MG Motor UK’s stylish Supermini, the MG3, has reclaimed its top spot as the lowest priced car on the Motability Scheme.

• UK car brand reclaims title as best priced car on scheme 

MG Motor UK’s stylish Supermini, the MG3, has reclaimed its top spot as the lowest priced car on the Motability Scheme, meaning you could drive away a brand-new MG3 Form Sport with DAB radio, cruise control and smartphone integration for just £48.25 a week.

This offer is available to people on the Higher Rate Mobility Component of Disability Living Allowance (HRMC DLA), the Enhanced Rate of the Mobility Component of Personal Independence Payment (ERMC PIP) or the Armed Forces Independence Payment (AFIP) schemes. 

In addition, the MG3 Form Sport can be leased at a similarly competitive rate for people on the War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement (WPMS).

Priced over a three-year fixed lease agreement, the MG3 costs less than the total mobility allowance, which means the remainder of your allowance will be paid directly to you by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This equates to almost £1,404 in savings over the three-year period, which can be used towards fuel and parking.

The MG3 Form Sport comes packed full of features including a leather sport steering wheel, Bluetooth, 16” alloy-wheels and six speakers as standard. The worry-free lease also includes insurance for two named drivers, servicing, maintenance and full breakdown assistance from the RAC. If adaptations are required, many of these are available at no additional cost too.

Matthew Cheyne, Head of Sales and Marketing at MG Motor UK, added: “Nearly two thirds of MG dealerships have a Motability-trained specialist who can provide expert advice to customers and the number is growing. We believe the Motability Scheme is a great initiative and we are proud to once again be in the top spot.”

Awarded 4.5 out of 5 stars by AA Cars, the MG3 was praised for coming with many features other manufacturers would charge for. Economical, with good acceleration and an excellent driving position, there’s a lot to love about the stylish MG3.

The All-New Suzuki Swift, the best ever swift comes with deposit allowance and a loyalty bonus for existing owners.

• All-new Swift – Now on sale in the UK.
• Available as a Five-door model only, priced from £10,999 for SZ3 model.
• £500 finance deposit allowance offered on SZ-T and SZ5 two-wheel drive with 2.9 per cent APR finance.
• £500 loyalty offer towards Accessories for existing Suzuki owners.

The all-new Swift went on sale last week and Suzuki is pleased to announce the availability of its attractive PCP finance offers. Personal Contract Purchase is an ideal way for customers to take delivery of a new Suzuki with a very low deposit and low monthly payments too. Suzuki Financial Services is also offering a £500 deposit allowance with 2.9 per cent APR finance on SZ-T and SZ5 two wheel drive models until the end of June.

Taking an SZ-T with 1.0 Boosterjet engine as an example with the £500 deposit allowance on offer, no further deposit is required and payments are then spread over 48 months at £185 per month with an APR of just 2.9 per cent. 

Monthly payments can be lowered to £159 per month for the SZ-T if a small deposit of £1,163 is made. As with any PCP agreement, an optional final payment is required to keep the car which for this model is £4,645.

Moving to the top of the range SZ5 1.0-litre Boosterjet 2WD with the £500 deposit allowance, just £1,305 is all that is needed as a customer deposit followed by 48 monthly payments of £179 and an APR of 2.9 per cent. The optional final payment for this model is £5,153.

For even greater fuel efficiency, the SZ5 2WD with manual transmission is equipped as standard with SHVS (Smart Hybrid Vehicle by Suzuki) as standard. In situations that require higher fuel use, such as when starting from a standstill or accelerating, SHVS helps suppress fuel consumption by providing electric motor assist using electricity generated through regenerative braking. Because the system uses a belt drive rather than a conventional starter motor to restart the engine after an engine stop it allows for a quiet and smooth start.

The six speed automatic transmission equipped SZ5 is also included in the low rate and deposit allowance offers with a customer deposit of £1,543 required followed by 48 monthly payments of £199 .

Suzuki has introduced a new and comprehensive Accessories programme to enable customers to fully personalise their new Swift. As an introductory offer Suzuki will contribute £500 towards these to all existing Suzuki car owners. The only stipulation is that customers must have had a Suzuki car in the same household for at least 90 days and the accessories are ordered at point of purchase.

Specification Highlights

Standard equipment for all Swift models in the range is comprehensive and the SZ3 model with 1.2-litre Dualjet engine and manual transmission includes six airbags, air conditioning, leather steering wheel, DAB radio with Bluetooth and four speakers, rear privacy glass, LED daytime running lights, 15-inch wheels, body coloured door mirrors and front electric windows.  

Pricing

1.2-litre SZ3 Dualjet - manual transmission	£10,999
1.0-litre SZ-T Boosterjet - manual transmission	£12,999
1.0-litre SZ5 Boosterjet SHVS - manual transmission	£14,499
1.0-litre SZ5 Boosterjet  - automatic transmission	£15,849
1.2-litre SZ5 SHVS ALLGRIP - manual transmission	£15,499

MG Motors makes an unbeatable offer on the Style+ MG3 supermini, now's the time to buy.

• £189 to drive away today in a brand-new MG3 Style+

A brand new, top of the range MG3 Style+ is now available for an initial deposit of just £189, followed by 60 monthly payments of £189*. The impressive finance offer launched by MG Motor UK is interest free, with no balloon payment at the end of the agreement.

Following the 17-model year re-packaging of the Supermini, the MG3 Style+ features an upgraded interior that now comes with a leather trim as standard. 

The car also has as standard 16” ‘Diamond’ alloy wheels, cruise control, automatic lights and windscreen wipers, as well as reverse parking sensors. Stacked with technology, the Style+ features smartphone integration, Bluetooth audio streaming and a DAB digital radio. 

All MG3 models in the range also come with loads of personalisation options, with graphic packs allowing drivers to customise their MG3 to their own taste and style.

Matthew Cheyne, Head of Sales and Marketing at MG Motor UK, said: “As a company, MG produces cars that are versatile enough to suit the needs of everyone. Finance offers like this are an important part of making sure that anyone can drive away in a brand new car that delivers an outstanding driving experience.”

The MG3 Supermini is a great all-rounder, perfect for young drivers with its low insurance group rating and prices starting at just £8,695. The MG3 Style+ is the premium model in the range and was voted a top five Supermini in the Auto Express Driver Power survey.

TMW - The Suzuki Ignis, another brilliant small car from Suzuki, the brand that specialises in small cars.

Well, today seems to be the era of SUV and small cars, an area that Suzuki dominates, the small car range is one of the best that you can buy, from the Celerio, Swift, Baleno and this the Ignis, a name that’s from its past, but placed onto a brilliant new car, and one that deserves to take the sector to new heights.

This car is not very big from the look of it, but it is really like a TARDIS, for those Dr Who fans, there seems to be so much room inside, that five adults CAN sit in reasonable comfort, or four adults for a longer journey, at less than 4m long and less than 1.8 m wide, you can quite clearly see that it is a small car, but that’s not just its IP.

This car can come with a mild hybrid system, and a four wheel drive set up too, with auto and manual, and a 1.2litre engine as fitted to our car.

Let’s start with the exterior, it is different, and vastly likeable, it looks chunky and capable, which it is, the oversized headlights, LED projector are like a pair of eyes, the lines of the car flow through to the back where there is a louvered look to the C-Pillar, it gives the car a different look and one that suits it very much.

it then follows around to the back where the boot is sharply cut off, which unfortunately gives the boot a small amount of room, an extra inch or two would have made all the difference, but this is what you get for the money, and at £14,464 for the top of the range with optional paint, you get a lot of car for that money.

The nice and well suited black alloy wheels along with the white paint really go together very well, once inside, the dashes of orange break up a dark interior, an interior that's well positioned with lots of toys and kit.

The seats we found are very comfortable, but our only concern is the side bolsters are not supported, they feel like they are just shaped foam, which over time will go flat and make the seat covers floppy, but as a loan car, they are very suitable and comfortable.

You can manoeuvre the seats and steering wheel enough to get you a near perfect position, once there everything is at hand, you do not need to stretch for buttons or switchgear, and the touchscreen tablet, which is similar to Mercedes, in the way it is just attached to the dash rather than be a full part of the dash, has everything near and handy, and very easy to use.

The sat nav is a little slow; well to be honest the entire tablet is very slow with PIONEER on screen for ages before it comes to life, once there all is good, with plenty of options onscreen to play with.

The rear seats are suitably comfortable, and four can sit there in comfort for longer journeys, with five able to sit for shorter ones, anything longer and the three adults in the back would get uncomfortable, quickly.

The boot space is ok, it can take a couples weekly shopping, or with the seats down you get far more room to put bigger amounts of luggage etc.

Once on the road the 1.2 litre can easily keep up with motorway traffic and can overtake with ease too, the car has a top speed of 106mph, but at 11.4 seconds to 62mph, it is a tad slow, but once wound up, it’s a great car, it has a raspy engine note that sounds very sporty, but once in top gear, and you are cruising, that note seems to disappear and it becomes a nice quiet environment, the fuel consumtion of the 1,2 litre is

·       Urban 57.6mpg

·       Extra Urban 70.6mpg

·       Combined 65.7mpg

Are these achievable, well, no, no matter how I drove the car I could not get the in-car display to get anywhere near the indicated figures, but I did get an over all of 50.4mpg, and that included local, city and motorway driving, as well as a long distance journey to the SMMT event at Millbrook.

The clutch is very, very, light, I struggled for the first couple of days to get the biting point just right without slipping it too much, but by the time it came to give the car back, I was able to change gear nicely.

The car has a vast array of standard kit and equipment, to make it a safe and easy car to drive, these include but not limited too

·       AllGrip Four Wheel Drive

·       16” Black Gloss Alloys

·       Rear Privacy Glass

·       Wheel Arch Extensions

·       Navigation System

·       Bluetooth

·       Steering wheel Controls

·       Auto Air Conditioning

·       Automatic Light

·       Automatic Wipers

·       LED Daytime Running Lights

·       Double height luggage area floor

·       DAB Radio

·       Twin USB Socket

·       Electric windows all round

·       Information Display

·       Keyless entry and start

·       TPMS

·       Engine auto Start/Stop

·       Cruise control

·       And far, far, more

The Ignis is a brilliant car; there is no getting away from that, Suzuki really does know what they are doing when it comes to design and implementation of small cars and SUV’s, the Ignis generated a number of comments from other journalists and even one of my neighbours come across to enquire about it, and thought it was a really nice car.

CONCLUSION

Ok, it’s not short of issues, with the main one being the tablet, it is just far too slow, ignore that and you have a car capable of doing everything you need of it, even going off road, not in the style of a Land Rover but its able to take rough ground in it’s stride and just waft over it.

It’s a car that will suit a number of people, from the single person, couples, or even with kids, its not a full five up long distance cruiser, the rear seats passengers would not be that comfortable for long.

I have had a number of cars and the Ignis is one I miss, it was fun, even when the car stopped it’s self because some moron walked out into the road, the car braked and stopped before I had the opportunity to think about it, and that was amazing, all cars should have this fitted as standard, it would stop a lot of rear end shunts and pedestrian accidents.

Dacia launches an all new Stepway model based on the popular Logan MCV Estate.

• Following in the tracks of the Sandero, it is now the turn of the Logan MCV to join Dacia’s Stepway family.
• The new Logan MCV Stepway enhances its credentials as a thoroughly modern and generously-proportioned estate car with a distinctly rugged look.
• Playing to its major strength of practicality, the new Logan MCV Stepway carries over all the key qualities of the Logan MCV, from its impressively spacious interior space – including five proper seats – to a 573-litre boot, which is amongst the largest in any segment of the market.
• New limited-edition S.E. Summit versions for each member of the Stepway family and the Duster.
• The brand continues to grow and achieved record sales figures in 2016. In the 44 different markets in which Dacia is active, it sold 584,219 vehicles in total, representing a year-on-year increase of six per cent.

The Stepway family, one of Dacia’s biggest success stories, maintains its growing momentum with the addition of a fifth member to the Dacia range – the new Logan MCV Stepway – following the Sandero, Sandero Stepway, Duster and Logan MCV.

The new Logan MCV Stepway sports an undeniably muscular build, with an assertive personality that draws inspiration from the world of crossover styling, offering first class practicality and vast load space at an extremely competitive price.

The generously proportioned new Logan MCV Stepway carries over all the key qualities of the Logan MCV:

• Impressive interior space, with five proper seats
• A 573-litre boot – amongst the largest in any segment of the automotive market

On the design front, the new Logan MCV Stepway has a distinctly modern edge, including a new lighting signature, new interior updates, additional storage space and upgraded equipment specifications.

Distinctive styling

With its rugged good looks, eye-catching features and generous specification, the new Logan MCV Stepway is clearly a member of the Stepway family.

For easier ingress, its ground clearance has been increased to 174mm – 50mm more than that of the Logan MCV, while its high-up driving position ensures outstanding visibility.

At the front, the new Logan MCV Stepway sports a two-tone bumper as well as a satin-effect chrome skid plate, plus the fitment of fog lights. 

The model similarly incorporates Dacia’s new lighting signature unveiled at last year’s Paris Motor Show and which imbues it with a dynamic and thoroughly contemporary appearance, with headlights that now incorporate LED Daytime Running Lights (DRL) in the form of four stacked rectangles. 

This modern design results in a visibly wider look for the front end of the new Logan MCV Stepway.

The front bumper has been modified to exude an elegant yet athletic stance. Like the other models in the Stepway line-up, the new Logan MCV Stepway’s grille mirrors the black elements of the two-tone bumper, with the chrome rectangles rounding off its distinctive style in much the same manner as the Duster. 

Meanwhile, seen from the side, the wheel arches and sills are accentuated by an exclusive trim that emphasises the model’s bold, powerful feel. 

The new Logan MCV Stepway also comes with Dark Metal door mirror housings and Stepway decals on the front doors, along with Dark Metal longitudinal roof bars which further emphasise the model’s estate car lines.

At the rear, the tail lights are picked out in black, while the new Logan MCV Stepway’s two-tone bumper and satin-effect chrome skid plate are characteristic cues of Dacia’s Stepway range.

The new Logan MCV Stepway comes in a choice of two colours at launch – namely the brand’s iconic Azurite Blue and Mink – combined with new, 16-inch Stepway Dark Metal Flexwheel wheels. This smart, economical and attractive system comprises a slotted wheel trim design that fits over a similarly slotted rim.

A modern interior with more features than ever before

Inside the cabin, the new Logan MCV Stepway enjoys a new, more status-enhancing ambience first introduced several months ago in the new Sandero. This can be seen in the satin-effect chrome door releases, while the centre console fascia and air vents are trimmed by similarly-coloured surrounds.

The new Logan MCV Stepway comes with Dacia’s new four-spoke steering wheel – complete with horn push in the centre – in the brand’s Soft Feel finish, making it highly durable, easy on the eye and pleasant to the touch. The steering wheel mounted-controls are now better integrated, resulting in a more user-friendly and comfortable driving experience. In the middle of the wheel, beneath the Dacia logo, the word ‘Stepway’ is picked out in blue.

The upholstery fabric selected for the new Logan MCV Stepway first appeared inside the new Sandero Stepway. These seats feature a 3D weave for a greater sensation of depth, enhanced by top-stitching. The overall effect is an even more dynamic design.

More extensively equipped for enhanced comfort

The new Logan MCV Stepway will be available in Laureate trim only, featuring MediaNav Evolution, rear parking sensors, air conditioning, DAB radio and Hill Start Assist (HSA). Leather upholstery, reverse parking camera and height adjustment package are also available.

The vehicle’s interior features have been conceived to take the strain out of everyday motoring. The door-mounted front and rear electric window switches fall more easily to hand than before. For enhanced comfort, drivers now benefit from a one-touch function and a retractable centre armrest incorporated into the seat. Last but not least, the model is fitted with one-touch direction indicators and a lit glove box.

In addition to the many stowage areas located conveniently throughout the cabin, rear passengers are pampered by a ceiling light and a 12V power supply to connect and charge portable devices.

The new Logan MCV Stepway will be available with a choice of engine and transmission options:

• Petrol: TCe 90 with Stop & Start (S&S) mated to a five-speed manual gearbox (combined cycle fuel consumption: 5.1 litres/100km / CO₂ emissions: 115g/km).
• Diesel: dCi 90 S&S coupled to a five-speed manual gearbox (combined cycle fuel consumption: 3.9 litres/100km / CO₂ emissions: 100g/km).

Dacia continues to break its own sales records

In 2016, in the 44 markets in which Dacia models are sold, the brand achieved sales of some 584,219 units, representing a year-on-year gain of six percent. This positive trend can be seen across all of the regions in which Dacia is active, with no fewer than 28 countries establishing either new market share or new sales records.

The brand’s share of the passenger car and LCV market expanded by 0.1 percentage points to 2.4 percent in Europe, by 0.2 percentage points to 7.9 percent in Eurasia and by 1.1 percentage points to 19.4 percent in the Maghreb region.

• In Europe, Dacia’s sales totalled 415,010 units – a new record and an increase of 10.8 per cent. The Sandero was ranked fourth in the B segment for retail customers, with the Duster second in the C segment for retail customers and the best-selling SUV in the same segment.
• In France, Dacia reported a 12.1 per cent rise in overall sales to 112,111 vehicles, setting a new record as more than 110,529 passenger cars were sold to retail customers. Sales of the Sandero climbed by 24.2 per cent to make it the number two model amongst retail customers in France, with Dacia the fourth-highest selling retail customer brand.
• In its other European markets, Dacia saw its sales increase by 10.4 per cent to 302,899 units. In Italy, the brand posted record sales of 52,272 units – a gain of 11.6 per cent. The brand was similarly successful in the UK, achieving sales of 26,562 (up 1.1 per cent) in a stable, business customer-oriented market. A new record was also established in Poland, as sales rose an impressive 29.3 per cent to 19,275 units.
• In Switzerland, too, the brand enjoyed excellent growth, gaining 0.7 percentage points of market share to attain a new high of 2.2 per cent. This represented Dacia’s best year to-date in the country as it increased its sales by 39.9 per cent to 7,824 units.
• In those Eurasian markets where it has a presence, Dacia has gained 0.2 percentage points to earn a market share of 7.9 per cent, with sales up by 5.8 per cent to a total of 90,926 units. The brand remains the market leader in both Romania and Bulgaria. In the former, Dacia sold 38,861 vehicles in 2016 to claim a 29.6 per cent share of the market. In Turkey, meanwhile, the brand broke new records in terms of both vehicle sales (47,529 units, up 6.3 per cent) and market share (4.8 per cent, up 0.2 percentage points).
• In the Maghreb, Dacia’s market share stands at 19.4 per cent with 66,165 sales in 2016 – an increase of 1.1 per cent. The brand is performing particularly well in Israel, where the first Dacia showroom opened its doors only two years ago and where 4,246 sales – a climb of 65 per cent – provided the brand with a 1.5 per cent share of the market. Dacia continues to lead the way, finally, in terms of vehicle sales in Morocco with a market share of 26.6 per cent, translating into 43,408 vehicle sales in 2016 (up 16.1 per cent).

Over the last 12 years, Dacia has sold more than four million vehicles. Today, the brand stands out as a major player in the automotive market thanks to its clear policy of manufacturing attractive models that provide real value for money for the equipment they pack.

Dacia’s models are built at four different factories on two continents, with plants in Pitesti (Romania), Tangier and Casablanca (Morocco), and Oran (Algeria). The company’s policy is to produce as close as possible to its markets in order to adapt to the different needs of its customers as closely as possible.

In its attractive product range, Dacia is a popular thanks to its active community of followers, with some 3.5 million fans across its various social networks.