Ford’s EcoBoost three-cylinder engine shouldn’t, in theory, be very nice at all. Nine hundred and ninety-nine cubic centimeters really isn’t much, even if it is turbocharged, and experience shows that it will be a high-rev screamer with peaky power delivery and bugger-all torque. Experience can be a faithless mistress… Fresh from winning the International Engine of the Year award (which the EcoBoost won with the highest score ever recorded) Ford…

Conventional wisdom has it that electric vehicles are impractical, their limited range precluding their use as a ‘proper’ family car. This is, it has to be said, an argument that is hard to refute. The Renault Fluence Z.E. that I drove recently is a terrific family car within its own (somewhat limited) environment – but you couldn’t take it on holiday with you. Enter, stage left, the Chevrolet Volt, already…

Renault is investing heavily in the electric car market, having spent £2.6 billion so far with their alliance partner, Nissan. The Kangoo Z.E. van went on sale back in November 2011 – and Nissan has the LEAF, which uses the same motor and battery pack – and it has now been joined by the Fluence Z.E., the cheapest all-electric family car on sale in the UK. The Fluence Z.E. looks…

Fiat’s tiny 500s have always been cool; poverty spec cars that revel in their minimalism with no hint of piousness. Functional, stripped-bare and a hoot to drive, the 21st century reincarnation has been welcomed by a generation for whom style and functionality are inseparable. Fiat claim that their TwinAir engine, which I’ve been driving this week, is the cleanest quantity production engine in the world. The turbo-charged 875cc twin-cylinder engine…

I don’t like electrically-powered cars as a rule. It seems to me that a hybrid car is a fine example of fudged engineering that also sits uneasily with my credentials as a bona fide car enthusiast. The use of a petrol engine as a power source in conjunction with an electric motor is a cop-out and an excuse not to do things properly. I understand that battery range, capacity and…