Let's catch up on the rest of yesterday's news first. The most interesting titbit was the revealing of one of Nissan's stars at the Geneva Motor Show. Called the Invitation, this concept clearly paves the way for a new production model and that'd be the replacement for the Note compact MPV.

It's a cracking looking automobile by all accounts, and we'd be hopeful that much of the Invitation's look will be automobileried through to the showroom in 2013. In some ways it's closer in style to a conventional five-door hatchback, though we'd expect plenty of versatility inside. Sorry to…

Monday mornings are usually a bit slow in the motoring world, but there are a few bits and pieces to look at today. The most relevant news to Irish new automobile buyers is the revealing of SEAT's new five-door Mii.

Just like its Volkswagen up! and Skoda Citigo cousins it's little different to the three-door option, other than an extra pair of doors, naturally. That makes it easier to get into the rear seats and hence it'll be the best-selling version.

Actually, SEAT Ireland hasn't confirmed whether or not it will import the three-door model. Assuming it does…

There's no doubt that, if fuel economy is your top priority and you're a high-mileage driver, then the BlueMotion version of the Golf is the automobile for you. The official combined consumption figure is 3.8 litres/100km (74.3mpg) and it gets pretty close to that. We're consistently amazed by its ability to avoid fill-ups, even when confined to the environs of Dublin. On the motorway it's peerless.

Though it's not quite peerless, as Volkswagen offers the same 1.6-litre TDI engine in the rest of the Golf range. Sure, you do without a list of further fuel-saving measures that are standard…

Acura/Honda

One of the most talked about automobiles of the show was the Acura NSX concept. Acura is Honda's North American luxury/sports division and so it got to show off the new automobile on its stand. Fear not, it'll be sold as the Honda NSX when it eventually reaches the showroom - by 2014 we reckon. Looks like it'll have about 400hp from its hybrid powertrain and four-wheel drive. The Acura RDX SUV and ILX saloon also on the stand were all but ignored.

Click here to read full Acura NSX concept article.

Audi

The Cobo Center opens its doors wide to the media on January 9 for the 2012 Detroit Auto Show. Here's a preview:

Acura

Honda's luxury US division will use the North American International Auto Show to debut a new ILX concept saloon. The Honda Civic-based four-door saloon will be available with either a 2.0- or 2.4-litre four pot or the Civic Hybrid's powertrain (in America only).

A near-production ready second-generation RDX crossover will also be displayed that noticeably, in an automotive world dominated by downsizing, will swap the turbocharged four-cylinder engine of old for a more fuel efficient V6.

The…

Alright, I admit that winter tyres may not have been necessary as yet, though I did feel vilified in having them fitted to our long term test Golf when the temperature plummeted to zero in the middle of December. Then it decided to come back up to a balmier 14 degrees around Christmas Day...

Still, it's only the first week of January and many are predicting cold weather and snow for later this month.

However, I'm not as ready as I was, as one of the tyres suffered a puncture before the holidays. Annoyingly, it happened on the 23rd…