New Leaf on sale in Ireland

The new generation Nissan Leaf electric car has gone on sale in Ireland at a starting price of €26,290, writes Brian Byrne. The car has also just been awarded the 'World Green Car 2018' accolade.

The car has a 40 kWh battery which gives it a real-world range of 260km and a potential range, depending on conditions and driving style, in excess of 350km.

Before the new Leaf arrived, Nissan Ireland had already 200 firm orders following a social media campaign.

As the best selling electric car in Ireland since the first version was launched in 2010, a further 2,300 potential owners have expressed interest in the new version.

Nissan Ireland say they will probably sell 1,000 units of the C-segment Leaf this year, though they admit that 'supply may be a problem'.

In direct comparison with a 1.2 petrol Qashqai, operating savings of around €1,200 a year are estimated.

We'll have a first drive review here later.

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Volvo XC60 wins World Car of the Year 2018

The new Volvo XC60 midsize SUV has been named World Car of the Year 2018 at the New York Auto Show, writes Trish Whelan.

The World Car of the Year win is the first in this competition for Volvo Cars.

Volvo say the XC60 is one of the safest cars they have ever built.

It also scooped the prestigious North American Utility of the Year Award earlier this year while the XC40 small SUV was named European Car of the Year at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month.

In the XC60, Euro NCAP’s best overall performer in 2017, Volvo’s City Safety Autonomous Emergency Braking system has been enhanced with steering support for when automatic braking alone may not help avoid a potential collision. In addition, Oncoming Lane Mitigation with Steer Assist which helps mitigate head-on collisions and Blind Spot Information System with Steer Assist has been added to reduce the risk of lane-changing collisions. 

XC60 scored a near-perfect 98 per cent in the Adult Occupant category and in its Large Off-Road class showed a clear advantage in Safety Assist with a score of 95 per cent - 20 percentage points higher than the nearest Large Off-Road competitor. 

XC60 is available with a range of diesel and petrol engines as well as Volvo Cars’ award-winning T8 Twin Engine petrol plug-in hybrid at the top of the powertrain range, delivering 407hp and acceleration from 0-100km/h in 5.3 seconds.

In the same competition, the Audi A8 won the 2018 World Luxury Car title; BMW M5 took the 2018 World Performance Car; Range Rover Velar the 2018 World Car Design of the Year; Nissan's LEAF EV was awarded the World Green Car title while the Volkswagen Polo took the World Urban Car award.

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Two special Minis at New York Auto Show

Mini revealed two special cars at the New York Motor Show, in one case bringing back the original Mini from almost six decades ago, but with an electric powertrain, writes Brian Byrne.

That one was designed to foreshadow the all-electric new model Mini due for launch next year.

Also, a special Mini Countryman Panamericana shown is specially designed for extremely challenging routes. With its underpinnings taken from the brand's first plug-in hybrid vehicle, the Mini Countryman PanAmericana has been designed for a long-distance tour from North America to Tierra del Fuego, showcasing the power and durability of Mini's largest model.

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Audi debuts RS 5 Sportback

An RS 5 Sportback debuted at the New York Motor Show makes it the first time the RS performance grade has been available in the format, writes Brian Byrne.

The 5-door coupe features the RS style cues outside and in, including the typical flat-bottomed steering wheel and red stitching in the leather trim and seats.

The car is powered by a twin-turbo 2.9 V6 petrol engine.

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First View: Ford Mustang 2019

I recently had the undeniably fun experience of driving the 2019 Ford Mustang through the very drivable mountain areas of Provence, writes Brian Byrne.

The reason for the latest ride was the mid-life upgrade of the current generation of the car. And if you think that's rather quickly after the model was introduced to Europe just three years ago, that's because it had then already been on sale in the US for a couple of years.

There's a new grille and facia, sexier lights, and a lowered hood front. There's a new rear spoiler option too. All together give a measure of extra visual sophistication. But nothing has been done to take from the style of the version which is generally agreed to be the closest in concept and execution to the original of 1964.

Ford renews link with Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind

Ford Ireland has renewed its partnership with Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, writes Trish Whelan.

Ford has been a partner of the nationwide charity from soon after the charity was established in 1976. 

At the announcement of the partnership renewal, Ciaran McMahon, Chairman and Managing Director of Ford Ireland said “Ford are hugely proud of the long-standing partnership with Irish Guide Dogs - the charity’s work is literally life-changing for the hundreds of people throughout the country who have a Guide or Assistance Dog that has been trained by Irish Guide Dogs and we are delighted to support the staff and volunteers at Irish Guide Dogs in the valuable work they do.”

At the launch of the Ford partnership renewal were two new puppies, Henry and Ford (aptly named in honour of Ford’s ongoing support of the charity). These puppies are two of the latest ‘intake’ of puppies who will be trained as Guide or Assistance Dogs by the charity. It takes a full two years of full-time training for a dog to become a Guide or Assistance Dog. They then go on to work for an average of eight years. It costs approximately €38,000 to breed, train and support a single working dog for the duration of its working life.

Padraig Mallon, CEO of Irish Guide Dogs said they are 'hugely indebted' to Ford for their continued support. "Ford will help us greatly in generating the funds we need in order to create life changing opportunities for people who are vision impaired and families of children with autism to enable them to achieve increased mobility, independence and an improved quality of life. Ford have given us the practical support we need with our fleet, our car raffle and with our marketing and it’s great that the Ford team are fully committed to the work we do!”

The most significant element of the charity’s fundraising drive, supported by Ford, is the upcoming nationwide ‘Heroes Appeal’ running from 5 to 12 April. This will see the mobilization of an army of Irish Guide Dogs volunteers who will carry out on-street collections in the following locations:

Limerick City on April 5, 6 and 7

Dublin City on April 6 and 7

Cork City on April 7 and 12

Galway City on April 7

It costs over €5 million to fund the charity on an annual basis with statutory funding only providing 15pc meaning the majority of the funding has to come from public donations. The charity provides Guide and Assistance Dogs, and full support, to clients across Ireland totally free of charge. 

Ciaran McMahon is pictured above holding trainee Guide Dog 'Henry'; while Padraig Mallon holds trainee Guide Dog 'Ford'. 

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Moffett makes mark in Limerick

Josh Moffett and Stephen Thornton in action. Pic: Ger Leahy.

Monaghan pair Josh Moffett and Stephen Thornton came through on the closing stages to take a fourteen second victory in the second round of the Valvoline National Forestry Rally Championship, Limerick MC’s Treaty Plant Hire event at Silvermines at the weekend, writes Richard Burke.

Moffett, a former title holder, lay third for much of the day, but increased his pace just as early leader Andrew Purcell hit trouble, losing 40 seconds and two places to finish behind Barry McKenna, with all three driving Fiesta R5s.

Best of the two wheel drive brigade were David Crossen and Aileen Kelly in their Escort, taking eighth place overall, with Marty Gallagher narrowly beating Derek Mackarel for the Junior class, and finishing twelfth and fourteenth overall, just twelve seconds apart.

The Tynan family dominated the Monaghan Navigation Trial at Newbliss, with Mickey and his nephew Ciaran coming out on top after a challenging 85 mile route, and Mickey’s son Martin taking second place, navigated by Fintan Clerkin. 

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Kia achieves 3m cars built in Zilina

This is the three-millionth car built by Kia at its factory in Zilina, Czechoslovakia, since December 2006, writes Trish Whelan.

The white Kia cee'd is destined for a customer in Iceland.

The factory also produces Sportage and Venga models, and engines.

More than four million engines have been built there.

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New Corsa GSi in the autumn

Opel will launch a new sporty Corsa in September, the Corsa GSi, writes Trish Whelan.

It will have a sports chassis and an as yet unannounced engine power, likely a 1.4 with around 150hp.

The car will feature enhanced GSi styling, and will also have the Opel Intellilink infotainment system as an option.

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New C-Class Coupe and Cabriolet

Mercedes-Benz has revealed new versions of the C-Class coupe and cabriolet, writes Brian Byrne.

The sharper design of the new saloon and estate models is brought over to the other two.

The cars will feature a digital cockpit and dynamic body control suspension and new 4 -cylinder engines, some of which are equipped with 48V technology.

The two-door vehicles will go on sale in first markets from July.

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Review: Volvo XC40

If it hadn't already been announced that the Volvo XC40 is the European Car of the Year 2018, I'd be making a very strong case for it to be, writes Brian Byrne. If I had a vote there, though I don't.

But after my recent week with the car, I'm already going to have to be given some very strong reasons why it shouldn't be close to the top of the Irish COTY 2019, on which I will be voting towards the end of this year.

Am I jumping the gun? Nope. Just laying down a marker for every other contender. This is the one that, so far, I think they're all going to have to beat. That thought said, let's move to the car as experienced.

Motorsport Ireland Weekend Roundup

Donagh Kelly and co-driver Conor Foley

Donegal driver Donagh Kelly, the former National and Tarmac rally champion, extended his already long list of achievements by becoming the first driver ever to win the Quality Hotel Clonakilty West Cork International five years in a row, writes Richard Burke.

At the finish in Clonakilty yesterday, he and co-driver Conor Foley had almost two minutes to spare over runners up Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes, who led the R5 challenge to Kelly’s more powerful Ford Focus World Rally Car. The Monaghan-Wexford pair took their Fiesta to maximum points towards the Clonakilty Blackpudding/Michelin Irish Tarmac title, as WRC cars are no longer eligible for the series.

Defending Tarmac title holder Sam Moffett, Josh’s elder brother, had a good day yesterday, as he climbed from fourth place at the end of Saturday’s eight stages, to overtake Declan Boyle, finishing the weekend just nine seconds behind his sibling. Dubliner Rob Barrable, a former West Cork winner, was fifth this time, ten seconds down on Boyle.

Callum Devine from Co Derry had his first event on home soil as Young Rally Driver of the year, and had a great drive to bring his one litre Fiesta R2T into eleventh place overall, beaten only by the much more powerful WRC and R5 cars which scored a clean sweep of the top ten positions. The Billy Coleman Award winner took a comfortable class win.

Ford adds to ST-Line models

Ford Ireland has completed its ST-Line grade here which now includes the EcoSport, Mondeo, Kuga, S-MAX and Edge models, writes Brian Byrne.

All include with sport suspension, unique body kits and alloy wheel designs; sport seats, steering wheel and interior details.

Engines range from 1.0 EcoBoost with up to 125hp for EcoSport ST-Line to 2.0 TDCi with up to 210hp for Edge ST-Line.

Only higher-powered engines from each model's range are available with ST-Line.

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All-electric Audi here next year

Audi's first all-electric car in Ireland will be an SUV with a rated range of 500km, writes Brian Byrne.

The vehicle will be delivered to first customers here in 2019, and will be based on the e-tron quattro concept model.

Audi is also a partner in a joint venture with BMW, Daimler, Ford and VW to build a network of charging stations around Ireland in association with Topaz.

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Kia to drive Nationwide Running Race Series

Catherina McKiernan and Rose of Tralee, Jennifer Byrne, set the pace ahead of the inaugural Kia Race Series which kicks off on 17 March with The Streets of Portlaoise 5k, writes Trish Whelan. 

The Kia Race Series will bring together seven well established regional races around Ireland under one umbrella with an added closed road running event in Mondello Park.

The Kia Race Series is encouraging Ireland’s best male and female distance athletes to compete against each other, with a new Kia Stonic up for grabs for both the overall male and female winner of the series. To be eligible to win the series, runners must take part in five of the eight races including the finale. There’s the added incentive of €7,000 bonus fund available for course records.

Runners can enter online on kiaraceseries.com and join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook @KiaRaceSeries.

The KIA Race Series

1. Streets of Portlaoise 5k - 17th March 11am
2. Run with Catherina (Co. Cavan) 10k - Saturday, April 28th 7pm (Provisionally)
3. Tallaght AC 5k - Sunday May 6th 12pm
4. Bob Heffernan 5k (Enfield, Co. Meath) - Tuesday 22nd May, 8pm
5. Braveheart 5k (Trim, Co. Meath) - Friday, June 15th, 8pm
6. Dunshaughlin 10k Road Race - Saturday, June 23rd, 7:30pm
7. Roscommon 10 Mile - 7th July 2018, 11:30am
8. Mondello International 10k -  September 9th, 11am

Elite runners will be invited to each event and will receive complimentary entry. Kia Motors Ireland will be offering €1,000 per race in course record bonuses, €500 male / female, as well as the two Kia Stonic cars which the series winners will have use of for one year.

Easyparking at Jervis Street Car Park in Dublin

Paul Dalton of easytrip and Neil Cunningham of APCOA Parking at Jervis Street car park

Easytrip has expanded their car parking portfolio in Dublin with the addition of Jervis Street car park, writes Trish Whelan.

Easyparking, easytrip's parking service offers hassle free electronic parking to customers with the use of a tag, with no need to take a ticket or queue at the paying station. The easytrip tag is scanned on entry and exit to the car park and the fee is then automatically deducted from the tag holder's account.

The Jervis Street car park has 267 car spaces and is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. New and existing easytrip customers can sign up for parking by calling easytrip on 1890 67 67 68 or by logging onto www.easytrip.ie. Easyparking is available at locations in Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick and Waterford.

Review: Jaguar E-Pace

When Jaguar produced its first SUV, the F-Pace, they were late to the premium crossover game, writes Brian Byrne. But that didn't stop the car becoming the best selling one in Jaguar's range. It also became my favourite.

Then came the E-Pace. Smaller, but not just a reduced version of the larger car. It has a more sporty sense about it. A bit more coiled strength in the rear quarters design, perhaps. From a certain front angle, it even looks like a coupe, though this is definitely a car for full-sized people front and rear.

Renault to partner St Patrick's Day Festival

Adeline Minchin, Sponsorship Manager St Patrick's Festival, with 'St Patrick', and Karla Clifford, Brand Communications Manager Renault Ireland.

Renault Ireland will continue as the official car partner of St Patrick's Festival for the next three years, writes Trish Whelan. This year's festival will run from Thursday 15 to Monday 19 March, with over 3,000 people taking part in the St Patrick's Day parade and over 500,000 expected to line the streets of Dublin on the day.

As part of its involvement, seven special green Renault Kadjars, Capturs and Koleos will weave their way through the capital during the parade including the 100 per cent electric Renault ZOE which will feature within the artistic pageantry of the parade.

The overall theme of this year's festival is Home, and a programme of special events inspired by all things 'home' will run throughout Dublin over the five days including a unique film commission project, street-theatre, talks, walks, spoken word, literature, music, Irish language, visual art and more. Renault Ireland's theme is May the Road Rise to Meet You (go n-eiri an bothar leat), a well-know as Gaeilge expression of good wishes.

As official car partner, Renault Ireland will provide 10 vehicles for use in both the St Patrick's Day Parade and official St Patrick's Festival duties.

Adeline Minchin, and Liz O'Gorman, Marketing Manager Renault Ireland, are pictured below.

Motorsport Ireland - National Rally Championship

Declan Boyle in his Ford Fiesta World Rally Car

Former double National Rally champion Declan Boyle took a comfortable victory in the opening round of this year’s Triton Showers series by bringing his Ford Fiesta home 37 seconds clear of the nearest opposition in the Achill Island Hotel-Connacht Print and Signs Mayo Stages Rally yesterday, writes Richard Bourke.

The Donegal driver and his new Monaghan partner James O’Reilly led from the opening stage and were never headed all day, with Josh Moffett and Keith Moriarty taking runner up position ahead of Desi Henry and Liam Moynihan in yet another Fiesta, just over a minute farther back.

Two more ex-title holders were out of luck, with Donagh Kelly recovering to tenth place at the end after a disastrous puncture, while Roy White slid off the road on the first stage and was completely out of contention by the time he could restart. Adrian Wray won the Group N Production class, with Jason Black and Jack McKenna the Junior winners.

 Guy Foster scored a convincing win in TDC’s Clubman Autotest at Mondello Park, setting best times on nine of the ten tests, beating Darren Quille by six seconds, with Cork’s Liam Cashman the best saloon driver in third place overall.