Hyundai Santa Fe gets everywhere

It’s funny what you notice when you’re out on the road. And once you start noticing something, it’s hard to stop. For me, over the last few weeks, it’s been the number of Hyundai Santa Fe SUVs I’ve been seeing out and about. I live in rural Suffolk, so I’m used to a higher percentage of 4x4s that perhaps there are in other parts of the UK, but just lately the dominant model has been the Santa Fe. It’s timely because this week What Car? named it Used SUV of the Year. The judges said: “The Hyundai Santa Fe has improved with age, offering space, practicality and reliability and an ever-more bargain price. The only drawback is its rarity, so you may need to hunt to find the perfect car.” Not much of rarity in East Anglia but I think it means on the used car forecourts. By chance I’ve been driving a Santa Fe this week, revised for 2012. There have been a number of very minor tweaks, not even enough to call it a facelift. But I think the What Car? guys are right: it’s an excellent package and living where I do, and coming into winter, it makes a great deal of sense. It’s excellent family transport.

A sad seven days

Two horrendous and high-profile motorsport deaths in two weekends is a tragedy. Inevitably it prompts TV and radio debate about safety and how it can be improved, whether reviews are needed, etc. In our media-driven age you can see Dan Wheldon’s crash from countless angles and it’s clear there was nothing the Brit could do to avoid what happened. He had a split-second to avoid the car in front and unfortunately didn’t. After that, the die had been cast and he was a passenger in flying machine. So was it unavoidable? Yes, but having 30-odd open-wheel cars going round in circles at speeds of 220+mph is a recipe for disaster. It was an accident waiting to happen and if the drivers have any sense they will call for a closed season review. For Moto GP rider Marco Simoncelli, yesterday’s crash was clearly just a freak accident. He lost control of the bike as happens to numerous riders several times every season. A split-second earlier or later and the others would have missed him. He’d have been nursing some bruises and maybe a broken limb, that’s all. Motorsport is dangerous and there’s no way round that. It’s the risk you take when you sign up.

Things can only get better

Been touring the country this week in a Renault Megane coupe. It’s the first time I’ve driven one since the media launch in 2009 and I have the same feelings now about the car’s cabin as I did then. All the design effort went into the exterior and the dashboard, instruments and centre console were left to the work experience boy. Particularly in the Monaco GP limited edition model I’m driving – white with black wheels (above) – car the really stands out from the crowd. It still looks fresh today. But the interior – the bit I have to look at all the time – is woeful. True, on this car they’ve livened it up with some sporty white trim, but that can’t hide the basic problem – far too much grey plastic. I’m sure nobody within Renault would admit it was a poor effort, but with a new design chief I hopeful things will get better. They have to, because rivals – particularly Hyundai and Kia, Citroen and Peugeot – are doing smart-looking, design-led cabins which make the Renault Megane look very dull indeed.

Rip-off Britain: still on the go

I live near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk and on Saturday was left my Renault Megane Monaco GP – more on that another day – in a shoppers’ car park. I picked ‘over four hours’ and it cost me £2. On Sunday I did the exact thing in Lincoln, another historic city with another impressive cathedral and more ruined walls. So why did it cost me £6 in Lincoln? Outside of London, which is a different case, I’ve never paid that much for parking. The change I’d specially acquired before setting off, to feed the machine, wasn’t enough. I had to pay by credit card. I can’t remember the last time that happened. How can Lincoln Council justify £6 when Bury charges £2 for same service? I was genuinely gobsmacked.

DAB Day on the way... but when?

Ford Ennals is not the name of a new car but the CEO of Digital Radio UK. That's the umbrella organisation overseeing the switchover to DAB. There’s no firm date for when the old analogue network will be turned off, but he’s been tasked with preparing for it to happen in 2015. What it means is that the vast majority of in-car radios will stop working overnight. I’ve just been chatting to him for a piece I’m writing for Metro, the free commuter newspaper that you see in London and other UK cities. There are certain criteria that we, the listening public, have to meet before switchover can take place. Ennals confirmed what I suspected: that we’re not on target for 2015 unless there’s accelerated take-up of DAB both in-car and at home. If we carry on at the current rate of growth it will be 2017. Good news for drivers, then? A stay of execution? Yes, but motorists are only delaying the inevitable. I think they're doing it with good reason. I have a theory that most will put it off as long as possible, because the price of the technology will come down, just as it did with TV digiboxes. The other thing is drivers rightly believe they won’t have the same car in 2017 – or even 2015 – as they do now. Why pay for a DAB system today when you might have to do it again in a couple of years?

Vauxhall's quest for 'premiumness'

Interviewing car designers can be a thankless task. God knows how many I’ve sat down with over the years, but I reckon more often than not it’s a waste of time. They talk a different language, which I’m sure makes sense to them, but to me and the general public is a mystery. There are a few exceptions, and to my list of those I will happily add Mark Adams, head of design at GM Europe. I sat with him at dinner last week after driving the Vauxhall Zafira Tourer (pictured). It’s the new name for the Zafira because this MkIII version is bigger and more upmarket than before. Adams was remarkably honest about the Luton brand, where it’s been and where he’s trying to get it to go. Here’s what he told me: “I don’t think the British public perceive Vauxhall as premium. Most people think of us as Vectra and all the other older cars on the road, and we are mainstream as it’s possible to be. But I hope that with consistent execution of cars like Insignia, like Zafira Tourer, people will see us as at the very top of the volume brands, and with ‘premiumness’ as part of the package. Vauxhall lacks emotion big time. How do we add that? With visual appeal, by making the cars look exciting.” Adams came across as a genuine bloke – which is rare when designers chat to people like me – and I wish him well.

Near miss

Came pretty close to getting knocked off my push-bike this morning. A van driver was sat waiting to turn right out of a T-junction and I was approaching from that direction. I saw him look directly at me, turn to glance left then pull out. I’m 6ft 4ins wearing a hi-vis vest, riding on an XXL-framed bike, about 10 yards away and getting closer all the time. Yet still he decided the gap was big enough. Defensive riding learned during my motorcycling days meant my fingers were covering the brakes and I missed his back end by a couple of yards. I shouted a loud and sarcastic ‘Thank you very much!’ that he must have heard, but needless to say he just carried on. Another case of ‘looked but didn’t see’? Poor decision-making? Just an idiot who shouldn’t be on the road? Probably all three. Shook me up a bit, though.

Am I a bad driver? Turns out I am

Interesting conversation with my wife as I was driving the family back from seeing friends in Worcester yesterday. We were in the Porsche Panamera Hybrid (pictured), which I though was excellent. The battery technology works seamlessly with the 3.0-litre petrol engine, giving a total of 380bhp, fuel economy of 41.5mph and emissions of 159g/km. That’s about the same as our own Ford Focus estate, which surprisingly won’t do 0-60mph in six seconds like the Porsche can. Back to the debate; she said I was driving more aggressively and getting closer to other drivers than I normally do. I didn’t think I was but it was making her uncomfortable. Here’s what I think; whether I was doing it or not is irrelevant. If your passenger is getting stressed then you’re being a bad driver. Part of the skill of piloting a car isn’t just about getting from A to B, it’s about doing it in a way that keeps everyone calm. If my wife was getting nervous I was failing, simple as that. So I left larger gaps and if they got filled by other people I backed off. She was a happier passenger so I was driving better. Having been a passenger myself on countless thousands of occasions, it’s amazing how many people don’t appreciate this point.