WHY should I let my personal feelings influence a car report?
I’ll tell you why. Because I think I’m right. Simple as that.
I’ve got absolutely nothing against the Bentley Bentayga that I don’t hold against other monster SUVs.
So when it got a hammering from me and Honest John in our book Cartastrophes it was part of a rant against the whole world of giant, fuel guzzling, road wrecking, polluting, anti-planet godzillas that should never have been made in the first place.
Cars like the Range Rover Vogue, Toyota Land Cruiser, Porsche Cayenne, Maserati Levante and the soon to be launched on the defenceless Rolls-Royce Cullinan would be fine if they were driven by people who need them, but they’re not.
And that brings me to my main gripe about SUVs... it’s the people who drive them.
Honest and I didn’t hold back in slaughtering these posing WANT to buy my wife a zippy hot-hatch for her birthday. My budget is £3,000 and 35mpg must be achievable. What are my choices? up is a 2007 Suzuki Swift Sport. Weighing in at just 1,100kg, its 123hp 1.6-litre engine gives the car all the vim and vigour she could want, plus claimed average fuel economy comes in at an impressive 40mpg. That’s despite a spritely 0-62mph time of 8.9s and a top speed of PRICE (on the road): £139,100. Range to: £233,455.
3,956cc, alloy head, iron block, 32-valve, DOHC, direct injection diesel with two twin scroll turbos (435hp, 900Nm/664lb torque). 124mph. Standard kit includes 17-inch alloys, electric front windows, a radio and air-con. Yours for £2,990, the example we’ve found has 88,000 miles on the clock. Our next contender is a CO2: Familiar face among the pocketrocket fraternity – the Ford Fiesta ST. We’ve found a tidy-looking 2007 model with 84,000 miles under its belt and listed with just two previous lady owners. Boast- ing a bigger, more powerful engine than the Swift Sport, the 148hp 2.0-litre Fiesta ST is good for 0-62mph in 7.9 seconds and a top speed of 129mph, yet should still return fuel economy in the mid-thirties.
Included in the price is air-con, electric front windows and the incredibly handy feature of a heated front windscreen – perfect for those frosty winter mornings. On the market for exactly £3,000.
Finally, we’ve scouted out a 22-inch black painted and polished alloys. Posh does not begin to describe it.
The performance was sizzling, all the way up to 168mph, which was not surprising as its 4.0-litre V8 diesel engine was powered by the equivalent of four turbo chargers producing a monumental 900Nm of torque from just 1,000rpm.
In other words, from the moment you pressed the throttle it took off.
What was surprising, though, is that it was connected to a near 17-feet long brute that weighed in at 2,500kg. That’s the same as two Vauxhall Astras.
Fiddling with its eight different driving modes or adjusting its height from merely tower block to the Shard couldn’t stop it being far too bouncy on anything but a perfect surface while with the rear seats folded out of sight it left a colossal 6ft 9in space big enough to take a hospital bed back to a nursing home.
And that’s exactly what I did. When I arrived with it I said: “I haven’t got a truck, but I have got this Bentley.” tasty 2008 Renault Twingo Renaultsport. With 133hp on tap from its 1.6-litre engine, the Twingo sits in the middle of our three cars for outright power, and manages a 0-62mph time of 8.7 seconds and an average 40mpg.
Standard equipment on this car includes air-con, front electric windows and 16-inch alloys.
With a full service history and 88,000 miles on the odometer, this piece of French hot-hatchery is yours for £2,850.