This content is out of date and scheduled to be removed.

Weekly round-up: discovering the new Discovery, the safest cars and unsafe drivers

Image of Chris Evans
Author: | Updated: 16 Dec 2016 14:22

As we enter the final week before Christmas, purse strings might be feeling a little bit tight due to a combination of last-minute present buying as well as budgeting for the many, many social gatherings that come part and parcel of the festive period.

Getting into the car park of any shopping centre to do some Christmas shopping – whether it’s the Trafford Centre, Liverpool One, Bluewater or even just your local Tesco – can prove to be a troublesome task in December and getting out even more so. But we’ve had no trouble getting this week’s round-up out, so we should be on Santa’s good list.

Weekly Round-up 16-12-16

Easy to park

With parking prangs on the rise, and everybody rushing around looking for presents, we decided now was an opportune time to compile a list of top five city cars that can help you avoid any parking peril, complete with their dimensions.

From the Renault Twingo to the Toyota Aygo, we chose some of the smallest cars with the widest turning circles you can lease, ensuring any Christmas shopping trip, no matter how stressful will at least be a doddle when it comes to getting in and getting out of the parking bay.

Parking Prangs On The Rise

If our choices aren’t for you, or you’re operating on a strict budget but are still looking for the latest automobile, we’ve also compiled a list of cars you can lease for under £100. This is updated weekly and offers a range of suitable vehicles – anything from the Volkswagen Up to the Fiat 500.

Off the beaten track

If budget is no obstacle to leasing and you need something that offers a little more flexibility, refinement, and all-round driving ability, then you might want to wait for the Mercedes-Benz E-Class All-Terrain.

Mercedes-Benz E-Class All-Terrain

Offering more space and practicality, as well as a smoother ride and transmission than rivals, we were very impressed when we took it for a spin.

So, what specifically has Mercedes done to turn an E350d Estate into the All-Terrain? Well, you’ll notice the plastic cladding around the wheelarches, 19-inch alloy wheels, chunkier bumpers, sill protectors and a new grille treatment that provides a visual link to the firm’s other SUV models.

Mercedes-Benz E-Class All-Terrain Interior

That’s the obvious stuff, but more important are the changes under the skin. This centres on the Air Body Control suspension which uses multi-chamber air cushions in place of steel springs and shock absorbers. Together with the larger tyres adding 14mm of additional ground clearance on their own, the suspension adds another 15mm of ride height so the All-Terrain sits 121mm proud of the road beneath it.

In short, the All-Terrain is ideal for getting you to your winter holiday destination and dealing with the usual winter road conditions experienced in the UK.

If that all sounds rather pedestrian, or you daren’t drive something as elegant and classy as an E-Class across a variety of terrain (and we can’t blame you), then you might want to wait just a little bit longer and keep it traditional with the Land Rover Discovery 5.

Land Rover Discovery 5 Off-Roading

We were given access to a near production-ready prototype Discovery 5 to try out on some of Scotland’s toughest off-road routes and found it to be even more able off-road than its predecessor.

The Terrain Response system allows you to tailor the car’s ability to cope with whatever conditions you find yourself in, or you can leave it in Auto for the computers to do all the hard work.

With this in mind we pointed the Discovery 5 toward slippery and rutted forest tracks, drenched boulders, and into deep water. The off-roader brushed each challenge off with casual disdain as the Ingenium 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel engine with 258hp and 443lb ft of torque powered through each challenge.

Land Rover Discovery 5 In Water

When we were in the cab of the Discovery 5 we felt the epitome of safe no matter what off-road challenge faced us, so we’d love to see how it would fare in a Euro NCAP test.

Spotlight on safety

The Euro NCAP rating has become the ultimate sign of safety for car manufacturers and this week they announced their ‘best in class’ cars of 2016 for the small family car, large family car and small off-roader categories.

Euro NCAP best in class cars 2016

Winner of the small family car was the Hyundai Ioniq. The Toyota Prius was the winner of large family car and the small off-roader category was won by the Volkswagen Tiguan. As safe as these cars are, a majority of road users continue to needlessly put lives at risk by using their mobile phone while driving.

Using mobile phone while driving

Things came to a slightly concerning head this week when a survey revealed that two-thirds of motorists believe the government should introduce some sort of oppressive technology to disable certain phone functions when driving. The reason? Road users simply can’t resist the temptation of checking their phone when stationary or in slow moving traffic.

Almost half of drivers admitted to researchers that they think it is okay to look at their phone when stopped or in slow moving traffic and of those that admitted to breaking the current law, 31% said they had done so in the last month. Our hot take – be responsible and have some self-control!

With that said, we’re all off to sing a Christmas Carol rendition of Cars by Gary Numan to get in the festive mood. Enjoy your weekend and stay safe!

Previous Post Next Post
Not sure what car you want?
  • Easy-to-use tool
  • Save time and money
  • Meet your match
Find your dream car