TMW - The 2014 Small SUV/Crossover Of The Year Award goes to...............

SMALL SUV/CROSSOVER - The biggest growth market, with all manufaturers building these models

RANGE ROVER EVOQUE - The Evoque was a massive gamble for Land Rover, and it has paid off handsomely, based on the underpinnings of the Freelander 2, the Evoque was a styling exercise, when all that came before it were square, boxy and utilitarian, the Evoque proved you could have the off road ability with good looks, and since the model arrived, the RR and RR Sport have both become more curvaceous.

DISCOVERY SPORT - The new Freelander, but don't say that to Land Rover, they will get one on... LOL... the new DS, is exactly that, but at a vastly inflated price, with lots of parts bin trim, and fixtures, the DS is more like a rehash rather than an all new model, and that price, they are really taking the piss with that.

NISSAN QASHQAI - The Nissan CashCow, as most people call  it, for obvious reasons, has given Nissan a massive boost in profits and sales, all round the globe, its just been tweaked, and further enhanced, it is a great car, more suited to on road, I wouldn't want to take it off road, unless i had a Land Rover to drag me out.

JEEP CHEROKEE - Jeep is having a major renaissance of late, with huge sales jumps, all over the globe, the Cherokee and Grand Cherokee, are in part responsible for this, ignore the funny looks, and you will have a great car, even though you do get the standard typical utilitarian US interior, hopefully under FIAT control, the Chrysler Group brands will have some much needed upgrades in interior quality and style.

VAUXHALL MOKKA - Vauxhall has added a Small SUV, and it is not half bad, the 1.4 auto is a great version, but you do get the standard Vauxhall interior, which has about two million buttons and dials, it can be off putting, but once you get past that, and some hard scratchy plastics, in SE trim, you can get a decent discount, shame Vauxhall has dumped the lifetime warranty, it was a deal clincher for a lot of people.

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When you talk about Sports Utility vehicles or Crossovers, you generally have to bring up Land Rover, and its luxury sibling, Range Rover, so it is no surprise that there are two models from the brand that has forgotten more about going off road than other actually know, the first being the Range Rover Evoque (RRE), the Evoque was originally going to be a land Rover model, bringing the LR range into the new millennium, but it got such huge reviews that it was pushed upwards to become a RR, and as we know the rest is history, massive sales, massive profits and stunning looks, keep this car selling, and selling really well, in fact it is the best selling car they they have ever had.

It then brings us nicely to the next LR product, the all-new, Discovery Sport, the DS is a replacement for the Freelander 2, which has been an unmitigated hit for LR, and still is, we found, when looking over the DS, at great length at Paris, that they car has lost the plot, it shares a number of components with the Jag XE, and Freelander 2, yet the cost has sky rocketed, about a year ago, you could get a Freelander 2 for about £24k, one year later the cheapest is nearly £33k, that is one HUGE jump, and not worth it, the 5+2 seating, might seem like a good idea, but it is a gimmick, once the +2 seats have been raised, there is virtually no room at all for, well, anything, definitely not luggage, or a pet, or a weekly shop, so what is the point of it.

So, i am pleased to move on to the next nomination, the massively successful Nissan Qashqai, the original replaced the Almera hatchback, and was a gamble for Nissan, as there was no replacement for the Almera, in its class, but they got it right, and at the right time, just as small SUV's and Crossovers started to sell well, it was a master stroke, the MK I was reliable, cheap and sold like hot cakes, the next gen carried on where the last one left off, and continues to sell well, but it is staid, not that exciting to look at, and is becoming a little expensive, but could it win amongst the rest of the competition.

Our American cousins have their own Land Rover, and that's Jeep, arguably the brand that started the 4x4 movement with the Willy's Jeep back in the 1940's, the look of that is still around today in the Wrangler, but that's where the good looks end, especially with the Cherokee, it is far from the prettiest of cars around, and is also one of the ugly cars of the year nominations, since FIAT has gained control of Chrysler Group LLC, it can be argued that they have added some better interiors to the cars, as US products are not known for there luxury interiors, bland, black and plastic are three words that can usually be used, so hopefully FIAT can add a touch of class to the looks of all future products as well as better interiors, as they do know what they are doing.

Then it brings us to the last car, the Vauxhall/Opel Mokka, for a small SUV/Crossover, it really is quite large, in fact it is a bit of a jump to get in, the car is well screwed together, and with a new range of engines, and more to come, the Mokka is definitely a car that should be considered when looking for a new car in this class, the interior does have some hard plastics, and there are rather a lot of buttons, like the Meriva, but once you work out what does what, most of them never need to be used again. 

The bright orange screen in the centre of the console and dash binnacle, needs to be looked at, its looking a little dated, but is adequate, and does everything you ask of it, the 1.4 auto is our pick of the range, it is quick, quiet and reasonably economical. There is loads of boot space and rear access and space is also quite good, is it good enough to win though ?

THE 2014 SMALL SUV/CROSSOVER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Goes to..........................

Yes the Mokka is good enough, in our eyes at least, the car is really a a good car thats not that well known, and that needs to be addressed, yes they are advertising its socks off, with a weird advert, and you do see plenty on the roads, but nowhere enough, it is a great place to be inside, with comfortable seats, and plenty of glass to see all around, in SE trim, the top of the range, it comes with loads of toys, the 1.4 Auto is our choice of best in range, it is quite, comfortable, cheap and offers a great deal of car for the money, haggle hard and you can get decent discounts, worries about reliability should not be a concern, the withdrawal of the lifetime warrenty is also a negative point, but over all, this is a great package.

Jon Mower

TMW