The 1.4 litre A4 did well as an entry-level baby exec sedan, sitting in the same playpen as the entry Mercedes-Benz C180 and BMW’s 318i, it became a popular option for those who wanted a foot in the door of the executive car club.

So why all the excitement? Well ever since Alfa Romeo left us with the wonderfully thought-through 75 (I’d like to stay away from the term ‘well built’). We have not seen a sedan from them which would excite us this much. Mind you, the 75 was a well-planned, featuring a front-engine, rear-drive setup, and for perfect balance, carried its transmission in the rear, at the sacrifice of some boot space. An ‘80s wonder, its boxy design sat well with many, even in Singapore, and if you were to be able to find still find one, would still appear to you visually fresh and timeless.

While we have found in recent years that car styling has gone fluidly hand-in-hand with equally fluid categorisation, the Sport Turismo delivers a drop-dead gorgeous Shooting-Brake styled variation of the beautifully penned Panamera sedan.

UBER is out! But their ex rental cars are going for cheap! Here are some of our picks! With the demise of UBER, Lion City Rentals (LCR), which had supplied the lion share of private hire cars here (no pun intended), found itself in a fix! Without prior knowledge of UBER pulling out of our city state, the car rental company invested in thousands of these compact cars to line its fleet. Popular cars like the Honda Vezel crossover, Mazda 3 and the Toyota Vios, which formed the bulk of the LCR fleet, some of which only have delivery mileage (some with less than 20km) on them, are certainly going for a song at certain used car dealers.  

Just about a year ago, Hyundai made waves by launching its Ioniq Hybrid, a car which seemed to be like a doppelgänger of the very successful Toyota Prius Hybrid. With its launch, Hyundai also very quietly highlighted their development of a Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV) and a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) version of the same car. Fast-forward a year on, and with numerous examples seen on our roads as privately-owned cars, private hire vehicles and even taxis, the Ioniq has certainly done well.

The Renault Scenic is just like it’s larger Grand Scenic MPV sibling, but minus its last row of seats. So this is an MPV without the last row of seats… Or is this a large hatchback… Or is this an SUV. Well Renault certainly thinks so, adding further to the confusion, since it does bear the same “Scenic” moniker.

Oneshift had the privilege of putting the new X3 through its paces in Australia last year. Our choice would have been the diesel xDrive 30d model, with an inline six, delivering an astronomical 620Nm, and a 5.8 second 0-100km/h; delivering plenty of shove whenever your right foot calls for it. Today we put the xDrive30i M Sport through its paces!

The Lexus NX gets a nip and tuck in a few good ways. Around four years after its launch, their current baby SUV (the word ‘current’ is a hint for something new coming up), gets some well-needed revised styling. Featuring larger sweeping daytime running lights, and new internals for its headlamps for our “Sports” trim model, while the spindle grille gets pinched a little more in the middle. A new bumper delivering more aggression in the rear mirrors of those you tail on the overtaking lane… roar!

We recently had a go at Hyundai’s new crossover, the Kona with a cracking 1.6 litre turbocharged engine, and it was stunningly fabulous around the bends. The 1.0 Kona is its milder sibling, and we sure had a ball of a time driving stick!

The SEAT Leon Cupra will never escape being compared with Volkswagen’s Golf GTi or even the Golf R. But the Spanish marque has made the best of the shared rigid MQB architecture, and has fielded a car, edgier in styling.

So the French have done it again… plonked a small engine inside a car, hoping it can run… Peugeot’s 1.2 litre turbocharged 3-banger finds its way into the 5008 people mover. Will it work? Well… let’s find out!

Volkswagen’s new Arteon may have taken the company’s new design language up a few notches. Where it gets to me is how the car draws the stares from people as I step out of it… or did I just have another of my bad hair days… But in all honesty, the Arteon’s only similarity to the car it replaces is in terms of styling is in its four-doored coupe box it sits in, and we believe presents a vast improvement over the CC. But then again, the Arteon was not intended only as a CC replacement, but a car more importantly fielded to up the game for Volkswagen.

While cars like BMW’s X3 have grown up in size over the generations, these (no longer) small Executive SUVs have inevitably left quite a white space in their wake. Buyers too have been increasingly hungry for a piece of luxury, especially with the growing popularity of these versatile vehicles. Versatility is just part of the appeal, but in recent times, a car which stands out from the crowd has become the larger piece of the buyer satisfaction puzzle. Here are 4 compact luxury SUVs which blend practicality with superb styling!

Europe is really a place where the humble hatchback gained popularity. While the golden era of the 80s, where these cars were nimble simply because they were light, and power robbing safety features were not-as-high on the list as it is today, hatches quickly became the ideal must-have for just about any working or middle class person, since they were economical to run, and were genuinely chic.

Volvo has it’s XC40, which features a well-thought out dash, featuring premium materials. Jaguar, its E-Pace, with design cues taken from the stunning F-Type, and even to some extent, the Lexus NX sits in this same room…. Mighty crowded I may say…

Slightly smaller in-size than its Tucson sibling, and lower in height, the Kona’s unconventional styling is aimed at the younger SUV/Crossover buyer. Together with the likes of the equally unconventional Toyota C-HR, and the SEAT Arona, it is not surprising that Hyundai’s entry targets the very same market as they do.

One of the best places to drop Merc’s 3.0 V6 biturbo AMG engine in, is definitely the Estate version of their E Class! Practicality aside, the E-Class Estate does cast an aggressively bold silhouette, and with the AMG performance to match, it is a very impressive approach to a performance car.

I approached this car with some apprehension. After all, we have already tested the torque and features-filled 1.6 diesel and the more nimble petrol 1.6 turbo, the latter which we felt was just right in delivery of power, and wondered how would the 1.2 turbo with just three cylinders fare in checking all the important boxes, where at the top of the list of boxes is “Got power or not?”

A year ago, we got behind the wheel of Maserati’s first SUV, the Levante. Our 3.0 turbocharged diesel test car brought about earth-turning 600Nm, which made easy work of sending our backs into its seatbacks. This car’s petrol V6 on the other hand, is a little more refined, albeit with a little less twist but with more go. The petrol’s 3.0 V6 turbo makes all the right noises, even at idle. With 424bhp on tap, the Levante S propels to 100km/h in 5.2 seconds, 1.7 seconds quicker than its diesel sibling.

The much hyped about Ingenium 2.0 engine finds its way into Jaguar’s first SUV. The F-Pace which made its appearance back in 2016 was deemed to be a car more heavily sought after than Jaguar’s traditional stable of sedans and sports cars. Unfortunately the 3.0 might have been too large a pill for the Singapore market to swallow. The new 2.0 on the other hand seems to be the sensible package the brand needs, or more accurately, the market needs.

The maker of all things reliable seldom produces cars which are striking to the eye, but when they do, the Japanese manufacturer tends to swing almost like a polarising opposite of its expected self. Take for-instance the TA22 Toyota Celica from the early 70s, and the limited production 2000GT featured in The You Only Live Twice James Bond franchise. Cars which do not seem to fit into the Toyota mould, and just like how their C-HR is.

In a leap forward, KIA made a bold decision to field the Stinger, something so un-KIA-like, that it set the world talking…. And for very good reason! The Stinger gets engineering expertise from the likes of Albert Biermann, formally Vice President of BMW’s M division, and faced miles of gruelling tests at the infamous Nürburgring circuit in Germany.

We could not get enough of this! SEAT’s new Arona might just be the crossover with just the right mix of city-chic styling, ease of drive and fuel sipping ability to attract the younger buyer.

The Compact Executive car has faithfully weathered the demands of newer generations of customers, increasing its footprint, upping the performance game, and now a newer challenge faces the brand. With the thought of taxation on emissions (not just locally, but even on a global stage), how would the German brand see the next chapter in its quest to produce cars still pleasing to its clientele?