New car news

25 February 2009 - 11:00

Free verso

After the giddy hedonism of the Aston DBS Volante and Bentley Supersports, today seems to be taking a more sedate, sensible theme (well, apart from that ridiculous Rinspeed, but let’s leave that to one side). We’ve already seen the Volvo S80, and now Toyota has given us a first look at its all-new and eminently practical Verso.

Looks pretty tidy, doesn’t it? There’s more Scion-esque blockiness than the last-gen Verso, and a sharpness of appearance that should be matched by improved road manners: underpinned by the Auris platform – the old Verso was based on the Corolla – new Verso sits on a longer wheelbase and wider track, while Toyota has revised the suspension geometry for better driving dynamics. Don’t expect Elise-rivalling cornering, but hey, it’s all relative.

The new Verso will be launched in late spring with the choice of two petrol engines – 1.6- and 1.8-litre ‘Valvematic’ four-pots (doesn’t ‘Valvematic’ sound like some innovation on a top-line Cadillac from the early 50s?) – and two diesels, including the 148bhp 2.2-litre turbodiesel from the Auris.

Expect it to be as safe as, er, a big bank vault guarded by Stella-fuelled Rottweilers.

We’ll see. Verso. Geneva. You know the drill.