Road Test Review – December

Luxury stars go head-to-head – but car market faces uncertain future
It's December, and supposedly the season to be jolly. That is unless you work in a British car factory, of course.

Amid the shocking news that Honda plans to close down its plant in Swindon, Wiltshire, in February and March of 2009, nearly every other UK motor maker has cut production.

And it’s not because the UK facilities are underperforming – the problem is with a lack of new car sales, leaving the market in a delicate position.

While buyers avoid spending money, the industry is holding its breath – let’s hope the raft of new metal ready for 2009 gets people spending once again. Rest assured, we’ll be first to test these models and let you know which are worth buying!

New BMW 7-Series vs Mercedes S-Class (Issue 1,041)
Putting the credit crunch aside, BMW couldn’t have picked a worse moment to launch its conservatively styled new 7-Series. The 730d was marginally cheaper to buy and run than the S320 CDI. However, the big Mercedes is one of the best cars in the world – so the Bavarian marque had to settle for second place in this contest.

Space per pound test (Issue 1,042)
How do you assess which car gives you the best value for money? We thought of one method that had never been used before. Tapping into Auto Express’s huge Databank pages, we worked out the ratio of space per pound for every new car on sale in the UK today. Those offering the maximum capacity for your money were brought together for a special studio photoshoot where we tested their carrying capacity to the limit!