Road Test Review – January
Bitter cold, six hours of daylight and so much grit on the road that cars need cleaning every half a mile – if road testing ever loses its appeal, it’s in January.
Off to a flier with GT trio and a fun fast Ford
In search of sunshine, we headed across the Channel to the breathtaking Reims-Gueux Grand Prix track. Our Aston Martin, Maserati and Jaguar test cars had historic connections to the circuit, and the ambience of the classic venue lives on, with grandstands and advertising hoardings largely untouched. It was incredible to be able to bring the track alive once again with the bellowing V8 soundtracks of our GT trio.
We were lucky with the weather on our French odyssey, although the same can’t be said of every outing that month. Our test of Ford’s new Fiesta ST185 took place in some of the worst driving conditions of the year. Only the considerable skills of road tester Owen Mildenhall and the great camera work of snapper Dave Smith saved the day – and resulted in one of the most exciting hot hatch shoot-outs of 2008.
We brought ourselves back down to earth with a raft of new estates of all shapes and sizes – little did we know there would be no shortage of load-luggers to drive in 2008. Plus, we couldn’t hide our excitement as the UK’s first new Fiat 500 was pencilled in to arrive on the last day of the month… Would the Italian city car be worth the wait? We’d find out in February.
Grand tourers
Aston V8 Vantage N400 vs Maserati GranTurismo vs Jaguar XKR (Issue 996). One of the highlights of the year arrived early! At the old Reims-Gueux Grand Prix circuit in France, we got to know Aston Martin’s newly focused V8 Vantage N400 as it came head-to-head with Jaguar’s XKR and Maserati’s GranTurismo. The Jag’s pace and effortless cruising won the day, followed by the hardcore Aston, leaving the Italian to pick up the bronze medal. Watch the video here.
Hot hatch battle
Ford Fiesta ST185 vs Renaultsport Clio Cup vs Vauxhall Corsa VXR (Issue 997). The first of three visits to the hugely challenging Cadwell Park circuit in Lincolnshire (see Owen Mildenhall’s tester’s notes for April) saw us shake off the winter blues in three feisty hot hatches. We described the Fiesta ST185 as “the purest performance Ford since the Racing Puma”. That’s high praise indeed – but in the end the Clio Cup won our hearts with its low-cost thrills and grippy, accurate handling. While the Corsa VXR is fast and capable, it simply didn’t feel as sharp on the track in this company, and finished third.
SUV-style five-doors
Peugeot 207 Outdoor vs Skoda Roomster Scout (Issue 994). A hangover from the old Rover Streetwise or a valuable addition to any model range? That was the question we were asking ourselves as we took the keys to not one but two new ‘SUV-style’ versions of standard hatches. In both cases we were pleasantly surprised – although relatively limited versatility and questionable build quality forced the Peugeot 207 Outdoor into second place. That handed victory to the Skoda Roomster Scout, which impressed us with its stand-out styling and great practicality. Even better – the sun was shining for our shoot!
New Renault estate meets its rivals
Renault Laguna Sport Tourer vs Ford Mondeo Estate vs Honda Accord Tourer (Issue 993). The first appearance of Renault’s load-lugging Laguna caused quite a stir (see road test editor Chris Thorp’s tester’s notes, below). We put it up against the spacious Ford Mondeo Estate and Honda’s Accord Tourer. Amazingly, the now obsolete Japanese model was still up to the job of seeing off the underwhelming new challenger from Renault – only months before it would be replaced. With its blend of a memorable driving experience and huge practicality, the Mondeo secured the first of many 2008 victories, while the Laguna was left to pull over into last place.
Tester's notes – French given a test lesson!
The latest Renault Laguna hasn’t exactly been a smash hit with Auto Express. Since its launch, it has secured only one group test victory out of three appearances.
This didn’t go unnoticed at Renault. Engineers got a bee in their bonnet about it – and came to see us en masse. So, I teamed up with my predecessor, Oliver Marriage (now Associate Editor of Auto Express’s sister magazine, Evo), to recreate a UK group test of family cars, just for them. Vauxhall had yet to introduce its Insignia, so our line-up consisted of the Ford Mondeo, Mazda 6, Citroen C5 and the Laguna.
On a route through the Berkshire countryside typical of a challenging British road test, we spent the day driving and being driven by Renault’s finest chassis engineers. Did we convince them the Laguna wasn’t up to it? Of course not. But the engineers were more than satisfied that our comments were cool, calm and collected – and saw for themselves that the UK’s bumpy roads are very different to the tarmac on most French autoroutes.
Chris Thorp
Road test editor
