Car10

The opportunity to review the Mercedes-Benz eVito Tourer over a decent period came at a fortuitous time, when family from the US and Germany came in to celebrate Christmas with us here in Ireland, writes Brian Byrne . It was in fact the first time in ten years that we had all been together at Christmas. Why fortuitous? Because the eVito Tourer is a 9-seater passenger version of the Mercedes Vito Van. The nine seats were going to be very useful to help shuttle those staying directly with us between airport, home and the homes of their siblings. I suppose that made me an e-chauffeur? The eVito Tourer in shuttle format is designed for such applications as hotel transfers, conference transport, and similar (there is a higher-level version with one fewer seats and a more upmarket specification which can be used as a luxury limo for touring). The review car came with all the demonstrator decals 'Driving the Electric Future', so it was also going to attract attention in my home area ...

Are we really well down the electric route, or is it just hype? writes Brian Byrne . Here are a couple of facts, out of many recent that are EV related. In July of this year, two thirds of all cars sold in Oslo, capital of Norway, were electric. In Shenzhen, China, all 16,000 buses serving the city have been switched to electric, as well as 22,000 taxis. Sure, Norway has been an EV leader for some time, and in China there's a state-backed impetus for EVs. But that's the destination for all of us, sooner or later. I was thinking of that when I had my first drive experience in Kia's latest electric contender in the passenger car market. The EV6 has just joined the Soul and Niro in the Korean brand's EV offerings, and in this case is moving the company close to the premium EV business. The Hyundai-Kia group is one of those which have committed strongly to electric (and also to hydrogen fuel cell development, further down the sustainable motoring road). Unlike the Soul and ...

Mazda will be introducing further improvements to the already legendary handling of its MX-5 sports car in early 2022, writes Brian Byrne . They will come about with a new technology which will be standard on the car, dubbed Kinematic Posture Control. The system recognises a difference in speeds between the back wheels while cornering, lightly applying the brakes on the inner wheel. This prevents lift and suppresses body roll. New exterior and interior finishes will also be available with the 2022 car.  

Jaguar is to reposition itself to compete with brands like Aston Martin, Bentley and Maserati, rather than the high-volume German brands it currently competes against, writes Brian Byrne . To do so, it will refrain from introducing any new models until 2025, when it plans to become an all-electric vehicle brand. All the current models will be phased out by that time. At the moment, the company has one battery-electric car, the I-Pace. Jaguar's boss Thierry Bollore stunned the industry last February when he announced the all-electric ambition. Rather than adapting existing models, the company also scrapped plans for an electric XJ and a new crossover to be called the J-Pace. The Jaguar EV platform will be separate from the Land Rover MLA platform designed for both hybrid and battery-electric vehicles.  

Existing owners of Mk 8 Volkswagen Golfs are to get a free hardware upgrade offer for their infotainment system in the near future, as part of an improvement which will incorporated into all production Golfs from early next year, writes Brian Byrne . The upgrade provides a more powerful computer chip that can give faster and more efficient voice control and gesture control on the system, with an accompanying software update which will be carried out over-air. The company says the move is in response to customer feedback about the current system. Among other things, the update eliminates accidental activation of the under-screen controls when using the touch-screen.  

Of the last 21 cars I have had for review, five have been petrol, three have been petrol-mild hybrid, six were plug-in petrol hybrids, and six were pure electric, writes Brian Byrne . There was just one diesel. That's a major shift from just three or four years ago, when diesel was still king of the road. Now electrification is, in various forms. While pure electric reviews after this week's article, represents three cars in ten that I've driven. The actual proportion of cars sold this year is 8pc, so my review numbers are somewhat ahead of the real world. But 31pc of my cars does show just to where the industry is driving. For this week I'm in the Peugeot e-208. In terms of style, if there is a sweeter-looking supermini out there, I haven't seen it. A perfect example of that design roll which the French carmaker is on at the moment. An in your face front that is nevertheless the epitome of Gallic elegance. A smooth and sexy profile, and a rear that's distinctiv...

The highest performance version of the Audi Q4 e-tron has gone on sale in Ireland with 300hp available, writes Brian Byrne . With a 0-100km/h sprint ability, the Q4 e-tron 50 costs from €69,220 and has a range of 481km. Customers who order their Q4 e-tron 50 today can expect to take delivery and start their journey of electrification from as early as Q2 next year.