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Popular cars hit by Euro 6 standards? Don’t worry, here are some alternatives

SINGAPORE — Starting today, all passenger cars sold in showrooms here will have to comply with the Euro VI emissions standards.

SINGAPORE — Starting today, all passenger cars sold in showrooms here will have to comply with the Euro VI emissions standards.

Euro VI is a set of standards adopted by European carmakers to conform to certain criteria that meet exhaust and noise emissions standards that are meant to reduce the carbon footprint of vehicles around the world.

That said, more than a dozen cars have had to be removed from dealers’ sales lists and showrooms, not least familiar names such as the Honda Accord and Toyota Vios, for starters. Other models affected by these standards include the Suzuki Swift, Toyota Camry, Hyundai Veloster and Nissan Teana. Those already on the road can still run out the remaining time on their Certificates of Entitlement (COE), but no new cars will be sold.

This move, of course, has been a long time coming. Since early 2014, the National Environment Agency (NEA) had been in consultation with the automotive industry regarding the enhancement of emission standards for vehicles.

According to the NEA, it will also accept petrol vehicles using Port Fuel Injection (PFI) technology that has achieved Japanese emission standards (JPN 2009) as being equivalent to meeting Euro VI emission standards.

So what does this mean for the car buyer? Well, showrooms here have already filled up their floors with cars that meet the new emissions standards. So while the perennial favourites that we know so well will be a thing of the past, there are alternatives that can easily fill in the space they left vacant. Here are three of them.

GONE: Nissan Almera It was the most affordable Nissan in the range, but not surprisingly has been quietly absent from the showroom lists for several months now.

THE ALTERNATIVE: Mitsubishi Attrage If a small-but-spacious 1.2-litre car is what you are really after, the Mitsubishi Attrage would fit the bill nicely.

Not only does it offer lots of leg-room — yes, even for tall passengers — this budget-friendly saloon, currently priced at S$75,999 (with COE) is not only affordable, but also offers nifty features, including keyless ignition; while its customer service and support — three years of free servicing; a five-year unlimited mileage warranty; and a 10-year engine warranty — are nothing to sniff at and should give car owners peace of mind about its reliability.

GONE: Toyota Vios Possibly the most popular Toyota model on the road, this compact saloon offered decent driving dynamics and Toyota’s famous reliability for a price that did not break the bank.

THE ALTERNATIVE: Honda City Like the Vios, the Honda City is also a 1.5-litre family saloon that is built in Thailand — where, incidentally, it competes in the same market segment.

Although it is positioned as a budget-friendly option, the City actually has several sophisticated features that would surprise many, given its price point of around S$90,000. These include a built-in touchscreen entertainment system with Apple CarPlay; cruise control, and a built-in Bluetooth hands-free mobile phone system, among others, turning what used to be seen as an “uncle car” into a cooler-than-you-think ride.

GONE: The old Honda Accord This has been a perennial family favourite, but interestingly, the introduction of the Euro 6/JPN 2009 standards actually coincided with the end of production of this outgoing model.

THE ALTERNATIVE: the new Honda Accord Unveiled in Detroit barely a month ago, the new version of this car meets said standards and is powered by a choice of a 1.5-litre turbocharged engine or a 2-litre turbocharged engine. This new version, the 10th-generation model, aims to renew interest in the mainstream saloon segment with leading-edge technology. The new Accord, for instance, is the world’s first front-wheel-drive car with a 10-speed automatic gearbox.

That is only for starters: Like the Civic before it, the latest Accord is distinguished by Honda’s new signature chrome-wing front grille, flanked by 9-lamp full-LED headlights on the larger saloon. Additionally, it will incorporate the Honda Sensing suite of safety and driver-assisting features, from the Collision Mitigation Braking System to the Lane Departure Warning and Road Departure Mitigation systems, to the Adaptive Cruise Control with Low-Speed Follow and Traffic Sign Recognition. There is a catch — this car is still about a year away from being unveiled in Singapore. Sheldon Trollope

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