Budget 2014 – what it means for the motorist

Chancellor George Osborne today addressed parliament with his 2014 Budget statement. There was plenty in there to talk about, but what we were desperate to find out was how Osborne’s financial plan for the next 12 months was going to help the average motorist in the UK. Here, we’ve got everything you need to know about the 2014 Budget when it comes to cars. From the fuel duty freeze to Vehicle Excise Duty road tax reforms, company car tax to classic car tax, this is what Budget 2014 means for drivers in Britain.

Vauxhall Corsa VXR Nurburgring Edition revealed

Vauxhall Corsa VXR Nurburgring Edition - more horses Vauxhall has decided it’s time to turn up the wick on the Corsa VXR, so they’ve had a fiddle and a tweak and managed to coax 202bhp out of its 1.6-litre 4-pot turbo. That’s an extra 13bhp. It’s not just the power that’s been increased, so has the twist; the Vauxhall Corsa VXR Nurburgring Edition gets an extra 11lb/ft of torque to take it up to 207lb/ft.

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.