Car Blog News & Directory

Hyundai i10 PCP Offer

Administrator — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:10:19 +0000

Even before it's launch Hyundai are doing the groundwork to give its new Hyundai i10 supermini the best possible start.

The i10 has already received outstanding Future Residual Values from CAP even before its launch beating all it's rivals and matching the VW Fox. Now the Korean car giant has devised a highly competitive PCP (Personal Contract Plan) as part of its Sequences programme.

From as little as £99 per month plus a deposit of between 18 & 20% of the purchase price, you will be able to drive away a brand new Hyundai i10 Comfort when it eventually hits the showrooms on April 2nd.

PCP's are becoming ever more popular amongst younger drivers who don't want the ownership or experience the pain of depreciation of ownership.

The i10 PCP offer will feature as part of Hyundai's National Press Campaign which commences on the 17th March. Dealers who have already received stocks of the Hyundai i10 can offer the deal from now until 30th March 2008.

Kia Offer Free Upgrade On Ceed Alloys

Administrator — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:02:27 +0000

If your in the market for a sporty new Kia Ceed then don't forget to ask about the free alloy wheel upgrade.

The offer is available, while stocks last, in three exterior colours – Silver Storm, Phantom Black and Abyss blue versions of the 1.6 CRDi LS Ceed five-door and Ceed SW models.

You can see how the alloys will look by visiting Kia UK's Design My Ceed accessory site which is a convenient, interactive tool to save you the hassle of shopping around and enables customers to visualise their ideal Kia package before committing to buy.

Hyundai i10 Misbuild Classic Models Destined For UK

Administrator — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:55:45 +0000

Despite missing out on the 1st of March new car registration rush, Hyundai have assured its dealer network of abundant supplies of its all new Hyundai i10 supermini.

However, despite the reassurance it would appear a 'misbuild' at the factory has lead to rear wash/wipes being left off the entry level Classic models bound for the UK. These are ultimately the bread and butter models in the range and therefor will not be available in time for the 2nd April launch.

Despite the hitch, the new Hyundai i10 has received positive news on its future values from CAP the leading provider of residual values in the UK.

CAP Monitor New Car data for March 2008 predicts future values based on 3 years, 60,000 miles for the new i10 at 39% across the entire range matching that of the Polo Fox, but leaving rivals like the Toyota Aygo, Chevrolet Matiz and Citroen C1 in the dust.

Of course this is all speculative but shows that the Korean car maker is taken seriously these days when launching new products into the market.

Hyundai i10 Prices and Specification

Administrator — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 18:53:08 +0000

Hyundai released the latest prices, specification and features of its all new Hyundai i10 supermini ahead of the official UK launch on 2nd April 2008.

Priced from £6,495 for the entry level model, the Hyundai i10 offers air conditioning across the range and with four airbags, fully integrated audio, six speakers, central locking and front electric windows also as standard, i10 promises to communicate a highly affordable high specification product with a strong unique selling point.

i10 has been positioned towards two target audiences: 70% Female / 30% Male - age 50 + & likely to be retired empty nester as well as 70% Female / 30% Male, Age 20 + & young, first car buyer.

The new Hyundai i10 will be available in three trim levels from launch: Classic - £6495, Comfort - £7,095 & Style - £7595. The Comfort model being the only one in the range to offer an optional 4-speed automatic transmission for an £800 premium. The 1.1 Petrol engine from the current Amica has also been refined and improved to reduce CO2 output and improve fuel consumption and performance.

Full exterior colour line up will include 1 solid, 3 metallic and 1 mica paint finishes and available with a Shadow Black interior from launch.

Like all Hyundai models, the i10 will come with Hyundai's 5yr Unlimited mileage Warranty.

Hyundai i30 Launched 1st September

Administrator — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 09:03:40 +0000

The first shipments of the all new Hyundai i30 arrive at Tilbury 11th August in time for its official launch on 1st September.

Stocks will be healthy with around 2200 cars being produced and delivered in time for the launch and beyond, which isn't usually the case with new product launches.

The Hyundai i30 TV sponsorship programme and online activity has already started and the TV advertising campaign begins week commencing 22nd August.

UK Press Launch Monday 6th August- Friday 10th August

The official UK launch of the Hyundai i30 will be held at Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire. This ride and drive event will cover up to 140 journalists from regional newspapers and magazines. Following the UK press launch, a number of Hyundai i30's will be targeted at certain media for road test reports. A number of long-term loans will be set up with publications such as What Car? for their long term road testing features.

RX8 Offer To Good To Be True

Administrator — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 21:52:45 +0000

We take it all back!! Those meanies over at Mazda have withdrew their offer of a brand new Mazda RX8 192 with only £495 deposit on Motability Contract Hire.

According to the RX8 Community, dealer pressure may be the reason behind the change of heart. We must admit that it was the craziest deal we have ever seen and we just hope customers in receipt of Motability took advantage before they changed their minds.

As we reported earlier there's obviously a surplus of 192 PS models in stock and Mazda need to redress the balance. Offering the Mazda RX8 through the Motability Contact Hire scheme was definitely the best way forward.

For a start it would have avoided heavily discounting the product, helping to protect future residual values (aka Mini). Secondly, Mazda could have offered the dealer network a nice batch of second hand Mazda RX8's with a full service history three years down the line…nice!

Nope that's too easy and instead it looks as though Mazda are just going to throw money at it and let dealers discount heavily. Which is all good and well for the customer right now, but in the fickle world of the Motor industry today's discount is tomorrow's depreciation, as anybody who has bought a Ford or Vauxhall will tell you.

Mazda Offer RX8 For Hire

Administrator — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 14:39:52 +0000

Mazda's latest offering of a RX8 192 bhp on Motability Contract Hire is without doubt their craziest deal…ever!!

More suprisingly though is that Mazda's PR machine isn't exactly shouting about it, leaving its own dealer network to spread the good news. Clearly there's a surplus of RX8 192 PS in both cloth and leather in the system and this is one sure fire way of shifting the metal.

If your in receipt of the higher rate Mobility allowance and your a DLA holder, part with £495 advance deposit and away you go…quickly. For War Pensioners the deposit is NIL.

If your wanting the leather trimmed version, Mazda have subsidised the scheme allowing you to place a £1,995 advanced deposit (DLA holders) or £1,198 if your a war pensioner.

Just too see what else was on offer for a similar deposit, we had a look at the latest quarterly price guide from Motability to just put this deal from Mazda into perspective. You can also download the price guide by clicking on that link.

Here's a select few from our findings based on Advanced Payment for DLA holders under £500 using the higher rate of Motability allowance:

Renault New Clio Expression 1.5dCi 86 5dr - £495 deposit and higher rate
Renault Modus 1.5dCi 86 Expression AC - £395 deposit and higher rate
Peugeot 206 1.4HDi 70 Look HB 3dr - £349 deposit and higher rate
Peugeot 307 HB 1.6 TIP S 5dr - £449 deposit and higher rate
Ford Focus 1.6TDCi 90 Style 5dr - £400 deposit and higher rate
Vauxhall Astra 1.3CDTi 16v AC 90 Life Estate - £399 deposit and higher rate
Renault Grand Scenic 1.6 111 Dynamique 5st - £495 deposit and higher rate

In the Coupe/Convertible section we found the following:

Smart fortwo 0.7 Cab Passion - £1663
Renault Megane CC 1.5dCi 106 6 Speed Dynamique - £1895
Nissan Micra C+C 1.4 URBIS Cnv 2dr - £399
Chrysler PT Cruiser 2.4 Touring 2dr Cabriolet - £999
Mitsubishi Colt Cabriolet 1.5 CZC 2dr - £1775
Mazda New MX-5 1.8 2dr option pack - £1995
MINI 1.6 One 2dr - £2171

So it's easy to see just how good an offer this is and bear in mind none of the above cars come even close to an RX8 in terms of power and performance.

Of course the Mazda RX8 isn't the most practical car on the planet, does have it's restrictions and wont be everybody's cup of tea, but it is a genuine 4 seater coupe, can occupy small children in the rear and is a serious bit of motor car and a whole lot of fun. Yeehaaa!!

Ceed Diesel Success Spurs On The Kia Dream

Administrator — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 10:25:58 +0000

Winning the 'Best Hatchback" in the Whatcar? Diesel Awards was just the tonic Kia needed to kick start sales of their rather good Kia Ceed hatchback

Even Kia themselves would admit that it's taken a little longer than expected to convince the brand conscious UK car buyer into parting with their hard earned cash. And despite Europe's best ever car warranty spanning 7 years, the offer of a 3 day test drive and an awful lot of heavy weight PR exposure, the Kia Ceed didn't exactly have the 'pied piper effect' with customers cueing up to buy.

So what happened and is it going to change?

Kia didn't exactly get off to a good start when they launched that confusing and rather annoying Ceed TV ad, although the replacement isn't exactly inspiring, it's a step in the right direction.

And borrowing customers a car for three days may be a good idea in theory, but in practice people just take advantage. It also frustrates the dealer network and cost's a fortune. Money that could be better spent on reducing the price point of their cars.

No what really gets the ball rolling is word of mouth. It's ok saying our car has this and does that over the competiton, but Kia are perhaps getting a little ahead of themselves and need to take a step back. For a company that has admitted from the outset that it wants to emulate Toyota in its drive to be the one of the worlds biggest car makers, it perhaps needs to understand that you need to walk before you can run.

Toyota don't exactly make the most inspiring looking cars, but they do have something most manufacturers can only dream of…loyalty from its customers. Toyota drivers just love their cars period! And they keep coming back for more and bring their friends along for the ride.

Nobody doubts that Kia have come a long way, aided by the bucks of Hyundai, they started making cars that appeal to the European and UK buyer by simply bringing in Europe's finest designers and building them in…Europe. The downside of this of course is the massive investment needed to get the wheels in motion and this understandably comes at a price.

And this has been part of the problem. Prices of the Kia range have simply got out of line with their brand positioning, at least this is the case in the UK.

Kia got off to a good start in 2005 when they replaced the Kia Rio. The first effort was just so bad you couldn't give them away. However the second generation looked more appealing, was good quality, received good reviews and was launched at a realistic £7995 for either the petrol or diesel variants, a first for a car maker.

Then it all went pear shaped. Just as dealers started seeing metal shift, the manufacturer, for one reason or another, suddenly changed the goalposts. Literally overnight the Korean giant announced shortages of Rio stock and stuck an additional £1000 on the price of its diesel. One by one the prices across the range started going up and everything went flat. Sales were being artificially boosted by pressure from the dealer network to pre-register stock which in itself, causes its own headaches. Not surprisingly things went a little flat.

The latest figures in May must have set the alarm bells ringing with Hyundai & Kia sales taking a year-on-year pounding.

Moving swifty on to today. Pre registering has been outlawed from the dealer network. Dealer margins have been reset. Prices of the Kia Ceed have been reduced and the price of diesel for petrol campaign has returned. Limited editions are springing up all over the place and things appear to have started moving forward again, albeit slowly.

Add to this the Kia Ceed's recent car awards from both Whatcar and Autocar and things might slowly start falling back into place. And with a few more "bums on seats" who knows, word just might get out that Kia make really good motor cars. Are you watching Toyota!!

Fiat Bravo Vs Hyundai i30

Administrator — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 23:39:08 +0000

Two cars are in for the fight of there lives when they join the second largest segment of the UK market.

In the red corner is the absolutely stunning all new Fiat Bravo. A car that is key to Fiat's master plan of regaining some of that market share it so cheaply gave away with disasters like the Marea, Brava and the aptly named 3dr Bravo. And despite sharing the same name as Fiat's newcomer, the old Bravo was hardly worth applauding.

So far the signs are looking good for Fiat, especially in Europe, were its smaller, but equally stunning Fiat Grande Punto, is showing its competitors a clean pair of heels.

And Fiat sales are also showing healthy signs of recovery here in the UK, being one of a handful of car makers that have increased new car sales to-date and wheresome are showing downward trends of up to 30% over the same period last year. In fact Fiat sales have doubled since the same month two years ago.

The new 5-door Fiat Bravo goes on sale in the UK on 30 June having been created in just 18 months from design ‘freeze’ to production. A remarkable feat achievable through groundbreaking, state-of-the-art Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) systems which allowed the development of this new hatchback to be undertaken almost entirely through virtual analysis and engineering.

Priced from £10,995 to £15,495 on-the-road, the new Fiat Bravo will be available from launch, in five trim levels – Bravo, Active, Active Sport, Dynamic and Sport and feature such goodies as ABS anti-lock braking, remote central locking, driver and passenger front and side airbags, electric front windows, a CD player, Dualdrive electric power steering and Follow Me Home headlamps all as standard.

Powered by a choice of five powerplants, one of which is an all-new 1.4 litre T-Jet 150 bhp turbocharged petrol engine, making its debut in the Bravo. Through cubic capacity downsizing allied to the adoption of the smallest possible turbocharger, Fiat’s responsive new 150 bhp 1.4 litre T-Jet engine combines performance equal to or better than a conventionally aspirated 1.8/2.0 litre petrol engine, but with a reduction of between 10% and 20% in fuel consumption and emissions. These advantages are especially useful, given the importance of the fleet market, where taxation plays a major role.

The future addition to the range of a 120 bhp version of this outstanding new unit, with performance equal to or better than a conventionally aspirated 1.6 litre petrol engine, together with significant fuel consumption reductions, will increase the new Bravo UK model range to 15 versions later this year.

In addition, Bravo may be equipped with a 90 bhp version of Fiat’s lively 1.4 litre 16-valve Fire petrol engine, as well as 120 bhp 8-valve and 150 bhp 16-valve versions of the company’s widely acclaimed 1.9 litre common-rail direct injection MultiJet turbodiesel.

The 1.9 litre 8-valve 120 bhp MultiJet unit is mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox, while all other engines are mated to 6-speed manual transmissions.

Knockout blow to the competition? Not just yet!!

Entering the ring in the blue corner is another contender, albeit with a rather strange name, a car designed with Europe in mind and one with aspirations of knocking the stuffing out of all who try to challenge it, the all new Hyundai i30!!

Well when we say new, its actually the same engineering as the Kia Ceed, we'll come back to this car later, with a few cosmetic tweaks here and there, but fundamentally the same car without the 7 year warranty.

Although not as pleasing to look at as the Bravo, it's a big improvement on the Hyundai hatchback designs of past. And unlike a crop of failure's by Fiat, Hyundai have had solid success with the likes of the Getz and Accent, although god only knows why they went and brought back the Amica, and are steadily building up a nice portfolio of motor cars as well as loyal customers.

The i30 is the first Hyundai to carry the ‘i’ in its name, a move that could establishing a link between technology and the Hyundai brand’s core values. With the ‘i’, Hyundai chose the letter that could carry both messages. The letter ‘i’ has a long tradition as an icon for technology products. Furthermore, as a frequently used icon, the ‘i’ is already established across Europe, hence iPod, iTunes etc.. Also the number 30 is the numerical equivalent of the letter assigned to the i30’s segment, the European C segment.

Like the Bravo, Hyundai have pitched the i30 with a starting price of £10,995 on the road. For that you'll get a high level of standard equipment: including Electronic Stability Program (ESP) coupled with Traction Control, a first for Hyundai on its passenger cars, 15” Alloys, 6 airbags, electric windows, remote central locking and air conditioning. There's also USB/iPod & Aux connections with a 6 speaker CD that plays MP3's and is iPod compatible and all controlled via steering wheel controls.

Powering the i30 will be two petrol as well as two diesel engines, all newly developed for the Kia Ceed, both of which fit nicely into the Hyundai. At the entry-level, a new 109 PS 1.4 litre petrol engine offers a combination of strong fuel economy and spirited performance with 1.6 litre petrol engine providing a punchy 122 PS and 154 Nm torque and more than 45 mpg (Combined Cycle).

But it's diesel where this segment is strongest and Hyundai don't disappoint with a new 1.6 litre diesel engine producing 115 PS and 255 Nm of torque, and a new 2.0 litre diesel unit combined with a six speed manual transmission offering a 140 PS and a torrent of torque (304 Nm) making possible 0-62 mph in just 10.3 seconds and a top speed of 127.3 mph.

All the diesel units feature Hyundai’s Variable Geometry Turbo-charging (VGT), low friction balance shaft technology and high-pressure common rail diesel injection for minimised engine originated NVH (noise, vibration and harshness).

So there you have it, a brief overview of the latest pretenders to enter the ring. But who's going to come out on top?

Well if it was on looks alone it would be a first round knockout to the Bravo. We've seen both cars in the flesh and the Fiat just takes your breath away, it's really that stunning to look at. The Hyundai however gave us the feeling that Kia, a company bought by Hyundai several years ago, have stitched up their Korean cousins by letting them use the technology of the Ceed, but in trying to make it different from the Kia and aesthetically pleasing to the eye, have totally drawn a blank. It's just so boring to look at and the Ceed is just going to make the i30's job that much harder as it looks equally as good as the Bravo, has a £500 price advantage, already has the sales in the bag and that 7 year warranty is a killer.

Having said that it's not all about looks. Although the Bravo felt more dynamic on the road and got more 'admiring glances' than the i30, the Hyundai had a real quality feel about it. Given the choice of doing a year long trip around Europe, we'd take the i30 any day.

You just somehow can't help feeling this new Bravo, despite its new technology and skin, is after all a Fiat and their reliability record has been in question in the past. In contrast, you just know the Hyundai is going to be there for you, week in, week out. The 5 yr unlimited mileage warranty of the i30 tells you something straight away when comparing Fiat's miserly 2 yr manufacturer and 1 yr dealer offering.

But only time will tell whether Fiat's reliability and build quality issue's are well behind them and were afraid by the time the i30 hits the showrooms in September, it'll be all over bar the shouting. Customers will just go for the Bravo on looks alone and it'll give the Focus, Golf and Astra a bloody nose. Ironically for the i30, the killer punch won't come from Fiat. No, it'll be a sucker punch from behind in the form of the Ceed.

And it's the punch you don't see that hurts the most.

Kia Rio Has The Power

Administrator — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:18:21 +0000

Improving 11 points in the JD Power 2007 Initial Quality Study, the Kia Rio earns extra power points and proves Kia are moving in the right direction.

Last year, Kia launched a new Sales and Aftersales programme developed alongside JD Power and Eclipse Marketing, both experts in customer satisfaction, and the rewards are starting to pay off.

Posting an 11-point year-on-year improvement on 2006, scoring 125 points, Kia's focus has been on quality of design and quality of production, meaning a consistent increase in scores. Improving by 43 points since 2003, Kia has achieved the best improvement of all non-premium brands on the survey over the last five years.

The JD Power survey is regarded as one of the most comprehensive of its kind, and measures 228 vehicle attributes across eight categories, including the driving experience, engine and transmission, as well as a broad range of quality problem symptoms reported by vehicle owner.

The Kia Rio underwent a total redesign in 2006 and is unrecognizable from the previous model and is also a big hit in the US. However in the UK it enjoys a somewhat smaller share of the market, given the rather large and crowded pool of b-segment cars, although Kia's recent decision to re-introduce the "diesel for the price of petrol" offer has boosted sales of the small to medium sized hatchback.