Honda Civic 2001 Hood [8810500] on 2040-parts.com

Driven: a week with a Chevrolet Volt

In Fall 2010, before the Volt went on sale in North America, we sampled an early build model and came away so impressed, we declared it the car for the digital age. Since then the car has received harsh criticism from the press and been outsold by the Nissan Leaf in the North American market. Given the unique powertrain, we felt longer exposure to the Volt was therefore in order, so on a recent trip to Michigan, we lived with one for five days.

Ford Mondeo/Fusion unveiled at 2012 Detroit show

Ford unveiled its new 2013 Mondeo at the Detroit auto show - the new Mondeo is in fact now a Fusion in Euro drag. Under the One Ford rules, most major car projects are in fact global affairs, so the Mondeo follows in the footsteps of the Focus, also unveiled in Detroit two years ago and brought to Europe a year later. We'll have a similarly long wait for the Ford Fusion to make the leap to the European Mondeo, with a launch slated for spring 2013.

New Jeep Grand Cherokee S-Limited launches

Jeep has revealed a limited edition Grand Cherokee with the looks of the SRT8 but without the price or outright power – the new Jeep Grand Cherokee S-Limited. Reports of the death of the SUV have been greatly exaggerated in recent years, and the whole SUV sector – from compact to full size – still holds a lot of appeal for buyers. And when it comes to full size SUVs few do it any better than Jeep – certainly as far as off-road experience goes – even if previous versions of their full size Grand Cherokee have been a bit below European standards in terms of materials and on-road ability.