OCTOBER 2019 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 137
Dacia Duster
Comfort TCe
Month 4The story so far
We’re on a mission to discover
whether the Duster offers anything
aside from incredible value
+Practical and well priced, with
improvements over the old one- At times it feels very cheap. And
we just can’t get comfortable
Price £14,400 (£15,045 as tested)
Performance 1333cc turbo four-cyl,
128bhp, 11.1sec 0-62mph, 118mph
Efficiency 39.2-41.5mpg (official),
37.1mpg (tested), 136g/km CO2
Energy cost 16.1p per mile Miles
this month 286 Total miles 2693LogbookAudi R8 Spyder
Performance
Month 3The story so far
Tracking the R8’s mpg is like riding
the stock market but it’s balancing
out to roughly hit (or sometimes
better) the claimed figure
+The attention you get; engine,
pliancy in Comfort; grip- The attention you get; fuel bills
Price £152,645 (£169,120 as
tested) Performance 5204cc V10,
612bhp, 3.2sec 0-62mph, 204mph
Efficiency 20.9-21.1mpg (official),
20.7mpg (tested), 302g/km CO2
Energy cost 31.6p per mile Miles
this month 1831 Total miles 9650LogbookL and Rover Discover y
HSE Luxury
Month 7The story so far
Land Rover’s heartland car hasn’t
met with huge styling acclaim or
sales success but is proving to be
addictively good family transport
+Awesome road trip/adventure
sports tool- Antiquated infotainment; creaky
body; ’leccy gremlins
Price £70,405 (£76,065 as tested)
Performance 2993cc TD V6,
302bhp, 7.0sec 0-60mph, 130mph
Efficiency 36.2mpg (official),
28.9mpg (tested), 206g/km CO2
Energy cost 21.2p per mile Miles
this month 1098 Total miles 8702LogbookSitting
comfortably?
The M25 is a ribbon of misery at the
best of times, but combine it with
seven-hour delays and it’s like a
tenth tarmaced circle of hell.
Spending that much time
in anything is a strain, but in
the Duster, a few ergonomic
annoyances build into full-on
problems. I’m 6ft 3in, and the
Duster forces me to push the seat all
the way back – and even then it’s not
far enough. My legs constantly rub
on the steering wheel. Raising the
wheel does me no favours either.
But worst of all are the seats.
After three or four hours, I find
myself effectively breakdancing in
the Duster’s cabin, to a soundtrack
of podcasts, hoping to stumble on
a position where my lower back
vertebrae don’t feel fused together.
CURTIS MOLDRICH
There’s a holein my tankHow low can I go? So far, 9.2mpg
on one particular trip, though I’m
daring myself to get that figure
lower. At the other end of the
economy scale, though, I don’t even
have to break a sweat to hit the R8’s
claimed fuel figures. That’s because
so many of my recent miles have
been airport runs and long-distance
motorway schleps, where the auto is
almost permanently in seventh and
the V10 is humming to the gentle
tune of 2000rpm.
On drives from Peterborough
to Newcastle, the A1 and A19 are
no effort at all for our R8. On
one occasion I saw 24mpg. Not
doing the supercar thing properly?
Perhaps, but it’s costing me an arm
and a leg in V-Power, so get your
violins out.
JAKE GROVESTwo vansand a divanThree stone chips meant a new
windscreen, an item so large it takes
two Autoglass man-and-vans to fit
it. I suspect that the bill was just as
large, but luckily that goes to the
insurer. Fitter Terry very expertly
scraped my Swiss vignette off the
old screen and transferred it intact
to the new one, and the entire
job was almost done by the time
I’d made coffee. At the other end,
concerns about the slopey tailgate
cutting into bootspace proved
unfounded when the Disco – to my
surprise – swallowed a king-size
divan bed split into two sections.
The summer tyres are (finally) back
on, the AdBlue has been topped up
and with the mundane tasks and
repairs taken care of, a summer
adventure is planned.
BEN OLIVERHonda CR-V eCVT
Month 3The story so far
Hybrid version promises greater
efficiency, lower running costs from
trusty SUV
+Roomy, rugged and smooth- Not a bad CVT, but still a CVT
Price £34,470 (£35,320 as tested)
Performance 1993cc hybrid four-
cylinder, 144bhp, 9.2sec 0-62mph,
112mph Efficiency 51.4mpg (official),
34.6mpg (tested), 126g/km C02
Energy cost 16.7p per mile Miles
this month 387 Total miles 3721LogbookJourney timetripled!The CR-V got to take on chauffeur
duties recently for a friend’s
wedding. Our – ahem – impeccable
timing meant we got stuck in not
one but two accidents on the way
there, one of them clearly serious
enough to close the road and have
everyone turn their engines off. In
the end the 90-minute journey took
over four and a half hours.
With snacks stashed away in
the plentiful cubbyholes, pregnant
Mrs T’s formidable hunger-anger
was kept at bay. We missed the
ceremony but arrived just in time
for the wedding breakfast.
The Honda’s cabin proved plenty
big enough and comfortable for four
adults, contained as we were while
the authorities cleared up the mess
on the A421.
ALEX TAPLEY