Top tests '07

Top tests 2007

We put the best cars head-to-head each week. Here we look back at the highlights of the year...

Auto Express Car Reviews

December 2007

Welcome to the Auto Express road test review of the year, in which we have chosen our favourite shoot-outs from each month of 2007. It took a while, due to the sheer number of tests we’ve done (exactly 100) and the amount of great cars that have arrived, including the Ford Mondeo, Audi R8, Nissan Qashqai and MINI Clubman.

Interspersed through the next 10 pages you will find other snippets of testing data, such as the fastest and slowest, and most and least economical models that have appeared this year.

We hope you find this Christmas special entertaining and packed with useful advice. So grab a mince pie and read about what we’ve been up to over the past 12 months.

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Full Car Reviews

Hot Hatches

With a hot hatch group test to blow away the post-Christmas blues, it was an exciting start to 2007 for the Auto Express road test team.

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Economy cars

As the most important car that the Korean manufacturer has ever produced, the Kia Cee'd means business, so we drove two rivals to meet the top-spec 1.6-litre CRDi LS head-on.

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Soft roaders

It’s always exciting when a manufacturer claims its new car is unique. But if it doesn’t fit into traditional class boundaries, what do you test it against?

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Cabriolets

The Focus CC, despite being designed in partnership with Italian styling house Pininfarina, simply isn’t that good-looking, but that didn't affect our decision

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Family saloons

Summer saw the arrival of Ford’s brand new Mondeo. We covered more than 2,500 miles in our four cars and spent three days putting the new family model to the test against its key competitors before reaching our verdict.

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Supercars

The Audi R8 turned more heads than a Wimbledon tennis match on our test route, but how did it stack up to its rivals?

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Estates

One question that had been on everyone’s lips was finally answered at the end of the year.

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Hatchbacks

With half a million sold worldwide, the 307 was such a massive hit for Peugeot that it decided on a low-risk strategy for its replacement.

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Superminis

It still hasn’t gone on sale in the UK but the Fiat 500 was undoubtedly the most eagerly anticipated car to be launched in 2007.

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Performance cars

One of the most high-powered showdowns of the year took place in the autumn. A test which compared four of the best performance cars on the market.

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Compact SUVs

Land Rover set the ball rolling with its new Freelander late in 2006, when the compact SUV instantly became our top-rated modelin the class.

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Full-size SUVs

When it first appeared in 1999, the BMW X5 quickly established itself as the sector benchmark, helping to kick-start the popularity of full-size SUVs. Does it still reign supreme?