The Volkswagen Golf GTE is a hot hatch Greenpeace can get excited about

BOFFINS in a bunker deep beneath Volkswagen’s headquarters have mooned at the laws of logic with their latest model. Somehow, they’ve managed to serve roast beef and sushi on the same plate, and in a way that’s weirdly appetising.

Translated into layman’s English, the German car giant’s latest model manages to combine what should be two diametrically opposed strands of motoring. Hot hatches are feisty, fun and powerful, and eco-friendly hybrids emphatically aren’t.

The two might be about as easy to blend as oil and water, but that hasn’t stopped Europe’s biggest car maker from having a crack anyway.

To be fair, the idea of a hybrid that’s fun to drive isn’t exactly unprecedented. Anyone who owns a Honda CR-Z already knows that it’s entirely possible to drop a Captain Planet-pleasing powerplant which runs largely on lettuce and mineral water into a car that’s eager and exciting to hoof about in.

It’s just a shame that – for all the MUGEN-branded tuned up versions knocking around – Honda never came good on the CR-Z’s sports car potential. No matter how well it handles, the range-topping GT version has just 122bhp. Perhaps it’s just perceived wisdom that you can’t make a car please the hot hatch brigade and appease Greenpeace at the same time.

Or it at least will be until VW’s new hot hatch arrives.

It’s a simple idea – forty years ago VW popularised the hot hatch with the Golf GTI, and in 2009 it managed to translate the idea into coherent diesel by introducing the torque-tastic GTD. Now it’s swapped the last letter again to create a plug-in hybrid version of Germany’s favourite pocket rocket – yes, it’s the Golf GTE!

The E, in case, you hadn’t already worked it out, stands for Electric, because this particular Golf ditches the GTI’s big engine in favour of a small one and some electric motors to develop the same sort of power. Add the two together and you’ve got the equivalent of 204bhp.What’s more, when you aren’t driving like a speed-addicted yoof you can do 31 miles on electricity alone, saving the polar bears as you glide silently along.

More importantly, the GTE proves the future is arriving quicker these days. When Mercedes introduced the airbag on the S-Class we had to wait 15 years for it to reach family hatchbacks. The GTE’s premise of a performance car aided by electricity is exactly the same as the trick the McLaren P1 and the Porsche 918 make their shtick, and yet you can get it in affordable Golf form at the end of the year.

Who said saving the planet couldn’t be fun?

Are electric car grants a good use of taxpayers' money?

MILLIONS of pounds worth of Government grants for eco-friendly electric cars are being used by just a handful of affluent motorists to help them buy second cars.

That's the warning today from the House of Commons Transport Committee, who said that despite Westminster offering £11m worth of grants for those who buy plug-in vehicles, only “a handful” of motorists had taken the plunge, with many of those being richer buyers who are using them as second cars for shopping trips.

Liverpool Riverside MP Louise Ellman, who chairs the committee, said: “The Government must do more to show that its plug-in vehicle strategy is a good use of public money. Carbon emissions from transport must be reduced if the UK is to meet its climate change targets, but public money must be targeted on effective policies.

"So far, Department for Transport expenditure on plug-in cars – some £11 million – has benefited just a handful of motorists. We were warned of the risk that the Government is subsidising second cars for affluent households; currently plug-in cars are mostly being purchased as second cars for town driving. It is also unclear whether the provision of public charging infrastructure encourages demand for plug-in cars. Indeed, the Government does not even have a register of all the chargepoints installed at public expense."

An increasing number of manufacturers have launched both purely electric vehicles, such as Nissan's LEAF and Citroen's C-Zero, and plug-in hybrids, like Vauxhall's Ampera and Chevrolet's Volt.

The committee added that more investigation is required into the Government grants, to ensure they are a good use of public funds.

Have you bought an electric car? Get in touch by sending an email to david.simister@hotmail.co.uk or leave a comment below.

Fire up the... Vauxhall Ampera

THIS eco-warrior has an electric motor. It also packs a good old fashioned petrol engine. So the new Ampera's a hybrid, right?

Not quite, Vauxhall reckon. I'll apologise for getting so blatantly and boringly technical this soon into a review but it's important you know why the Ampera, this year's European Car of the Year, does what it does. A hybrid like, say, a Toyota Prius or a Honda Insight, is powered by a petrol engine which uses electric energy to help it run more efficiently.

The Vauxhall's contender (and its sister car, the Chevrolet Volt) is one you'll appreciate if you're a train buff - it's an electric vehicle which uses a petrol engine not to power its wheels, but to recharge its batteries. It is, in trainspotter speak, a petrol-electric. Not nodded off yet, then?

The upshot of all that electric wizardry is that the Ampera can do something no other electric car can. It can run on amps alone for 35 miles - more, Vauxhall reckons, than most of us regularly commute - so you can happily pop to the shops in it during the week not burning any fuel at all, plug it into the mains when you get back and sit back, smiling smugly because you're helping to mend the holes in the ozone layer. The clever bit, though, is that once you get past that it'll call on Esso's finest to keep going, meaning the 1.4 litre engine normally sat on the sub's bench is able to get you to Aunt Mabel's house in Aberdeen just like any other car could. Try doing that in your Nissan LEAF.

Normally, it's the price that unravels it all but while at £30,000 the Ampera costs about the same as the high end versions of Vauxhall's own Insignia it's the same sort of car - a big, generously equipped saloon, even if it's got a dashboard straight out of the 1980s. It's even nice to drive in a comfy, cosseting sort of way, with plenty of room upfront and in the back.

The Ampera isn't an electric car in the truest sense of the word but instead manages to be something much better; an eco-friendly express that makes sense. It's an environmentalist statement disguised as a really good car.

Honda to offer go-faster version of CR-Z

HONDA'S just announced the sportiest hybrid it makes will be made a little hotter with the announcement that a performance version will arrive next year.

The company said that it has teamed up with tuning firm MUGEN to offer go-faster version of the CR-Z hybrid coupe, which will offer up 50% more power than the existing car and rocket to sixty no less than three seconds faster.

Martin Moll, Head of Honda (UK) marketing said: “MUGEN Euro magic has created a super responsive yet eco-conscious model building on our sporting credentials and giving us the ability to compete in the hot hatch marketplace as we move into 2012.”

The standard CR-Z is the current Life On Cars car of the year, after impressing last year with its blend of performance and eco-friendliness.

Lexus hots up its hybrid hatchback

LEXUS, it seems, are way ahead of me.

When I test drove the CT-200h earlier this year I walked away impressed but slightly frustrated; it was a hugely impressive hybrid hatchback, but "it isn't the last word in excitement". It was, I wrongly concluded, business as usual when it came to Japan's 1-Series bater. Even Kylie Minogue struggled to make the standard version look exciting.

But now the Japanese luxury car master's just spiced up the smallest of its models, meaning you can now enjoy a sports version of its hybrid hatchback.

The CT-200h Sport comes with the same eco-friendly powerplant as the normal version but it's been blessed with a tasty set of 17-inch alloy wheels, a new rear spoiler, flared sideskirts and a racy mesh grille among other cosmetic updates, meaning that while it doesn't have any extra go it offers plenty more show.

The company is, however, promising sportier handling, and said it's tuned the CT 200h F-Sport’s suspension for a more engaging drive, and fitted a lateral damping system as standard.

Yet for all the aggressive styling it's still an automotive eco activist thanks to its clever petrol/electric technology, meaning that it'll still return 68mpg and - thanks to its low emissions - cost nothing at all to tax.

In a stroke Lexus has just eliminated my main criticism of the CT-200h; that, for all its clever features, it was a bit boring. It's now just a little more Fast and Furious and a little less Friends of the Earth, and that's all I'd ask of it.

The CT-200h is available to order from Lexus showrooms now and costs £27,850.

Fire up the... Toyota Auris Hybrid

TRAFFIC JAMS. You hate them just as much as I do, but it's where this clever hybrid hatchback from the world's biggest car company starts showing off.

Slip the hybrid version of Toyota's mid-sized hatch into its EV - or Electric Vehicle - mode and it suddenly becomes your very own Coalition Government, refusing to let you spend any money at all by frittering away precious fuel. Instead it sidles along in silence, determining not to restart its 1.8 litre engine unless you mash your foot to the floor. Like its pricier Prius sister, crawling through jams using absolutely no petrol at all is the Auris Hybrid's party trick.

Toyota practically invented the hybrid - the car which combines petrol with electric motors in the quest for eco-friendly motoring - over a decade ago with the original Prius, but I reckon the Auris is actually the better buy. It might not come with the Cameron Diaz celebrity endorsement its more iconic sibling gets but what you do get is a slightly more resolved package.

The Auris is, to my mind at least, not only better looking than the Prius but also a better drive, giving you more confidence once you leave the jams, stick it Power Mode and drive it like, well, like a car. No, it isn't going to make you the Jenson Button through the bends but thanks to its effortless auto box, fingertip light steering and a handy amount of grunt from its petrol-burning department it is startling easy to drive. Only the slightly fidgety ride and a lack of all-round visibility let the side down but otherwise I reckon it's got the Prius - an impressive car in its own right, don't forget - licked.

If your drive to work involves lots of twisty lanes then this probably isn't the car for you; it's too woolly and not communicative enough for cross-country work, where the petrol-powered traditionalists like Ford's Focus still rule the roost. If, on the other hand, your commute seems to be a never ending series of traffic jams, the Auris Hybrid is well worth a look.

Your wallet will thank you for it.

Fire up the... Lexus CT-200h

IN the weird and wonderful world of car badges, every letter comes with its own connotations.

D, for instance, will forever stand for diesel, while I - usually preceded by G and T - denotes fuel injection. Yet if you're in the market for Lexus' first hatchback, it's H, writ in the tiniest of fonts on the rump of the new CT200h, that you're going to be interested in.

H stands for Hybrid, the eco-friendly blend of petrol and electric power that Lexus and parent firm Toyota have made their own over the years. Indeed, step into the new arrival from the Toyota Prius Life On Cars tested earlier this year and you'll find yourself in very familiar territory.

The clever computer displays you use to find out how much of the Earth you're saving while driving, for instance, are almost identical to the ones you'll find in the Prius, and that car's party trick - seeing how long you can drive on electricity alone - has made it into its upmarket cousin. Make no mistake; like the Prius, the CT-200h comes stuffed with intelligent thinking.

But don't let that fool you into thinking this is a Prius in drag, because it's far from it. The challenging Prius styling has been ditched by the CT-200h for a far more sober set of clothes, and once you've removed the distinctive D-pillar it is, if anything, a bit of a background blender. For better or worse, it looks like a Lexus.

It's the same story on the inside, with a cabin that's cosseting and comfortably laid out rather than rakish and idiosyncratic. Passengers front and rear will find it easy to get comfortable but children in the back might find the CT tricker than most to see out of, with that unusual window shape meaning they have to crane their necks forward to get a better view.

In fact the real departure for Lexus is the way their smallest offering brings front wheel drive to the firm's showrooms for the first time, but don't let that put you off. Smooth, reassuring and a true motorway mile muncher, you won't regret being behind the wheel if you found BMW's 1 Series or Audi's A3 a little harsh for your liking.

The CT-200h isn't the last word in excitement but it gives you effortless comfort with an eco twist. Business as usual for Lexus, then.

Could this eco sports car be the next Toyota MR-2?

TOYOTA'S evoked memories of its old MR-2 sports car with its latest concept car - but the new roadster comes with an eco twist.

The two-seater GRMN - which stands for GAZOO Racing, tuned by MN - might be a petrol-electric hybrid car but in terms of its looks and mid-engined layout it's definitely a machine which hints that Toyota might be mulling over the idea of a new MR-2 sports car.

The concept, introduced to tie in with this year's Nurburgring 24 Hours race, will keep traditional driving enthusiasts happy with a 245bhp V6 driving the rear wheels, but it's also helped by an electric motor providing drive to the front wheels.

The last of the old MR-2 sports cars left the company's UK showrooms in 2007.


Life On Cars writer David Simister is getting wet on a campsite in Cornwall this week, but will be back later this week with more motoring news and reviews.

Fire up the... Toyota Prius

TOYOTA'S Prius at ten years old, is a global icon of the world's biggest car company, beloved of eco warriors and Hollywood actresses alike, and the first car you're likely to think of when it comes to saving the planet or saving at the pumps.

It is the hybrid.

Unfortunately, that means a quick science lesson. Hybrids are, as the name suggests, motors which use a mix of petrol and electricity to get you moving, with the
Toyota's 1.8 litre lump doing the sterling job of not only moving you about, but also helping to charge an electric battery, which in turn helps with the duties of swooshing along silently in traffic and in low speed parking manouveres.

Cast your eyes over the latest version, the third generation of the car, and it's definitely a love or hate job. Some of my passengers were instantly put off by the unusual proportions but to my mind it's the best looking Toyota hybrid to date, ditching the dowdy looks of its predecessor in favour of some crisp detailing, like the edgy headlights and alloy wheels.

It's the same story on the inside, which looks more like the cockpit of a spaceship than a rival to the Golf or Focus. The dials are replaced with a brilliantly bizarre computerised screen in the middle of that deep dashboard, and the gearstick is a minute, translucent blue affair which you'd swear has been nicked straight off a gaming console.

You have to forget the too-light steering and slightly stodgy handling and concentrate instead on learning the low speed coasting this car loves to get anywhere near the 70 miles to the gallon the Prius can and will do. There's even a game you can play to make it more fun; choose the animated display of the car's energy consumption on your car's Starship Enterprise display panel, and see how long you can get it to run on just electricity.

The Prius is also almost certainly a better bet than the rash of electric-only cars coming later this year, because after 100 miles on a longer trip you'll still be saving the planet long after the ‘leccy-driving do-gooders have run out of battery power and ground silently to a halt.

It's not an exciting car, but it is an impressive one.

As published in The Champion on January 26, 2011

Hybrid Theory

NEWS that Toyota's Prius is ten years old this week got me onto one of the fundamental questions of motoring. Are cars evolving as fast as we are?

Think about it; a decade ago we were a fairly primitive species, doing all our business through a dial-up Internet connection and getting confused over who the next US President was because some pensioners in Florida couldn't fill in a piece of paper properly. Since then we might have suffered seeing something called Jedward being given a record deal, but otherwise the world has come on in leaps and bounds.

I no longer have to text my mates because I can just Facebook them instead, my favourite TV shows are but a click on iPlayer away, and I can do it all on something called an iPad, which is about the same size as a chopping board. Certainly, when I come across a breaking story at The Champion I'm now faced with the same dilemma; write it or Tweet it?

But cars, even ones as sophisticated as the Prius, are still largely the same, despite gaining a USB socket here and there. All of them - hybrids included - still run on the basic principle of burning things that died millions of years ago, and if you showed even the snazziest car interior to your average Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg they'd laugh openly at its humble stereo and lack of social networking. Then they'd probably set up a group on Facebook to encourage everyone else to do likewise.

I've got this theory that if you somehow stole Doc Brown's Delorean from the Hollywood warehouse it's undoubtedly hidden in (I know the original got destroyed, but Hollywood has spares of everything) and transported an iPad or a Kindle back to October 2000 in it, our not-so-distant ancestors would gasp in amazement. But send them details of even the most modern Prius and they'd yawn, because it looks pretty much the same as the one you bought back then.

I fear the answer I'm actually looking for could kill off this column once and for all, because - despite Google themselves taking on the challenge of developing the driverless car - the Facebook future may not involve motoring at all.

In October 2000 you could use Concorde to get something between London and New York in less than three hours, but now there's no need because you can do the same - virtually - in several seconds.

Are cars evolving as fast as we are? If it means not consigning the likes of Jaguar's exciting new CX-75 to museums prematurely, I'd hope so.

P.S: Hybrid Theory, in case you're wondering, was a hit album which just happened to be released in October 2000. I spent ages thinking that pun up...

Fire up the... Honda CR-Z

HONDA'S latest hybrid might get you seeing red when you're hurtling it around your nearest city centre, but it's for all the right reasons.

The dials on the CR-Z, the Japanese firm's first truly tiny coupe in more than a decade, have a fantastic feature which allows them to glow blue, green and red depending on how economically you're driving it, which works both ways. You CAN go green if you're on a bid to beat the taxman by using the power of prudence, but I find it's much more fun to get glowing red by driving as furiously as possible.

It's an invitation to sample two extremes of driving and quite possibly a first in motoring; a hybrid car someone interested in driving might actually want to buy.

Obviously, Honda are hyping up the ‘H' word as much as possible, but not nearly as much as the really rather obvious links to the sporty little CR-X of the ‘80s and ‘90s, which the new model clearly mimics. So it's an eco activist which chooses to wear running shoes instead of sandals.

You'll find the CR-Z has the same dinky stance as its petrol-powered predecessor, but it's carried over a few nods to the original a little more quietly, like trimming the back seats in a different colour to the fronts, although most people won't notice because they won't get into them. I know it's a coupe, but it's still a bit of squeeze back there!

Normally getting just 122bhp from a car costing £20,000 would have me worried, but Honda's blend of petrol and electricity will impress even the most heavy-footed drivers, while appeasing the eco-minded ones. The fact it still manages to make a fantastic noise is a handy bonus.

If you've got lots of kids and dogs the CR-Z is simply too small, but for fun while keeping your conscience in check the little Honda's nailed it. I'm not sure whether Honda has realised the impossible dream its adverts are always going on about with the CR-Z, but they have made a hybrid to hanker after in the process.

As published in The Champion on June 30, 2010

H stands for...

… hot, hardcore, hip hop, hairy, and hi-energy in the case of this 911. Almost certainly a little bit horny. But you probably didn’t guess it also stands for Hybrid.

The Porsche 911 GT3 R, unveiled last week and coming to a racetrack near you later this year, is one of those effortlessly gorgeous GT racers you’re just glad to know exists, like the Aston Martin DBR9, Ford GT40 and D-Type Jaguar. I can’t wait to hear what it sounds like screaming down the main straight at Le Mans, but I hope it’s a racing noise and not a hybrid one.

Can this really have come from the same way of thinking that came up with the Toyota Prius, the Lexus LX450h and the Honda Insight? We’ve already had the electric sports car, the diesel Le Mans winner and the Porsche off-roader, but is a hybrid 911 a step too far?

Of course not, because if eco-friendly cars are really going to catch on they have to be things we want, with style and panache alongside green credentials. So far only Tesla’s really proven you can be environmentally-conscious in something that you’d proudly power down a country lane in, so the idea of a hybrid 911 is an utterly brilliant one.

The fact it looks stunning and has 480bhp at its disposal is a handy bonus.