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e all have guilty pleasures, things we know aren’t really right but which we can’t help liking. All manner of convoluted justifications can be made to salve that guilt but the best way is usually just to admit to the fact that we’re occasionally due a little slack. Or, in the case of the Hummer H3, 2200 kilos of slack. The brutalist Hummer isn’t a vehicle that’s easy to pass off as a convincing alternative to a Land Rover Discovery, but it is a definite statement of something. Based on tried and tested GM mechanicals, the H3 packs the Hummer look and feel into a more manageable size. The last H3s rolled from the line in 2010, whereupon the company was wound up. Anybody who ever drove one of the original Hummers would have been amazed at its reverseTARDIS ability. Huge on the outside, there was probably less useable room inside than you’d get in a Ford Focus. It was genuinely a triumph of lousy packaging. The H3 is several steps removed from the original and things are a good deal more conventional inside.
It’s still rather American insofar as the plastics quality isn’t great, but the centre stack at least looks stylish with its brushed metal finish. The exterior styling is bluff and uncompromising with a front end that encourages traffic to get out of its path. The H3 is based on a Chevy Colorado pick up truck, so the underpinnings aren’t exactly cutting edge. Used prices for Hummer H3s are notoriously fluid. You’ll need to squirrel away at least £26,000 to get your hands on one of the first official right-hand drive cars in standard trim although you should be able to pick up a left-hand drive import for around £5,000 less with equivalent mileage. Finding a used Hummer H3 that has avoided tasteless customisation or conversion to a stretch limo is more difficult than you’d imagine. The other thing you’ll need to look out for is damage to the car caused by overenthusiastic off-roading and that includes ambitious wading. The interior is generally hard
HUMMER UMMER H3
NEWS wearing but there have been reports of differentials failing, so make sure the diffs aren’t making a whining or groaning noise. Check for a service record stamped up as far as is practicable. Out of time and out of place it may be, but it’s also inconveniently good fun, especially if you have deep pockets and plenty of land to play on. It’s also refreshingly politically incorrect which will be a big draw for some. Unmolested used examples are getting ever thinner on the ground and there aren’t any more being made. This could be your last chance to say you were there.
(2007–2010)
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ALL-NEW FORD FOCUS ESTATE NOW ON THE WAY
Smart bombed? L
ove it or hate it, the smallest Smart has certainly revolutionised the way we perceive small cars. Cheeky, nippy and beautifully detailed, the Smart asks you in no uncertain terms to recall the last time you used your back seats. To say the Smart had a turbulent genesis would be understating the case severely. To give some idea as to the late entry to the UK, by the time domestic deliveries started, the Smart was already in its Mark 4 variant and the Mark 5 was introduced at the end of February 2001. Three models were available at launch, the entry level smart & pure, powered by a 44bhp three-cylinder engine, the sportier smart & pulse, powered by a 55bhp version of the same engine with uprated turbo boost, and the luxury rangetopper, the 55bhp smart & passion. The Mark 5 version saw a number of changes, the key one being a boost to 61bhp for the smart & pulse, underlining its sporty credentials. New colours and fabrics were announced along with some minor changes to standard equipment, lighting systems and suspension. The Smart City Cabrio open top car, based on the smart & passion trim level was unveiled in March 2000, with British orders starting in April 2001. Right hand drive versions were introduced to the UK in autumn 2001, but the CDi diesel version has yet to appear, having been on sale in Europe since December 1999. In summer 2002 the Smart crossblade debuted, a chopped down version of
the cabriolet with a distinctly big price - £15,990 and designed for those with big egos. Then, at the start of 2004, the City Coupe and City Cabrio models were re-named as the Fortwo Coupe and the Fortwo Cabrio. This development was swiftly followed by the introduction of the body-kitted Brabus models with their 74bhp power outputs. An all new Smart fortwo arrived in the autumn of 2007. Whichever way you buy your Smart however, for the time being, it will only come with left hand drive. Still, the car’s so short and narrow anyway that left hand drive shouldn’t matter. Two basic bodystyles are available: a 3-door ‘City-Coupe’ and a Cabriolet version (only offered in the UK in smart & passion guise). Safety was a key development priority and here, the Smart claims to better all its citycar rivals, offering safety standards comparable with a mid-range family saloon.
If you want an official model, your best bet is to contact one of the four Smart centres in the UK. If, on the other hand, you’re glad to go grey, then a used smart & pure can be yours from £2,500 on a 1999 plate, whilst a smart & pulse is nearer £2,900 and smart & passion models retail from around £3,300. All standard Smart models are insurance group 2. The car can only carry two people and it weighs a mere 720kg. Rest to sixty takes 16.8 seconds on the way to an artificially limited top speed of 85mph. None of this gives you much idea as to exactly how much of a hoot the little Smart is to drive. It isn’t quite as fast as, say, a Fiat Seicento Sporting or a Mini Cooper, but crucially, it rides better, feels safer and is much better built. As you might expect, fuel economy is dazzlingly good (expect at least 60mpg on a regular basis) and if you’re willing to unleash the exhibitionist in you and park it nose in to the kerb, you’ll draw more stares than a Ferrari parked in the next bay. You’ll be stared at. Some disbelievers will even struggle to suppress a snigger, especially when overtaken on the motorway by a Smart. If you tread carefully and take a look at a few before you buy, purchasing a used Smart can be the best way possible to have the last laugh. It makes a Fiat Seicento, Ford Ka or SEAT Arosa seem so twentieth century.
FORD dealers will soon start selling the new estate version of the all-new Ford Focus, with full production now underway. The new German-built model is being shipped to dealers for sale from late May. Customers will then have a choice of two body styles - five-door and estate - to suit their lifestyles.
PORSCHE PANAMERA DIESEL AVAILABLE IN AUGUST ON sale from August 2011, the Porsche Panamera range extends with the introduction of the new Panamera Diesel, further enhancing the model’s appeal to UK customers. A luxury Gran Turismo, the Panamera Diesel is capable of taking four passengers in sporting comfort from Lands End to Loch Ness without refuelling. Priced from £62,134.
Vauxhall’s latest Insignia VXR offering turns up the heat
Rolls-Royce approved programme details announced
Taking a leaf from the legendary Lotus Carlton’s book, the latest Insignia VXR turns up the heat still further with the launch of a de-restricted package, allowing the car to achieve 170mph. Known as ‘Unlimited’ option, it removes the ‘regular’
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has announced the latest details for its approved programme for pre-owned cars. Each car has to meet exacting criteria set by RollsRoyce Motor Cars. Factory-trained technicians conduct a painstaking
Insignia’s 155mph restrictor, allowing the range-topper to exploit its all-wheel-drive chassis dynamics to the full. Available with either manual or auto transmissions, and in Hatch, Saloon and Sports Tourer body styles, a car fitted with the Unlimited option
is visually distinguished by a blue Brembo logo on its front brake callipers and a newlydesigned tachometer and speedometer, showing higher increments.
inspection procedure, including a full road test, to ensure that every Provenance car reaches the highest standards prior to delivery. Cars must have been maintained in strict adherence to Rolls-Royce servicing requirements to be considered
and are only sold through the international network of authorised Rolls-Royce Motor Cars dealers.
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