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New Lexus NX Compact SUV ‘Grows’ on UK debut

The Lexus NX in a flower bed at Hampton Court The new Lexus NX – a compact take on the Lexus RX Hybrid SUV – arrived officially at the Beijing Motor Show in April and will cost from £24,495 when it arrives in the UK in October. Ahead of its official arrival in Lexus UK dealers, the NX has had its first public outing in the UK at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Hampton Court Palace Flower Show – the world’ largest annual flower show – where it was plonked somewhat incongruously in the middle of a flower bed (above). The NX was included in the ‘Inspire’ zone to showcase the NX’s contemporary design and technology and the debut was part of Lexus’s relationship with Quiet Mark, an international seal of approval from the Noise Abatement Society which encourages quiet technology.

2014 Subaru XV – less choice, more refinement

The 2014 Subaru XV (pictured) gets a bit of a tweak The Subaru XV arrived in the UK in 2012, and it’s a perfectly able and reasonably-priced compact crossover from Subaru. But within a year of launching the XV Subaru decided to inject a bit more appeal in to the XV with a price cut of £2,300 across the range and now, not more than six months later, they’re fiddling with the XV range again. The 2.0 litre petrol XV gets new valve-train components to cut engine noise and revised suspension, with extra soundproofing improving NVH levels across the range, a revised power steering system for added stability and feel  and thicker and reshaped suspension lower arm and extra reinforcement around the base of the A-Pillar for better crash performance.

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG: The gullwing takes flight

Before we reveal what it is like to hot-lap a prototype version of Mercedes-Benz's 6.2-liter V8-powered SLS around the 2.2-mile Sachsenring in eastern Germany, let us tell you one thing that puts the big rear-wheel-drive coupe into clear perspective. The SLS, planned to get its first public outing at the Frankfurt motor show in September, is not based on any existing Mercedes model. Rather, it has been conceived, designed and engineered from the ground up in a no-compromise approach by the German carmaker's in-house tuning division, AMG.