As 2019 draws to a close, it's time to reflect on another year spent living, breathing - and in some cases - buying cars. Five of Autocar's editorial team have purchased new cars this year, with mixed results. Ranging from a troublesome VW Bora to the burly comforts of a Lexus RX, here's the cars that we acquired in 2019.
Hilton Holloway: Lexus RX
Have you any idea how difficult it is to find a replacement for the 10-year-old Ford Mondeo estate? Neither did I. From first thoughts to an actual purchase, it took me 12 months, 11 months of which was increasingly intense internet research, followed by a couple of weeks of frenzied train travel.
The Mondeo came from a far-distant Ford dealer in Castle Cary, Somerset, sight unseen. What I wanted was a big estate, petrol and automatic. For a post-2008 car, this was a tricky brief. After 2009 diesel incentive taxes kicked in, few petrol-powered estates were registered. My budget was also limited to roughly how little I could get away with.
For two years before Ford launched its 2.0-litre petrol turbo engine, the Mondeo was sold with a 2.3-litre Mazda four-pot. It was mated to a six-speed torque-converter auto. The well-kept example I’d found was a modest Zetec, but it had the dual-zone climate control that is essential when my partner is in the passenger seat. I bought it at seven years old and 60,000 miles.
It turned out to be a gem. Autocar loved all generations of the Mondeo. The car handled well and rode really well when fitted with a set of superb Michelin Cross Climate tyres. Snake-hipped, wonderfully pointy, surprisingly refined, a huge load bay and a nice rigid body. Terrible in-London economy, basic radio and seats, very moderate poke and no parking sensors were its downsides.
After three years its replacement had to be a brisk petrol automatic that was spacious and with good audio, nice heated seats and parking sensors.
A Volvo? Older petrol Volvos are rarer than Paganis. There are a few TFSI-engined Volkswagen Group cars around, but I once owned a youngish Skoda Octavia Scout with the requisite FSH, and it not only consumed oil but also managed to slip its timing chain. Final-gen Honda Accord 2.4 estates are fine cars but also hard to find.
Cranking up the budget to five figures-plus hardly helped. Anything 3 Series-sized and above was diesel, and with an expanded Ultra Low Emission Zone looming across Greater London, I needed a Euro 6 diesel, which sent us north of £16k.
As to luxury extras, why are German makers so mean with their speccing of heated seats? Trying to find a petrol 3 Series Touring xDrive with extendable, heated seats was nearly impossible. A 3 Series GT? Nice idea but the same issue, and that 320i petrol turbo engine is hardly a ball of fire. Most everything else I spotted during my search was diesel.
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A Class debacle.
I well remember going to a Merc dealer in a very presentable Punto to look at an A Class only for a very snooty salesmant to say "We don't want any junk like that Fiat on our forecourt". Sale lost on one A class and any future replacements thereafter. MB's loss and my gain on reflection.
oldjeepman wrote:
My wife and I hired an A Class in 2002, at the time we drove a 1.2 Punto. Once you got past the excitement of driving something with a Mercedes badge, the reality was that the A Class did not really put the Punto in the shade. More spacious yes, but not really any more refined and certainly it's ride and handling were worse.
Apologies for stereotyping
Probably going to start reading other car magazines because the opinions of Autocar's staff aren't worth the paper they're written on if this is what they buy for themselves.
The only person left with any credibility is John Evans although perhaps writing columns for 'Hairdressers Journal' might be more appropriate.
Ist gen A-class admirer.
I thought the novel dual-floor concept of the A-Class was brilliant and would have been ideal for electrification at a later stage. The only reason i didn't buy one was a Mercedes salesman indifference and unwillingness to discount.
I think these cars should be acknowledged for the engineering and packaging innovaters they were, although a Honda Jazz achieves similar magic packaging and drives better.