If you are heading to Malaga or Majorca for some sun, sea and sand between the 15th and 31st March, 2009, then you may want to check out two of the latest deals from car rental gianst Sixt:

• Peugeot 207CC: €199 per week
• Peugeot 307CC: €249 per week
• BMW 3-series convertible: €399 per week
• BMW Z4: €399 per week

All offers are naturally subject to availability but remember that Sixt now has new on-airport facilities at Alicante, Palma and Malaga.

These offers also include free cancellation option, unlimited mileage and comprehensive insurance with a €0.00 excess.

Click here for a Sixt quote

There’s More…

Other great offers currently running with Sixt are:

• Smart4Two: €77 for 3 days in Barcelona or Madrid - valid 01/03/2009 – 31/03/2009
• Volkswagen Polo: €99 per week in Alicante or Sevilla - valid 10/02/2009 – 31/03/2009

Click here to get started with a Sixt quote

There doesn’t seem much doubt that electric power, in some form, will play a big part in the future of motoring. This reality was brought home to me by a review in The Telegraph recently of three very different cars, all using electric power in different ways.

Exactly what kind of a role electric power will play, however, is unclear. I’m a firm believer that wholly electric, plug-in-to-charge vehicles are OK as milk floats but useless to most people as cars if they can only go 50-60 miles between charges.

After all, you may not do more than 20-30 miles most days, but that doesn’t mean you want to be restricted to that kind of daily mileage. What about weekends? Should you own another car with a proper engine? No, pure electric vehicles are no good for most of us until the range issue is resolved and recharging is made quicker.

What about hybrids?

Next up – and far more feasible and widespread – are hybrids. These use electric power to assist the petrol engine and hence reduce fuel consumption and emissions. Costs aside, it seems a decent idea and is becoming steadily more popular.

My only reservation is whether it’s really worth the fuss – especially in Europe where we have access to the most modern, fuel-efficient small diesel engines in the world. Time will tell. I like the idea of a hybrid and prefer my cars to be petrol powered, but to be honest, I wouldn’t pay extra for a hybrid. I’d just settle for a regular petrol engine and slightly higher fuel bills.

Is hydrogen the answer?

Hydrogen is being touted by many manufacturers as the way of the future. Companies including Honda, Toyota, GM, Daimler-Benz and VW are saying that it is, but this particular future is still some way from becoming the present.

The Telegraph’s review of the GM HydroGen4 makes it clear that progress is being made, but the environmental and distribution issues associated with producing and using hydrogen as a mass market fuel are also significant and will take some time to evaluate and resolve.

What’s Next?

What’s next depends on how far you look ahead. Next week – hybrids and modern diesels. Next year – probably the same. In five year’s time – perhaps more electric and hybrid with hydrogen starting to poke its mainstream head above the barriers.

My suspicion is that we might, at some point, reach a VHS vs. Betamax style standoff between pure electric and hydrogen. Battery technologies will undoubtedly improve – as they have already. The cost and environmental impact of making hydrogen will also probably be improved upon and its performance is good already.

At some point, manufacturers will have to commit to one path over the other, however. That’s when the future will become the present.

Skoda Roomster (Pic: copyright Krokodyl/Creative Commons)

Cars that look like small vans with windows seem to be a growing trend at the moment.

Not only did the original people carriers like the Renault Espace have very van-like profiles, but manufacturers are now turning out car version of actual van models – such as the Citroen Berlingo Multispace and the Fiat Doblo.

Clearly there’s a market for this type of affordable and ruthlessly practical vehicle. Clearly it is a market perfectly suited to those makers of superb quality but still slightly untrendy vehicles, Skoda.

The amusingly-named Skoda Roomster is Skoda’s answer to this market opportunity.

It’s a hatchback-cum-estate car with the approximate exterior dimensions of a small van – a Citroen Berlingo, for example. On the inside, it’s a modern, comfortable car – at least in the front – with the good quality trim and generous specification we’ve come to expect from Skodas.

I recently spent a few days driving a Skoda Roomster around northern Spain – mostly heavily loaded along mountain roads. I was extremely impressed by the experience. Despite my car only having the 85bhp, 1.4 litre petrol engine, it pulled well and was flexible enough to avoid having to change gears constantly as I negotiated the endless bends and hairpins. The balanced, neutral handling dealt effortlessly with the winding, cambered roads and fuel consumption was good too, at around 48mpg (a mixture of national roads and smaller mountain roads).

The Roomster was also one of the most comfortable cars I have driven in some time. After a couple of day’s driving, I had no aches and pains and (unusually for me) felt no desire for a larger, more spacious car. The cabin feels spacious and all of the controls come easily to hand – it’s definitely a car you can just get into and drive.

The compact size of the Roomster belies its generous interior dimensions. Fold down the rear seats and you have a whopping 1555 litres of space – making the Roomster a capable small van. Indeed, I understand that left-hand drive European markets will soon be getting a proper van version of the Roomster.

In conclusion, I enjoyed my time with the Roomster. It did exactly what it was supposed to do, comfortably and with no fuss. It was easy to drive, I liked the 16-valve petrol engine (although the 1.6 would be more fun) and there was loads of room inside. What more can you ask?

The current incarnation of the Renault Scenic has been around since 2003 – and is just about to be replaced. That makes it a perfect time to pickup a late example from the current range or capitalise from falling prices if buying used. With that in mind, I recently spent a few days driving a 2007 Renault Scenic 1.5dCi Expression. This is what I found.

I’ve always been a fan of fairly conservative car design – traditional dashboards with dials, simple, standard controls and so on. I’ve also never been especially keen on MPVs, preferring either a traditional saloon or an estate, depending on my needs.

The Scenic managed to partially change my views – read on to find out how.

First Impressions

Unlike the brand new Ford Mondeo I recently reviewed, the Renault Scenic is well-endowed with modern styling and gadgets, inside and out.

The humble key has been banished, replaced by a credit card sized device that controls the locks and needs to be inserted into a slot on the dashboard before you press the sports-car style starter button.

I have to admit to having a smile on my face at this point – there is something undeniably cool about pushing in a large button and hearing the engine come to life – rather than the normal twist and release required with an ignition key.

Although the V8 rumble I was salivating over stayed in my dreams, after a succession of clicks and whines, the 86bhp 1.5dCi engine in my Scenic did come to life and I was ready to go. Almost.

Driving the Renault Scenic

The Scenic interior - a very comfortable place to spend time

I’d picked the Scenic up from a busy city centre office location – in the middle of evening rush hour. Navigating my way out of the city (which I’d never visited before) provided the ideal opportunity for me to find out just how intuitive the Scenic’s controls and dash layout were to get to grips with.

First things first – releasing the handbrake was accomplished by pulling on a small handle situated on the bottom of the dashboard – by my right knee. I was initially rather confused by the handbrake’s refusal to disengage – until I discovered that it had some kind of ‘hill start’ system and was waiting for me to engage a gear before it released, thus preventing me from rolling accidentally.

The Scenic’s central digital dashboard display is presumably intended to reduce the amount of time a driver has to take their eyes off the road when monitoring speed, revs and radio station choice. Revs are displayed using a Formula 1-style row of bars that progressively illuminate as your revs rise, while speed is simply displayed in large digits – around 3cm high.

By the time I’d done a few hundred miles, I have to admit to being converted to this system. You don’t have to look as far down as with a traditional dashboard and it is useful.

Performance

Anyone looking for performance probably shouldn’t choose the 86bhp 1.5dCi model. While fuel consumption for my fully-loaded car was excellent – at around 50mpg (including lots of fast motorway cruising), the engine’s power band was surprisingly narrow. Keeping it moving required lots of cog-swapping and it soon became obvious why a six-speed gearbox had been provided.

That said, the engine was more than adequately powerful for general use and was very quiet and civilized at speed, with less noise than some comparable vehicles. Handling and ride were good for a family vehicle and I spent several days driving the Scenic without ever feeling uncomfortable.

Luggage Space in the Scenic

Most people buy cars like the Scenic because they have children and need to lug a fair amount of stuff around. Rear space in the Scenic was pretty reasonable with the seats up, although its flexibility as an estate car substitute was spoilt somewhat by the fact that the rear seats don’t fold into the floor – they fold down on top of it instead, reducing the available load space somewhat.

Final Thoughts

Although sceptical at first, most of the Scenic’s design quirks really started to make sense after a few hundred miles. It was comfortable, frugal and capable, although anyone used to driving a more conventional car – like a Ford – will find that the slightly complex and non-standard controls take a little getting used to.

I recently had the pleasure of driving one of Avis’ brand new 2008 Ford Mondeo rental cars.

Although I only had the car for a day, I covered about 350 miles on all kinds of roads, so by the time I handed it back I felt that I had given it a fair chance to show its strengths and weaknesses.

The model I drove was a new model 2.0 litre petrol-engined hatchback in Titanium spec. Although I am no professional car journo, I have driven a reasonable variety of cars, including the previous generation Mondeo and Vectra – providing me with a good baseline for my expectations.

First impressions were of a slight feeling of confinement generated by the steeply-raked windscreen – whereas the cabin of the previous model Mondeo felt cavernous, the new model felt slightly confined in comparison. I imagine this isn’t a criticism back seat passengers would make, but both I and my front seat passenger instantly noticed the difference.

Other than that, everything seemed good. I had no problems getting comfortable, the 2.0 petrol engine was smooth, quiet and adequately powerful and fuel consumption during my time with the car was in the high 30s – not bad considering that it’s a fairly large car. Steering was light but positive, handling and ride comfortable yet firm enough to engender confidence and noise levels were low. In other words, it’s exactly what it should be – a practical, comfortable and entirely capable full-size car.

The boot, as with the last model, is huge and effortlessly swallowed the rather large amount of ’stuff’ we had to fit in for our trip. All the switchgear, gadgets and electrics were intuitive and easy to use while on the move – unlike the Renault that I had been driving for a period previously.

I only had a couple of minor reservations about this car. Firstly, it didn’t really seem to be any better than the model it replaced. In fact, I liked it slightly less because the steeply raked windscreen made it feel smaller inside. I’m around 6ft and by no means a giant, but the last model felt much more spacious to me than this one.

My other reservation is the engine. I liked it, it was quiet, smooth and provided reasonable performance – but it didn’t seem noticeably better than the 2.0l petrol engine that was in the 1995 Rover 620 I once owned. Fuel consumption was virtually identical, as was performance, although the Mondeo’s engine was a bit quieter. Somehow I expected more, though.

Gripes aside, this Mondeo is another good car from Ford. It does everything it should do and will no doubt prove reliable and affordable to run. I would happily own one, although if I was spending my own money I might just look for a high-spec, late 2006 model instead, and save the difference.

Update: I’ve just seen that Honest John in the Telegraph has similar reservations to mine about the Mondeo’s 2.0l petrol engine. He describes it as “a curiously unsatisfactory thing to drive” - reflecting my own sentiments, I suppose, in that I didn’t find it any better than a similar engine 13 years older.