Evening Chronicle

Inside This Week

POWERFUL MOVER: Skoda Fabia Greenline 1.4 TDI 12 SO STYLISH: Hyundai I20 1.2 Comfort 5DR 16 TEST DRIVE: Skoda Octavia Estate 4X4 2.0 TDI PD

A Greener and Cheaper Option

ARAPID rise in the number of drivers using liquefied petroleum gas, known as LPG, is being reported as motorists continue to try to reduce running costs and emissions. With petrol and diesel prices rising steadily and consumers tightening their purse strings, latest research by TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk suggests that more than half of motorists are now considering converting their vehicles to run on LPG.

Geared Up for Some Action

FACT - the Land Rover Defender handles with about as much agility as a combine harvester. It's also true that it has comfort levels that could leave you with a hefty bill at the chiropractor, but it is definitely worth noting that this vehicle has a well-defined place in the motoring world. Whereas most working vehicles have been fitted with all the creature comforts of a family saloon, the Defender has bucked the trend. Admittedly luxuries such as a CD player and even air con have been fitte...

A Grown Up Twingo

IT'S hard to think of the Twingo as a performance car when your abiding memories are of driving one between beaches at a holiday destination in the Mediterranean. But the holiday car was a Twingo of a different generation, albeit perfectly adequate as a neat little family runabout. But the current and all new generation Twingo - the first Twingo to be exported to the UK in any number - went into the showrooms in September 2007.

Prius Brings Hybrid Power to the Masses

TOYOTA has been researching and developing hybrid drive systems for more than three decades and is the leader in the field, accounting for 80% of global hybrid sales. Its petrol-electric Prius, first launched in 1994, was the first dual-fuel motor to really catch the imagination of buyers looking for a more environmentallyfriendly machine.

Customers 'Tee Off' at Corporate Event

BUSINESS customers of Jennings Motor Group were treated to an afternoon on the golf course recently as part the company's annual hospitality event. More than 70 customers exchanged their business suits for golfing attire and 'teed off' for an afternoon of golf at Wearside Golf Club in Sunderland. For the past 12 years, Jennings' South Tyneside Business Centre, which is responsible for providing Ford, Mazda and Commercial vehicles to businesses throughout the North East, has been hosting the g...

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Bravo for Fiat'S Super Sale

FIAT and Alfa-Romeo's biggest sale of the year was held at BCA Measham with 200 cars sold for a total of pounds 1.5m. The special auction attracted 50 buyers with a further 35 online. A dozen Fiat 500s were sold averaging 107.3% above book price. The sale of 100 Grande Puntos averaged 102% above book price, as did 16 Bravo models.

Lively Riley Was a Star of Its Day ; Classic Cars with Ian Johnson This Week: Riley One-Point-Five

GOOD things come in small packages and this was certainly the case for the Riley OnePoint-Five. This Riley, although often derided as a BMC version of the Wolseley Fifteen Hundred, was a true example of how to offer British performance saloon specification and fittings in a compact package. The One-Point-Five was not only an example of an early downsizing option, but, like the Wolseley, it was a pioneer of what we now know as platform engineering, using the proven floorpan of another model, t...

Forester Rivals the Best

THINK of Subaru and it's a fair chance you will associate the name first and foremost with the mighty Impreza. But Subaru all-wheel-drive technology has long been in place in its stable of off-roaders.

Get the Most From Your Tank

AS THE cost of fuel continues to rise, motorists are feeling the pinch more than ever. This week's Open Road column from Benfield offers tips on how to coax the best fuel efficiency from your car to save your hard- earned money.

Pelham Remake Hits the Buffers

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 (15, 105 mins) Action/Thriller. Denzel Washington, John Travolta, John Turturro, James Gandolfini, Luis Guzman, Victor Gojcaj, John Benjamin Hickey. Director: Tony Scott. Contains: Swearing, no sex, violence. MIND the gaps in the logic and plausibility of Tony Scott's action-packed thriller, which plays out a deadly game of cat and mouse on the subway system beneath New York City.

A New Fo Rce Force Will Be with You

G-FORCE (PG, 88 mins) Family/Action/Comedy/ Romance. Zach Galifianakis, Kelli Garner, Bill Nighy, Will Arnett, Gabriel Casseus, Jack Conley, Justin Mentell, Niecy Nash and the voices of Sam Rockwell, Penelope Cruz, Tracy Morgan, Nicolas Cage, Steve Buscemi, Jon Favreau. Director: Hoyt H Yeatman Jr. Contains: No swearing, no sex, violence. DON the snazzy, plastic spectacles for producer Jerry Bruckheimer's first 3D film, which proves that if you want a job done properly, hire a team of guinea ...

Gallic Chic at Its Most Appealing

COCO BEFORE CHANEL (COCO AVANT CHANEL) (12A, 110 mins) Drama/ Romance. Audrey Tautou, Benoit Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillain, Emmanuelle Devos. Director: Anne Fontaine. No swearing, sex, no violence.

The Dark Side of Tender Love

TOMAS Alfredson directs this breathtaking, unconventional coming of age story, adapted for the screen by John Ajvide Linqvist from his own novel. Set predominantly in and around a snow-laden housing estate in 1980s Stockholm, the story centres on 12-year-old loner Oskar (Hedebrant), who lives with his divorced mother and is bullied mercilessly at school by Conny (Rydmark) and various oafish sidekicks.

Apocalyptic Tale Falls Flat

Knowing (Cert 15, 115 mins, E1 Entertainment, Sci-Fi/Action/ Thriller/Romance, also available to buy DVD pounds 19.99/Blu-ray pounds 24.99) Starring: Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne, Chandler Canterbury, Lara Robinson, Ben Mendelsohn. FIFTY years after his elementary school buried a time capsule, young Caleb Koestler (Canterbury) is given a sheet of paper written by one of the old students, Lucinda Embry (Robinson), which at first glance seems to be lines of random numbers. When Caleb's widower fath...

Also Released

FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS - The Complete Second Season (Cert 15, 360mins, Warner Home Video, DVD pounds 24.99, Comedy) New Zealanders Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie star as fictional versions of themselves in the awardwinning cult comedy series set in New York, where the hapless best friends search for love in a city that doesn't understand their offbeat sense of humour. DVD Extras: Flight of the Conchords: Taking Off featurette, deleted scenes, out-takes, Dave's Pawn Shop commercials, Easte...

Out of Service

NO 1 CHESTERFIELD SQUARE BY NICK JONES IS PUBLISHED IN HARDBACK BY BOOK GUILD LTD, PRICED pounds 17.99. AVAILABLE NOW. Spanning 25 years from the turn of the 20th Century to the mid-1920s, No 1 Chesterfield Square is an enthralling story of one man's gutsy ambition to escape a life of servitude and poverty. The plot is set against the contrasting lifestyles of the gentry and their servants during the Edwardian period.

Win a Year'S Win a Year'S Supply of Gas Supply of Gas and Electricity*

Your Chronicle has teamed up with British Gas and Ariel to offer you the chance to win a year's supply of Gas and Electricity*, to the value of pounds 1,200 from British Gas with their greener energy tariff, Zero Carbon(tm), and two bottles of Ariel Excel Gel. Zero Carbon energy matches the electricity you use with power generated from renewable sources and offsets the emissions from the gas used in your home.

Gadget-Laden Guineas

THE prospect of controlling a guinea pig hooked up with a hightech jet-pack and other electronic gizmos is already enough to make the most mature gamer raise a smile. But the fact that this game Rrelease, GForce predominantly puts you in control of Darwin, heading up a team of dynamic guinea pigs on a mission to save the world.