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New SEAT Leon ST Estate revealed

The New SEAT Leon ST Estate (pictured) has been revealed ahead of a Frankfurt debut As estate cars have become more stylish, more and more buyers have fallen in love with the idea of a ‘Wagon’ version as their family transport, as it now offers little downside and much more practicality. So it’s no wonder SEAT has decided to bite the bullet and launch an Estate version of the Leon – the Leon ST – as the third model in the Leon line-up. The ST estate shares its wheelbase with the five-door Leon but gets a small – and reasonably stylish – shed bolted on the back to offer 587 litres of space with the seats down and a reasonably commodious 1470 litres with the seats down.

Toyota Yaris Hybrid-R for 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show

Toyota As we predicted last week, Toyota will unveil a 400hp Yaris Hybrid-R supermini concept at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show next month after dedicating its appearance at the German auto expo to "the presentation of hybrid technology". The Japanese firm has been at the forefront of hybrid technology in the modern era with its eco-focused Prius family hatchback, but has also brought petrol-electric propulsion systems to the fore in top line world motorsport with its TS030 Le Mans racer. On Bing: see pictures of the Toyota Yaris Hybrid-R Find out how much a used Toyota Yaris costs on Auto Trader Powered by Toyota’s 1.6-litre Global Racing Engine and supplemented by a pair of electric motors, the Yaris Hybrid-R actually uses similar technology to the firm’s hybrid Le Mans prototype, with kinetic energy recovered under breaking ‘stored’ in a super capacitor as electricity.

2014 BMW X3 Facelift and more efficient engines

The 2014 BMW X3 (pictured) gets a facelift and new engines The current version of the BMW X3 SUV has been with us for more than three years, so BMW are giving it a bit of a mid-cycle facelift and more frugal engines to keep the X3 on top of its – very successful – game. Engines on offer for the 2014 X3 include the 2.0 litre diesel in the sDrive18d which offers 148bhp and 56.8mpg and the 187bhp in the X3 xDrive20d which returns 52.3mpg, the xDrive30d – which gets the 3.0 litre diesel unit – with 254bhp and 47.9mpg and the X3 xDrive35 which has an impressive 309bhp but still manages official economy of 47.1mpg. When it comes to the cosmetic facelift bits, BMW hasn’t really pushed the boat out, but the new X3 does get a new headlight design which is sleeker, new front and rear bumpers and a new surround for the kidney grill, which all contrive to make the new X3 look even more like a baby X5.