As 2019 draws to a close, it's time to reflect on another year spent living, breathing - and in some cases - buying cars. Five of Autocar's editorial team have purchased new cars this year, with mixed results. Ranging from a troublesome VW Bora to the burly comforts of a Lexus RX, here's the cars that we acquired in 2019.
Hilton Holloway: Lexus RX
Have you any idea how difficult it is to find a replacement for the 10-year-old Ford Mondeo estate? Neither did I. From first thoughts to an actual purchase, it took me 12 months, 11 months of which was increasingly intense internet research, followed by a couple of weeks of frenzied train travel.
The Mondeo came from a far-distant Ford dealer in Castle Cary, Somerset, sight unseen. What I wanted was a big estate, petrol and automatic. For a post-2008 car, this was a tricky brief. After 2009 diesel incentive taxes kicked in, few petrol-powered estates were registered. My budget was also limited to roughly how little I could get away with.
For two years before Ford launched its 2.0-litre petrol turbo engine, the Mondeo was sold with a 2.3-litre Mazda four-pot. It was mated to a six-speed torque-converter auto. The well-kept example I’d found was a modest Zetec, but it had the dual-zone climate control that is essential when my partner is in the passenger seat. I bought it at seven years old and 60,000 miles.
It turned out to be a gem. Autocar loved all generations of the Mondeo. The car handled well and rode really well when fitted with a set of superb Michelin Cross Climate tyres. Snake-hipped, wonderfully pointy, surprisingly refined, a huge load bay and a nice rigid body. Terrible in-London economy, basic radio and seats, very moderate poke and no parking sensors were its downsides.
After three years its replacement had to be a brisk petrol automatic that was spacious and with good audio, nice heated seats and parking sensors.
A Volvo? Older petrol Volvos are rarer than Paganis. There are a few TFSI-engined Volkswagen Group cars around, but I once owned a youngish Skoda Octavia Scout with the requisite FSH, and it not only consumed oil but also managed to slip its timing chain. Final-gen Honda Accord 2.4 estates are fine cars but also hard to find.
Cranking up the budget to five figures-plus hardly helped. Anything 3 Series-sized and above was diesel, and with an expanded Ultra Low Emission Zone looming across Greater London, I needed a Euro 6 diesel, which sent us north of £16k.
As to luxury extras, why are German makers so mean with their speccing of heated seats? Trying to find a petrol 3 Series Touring xDrive with extendable, heated seats was nearly impossible. A 3 Series GT? Nice idea but the same issue, and that 320i petrol turbo engine is hardly a ball of fire. Most everything else I spotted during my search was diesel.
I stumbled over a nice Volvo V90 T6 AWD, but the 15mpg in town was too much to contemplate. Then I really fancied a Subaru Forester XT, but I couldn’t get on with the seating position. Short seat squabs; very frustrating.
I had been eyeing Lexus for a while. The Lexus NX300h hybrids – a good halfway house in size – were still expensive. The RX450h was in useful supply but it’s a giant with a V6 engine and Group 40 insurance. I tried one at Lexus Poole. Beautiful car, specced to heaven and back, but a 2.2-tonne whale. My partner loved it.
