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What you need to know: The Volvo XC60 is a mid-size luxury SUV whose mould is similar to a BMW X5 or Audi Q5. Available with your choice of four engines, two gearboxes, four trim levels, front- or intelligent all-wheel-drive (certain models only), this stylish Swede easily matches its competitors for variety.
Today I bring you further evidence that Audi has gone a bit mental. Not content with building quality motor cars, their engineers have produced fine fast cars over the years. After building such monsters as R8, RS7, S8, RS4 and S3, they recently cornered the tiny A1, looked at each other and nodded quietly.
Some things just shouldn’t work, but do. Snoek and jam, leather and lace, symphonies and rock music, you get the idea. There are similarly strange combinations in the world of cars which, in theory, should be ghastly. We’ve just spent a week with one of them and it’s called an Audi S3 Cabriolet.
Are you a fervent individualist? A free thinker who likes to avoid the mainstream and make a statement with your choice of car? If this perfectly describes you, and your motoring history includes SAAB, Lexus, SEAT and such like, you may want to consider this new Infiniti Q50 as your next purchase.
The new jam
The Opel Adam is an important little car. With the German manufacturer reeling from internal struggles and slumping sales, Adam represents the spearhead of their new market onslaught. Named after Opel’s founder Adam Opel, it’s akin to Ford calling their new car “Henry”. It’s a big deal.
Sometimes it feels that the collective car makers are building a car for every person. New models, filling niches, updating a range, they just keep on coming. Obviously this is quite enjoyable when you’re a motoring journalist but it also means that you have to get your head around cars like the Audi A3 Cabriolet.
Sometimes I wonder if car reviews are actually read and appreciated by the subject’s prospective buyer. Whereas I’m sure that small hatchback and family sedan shoppers do a substantial amount of homework before hitting the showrooms, do the punters of an Audi A8 long wheelbase do the same?
Did you know that Audi makes more than 30 different cars? Quite a few of them are bigger or topless versions of existing models but if you’re in the market for, say, a four-door sedan, you can pick between six basic configurations, excluding sporty iterations like the S3 sedan I tested last week.
Germans. They don’t just rule on the football pitch but also enjoy picking a good fight on the Autobahn. Often accused of having started the horsepower wars, all three major brands have become experts at building very, very naughty cars. And showing that they’ve also got a sense of humour is the RS Q3.
Do you remember Gerhard Schröder? The ex-Chancellor of Germany may be best known for his various policies and four wives but to me he’ll always be the guy who swapped the obligatory black Merc for an Audi A8. My family was equally impressed and to this day we still refer to any A8 as a “Schröder Auto”.