CAR top 10: the 10 best cars with three seats

By Chris Chilton Motor Industry 05 June 2014 17:15 Did anybody ever achieve greatness merely by re-arranging the chairs? Maybe not, but this lot gave it a good go. World’s most famous three-seater’s central driving position was claimed to offer perfect weight distribution, but Gordon Murray’s main-frame brain must have calculated that he could save hours giving demo rides to all his friends and neighbours if he installed an extra chair.

Car Design News Contest

As one judge, Geert Jan Schellekens, Principal Automotive and Industrial Designer at SABIC Innovative Plastics, said; "From several hundred entries to 20 finalists in a day's time - what could have turned out to be a cumbersome process, if not a bureaucratic nightmare, actually became an intensive yet fun session with many intriguing and interesting interpretations of the contest brief - fuelling some lively discussions!" Another strong impression from judges was also of the variety of design entry and the effort that had been put into them, as Dale Harrow said: "I'm very impressed with the standard, and particularly with the diversity of entries to the contest". Derek Buckmaster,Global Market Director, Body Panels & Glazing for SABIC Innovative Plastics, said: "I was surprised by the depth of thought which the entrants had put into their designs to meet the diverse needs of the three 'milenniumites' described in the design brief. The designs displayed numerous approaches to meeting the environmentally-friendly and light-weight goals." All designs were considered relative to the Assessment Criteria a critically important part of the contest, created to ensure as much fairness in the process as possible and detailed in the Contest part of Car Design News.

Kia cee’d Facelifted – launches at Frankfurt

Kia has facelifted the cee'd and will launch it at Frankfurt in September The Ki cee’d rides well, has a good choice of engine options and is well bolted together. It even comes with a seven year warranty, so even if it did fall apart – which it won’t – you’re covered. It is also getting Kia’s ISG (Idle, Stop, Go), which is Kia’s version of Stop Start.