Archive for July, 2010

Around 5000 people turned out for the Cwmbran Round Table Spectacular at Llanyrafon South Fields, last weekend. The event featured an It’s a Knock Out competition, live music, a funfair and a host of vehicle display stands – the highlight of which was by the Mon Motors Group that featured cars from all four of our brands and an extra special guest appearance by the Skoda Yeti.

The Yeti spent the day handing out balloons and having his picture taken with fans of all ages. As you can see from the pictures, this usually elusive creature was more than happy to pose.

The new Audi A1 has been well received at the first round of press reviews this week. The latest edition to the Audi range is not due for release in the UK until late Autumn but motoring journalists from across the UK were given a unique opportunity this week to test drive a preview model.

“Sophisticated” is how an Autocar journalist described the A1 and then went on to say: “the well-finished cabin is a couple of steps beyond anything else in terms of quality you perceive from the driver’s seat.” Autocar added: “it has an air of sophistication and refinement that we haven’t seen before in this class.”

Autocar went on to say: “No other volume manufacturer keeps such a consistently premium feel in their cars across the range, and the A1 is no exception for Audi,”

“The A1 offers the tried and trusted Audi formula at an affordable level and this will obviously appeal to many.”

Finally, Autocar commented on the A1 TDI: “the TDI is both cleaner, quicker and most impressively, cheaper than Audi’s last small diesel the considerably more radical A2 TDI.” Autocar also appreciated the 5.2-litres/100km fuel economy, helped by the stop-start system.

The level of standard specification in the A1 was something that Car Magazine commented on: “you don’t suffer the ignominy of the basic MINI’s hubcaps that make sure everyone knows you’re a miser. And of course it feels just as expensive inside as the 1.4 S line we drove earlier. See the A1 for what it is, a premium supermini with a great badge and you’ll enjoy owning.”

A journalist from Auto Express focused on the A1’s performance: “It’s going to be strong and flexible in any gear, at any time. The 1.4-litre engine has 120bhp, so it’s no weakling at high revs, but its real strength is between 1500rpm and 4000, where all of its 200Nm of torque is available for heavy lifting all of the time.”

What Car? added: “we reckon resale values will be among the best, if not the best in class – this is an extremely desirable little car.”

For more information about the A1 then visit the contact us section of this website for your nearest Audi centre.

Last week saw Volkswagen win a raft of category awards and the overall top prize at the Best Car Manufacturer at the British Insurance Vehicle Security Awards (BIVSA) 2010.

Category wins came for the Polo SEL which secured the City Car/Supermini category, the Crossover class was taken by the Tiguan with Phaeton once again securing the top accolade in the Best Luxury Car category. The night was crowned off by Volkswagen winning the car Manufacturer of the Year at the awards ceremony.

The awards were hosted by Thatcham, at their research centre in Berkshire. All vehicles were judged on a number of different criteria and then only cars with the maximum five stars for ‘theft from’, with double locking, and an ‘E’ insurance suffix were shortlisted.

“It’s great to see Volkswagen as the new winner of the overall manufacturer award,” said Mike Briggs, Thatcham’s Vehicle Security Manager. ”This success clearly demonstrates how vehicle manufacturers are continuing to raise their game to reduce the risk of vehicle crime to insurers and the motoring public.”

Volkswagen’s Head of Marketing, Rod McLeod said that: “It’s a tremendous achievement for the Volkswagen range to be ranked as the best,” He then went on to say that: “To win the overall award is proof that security and safety features should not be the reserve of an elite few. We aim to extend the technology on flagship cars like the Phaeton right down to volume models such as the new Polo.”

The new Mondeo which is more stylish and technologically advanced to its predecessor, will be debuted at the 2010 Moscow International Automobile Salon on 25^th August. The new model is expected to be in UK dealerships by this October will feature a restyled exterior and an upgraded interior. The new Mondeo will also feature a range of high-efficiency engines in the shape of Ford EcoBoost petrol and TDCi diesel powertrains. Improved comfort, convenience and safety are also high on the new Mondeo’s agenda.

“The Ford Mondeo is already a very strong package and, with the significant design changes and in particular the comprehensive array of new technologies we are introducing, we have no doubt that the new model will strengthen Mondeo’s position as the flagship Ford model in our European line-up,” said John Fleming, Ford of Europe chairman and CEO. “This is the smartest, safest, most environmentally friendly and best quality Mondeo we have ever launched, and it completes the regeneration of our CD segment range in 2010.”

Preview images have revealed that the new Mondeo is following in the path laid down by the new Ford S-MAX and Galaxy models that were released earlier this year – continuing the evolution of Ford kinetic design.

The Skoda Superb Estate was featured on Fifth Gear last week (Thursday 24^th June), but if you missed the show, you can watch the clip by following the link below:

http://fwd.five.tv/fifth-gear/videos/features/great-estates-skoda-superb

The Fifth Gear team, were given a Skoda Superb Estate 3.6 V6 Elegance against two competitors from its class. The test film focused on the four ‘S’s – speed, style sophistication and space.

Graham Smiles, producer of Fifth Gear, told us: “Our filming with the lovely Superb Estate V6 went very well – we had great fun with it at Millbrook.”

Bristol Audi is part of the Mon Motors Group and is well established at their dealership on Pioneer Park in Brislington, with a team of expertly trained and customer focussed individuals offering new and approved used Audi’s, as well as a full range of repair and maintenance options. In the last few years the Audi product range and customer base has evolved to the point that we have now need to more space.

Our commitment to Bristol and our customers has resulted in the Mon Motors Group investing £10 million in a brand new, cutting edge Audi dealership at Cribbs Causeway. This new dealership will have a 19 new car showroom, 70 used car display area and 200 parking spaces. The state of the art workshop will have 24 bays with an interactive video link bay to enable customers to interact with our specialist technician whilst there vehicle is inspected. The new dealership is expected to open in February 2011, so it will be business as usual at our current site until that time.

If you would like to keep up with all the latest developments at the new Bristol Audi site, you can visit our Bristol Audi blog  www.bristolaudi.co.uk/blog