and finish. The seats are a bit narrow and perched-up though, which is a shame, but space in the back is good (in legroom terms if not in headroom; that swoopy roofline eats into space for taller passengers) and the 500-litre boot os generous. Mind you, we’d go for the five-door liftback over our four-door saloon test car. You get an extra 30-litres in the boot, plus the added versatility of a liftback and from the outside, only the most finely trained car anorak could tell the difference.

To drive, the Insignia has actually benefited from the fitting of a new electric power steering system. Now, normally we moan about electric steering as it tends to rob you of road feel and feedback, and that’s once again the case here. But it’s actually better weighted and quicker to respond off-centre than the old hydraulic steering set up, so on balance, it’s an improvement. And it helps the Insignia retain its fluid, flowing chassis feel; not quite a match for the mighty Ford Mondeo in driver entertainment terms, but the gap is fag paper thin these days. A shame that the ride quality hasn’t been improved. It’s not terrible, but it bucks and bangs a bit too much on poor surfaces, and that does rather spoil the Insignia’s quasi-premium pretension.

It is a bit pricey though, indicative of Opel’s intention to become a semi-premium brand. €29,680 is a lot for a car that’s supposed to be the economy model, and that’s on top of a range that starts a good €1k above the level of most of the competition. And even with a diesel engine as good as this one, that might just be too much for the Insignia to carry.

Facts & Figures

Opel Insignia 2.0 CDTI EcoFlex SC
Price as tested: €29,680
Range price: €27,380 to €54,280
Capacity: 1,956cc
Power: 160bhp
Torque: 380Nm
Top speed: 221kmh
0-100kmh: 9.5sec
Economy: 4.3-100km (65mpg)
CO2 emissions: 115g/km
VRT Band: A. €160 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star; 94% adult, 79% child, 40% pedestrian, 71% safety assist

Road Test: Ford Mondeo 1.6 TDCI Titanium

Price as tested: €32,311

+ Handsome looks, gorgeous cabin, brilliant chassis, frugal engine
– S-Max more versatile, C-Max more affordable, soon to be replaced
= It may be plain wrapper, but the Mondeo is still solid gold all the way through


I seem to have been driving a gaggle of Fords lately, all of them slightly different, at different stages of their commercial and technical lives and yet all anchored around a familiar focal point; the Mondeo.

The Mondeo, a name that first came to us aboard Ford's epochal 1993 Sierra replacement, has become an Acme in so many ways. For a time, before the inexorable rise of the premium brands, it was the vehicular encapsulation of the motoring middle class. So much so, that in his 1997 run for the British premiership, Tony Blair actively courted and wooed 'Mondeo Man.'

That stands true for Irish motorists too, for the Mondeo has always been a strong seller here in its two and a bit decades, usually loitering near the top end of the top ten and pleasing, in its unassuming way, both business and family customers.

Its ubiquity has been under threat over the past decade though by the likes of the Volkswagen Passat and Toyota Avensis (an intra-class struggle) and, when cheap financing became available, the BMW 3 Series ( a classically Marxist class war). After all, if the monthly repayments were much the same, wouldn't you rather have a Munich badge on your keyring?

That competition stirred Ford to great lengths though. The 2000-2006 Mondeo was always a fine car to drive, well made and spacious, but it lacked the stylistic or qualitative appeal of the German car. The 2007 Mondeo, the one that is still with us, changed that utterly, granting the Mondeo genuinely handsome looks and a cabin that was close to equalling the BMW in terms of sheer class, and besting it for space.

Now, the current Mondeo is coming to the end of its life, and faces not just competition from the hordes of similar saloons and premium brands but also some internecine rivalry from the other three Fords I've been driving lately; the C-Max, the S-Max and the Kuga.

Let's take the Mondeo first. While many of us now deride the conventional four-box family saloon as moribund, there is a compelling reason for its becoming the archetype of the everyday car; it works. And as a Mondeo, it must be said, it works a damn sight better than most. Our test car came in black, which not only served to highlight its snazzy new LED daytime running lights but also brought with it a brooding sense of being Government Issue; a men-in-black appeal that is alien to many but seductive to a certain type of unreconstructed comic book fan. Ahem.

Inside, while the pleasant silvery surfaces of the centre console have been replaced with a plain-jane black finish, the levels of quality on offer are genuinely second to none. Our (pricey) Titanium spec car came with part-Alcantara seats that cosseted and lovely soft-touch surfaces and expensive looking dials and digital displays that pleased. Only a malfunctioning Bluetooth connection blotted the copybook. There remains proper lounging space in the back for six footers, and the boot is ever cavernous.

A 1.6-litre engine in such a large car (easily matching a nineties Scorpio against the measuring tape) would once have seemed a bad joke but the 110bhp 1.6 TDCI diesel acquits itself well. It will never qualify for the Indy 500, but it pulls with reasonable strength, cruises with a hushed rumble and returned, in our hands, a 6.0-litres per 100km fuel average; not as good as advertised but not bad, and 114g/km means you benefit from the lowest tax band.

As ever, it is the Mondeo's chassis that leaves the strongest impression. Ford, since 1993, has believed strongly that a car which pleases enthusiasts is equally (if subconsciously) pleasing to dunder-heads and that's a tough argument to quibble with. I've always felt that a car that feeds information back to the driver with proper clarity, even if that information isn't properly understood, is a safer car than some light-to-the-touch car which seeks to distance the driver from the action. A majority of drivers may not understand the nuances of steering feel or dynamic balance, but if the car is telling them what it's up to, at least they have that information to work with, whatever they may choose to do with it.

Whatever, the Mondeo retains the best dynamic repertoire in the class, matching engagement with comfort in a near-perfect balance, and that’c combined with impressive safety levels, especially given our car’s optional (€811) Driver Assistance pack, which includes a blind spot monitor, lande departure warning and self-dipping high-beam lights, amongst other useful safety and convenience toys.

So what can the likes of the C-Max or S-Max offer against this? Well, both can offer a similar feel of quiet sophistication (the S-Max sharing many of the Mondeo's cabin fittings and much of its chassis deportment) and both have the same, gorgeously liquid feel to drive. The C-Max's Focus-derived cabin can't match the Mondeo or the S for class, but it feels rigorously well built and both cars are above the class average for refinement. Both make compelling alternatives to the Mondeo's mainstream, and the C-Max’s sharp pricing can make the Titanium spec Mondeo look dangerously overpriced.

The runt of the litter here is the Kuga. It's up for replacement very shortly, which explains many of its shortcomings, but one must remember that the current Mondeo was launched at much the same time and that was worn its years with a deal more grace. The Kuga still looks fresh and pleasing from the outside, but once inside its case quickly dissolves. The cabin is lifted more or less directly from the previous generation Focus and looks and feels appalling cheap. The driving position is too perched up. The 2.0 TDCI engine is noisy in this application and unnecessarily thirsty. Even dynamically, the Kuga falls flat, lurching around on a too-high centre of gravity and exhibiting none of the liquid assurance of any of the other three.

So which one to go for? Well, the Kuga's out straight away and I'll give the C-Max the next bullet, not because of any particular shortcoming (aside from an comically slow-moving powered tailgate, an utterly pointless option) but simply because it lacks the final sheen of quality and sophistication of the other two. Then again, it is significantly more affordable, spec-for-spec, so perhaps that is only right and proper.

While my family man instincts should draw me to the S-Max, and while I do find its style and dynamic abilities (it remains the only MPV that's truly satisfying to drive) appealing, it's the supposedly humble Mondeo I'm going to plump for. It remains a remarkably talented car, one that can be affordably purchased (new or secondhand) by a vast swathe of the motoring populace who probably don't even realise the Wilsonian levels of never having had it so good that they're getting in to. Like the Kuga, the Mondeo is up for replacement in the next six months, but unlike the SUV, you'd never know it; it's going out at the absolute peak of its talents. It's supposedly humble Ford that's as good to drive, to sit in and to live with as any of the more expensive premium badge rivals and one that, five years on, remains the benchmark vehicle for all of its class competitors. Conventional? Yes. Predictable? Certainly? Satisfying? Very. Being different isn't all it's cracked up to be.


Facts & Figures

Ford Mondeo 1.6 TDCI Titanium
Price as tested:€32,311
Range price: €26,295 to €40,851
Cubic capacity: 1,560
Power: 115bhp
Torque: 270Nm
Maximum speed: 190kmh
0-100kmh: 11.9secs
Fuel consumption: 4.3l/100km (65.6mpg)
Co2 emissions: 114g/km
Tax band: A (€160)
EuroNCAP rating: 5-star adult, 4-star child, 2-star pedestrian

Road Test: Ford Focus 1.0 Ecoboost

Price as tested: €21,485

+ Amazing flexibility for such a small engine, usual Focus chassis, quality
– Long range economy remains unproven
= No replacement for displacement? Think again...


A sheet of A4 paper is 297mm x 210mm, or in other words just under a foot tall and eight inches wide. And the new Ford three-cylinder 1.0 Ecoboost turbo engine’s cylinder block will fit, just about, on that sheet of A4 paper. It’s an astonishingly small, light engine, weighing in at just 97kg, 30kg less than the old naturally aspirated 1.6 petrol that it replaces in the Focus range, and an order of magnitude less than its 1.6 diesel stablemate.

And yet, for all that smallness, a combination of low-inertia turbocharger and some impressive low-friction engineering ensures that this dinky little engine can produce either 99bhp (a round 100ps) with 170Nm of torque (or, in the higher spec version, an astonishing 123bhp with up to 200Nm on overboost), returns a claimed 4.8-litres per 100km on the combined cycle (58mpg, 10mpg better than the old 1.6) and emits just 109g/km. And, we would remind you, it’s petrol, not diesel.

But can a 1.0-litre engine be seriously considered in a large-ish family hatch, a car that weighs 1,200kg and needs to be able to lug around shopping, luggage, baby buggies and the rest of the detritus of family life?

Yes, it can, and as with so many cutting edge innovations, the remarkable thing is that in everyday use it feels entirely unremarkable. Fire up the Ecoboost engine and, instead of the expected unsteady buzzsaw noise common to most three-cylinder engines, there is silence, almost Lexus-like silence. Pull away and, yes, you can occasionally hear a faint rumbly three-pot noise at the edge of the engine’s vocal range, but it’s remarkably refined for such a small engine.

The most important question though is; can it lug the Focus around with any conviction? Yup, no problem there. In terms of overall performance, it’s a few tenths quicker than the old 1.6 in most metrics and it feels pretty much analogous to that engine. It’s better though, because thanks to the turbo, there’s just a bit more low-down oomph, a sense that (and this is the remarkable bit) you need to work the engine a little less hard to get where you want to. The 0-100kmh sprint is done in 12.5secs and it has a maximum speed of 185kmh.

Any problems? Well, no not really except a possible wrinkle in the form of fuel consumption. Now, we haven’t had a proper chance to put that 58mpg claim to the test on a long run, and on our brief test drive, the Focus we were driving was displaying an average fuel economy reading of 8.5-litres per 100km, or a disappointing 33mpg. The again, this was a car doing short urban and motorway loops in the hands of lead-footed motoring journalists, so perhaps a certain amount of benefit of the doubt can be given.

If mainly motorway miles is your daily driving dose, then it might be worth upgrading to the €24,235 125ps (123bhp) Zetec model. There’s not a massive difference in the feel of the performance, but it does seem to punch with a bit more conviction and the fact that the more powerful engine comes with a six-speed gearbox rather than the 100ps model’s five-speeder means it’s more suited to outside-lane bashing. Claimed economy barely suffers (56mpg) and emissions at 114g/km are only fractionally higher and you stay in the all-important Band A for road tax.

As for the rest of the car, it’s the same hugely impressive Focus that we know and love. The cabin is spacious (albeit less spacious than that of the old Focus), comfy  and nicely laid out. The chassis is pretty close to peerless, combining firm damping with a comfy ride quality and remarkably sharp steering. In fact, if anything, the Focus’ dynamic repertoire seems even better here, unencumbered by the dumbell weight of a diesel in the nose. If you’re truly keen on driving, this is still the pick of the family hatches.

And yes, a tiny, dinky, pint-sized, sheet-of-A4 engine really can, convincingly, haul and lug the Focus around, provide remarkable refinement and more than adequate performance. Net of the fuel consumption claims being put properly to the test, it is a truly astonishing combination of car and engine and, we’d have to say, the outright pick of the current Focus range.


Facts & Figures

Ford Focus 1.0 Ecoboost 100ps
Price as tested:€21,485
Range price: €19,465 to €30,595
Cubic capacity: 999cc
Power: 99bhp
Torque: 170Nm
Maximum speed: 185kmh
0-100kmh: 12.5secs
Fuel consumption: 4.8l/100km (58.8mpg)
Co2 emissions: 109g/km
Tax band: A (€160)
EuroNCAP rating: 5-star; 92% adult, 82% child, 72% pedestrian, 71% safety assist

Road Test: BMW X3 3.0d M-Sport

Price as tested: €67,726

+ Stunning engine, great cabin, space, handling
– Expensive, a touch vulgar, not the best looking, hard ride
= Really lovely, but you know the 2.0d is a better all-rounder

No. No, I’m not going to fall for it. I’m going to duck the marketing puff, ease my way around the badge allure and sidestep the sheer brilliance of the engine. I am not going to like the BMW X3 3.0d M-Sport. Nope. I’m just not.

Ah, who am I kidding? It’s pretty brilliant really...

OK, let’s do a bit of stall setting-out. Nobody needs a BMW X3 3.0d M-Sport. Nobody needs a car that’s roughly the same price as a 530d M-Sport Touring, but not as good looking, not as good to drive and will stir the anger of passers-by. The only possibly need you could have that would require this car would be to drive regularly across a not very rough field at high speed. Anyone? Anyone?

But of course, need is never a good arbiter of want, and there’s quite a lot of want surrounding an X3 in general, and quite a bit more when it comes to this M-Sport model, with its pimped sills, bumpers, lights and wheels. By speccing the M-Sport trim, you get 18-inch star-spoke M alloy wheels, chrome plated door sill finishers with M designation, High-gloss Shadowline exterior trim for the window surrounds, M Sport multi-function steering wheel, Sport seats and Anthracite headlining added. All of which adds up to an X3 that’s... well not exactly better looking than standard but one that looks alluringly (if ever so slightly ridiculously) pumped-up.

Inside, along with that steering wheel and the dark headlining (classy) our test car came with its standard-fit Nevada leather seats trimmed in a deliciously deep and rich ‘Havana Brown’ colour. Never has the place where you place your buttocks looked so inviting. Comfy too, which is always a bonus.

Now, while pretty much every X3 that gets sold in Ireland will have the brilliant 188bhp 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel under the bonnet, ours was fitted with the 3.0-litre 258bhp straight-six diesel. Overkill, when the 2.0d provides all the performance (and economy) you could possibly need?

Well, yes. Of course it’s overkill. As I said at the top, nobody needs a soft-roader with a big, honking six-cylinder engine. But once again there’s need, and there’s want...

And once you have experienced the cream-smooth roar that accompanies the very brisk 6.2secs 0-100kmh run, as the flawless eight-speed gearbox shifts away next to your left thigh, you will never want to return to the land of four cylinder engines ever again.

Well, that is until you clock the fuel consumption. Now, BMW claims that the X3 3.0d will return an average of 6.0-litres per 100km, and if you drive a lot in town, make the most of the very slick stop-start system and generally drive like a nun, you might just manage that. But over a week, with a more realistic driving style, we never got our average down below 8.0-litres per 100km. Which is significantly more thirsty than the X3 2.0d’s claimed (and more realistic) 5.6-litres per 100km.

Still, it is good to drive. The steering, a little distant from what’s happening at the front wheels thanks to electric power assistance, is nonetheless very nicely weighted and that chunky M-Sport steering wheel feels great in your hands. The X3’s chassis is also beautifully balanced, with surprisingly deft turn in for something this tall and with a centre of gravity somewhere around your chest height. It’s pretty close to being as good to drive as the lower, lighter 530d Touring (still our touchstone for cars in this price bracket) and if it falls short, then it’s in the ride department. BMWs, and X3s, in general are pretty stiffly sprung, and combine that with the M-Sports bigger wheels and stiffer springs, and you’ve got a car with a bad case of the jiggles on anything other than a perfectly ironed stretch of tarmac. It’s not actually as harsh as you might have feared but still not what you’d call smooth.

OK, being realistic, we’d have the X3 2.0d every time. Except we wouldn’t because actually buy a 520d Touring rather than either. But if you’ve got the wherewithal, the desire and, yes, the need, then the creamy smooth whooshings, and chunky funky bodykit of the X3 3.0d M-Sport would be pretty tempting.



Facts & Figures

BMW X3 3.0d M-Sport
Price as tested: €67,726
Price range: €45,900 to €61,480
Capacity: 2,993cc
Power: 258bhp
Torque: 560Nm
Top speed: 240kmh
0-100kmh: 6.2sec
Economy: 6.0l-100km (47.0mpg)
CO2 emissions: 159g/km
Road Tax Band: D €447
Euro NCAP rating: Not yet tested