Try, Buy, Dream – July 2025

Trying a car has never been easier – lots of car brands now offer subscription services on a monthly basis, with no down payment or exit fee so you can swap in and out of different models with minimal notice. Or you can lock in for longer, on a leasing deal, which still means you just pay a monthly amount and hand the car back at the end of the deal. Additionally, some brands provide 24-hour test drives for a chance to get to know the car before you commit.
Then there’s the Buy choice, whether it’s paying for the car in one hit or signing up to a fixed term finance deal with the option to buy the car at the end. These are cars that make good long-term sense. And finally our fave section, for dreamers everywhere. The new luxe stuff, the wishlist option or the treat yourself splurge, depending on how big that imagined windfall might be. Enjoy this month’s offerings!

Alfa Romeo is well-known for its distinctive Italian design, and it garners attention from pretty much everyone. As a brand it’s inherently cool, but it hasn’t historically managed to sell cars in great numbers. Could this all be about to change? Enter the Junior: Alfa Romeo’s most recent offering, which has the zeitgeist of our time nailed. This is a compact SUV which shares its foundations with popular models like the Vauxhall Mokka and the Jeep Avenger, adding Alfa’s unique sense of style on top. We were impressed with the amount of charm packed into a relatively small car and we think you should take Alfa Romeo up on its offer to test drive the all-electric Elettrica version for 24 hours. This gives you a chance to see how the Junior fits into your lifestyle before you commit to buying one. Plus, if you discover you love the car, but you can’t quite make plugging it in work for you, there’s also a self-charging hybrid option which could be the perfect solution.
Find out more about the Alfa Romeo Junior here

While many brands have used electrification to push boundaries with futuristic and unconventional designs – think BMW i3, Honda E or more recently the Polestar 4 – others have taken their existing models and added battery power. The second approach keeps things familiar and aims to make the switch to the electric lifestyle much less daunting. It worked with the Vauxhall Corsa, so now Ford is having a go with the Puma Gen-E. This uses all the ingredients of the UK’s best-selling car and shoehorns in a battery, creating a practical, well-priced, nippy EV which simply makes a lot of sense. As a result, the Puma Gen-E is our pick to buy this month, and we think it will slot nicely onto your driveway.
Find out more about the Ford Puma Gen-E here

We’re heading back to Italy for this month’s dream car with the new Ferrari Amalfi. This gorgeous grand tourer promises all the passion and panache of a highly strung thoroughbred, yet Ferrari says the Amalfi also has a far more sedate side and it’s suitable for everyday use too. It follows in the footsteps of the Roma by using the same V8 engine, but the Amalfi has been tweaked to offer even more power. The judgement on whether the Amalfi is as beautiful as the Roma it replaces will be in the eye of the beholder. However, painted in teal ‘Verde Costiera’, it reflects the light like ripples on the Mediterranean Sea, and the Amalfi certainly looks stunning to our eyes. This leaves dreaming of long drives along sun-bleached coastal roads, stops in quaint little hill towns and the romance of living the dolce vita.
Find out more about the Ferrari Amalfi here

Try, Buy, Dream – June 2025
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