Euro NCAP tests six new cars with ratings varying from 3 stars to the full 5 star rating.

Euro NCAP releases the results of six new cars. The Audi Q5, Land Rover Discovery and Toyota C-HR all get a top five-star safety rating; Citroën’s C3 gets four stars; and FIAT’s ageing 500 and Ford’s brand new Ka+ notched up three out of five stars apiece.    

The new Audi Q5 and Toyota C-HR showed good all-round performance in all areas of assessment to earn their five-star ratings. The Land Rover Discovery scored highly enough to merit a five-star rating, but not without problems. 

In the frontal offset test, the driver airbag bottomed out owing to insufficient pressure and, in the side barrier test, the driver’s door became unlatched.

Grateful thanks to Euro NCAP for the use of the pictures.

Euro NCAP’s Secretary General, Michiel van Ratingen, said, “Jaguar Land Rover has an ambitious programme of new model releases in the coming years. We hope that this challenging schedule and tight development times do not compromise the safety of the vehicles offered, and we hope that they will take our findings onboard”.

Still going strong more than 10 years after it first hit markets, FIAT’s reincarnation of the iconic 500 continues to be a popular choice in the supermini segment. Euro NCAP tested the recent facelift against the latest safety rules and benchmarked its performance with two newcomers in the same segment, the all-new Citroën C3 and the low-cost Ford Ka+. Superminis are extremely popular in the European new car market and the segment is very price-sensitive. To deliver attractive yet affordable cars, manufacturers are tempted to cut down on safety equipment, emphasising great looks and style instead. Case in point are the FIAT 500 and the Ford Ka+ that lack rear seatbelt pretensioners and load-limiters, by now standard on most cars on the market.

In the full-width frontal crash test, introduced in 2015, the 500 showed poor protection of both the driver and the rear seat passenger. In the Ka+, chest protection was rated as poor. Both cars also lack autonomous braking technology, already offered on half of new models today. The Citroën C3 on the other hand performed much more robustly: it narrowly missed a top five-star rating, falling only just short of the threshold in pedestrian protection.

Euro NCAP’s Secretary General, Michiel van Ratingen, said, “The 500 is an old car by now and the small improvements that FIAT have made on the facelift don’t hide that. Consumers may be better off waiting for the all-new 500 and hope that FIAT will take the opportunity to offer a vehicle that competes on safety with its competitors, as the original did 10 years ago. Unfortunately, high hopes for the segment are smashed by Ford by releasing a brand new Ka+ with mediocre safety performance. The car lacks the more sophisticated restraint systems offered by most of its rivals, let alone more sophisticated technology like autonomous braking. The new C3 shows that a respectful rating is achievable also for superminis.”               

Detailed results and crash test pictures of these cars are published on our website. All videos are available on our YouTube channel. For media requests, please contact Marie Brasseur at media@euroncap.com. More safety ratings will be released on April 12, 2017

As the United Kingdom weather turns for the worse, the second hand off roader market grows in all segments.

• Continued growth in used car transactions across all segments in Q3 2015
• Three per cent year-on-year increase in used car transactions for July to September 2015
• 2015 sees the highest Q3 for used car transactions since 2007
• Used 4x4s saw the strongest performance with 9.1% growth year on year

The UK used car market continues to grow, with recent DVLA statistics showing that used car transactions have grown by three per cent year on year during the July to September period for 2015. Year to date used car transactions have also increased, by 4.2% and 225,000 units year-on-year.

The 4x4 segment showed the strongest performance with used sales of large and small 4x4s growing by 9.1% year on year as the UK moves towards Winter, and savvy shoppers prepare for weather warnings this week ahead of the threat of heavy snow bought by Storm Barney.

Auto Trader, the UK’s largest digital automotive marketplace for buying and selling new and used vehicles, have revealed the Top 10 most searched for 4x4s for July to September 2015.

1. BMW X5
2. Land Rover Range Rover
3. Land Rover Range Rover Sport
4. BMW X3
5. Mercedes-Benz M-Class
6. Honda CR-V
7. VW Touareg
8. Land Rover Range Rover Evoque
9. Toyota RAV4
10. Audi Q5

Auto Trader’s Retailer and Consumer Products Director Karolina Edwards-Smajda, said; “The current increasing levels of used car transactions are a bi-product of the strong new car registrations that have been experienced over the last few years, with these vehicles now re-entering the used car market. Transactions for nearly new cars less than one year old and cars between one and three years old are fuelling the growth, showing an increase of 8% and 15% year-on-year respectively.

Which cars are popular in which area's of the UK, read on to find out.

SUV IS TOP IN LONDON’S POSHEST AREA

• carwow.co.uk reveals Britain’s favourite drives region-by region, based on the cars configured and bought through the site during summer 2015
• carwow users in the north clearly favour the Ford Fiesta, while those in the south prefer the Nissan Qashqai
• London’s favourite car as a whole is the VW Golf, while central London likes the Discovery, Knightsbridge prefers the Range Rover Sport and those in Canary Wharf like the Mercedes C-Class
• Glasgow drivers prefer something a little faster, with the 296bhp VW Golf R the most popular car. The Audi Q5 SUV is favourite in Aberdeen
• The Qashqai is favourite in Sunderland where it is built, the Fiesta is popular near Ford’s Technical Centre in Essex, while the Vauxhall Mokka tops the chart in Luton, where Vauxhall is headquartered

carwow.co.uk – the site for Britain’s new-car buyers – has analysed car configurations and sales on its site to discover that the Ford Fiesta and Nissan Qashqai are the nation’s favourite cars.

But the north-south divide appears to be alive and well, with those in the north preferring the accessible Ford, while those in the south would rather drive the more upmarket Nissan SUV.

Blackburn, Bolton, Carlisle, Derby, Durham, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Preston, Sheffield and more are all cities where the Fiesta tops the charts. Meanwhile, Cambridge, Croydon, Exeter, Guildford, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Reading, Worcester and other southern cities all prefer the Qashqai.

Interestingly, Sunderland – where the Qashqai is built – favours the Nissan, while all the areas that surround it favour the Fiesta. In Essex, where Ford’s Dunton Technical Centre is based, the Fiesta takes the top spot in Romford, Colchester and Southend. In Luton, where Vauxhall is headquartered, the brand’s Mokka SUV is top of the leaderboard.

Detailed maps of London and the areas around Birmingham and Manchester reveal different tastes across cities. Alderley Edge, for example, known as the home of many of Manchester’s Premiership footballers favours the Audi Q5 luxury SUV, while Manchester’s favourite car is the VW Polo. Birmingham’s wealthy Edgbaston area likes the Mercedes C-Class while Birmingham itself prefers the Ford Fiesta.

In London, the VW Golf reigns supreme but in Knightsbridge – home of the world-famous Harrod’s store – the Range Rover Sport luxury SUV comes out on top. On some of the capital’s most congested streets – in Central London – the Land Rover Discovery is favourite. Meanwhile, in Canary Wharf, where many of the nation’s banks are headquartered, the Mercedes C-Class is the most popular car.

Some cities in the UK clearly have more exotic taste in cars, with the top-configured car in Glasgow being the 296bhp four-wheel-drive Volkswagen Golf R. In Aberdeen, meanwhile, it was the Audi Q5 luxury SUV.

James Hind, CEO of carwow, said: “Every month we see just under 100,000 new cars configured on carwow.co.uk, which gives us a real insight to car-buying habits and trends across Britain. It’s great to see the majority of regions in the UK are driving a car with a British connection – the Qashqai is built here, much of the Fiesta was developed here and the Mokka, popular Range Rover and Land Rover models all come from British brands.”