Volkswagen launches its diesel hot hatch... as an estate

VOLKSWAGEN’S Golf GTD – essentially a diesel-powered version of the GTI hot hatchback – is being sold as an estate for the first time.

Yes, on the face of it it's not exactly the raciest of prospects - a diesel estate car - but it does combine two ideas I've already expressed an admiration for; the idea of a diesel-hauled Golf GTI, and the performance load-lugger. It looks great too, so hopefully it'll be as much fun to drive as its eco-mentalist moniker suggests.

Prices have yet to be announced, but expect it to be slightly more than the £25,285 the smaller Golf GTD hatchback costs.

It’ll be available to order from April, with the first cars arriving here in June.

SEAT joins the fast estate club

SEAT is following Ford, VW and Skoda into the world of practically-minded performance cars by launching its first ever fast estate model.

The SEAT Leon ST Cupra has the same 280bhp engine and six-speed gearbox as its hatchback sibling, but despite all the extra luggage room it’s only two tenths of a second slower in the dash from 0 to 60mph.

It goes on sale here in March, with prices due to be announced in the next few weeks.

Volkswagen Golf R: Now available in handy estate form!

VOLKSWAGEN needs to get a move on. The coolest car it’s announced in years won’t be going on sale here until next summer, but I get the feeling it’ll be hot stuff in Lapland almost immediately.

There are no prizes for guessing what the Golf R Estate is – it is, put simply, the fastest hot hatch Volkswagen currently offers, with the added bonus of 605 litres of luggage space. Drop the back seats and that more than doubles, meaning you can cart a couple of cupboards home and still get to 60mph in a shade over five seconds.

Anyone who’s familiar with the Audi RS2, the Skoda Octavia RS Estate or the Volvo 850 T5 will know where I’m going with this one; hotted-up estate cars are MUCH cooler than hot hatchbacks. It’s something to do with an entire genre of car associated with antique dealers and Sunday afternoon schleps to B&Q being able to embarrass hot hatches and – as much as I hate to admit it – small sports cars at the lights.

Fast estates are cool because the boys in blue love ‘em too. One of my earliest and most exciting outings was sitting alongside a traffic officer as he reeled in speeding motorists on the roads of North Wales, and he needed something both quick enough to administer a bloody nose to a Golf GTi and capacious enough to carry a set of traffic cones in the back. His weapon of choice was pretty standard issue to most forces at the time. A Skoda Octavia RS Estate, of course.

If you appreciate bonkers-fast estates, you’ll understand why the prospect of a Golf R Estate is far more enticing than the 300bhp hatchback it’s based on, but I also get the feeling its talents would be perfect for a bloke I know who lives up North.

He works in the delivery business and has a big job coming up next month – a job that requires dropping off a heck of a lot of stuff in a single night. Every single year he insists on doing it the old-fashioned way, but the combination of the new arrival’s grand total of 1,606 litres of loadspace, the sure-footedness of the permanent all-wheel-drive system and the 300bhp shove of the 2.0 litre turbo engine would make it perfect for his line of work.

Make no mistake, I reckon my mate Nick would do well to get a Golf R Estate in his garage.

The Reliant Scimitar GTE isn't my perfect car, but it's close

EARLIER this week I thought about launching a Champion competition for our artier readers. Because, if not one of the world’s car companies could come up with my ideal motor, maybe they could.

No, really. There have been hundreds of different cars over the years and while some of them have got tantalisingly close, not one of them satisfies all the strict criteria the ultimate Life On Cars machine would have. 

The particular blend of poise, style and practicality I’m looking for brings me past the hot hatch, the coupe and the roadster to the three-door estate, a curious breed of car not made in any meaningful numbers since Ford and Vauxhall dropped theirs two decades ago. Shooting brakes, as they’re known, blend a sporty set up, a low profile, four genuinely useable seats and a room for a set of drawers in the same package – if you’re familiar with the Reliant Scimitar GTE (pictured above), you’ll know what I mean.

But the Reliant’s got classic car build quality and the ultimate Life On Cars classic – call it the Simister GT, perhaps, shouldn’t. It should be as cheap and easy to run as a Ford Focus, and as well screwed together. It should be roomy and comfy enough to take four mates and their bags to the wilds of Wales, and light and delicately-balanced enough to be a laugh when you get there. Crucially, it should be light, because then its tiny engine could give you plenty of full-throttle kicks when you’re up for a laugh, and upwards of 35mpg when you don’t.

It should also, because an MGB and an MX-5 have indoctrinated me in the virtues of al fresco driving, be equipped with some sort of opening roof system, perhaps a clever Targa system like the sort Porsche uses, or a canvas Webasto job like the one fitted to my MGB GT. It should also, even though it’s an estate, look good enough to eat. If Alfa Romeo can make a five-door estate look like the automotive equivalent of Heidi Klum, then a three-door should be even more of a visual treat.

Essentially, motoring’s equivalent of Jamie Oliver will have to take the basic concept of the Reliant Scimitar, throw in the best bits of a Mazda MX-5, Ford Focus, Porsche 911 Targa, and the Alfa 156 Sportwagon, and leave to simmer. Oh, and throw on the style of the original Range Rover, the feel and handling of the old Mini and the unruffled refinement of a Jag XJ6 for added flavour.

The closest anyone’s ever come to this mouthwatering bit of kit, I reckon, is the Lynx Eventer, an estate version of the Jaguar XJ-S (pictured below) which managed the almost impossible achievement of being better looking than the coupe it was based on. I would, if the Champion Euromillions syndicate ever comes good, love to have one in my dream garage, but I still reckon it’d be too big, too thirsty and too unreliable to make the perfect Life On Cars machine.

Maybe it’s just too tall an order...

Jaguar XF Sportbrake is a clever and cool estate

FISHING, camping, horse-riding and skiing. All things I imagine the Jag set love getting up to, but until now they've never really had the car to cope.

If you wanted a finely sculpted, thoroughly British way of lugging your lifestyle equipment from the gymkhana to the ski resort you've only really had two options; a Range Rover or a Discovery. That's why I reckon Jaguar's onto a winner with something they should have come up with ages ago, in the form of an XF estate.

It gets off to a great start in my books simply because it's got a cool name - it is, ladies and gentlemen, the XF Sportbrake, which it makes it sound like an aerodynamic aid you'd fit to your snowmobile or mountain bike. I know it's a sort of unspoken rule among the executive car club never to call your estate an estate, but somehow Sportbrake has just got a bit more oomph than Avant or Touring does.

Jaguar, who are revealing the XF Sportbrake at this year's Geneva Motorshow, said:

"Sharing its underpinnings with the XF saloon, the Sportbrake's overall length grows by just 5mm, its weight by less 70kg and its chassis structure matches the strength of the conventional XF. These characteristics mean the Sportbrake can closely match the acclaimed handling of the XF saloon yet offers a large and highly practical load space.

"Every panel on the XF Sportbrake, from the B-Pillar rearwards, is new. The strong silver signature line running the length of the car is extended while the C-Pillar is finished in gloss black, a trait shared with the XJ saloon."

Estate car practicality blended with the firm's refreshingly affordable 2.2 diesel lump should, I reckon, broaden the XF's appeal way beyond the members of your local golf club. Expect to see plenty of them on our roads when the Sportbrake gets launched later this year.

Fire up the... BMW 5-Series Touring

EARLIER this year I argued one of BMW’s biggest sellers was as close as you’ll get to the perfect car, and with this latest model it’s business as usual.

No matter whether you opt for the saloon, the Touring estate or the strangely-styled GT, BMW’s 5 Series has always been one of those cars that’s irritatingly good at just about everything - you just match your choice of engine with the level of management you’ve been promoted to.

Even the 520d Touring version I’ve just tested, one of the entry models in the executive saloon’s expansive range, does everything you could ever ask of it effortlessly; you’ll barely notice it breaking into barely-legal speeds on the motorway because it does it so quietly, comfortably and inconspicuously.

This whole car’s appeal is about doing everything subtly but there’s still plenty to get excited about, with the heads up display helping you to stay safe by beaming a digital readout of your speed into your line of sight, and the spacious Touring version gets a rear window which opens separately from the tailgate if ever you’re parked in a particularly tight spot when you’re loading up.

But step outside and it’s soon forgotten, because the styling isn’t nearly as aggressive or adventurous as its predecessor. BMW designer Chris Bangle might have been lambasted at the time for the challenging angles he gave to the last 5 and 7 Series models, but for me at least the new arrival has styling so subtle it runs the risk of simply being boring.

It’s a small gripe on a car that - hefty £30k price tag aside - is excellent in almost every way. If you’re looking to make a statement to show off your success you might want to look at Jaguar’s XF or the new SAAB 9-5, but if you don’t mind taking the obvious choice the BMW’s still the no-brainer buy.

Voluminous V60 also goes for coupe curves

THE days of Volvos being boring and boxy are a step closer to being banished forever after the Swedish firm launched its latest estate earlier this week.

Looking more like a curvaceous coupe than the likes of the angular Volvos of old, the V60 is the latest in a long line of load luggers to emerge from the Gothenburg factory, but the company are hoping to impress buyers with style and a sporty drive as much what it can carry.

“From the design viewpoint, the focus was on making the car as close to a coupé as possible, while retaining that handy extra space at the rear. Our sports wagon does not aim to compete with the traditional estate car. For the customer who wants a lot of load space, there is our V70 or XC70,” said Örjan Sterner, the car's head of exterior design.

“The dip in the middle of the double wave visually pushes the car down. This enhances the stance and makes the car look sleeker and lower. The sculpted bonnet and the short overhangs front and rear also emphasise the sports car feel.”

The company are also claiming it'll be a class leader when it comes to safety - it's a Volvo - and that rather than concentrating on giving buyers a cavernous boot, it's aimed more at buyers impressed with the S60 saloon's style but insistent on having the extra space of an estate.

Anyone looking to impress their fellow IKEA customers is being urged to head to Volvo dealerships in the autumn, when the V60 arrives in the UK.

Mercedes in exciting estate shocker

WHO said estates can't be exciting? Not Mercedes, if this latest effort at a load lugger is anything to go by.

The German firm might be harking back to the 1960s by calling its new concept car the Shooting Break but it isn't hard to see it for what it is; it's the CLS coupe reimagined for those who spend their weekends at IKEA instead of the golf club.

The original CLS, a coupe with the novel addition of rear doors, was a huge success for Mercedes from the moment it hit the showrooms in 2004, but since then it's spawned a succession of imitators. Bringing in buyers still forced to go with the strait-laced E Class Estate to carry bigger loads, the company reckons, is the answer to the Jaguar XJ and Audi's A7 arriving on CLS territory.

“The proportions are clearly those of a coup: the long bonnet, narrow-look windows with frameless side windows, and dynamic roof sloping back towards the rear create a basic stance with which it looks ready for the off. It is only when taking a second look that it becomes clear that the Shooting Break concept car actually has four doors and an estate rear,” a Mercedes spokesperson told The Champion.

“As such, this study in design reveals its philosophical links with the four-door CLS Coupe, a car which has established a new market segment since 2004 and today is already seen as a design icon which is likely to occupy a very special place in the history of the motor car.”

It's unlikely the Shooting Break will beat the load-carrying capacity of the more conventional E-Class Estate, but then the E-Class doesn't have a nose quietly borrowed from the forthcoming SLS supercar or its snazzy headlights, which ditch bulbs altogether in favour of an armarda of 71 LEDs.

It isn't clear yet whether one of the first coupe estates since the Reliant Scimitar really will hit Britain's roads, but watch this space. Alternatively, buy a secondhand Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon for the same sort of thing.

I'd rather have one of these than a BMW Z4

I KNOW it’s a risky thing to say, but it’s true.

It’s something I discovered yesterday doing that most dangerous of things; driving to IKEA. Anyone who’s ever tried this and then failed to get the flat-packed wardrobe home has already discovered that almost every car, from my Mini up to and including the latest in BMW’s long line of glitzy sports cars, is suddenly useless.

Having actually driven the current Z4 I can testify that it’s fabulously fast, very good looking and really rather nice to drive, but there’s no way you could own one as your sole vehicle because furniture will defeat it. I actually imagine the only reason why you never saw any missiles firing out of Bond’s Z3 in Goldeneye is depressingly simple – there wasn’t room for any!

What Britain’s top secret agent actually needs for his missions into Swedish territory, as ridiculous as it sounds, is a Ford Mondeo ST TDCi Estate.

It might have been overtaken by BMW’s 3 Series as the rep’s car of choice but I’ve always liked the Mondeo, and this particular version is the one for the job. It’s made for trips to IKEA, yet because it wasn’t made by IKEA, it’s solid and more than capable of handling a heavy load.

To be honest any extreme estate will do the trick, but unless you’re prepared to scratch the precious materials that line a secondhand Audi S4, Ford’s finest will have to do.

Porsche’s Boxster might have two boots, but neither of them are as cavernous as the Cologne Catheral space in the back of a Mondeo estate, and it’s even sort of nice to drive. You might think the petrol ST 220 is the way to go but for once diesel is the engine of choice; it’s all but identical until you get to the pumps.

It depresses the Z4-owning purist in me but if meatballs and shelving units are part of your life, the best car in the world is a fast estate.

Rumours I work for Ford remain unfounded.