Day trippers: 5 cars you want for that road trip

Travelling up north is one of the best ways for Singapore drivers to stretch their cars’ legs. Across the Causeway, the keen driver can choose from long stretches of highway, twisty mountain roads and scenic coastal routes. With the March school holidays coming and the open road beckoning, we pick five new cars to go the distance with.

AUDI S3. Audi’s pint-sized performance sedan has abilities that belie its stature. The Audi S3 sedan will not fit an extended family but has just enough space for four adults and luggage. As a member of Audi’s high-performance S family, it is a great machine for covering long stretches of tarmac. This facelifted version has a slightly more powerful engine mated to a new seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, and is one of the most entertaining small-car drivetrains around.

It will rev, grunt and pop if you are in the mood for some spirited driving. Best of all, if you have been too enthusiastic with your right foot, you can switch to Efficiency mode until the next fuel stop. It would be a pity to drive only on highways with it, as the S3’s all-wheel drive, tidy steering and approachable, confident nature make it a joy to pilot on back-roads too. The Audi provides a clear lesson in how an entertaining car can make long drives feel much shorter than they really are.

Audi S3 Sedan
Engine: 1,984cc, inline four, turbocharged, 290hp, 380Nm
Performance: 250kmh, 0-100kmh: 4.8s, 6.5L/100km, 151g/km CO2
Price: S$234,900 with COE
On Sale: Now

LAND ROVER DISCOVERY5. Land Rover remains the first choice for the landed gentry. This is due not just to the brand’s formidable off-road prowess, but also the levels of comfort that come with it — the Discovery was created to bridge the gap between the workhorse Land Rover and the luxurious Range Rover.
The Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) segment is hotly contested these days but your muddiness mileage depends on the respective manufacturer’s definition of “off-road”. 

We have been on car launches where a well-marked gravel path is considered “roughing it out”. A Land Rover launch, though, can involve dune-driving, real mud and ruts, as well as clambering up slippery sheer bedrock to demonstrate that the Discovery still has the manners of a diamond, even in the rough. In other words, this is a car that would laugh off the plantation roads up north.

Land Rover Discovery 5 Si6
Engine: 2,995cc, V6, turbocharged, 335bhp, 450Nm
Performance: 215kmh, 0-100kmh: 7.1s, 10.9L/100km, 254g/km CO2
Price: To be announced
On Sale: Q3 2017

LEXUS I.S. TURBO. Not much has changed for the Lexus IS Turbo after its facelift, unveiled here at January’s Singapore Motorshow. But that is a good thing. 

The baby Lexus (think of it as Japan’s answer to the BMW 3 Series and the Mercedes-Benz C-class) manages to combine refinement with a chassis that feels eager to change direction and is solidly planted. Its turbo engine is refined, producing torque in a stream so steady it actually conceals its own potency. Still, it has plenty of grunt for highway overtaking.

The Lexus starts at S$198,000 with COE, but S$24,000 more buys you the F Sport version, which has firmer sport suspension and plenty of racy cosmetic features. It also gets triple-beam LED lamps whose brightness ought to come in handy on un-lit sections of the North-South Highway.

The facelift has added a bigger, 10.3-inch display screen that makes the navigation map easier to read, but it is the car’s long legs and comfort that make it an ideal road companion.

Lexus IS Turbo F Sport
Engine: 1,998cc, inline four, turbocharged, 241bhp, 350Nm
Performance: 230kmh, 0-100kmh: 7.0s, 6.5L/100km, 175g/km CO2
Price: S$222,000
On Sale: Now

RENAULT MEGANE SEDAN. A road trip means plenty of luggage, and the Renault Megane Sedan obliges. It has an enormous boot, and the body still offers space for decent seating in the back. The Renault is no mere workhorse, however.

All Meganes have six airbags, but the more posh Privilege model has a blind-spot monitor to keep you from pulling out into the path of a madman on the highway who may be trying to pass you at twice the speed limit.

It also comes with a glass sunroof that brightens up the cabin considerably, with a large 8.7-inch touchscreen to remove the guesswork from navigating unfamiliar roads.

A 1.2-litre turbo engine provides adequate performance, though the 1.5-litre diesel would make a better choice if clean Euro V fuel were more widely available in Malaysia. Still, the diesel engine is so frugal that you could make it to Kuala Lumpur and back on a single tank, with plenty of diesel to spare.

Renault Megane Sedan 1.2T Tce
Engine: 1,198cc, inline four, turbocharged, 130bhp, 205Nm
Performance: 200kmh, 0-100kmh: 10.9s, 5.4L/100km, 122g/km CO2
Price: S$119,999 with COE
On Sale: Now

HYUNDAI IONIQ. Given how cheap petrol is across the border, it seems strange to include a fuel-sipping hybrid like the Hyundai Ioniq on this list. But the Ioniq is easily the Korean brand’s best car at the moment, with its futuristic drivetrain providing not just low fuel consumption, but peppy acceleration, too.

Also, for the money, the Hyundai is generously equipped. It has a camera-based system that scans the road for lane markings, and the data allows the power steering motor to gently nudge the car into place and keep it in its lane. A radar-based cruise control system lets the Ioniq lock onto a target car up ahead and follow its speed, too, even if it slows to a halt in front of you. These features remove plenty of driver fatigue, helping to make the Ioniq a relaxing car to cross long distances in.

Hyundai Ioniq 1.6 Hybrid
Engine: 1,580cc, inline four, with electric motor, 140hp, 265Nm
Performance: 185kmh, 0-100kmh: 10.8s, 3.4L/100km, 79g/km CO2
Price: S$118,888 with COE
On Sale: Now