Try, Buy, Dream – September 2026
This month’s selection of cars to try out, buy or simply dream about
Words by: Catherine Kent
Additional words by: Tom Roberts
Published on 9 September 2026 | 0 min read
It has never been easier to try a car, van or bike – some brands 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 vehicle back at the end of the deal. Additionally, some brands provide 24-hour test drives for a chance to get to know the vehicle before you commit.
Then there’s the Buy choice, whether it’s paying in one hit or signing up to a fixed term finance deal with the option to buy at the end. These are vehicles 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!
Try
Omoda 7
If you’re scratching your head about which new Chinese brand is which and whether they really do offer good value, why not try before you buy with a test drive of a pretty decent example: the Omoda 7 PHEV (plug-in hybrid)? Omoda is the more urban, smarter sibling of Jaecoo with slinky styling. The Omoda 7 is a large five-seat family car with a coupe-style roof line and 50 miles of pure electric driving before the petrol engine kicks in. It’s not speedy but it is efficient – Erin Baker, our Editorial Director, is running one for three months and about to post her first month’s report on it. So far, she has been getting 50mpg on long journeys. Just watch out for the slightly dodgy DAB signal and the door handles, which don’t quite offer enough grip. These small things matter!
Buy
Kia EV2
The Kia EV2 joined the ever-swelling ranks of small electric cars, making its gentle landing in the overcrowded sector in early 2026. This space features healthy competition from cars like the cheeky Renault 5, but the EV2 boasts plenty of its own charms. The EV2’s 280-mile range is slightly more than the Renault’s, it qualifies for the full Electric Car Grant, and provides more than enough cabin space in the front and back to comfortably survive a chaotic family road trip. In its review (its five-star review, we should add) we said the EV2 makes a very strong case for itself as the main household ride and our opinion hasn’t changed at all. And while the eagle-eyed among you will notice it shares more than a few similarities with the (frankly excellent) Hyundai Inster, rest assured this is a purebred Kia through and through. It looks great, drives well and is capable of being two cars at once – the small and cheeky runaround that wants to dive onto a country road, and the responsible grown-up family car reassuring you through quiet reliability it was a sound investment.
Dream
Aston Martin DB12 S
There's nothing run-of-the-mill about an Aston Martin and the DB12 is a truly gorgeous GT with its shark-like looks, sumptuous interior and glorious performance. But then there’s this, the DB12 S version, which turns things up a notch and elevates what was already an impressive beast to heady new heights. With the addition of the ‘S’ badge the DB12 gets an increase in power and various other tweaks to help it mature into something even more self-assured and luxurious. The combination of the acceleration, sound and lightning-fast gear changes will help you to forgive any infotainment glitches or reliability hiccups because, after all, this is a car which will make you feel like 007. It really is the stuff of dreams, so it’s a shame we don’t have £250,000 going spare to buy a DB12 S of our own.
