Driven: Suzuki SX4 S-Cross

Just driven the all-new Suzuki SX4 S-Cross, not to be confused with the Suzuki SX4. Completely different cars, one old, one new, in completely different sectors. The latter is a B-segment crossover, the for former a C-segment crossover. Apparently there’s been a bit of a ‘battle’ – Suzuki’s word, not mine – about the naming strategy. Japanese HQ wanted to call the new bigger car the SX4, but eventually understood the confusion it could cause, not to mention the effect on residual values. So it’s the SX4 S-Cross in Europe but nowhere else, with everyone shortening that to S-Cross – vital as the old car will remain in showrooms for the foreseeable. The S-Cross itself is just what Suzuki needs, a pleasing if unremarkable family car in a sector it’s never been in. It’s never going to have the emotional appeal of the British-built Nissan Qashqai or the award-winning potential of the Skoda Yeti, but it’s got plenty to recommend it – class-leading fuel economy and emissions, a world-first double panoramic sunroof and more boot space than the Nissan. Five thousand sales a year looks perfectly possible.

The problem with EVs...

A colleague made a very good point about electric vehicles the other day. It sounds obvious now I think about it, but it was one I genuinely hadn’t really considered before. EVs are a parking bay-based fuelling solution. As such they take up space for an extended period of time, several hours or more. The current system of filling up with petrol or diesel is a five minute job and obviously doesn’t require such a commitment in land. If too many people buy EVs too quickly, the infrastructure isn’t going to cope. Going forward, the only viable solution is charging at home, and that’s presuming you’ve got a drive. There simply aren’t enough parking bays, or places to put them, for everyone to have an EV. Good job no one much is buying them, then…

Reviewed: Garmin's 2013 sat-nav

Been testing a new Garmin sat-nav for the last few weeks, part of the 2013 range of portable devices for drivers. The catchily named Nuvi 3598 LMT-D is the range-topper costing £299, but you get a lot for your money. The five-inch screen is the best I’ve ever seen, with smartphone levels of touch-screen clarity. Features include active lane guidance, which makes it 100 per cent clear which bit of the carriageway you should be on. Commands such as ‘be in either of the two right-hand lanes’ leave little room for error and it works well. Less reliable is the 3D Traffic Live feature, which gives a graphical representation of your journey and where/when any hold-ups are detected. It's worked well on a couple of occasions, proving very accurate. But I had an interesting situation on the M25 where a friend went one way round and I went the other because the Garmin told me it was the quicker route. When I ran into the roadworks near Clacket Lane services, it was obviously not and I was stuck for an hour. It was a jam which hadn't appeared quickly and I don't know why the Garmin didn't detect it. Annoyingly, my friend had a clear run home. And just yesterday it randomly predicted ‘slippery road in 61 miles’. I got there and there was nothing. I like the ‘on fastest route’ confirmation that you can set to be on screen, but relying on the Bluetooth connectivity to use it as a speaker for phone calls is a waste of time. The quality and volume of the speech you get is very poor. All in all, a positive experience and the best nav I've ever used, but I’m yet to be convinced it’s worth £300 to get one.

Park your car with your smartphone

As well as cars that drive themselves, the Bosch technical day gave an insight into a world where cars park themselves. Engineers showed off a future development of Park Assist where the car does everything for you. Today this system only takes over the steering, but in future it could do everything. All you do is drive past a bay while the car scans it. Once it accepts it can get in it, the car tells you go into neutral, then push and hold a dashboard button. The car does everything else. What’s more freaky is that the car button doesn’t have to be in the car, so you can actually get out, open an app on your smartphone and then push and hold a button on there. Its pushing the Vienna Convention to the limit – it says someone must always be in control of a car. It doesn’t say they actually have to be in it.

Taking a ride in an autonomous car

Had my first experience in an autonomous car yesterday, at a technology presentation by Bosch in Germany. It was easily the most popular of the different displays on the test track, an indication of how interested the media are in the topic even if the public are, so far, less bothered. So the BMW 3-Series Touring is fitted with a range of systems which allow it to navigate itself to a preset destination - in this case, round the test track. The car has a built-in digital map of the environment and can follow that using GPS. However, it can also recognise hazards, so will stop at a junction because it knows it’s at a junction, but will only pull out when it’s safe to do so. It can spot red traffic lights and react appropriately when they go green. All very impressive, but even though there was an engineer behind the wheel just in case, driving at 60mph with one one in control is a strange experience.

How to carry four bikes on a car and not pay out a fortune?

I love cycling and regularly do rides of 50 miles or more. My wife is now getting into it as well, to the point where we’re doing the 100-mile RideLondon Olympic legacy event on 4 August. This year we’ve also encouraged our children into cycling – as a way of getting out as a family and keeping fit – and yesterday we did a couple of hours off-road in Thetford Forest. Next we’re all doing a 16-mile charity ride. It’s obviously not far, but my daughter is only seven. The issue we’re now having is carrying four bikes on a car. Hatchback-mounted and roof-mounted ones are great for up to three, but the only option for four is a tow-bar mounted carrier. So I hit the internet last night and got a bit of shock. The cheapest one I could find was Halfords own at £260, though it’s down to £179 at the moment. Lots of reviews saying it’s good for the price, but suggesting it’s heavy and lacks security. Top end one is Thule at nearly £500. Not cheap but it will probably last forever. My experiences with its products in the past have been nothing but excellent. Other issue is as the moment I don’t have a tow-bar fitted so that’s going to be more money.