AndyC's car guide...

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G'day folks, today's review is an Audi A5 4.0 TDI

As with the review on the A6, whilst the A5 driven was badged 4.0 on the boot, it does not indicate a 4-lite engine, this was also a 2-litre diesel. four door hatchback, and as you'll see from the third photo, the hatchback as against the saloon car has a huge boot space beneath the rear parcel shelf.

It terms of the quality of drive, it's almost identical to that of the A6 but this A5 didn't enjoy fully electric seats, these were manually adjusted.
Steering, suspension and brakes were all as good as the A6, with the steering feeling better - at least to me - than the slightly light to the touch steering on the BMW 420i.

Apologies for the slight blurring on the dashboard photo but, I think you can see that on this trip it recorded 54+ mpg on a four hour run up to Glenrothes, north of Kirkcaldy in Fife. The 7-speed automatic gearbox feels really well matched to the 2-litre engine with good acceleration when needed and the A5 cruises along at 70mph on a touch over 1400rpm, hence the excellent fuel economy.

All in all, a good workhorse or family car if you need or want something with space and capacity with decent performance.

It won't come as a surprise then that my marks out of ten are almost exactly the same as for the A6.
Comfort 7
Fuel Economy 7
Performance 8
Reliability 8
Practicality 8
 

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Two more reviews today, a double header of Range Rovers... I was going to post one of these last night but following that utter drivel of a game at Brighton, I couldn't arsed.

So today's vehicles are a 69-plate Range Rover Vogue and a 20-plate Range Rover Sport.

Two similar Range Rovers, the Vogue is a more upmarket model of the Sport. Both these cars were diesels and both offer a smooth, comfortable drive with plenty of horses under the bonnet should the need arise for long-range, high speed cruising or the need for acceleration.

Around town or in stop-start traffic, Range Rovers are not particularly sparkling on fuel consumption but, that's hardly surprising as the vehicles are big and heavy-duty SUVs. On the motorway, they come into their own with cruising at 70mph barely using 1400-1500rpm and affording a respectable fuel consumption of 40+, again a decent return for a big, heavy vehicle.

A massive positive about the Range Rover is that being sat up above the majority of other cars, the field of vision is excellent and with comfortable seats, the car makes long distance driving feel so much easier, it's like driving your armchair.

On the Vogue, the gear knob arises from the centre console when the ignition is turned on, and you simply twist it to D or R to drive or reverse; the Sport has a conventional gear lever.

Electric seats offer excellent leg room in both cars, the Vogue also has lumbar control so you can, in effect, give your back something of a massage whilst driving.
Steering, suspension and brakes are all excellent, the sat nav works extremely well and you can alter the display between 2D (birds-eye view) or 3D, and can show compass directions or remaining journey details on a split screen.

DAB Radio is standard so there's a myriad of channels to select your driving entertainment from, as well as a couple of USB ports under the central armrest to charge your phone from or add a flash drive.

Boot space in both cars is excellent with the spare wheel, tools and locking wheelnut under the boot floor panel.

Other than the up front cost of a new Range Rover - which is pretty steep - the only thing I wish they'd improve would be the wiper arms and blades, they look a bit thin and almost an afterthought compared to those on other manufacturers equivalents to the Range Rover.

In terms of long-term reliability, and a serious thing to consider if buying second-hand, is that all the LandRover/Range Rover vehicles have a disappointing reputation for developing electrical problems from 5-6 years old and onwards. I can't honestly attest to this as all the LR/RR models I've driven (and it's lots) have all been under three years old.

My marks out of ten...
Comfort 8
Fuel Economy 6
Performance 8
Reliability 8
Practicality 8
 

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200-250 miles per recharge would be morelike, depending on which model and the conditions.

Rain at night obviously puts more drain on the battery pack with lights and wipers on etc, hence always best if in a Tesla trying to stick to the Tesla Supercharger network for the quickest recharge times ;)

I’ve said for a number of years that the first manufacturer - and it’s likely to be Tesla as their battery technology is far ahead of the rest - who can produce a car that’ll do 500 miles on a full charge, that manufacturer will clean up.

Tesla is a fascinating vehicle (and idea for EV in general) but not living in a large city in the US, I have a hard time with the practicality. We have a few Tesla stations in town (and if I owned one I would put in a charger at home) and our office garage just put in two stations... but my truck has roughly 100k+ in just under 60 months. I know us Yanks tend to be America-centric, but I don't know if an EV can handle the rate of driving required in non-city US.
 

Nice reads Andy, any chance at a review thread for "cars regular Joes" (or Freds, as it were) can actually afford to drive ?
I’m conscious that some/many/all of these reviews I’m offering might be for cars in price ranges beyond some readers.

I’m fortunate that for a living, I get to drive all manner of ‘top end’ cars and nothing over three years old.

I could do a review on the wife’s five year old Renault Captur :)
 
I’m conscious that some/many/all of these reviews I’m offering might be for cars in price ranges beyond some readers.

I’m fortunate that for a living, I get to drive all manner of ‘top end’ cars and nothing over three years old.

I could do a review on the wife’s five year old Renault Captur :)

No, just kidding. Nobody wants to read a "Why I chose to purchase another Toyota Sienna" thread.
 

@AndyC have you ever driven one of those AMG C63 Mercs, i see a lot of them about and they sound like they are almost NASCAR levels of loud and seem pretty fast for a 4 door car
 
On a similar topic, have you had chance to drive a hydrogen cell vehicle? If you do, can you let us know your thoughts?

I'm not sure how available they are, so I might be jumping the gun. But a few folk I know swear they are where we should be focusing over EV.
iirc, a couple of big names (VW?) have bailed out of Hydrogen, stating the physics of it all is too hard or some such.
Toyota were still in last I saw.
 
I’ll see if my mate will let me road test his Hellcat
He won’t but he did take me for a spin. I can confirm that it will spin the rear wheels at 60mph in 3rd gear and does 60-120mph faster than you can say it.

Comfortable seats
Massive
Does 11 mpg foot in, around 18 if you drive like your gran
 
@AndyC have you ever driven one of those AMG C63 Mercs, i see a lot of them about and they sound like they are almost NASCAR levels of loud and seem pretty fast for a 4 door car
Yes mate I have.
All the Mercedes AMG models are rapid and the C63 for a saloon car is an outstanding piece of kit - bloody expensive to buy - but, a seriously good drive. Give me a week or so and I'll get behind the wheel of one and take a couple of pictures.
The noise could be because whoever is driving has pressed the exhaust note switch - personally, I don't see the need for it, the cars are quick enough without having to blast peoples ears off.
 
He won’t but he did take me for a spin. I can confirm that it will spin the rear wheels at 60mph in 3rd gear and does 60-120mph faster than you can say it.

Comfortable seats
Massive
Does 11 mpg foot in, around 18 if you drive like your gran
Engine size ?
 

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