This week's motoring news in brief
Scrappage sales up
There were 7,368 new car sales under the scrappage scheme up to the end of May, according to figures compiled by the Revenue for the SIMI. Renault is the most popular brand, with 1,358 new cars sold under the scheme, followed by Ford with 1,094. Of the cars sold, 54 per cent fell into tax band B, with emissions between 121g/km and 140g/km. The scheme is only open to new cars with emissions of 140g/km or less. March was the busiest month so far, with 30 per cent of sales taking place then. However, sales seem to have slowed, with 499 scrappage deals in May compared to 1,410 in April.
Leading scrappage brands (Jan to May)
Renault- 1,358
Ford- 1,094
Skoda - 715
VW - 683
Toyota- 557
Audi hot-hatch model spotted
According to a recent report, Michael Dick, a member of Audi’s board of management for technical development said the company is considering building a new RS3. It now seems like the idea has turned into reality.
A prototype of Audi’s future hot-hatch was spotted testing at the Nürburgring this week.
Power is believed to come from Audi’s 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbocharged engine, with 340bhp and 450 Nm of torque. This engine was introduced recently in the TT-RS.
Considering that the proposed RS3 would probably weigh about as much as the TT-RS, a 0-100 km/h time of around 4.6 seconds sounds reasonable as does the suggested 288 km/h top speed.
Liste Up
On this weeks podcast, Paddy Comyn talks to Bob Montgomery about his search for Ireland’s great driving routes, while Kilian Doyle reports on his classic track day at Mondello and meeting up with Alfa loyalists on the centenary of the brand. Hear the show at irishtimes.com/ motors/podcast
Keep up to date with motoring musings on our Motors blog at irishtimes.com/ blogs/motors
Top Gear returns
Top Gear returns to our screens this Sunday (BBC2 8pm) for another series of the behemoth of motoring TV. In this week’s show it’s the return of the seemingly indestructible Toyota Hilux, which faces into one final assignment – to drive up an active volcano in Iceland.
Meanwhile, Clarkson offers his take on the Reliant Robin, the Stig tests the new Bentley Continental Supersports and there’s a brand new “reasonably priced car”.