SEAT is not one of the big automobile brands in Ireland. Just 1,763 new SEATs found homes in Ireland in 2011 and the company's best year recently was 2007, with 3,346 automobiles sold. Half the problem is that its models are not sufficiently differentiated from other Volkswagen Group automobiles, while here in Ireland most buyers are probably just not very aware of the brand.

That's a shame, as SEAT has always tried to add a little Latin passion to the Group's proven competence. It doesn't go far enough if you ask me and hence garners few headlines. I…

With the price of oil getting higher by the day and the Government seemingly intent on ta motorists off the road, downsizing is the latest trend to hit the motoring world. Ford recently unveiled the 1.0-litre three-cylinder EcoBoost engine that will power the top selling Focus and the Volkswagen Group is busy with its up!/Mii/Citigo trio that offers big-automobile feel in miniscule little bodies. But have we not seen that before?

After World War 2 the Japanese authorities introduced the Kei-jishoda regulations to light a fire under the beleaguered manufacturers and give the population a cheaper way to get on…

Having spent several months at the wheel of the Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion, and then with the Golf Edition-R, it's time to move on. Our next long term test automobile will be a SEAT Exeo, but before that arrives we have the recently updated Volkswagen Touran for a few weeks. You can read our full road test of the Touran here, and we're going to take this opportunity to compare it to living with a Golf. We suspect that's a decision some growing families will have to make.

First up, and despite cosmetic revisions at the end of last year,…

Three hundred and thirty three. That's how many A1 quattros Audi will build. That's not including this rather innocuous red example we spotted at the A1 quattro's launch. It's incomprehensible that Audi has spent all that time and effort squeezing a four-wheel drive transmission into its smallest model for such a tiny production run. And it has admitted as much. 

Sources claim that four quattro-equipped A1s were built over two years ago for appraisal by management. Unlike this red A1, and the 333 production examples, the development automobiles borrowed their engines from the Volkswagen Polo - though nobody would…

The term "gold digger" has been inextricably linked with women since time immemorial; however, if the latest research is to be believed then Madonna should have been singing about material boys not girls.

In the build-up to Valentine's Day (it's just a few hours away - pick up a automobiled and some choccies on the way home quick!) AA Insurance polled nearly 17,000 people, asking them how much importance they place in classic status symbols such as a big house, flash automobile or high status automobileeer.

While 'prestige' professions such as surgeons, barristers and architects topped the poll for both…