Spluttering Tailpipe

Teenage dreams realised

2012-01-30T08:22:00.002Z

On Friday, in common with around 50 of my colleagues, I was unable to resist the draw of the Heritage Motor Museum in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The attraction was that Jaguar was firing up a couple of examples of the iconic XJ220 supercar – at one stage officially the fastest production vehicle in the world – and offering hot laps round the test track. That in itself was the fulfillment of a teenage boy’s dream; the car is a world away from the refinement of today’s supercars and at 165mph the experience was far from smooth. The thing that made most impression on me was the quality for the interior. Sure, it’s all leather but what hits you between the eyeballs is the MkIV Ford Escort switchgear. Three crappy plastic knobs and surround for the ventilation controls, nasty square buttons for the things like the fog lamps. Cabin detailing just wasn’t on the radar of the car designers of the day. We’ve got switches so why spend money styling new ones? It shows how far we have come in the last 20 years – the reason for the event – and how much more today’s ultra-rich buyers expect for their money.

When's Skoda going to do another one of these?

2012-01-26T10:08:00.003Z

Been doing some research for a book I’m contributing to, and found out something I never knew about Skoda. It used to have a convertible in its range – and a little cutey it was, too – and that was where the name Felicia orginated. Originally known as the 450, this two-door convertible – the only proper one Skoda has ever sold (let's ignore the aftermarket Rapid conversion) – was reworked and rebadged as the Felicia in 1959. The name is derived from the Latin for ‘happiness’. The drop-top came in two formats; the standard Felicia had a 1,089cc engine, but a more powerful 1,221cc version was launched in 1961 and badged the Felicia Super. The bench-style front bench seat could accommodate three, with further space for two passengers behind. Exterior styling was broadly similar to the Octavia, which also debuted in 1959. It just goes to show that even when it was a budget volume brand for the Soviet Bloc’s aspiring classes, Skoda knew a thing or two about auto design.

Vital to our lives or just a gimmick?

2012-01-23T09:53:00.002Z

I was flicking through the pages of Auto Express this morning over breakfast. The magazine has recently had a redesign and one of the new innovations is QR codes linking to video content on the website. Want so get “up close and personal with the new Mondeo at its world debut in Detroit”? Take out your smartphone, scan the code with the QR reader app and it links straight through to a YouTube clip of a journalist talking about the car on the Ford stand at the recent US motor show. Last week I wrote a story for a industry magazine about dealer marketing initiatives and QR codes cropped there, too. Include the black and white squiggle in a newspaper advert and readers who scan it get details of an offer on fixed price servicing. QR codes are becoming an increasingly frequent part of our lives. People like scanning them because it’s quirky. Is it a gimmick that will fade in popularity with time? Not sure. But did you know they started out as a motor industry invention? A Toyota supplier invented them about 15 years ago to track stock moving through the factory production line. Now they’re everywhere and you can even create your own. Scan the one above to see what I mean.

Motorhomers breaking the law?

2012-01-19T08:51:00.000Z

One of the more left-field titles for which I write irregularly is Motorcaravan Motorhome Monthly (MMM), and this week I’ve been doing some digging into the issue of towing cars. We’ve all seen motorhomers dragging a city car along behind their vehicle as local transport for when they arrive at their destination. I’ve always assumed that it’s legal – the owners must have checked it out – but it turns out it’s such a grey area as to be almost black. The bottom line is that the regulations, as defined in the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 and subsequent amendments, never envisaged this situation and it’s never been tested in court. The issue is to do with braking; when towed, the car is considered to be a trailer and that opens a whole can of worms. Specifically, it’s to do with brake disengagement when reversing. As for touring and towing in Europe, Germany and the Netherlands say they will tolerate it but that technically it’s illegal. Everywhere else says anyone caught doing it will be pulled over and told to unhitch the car. That might make for an interesting holiday if you and your partner are driving separate vehicles.

A reborn 205? The designer thinks so

2012-01-16T09:57:00.001Z

Spoke to Gilles Vidal last week, design boss at Peugeot, who was talking about the new 208 supermini that goes on sale in the summer. He explained he was hoping to bring back the passion customers felt for the 205 when it was launched back in the mid-Eighties. Vidal told me: “What was amazing about the 205 was that it was quite fresh in terms of design and everyone was happy with their own version. It’s quite iconic in that. The 208 has the potential to be basic, popular and premium all at the same time.” Shaving some weigh off is going to help with the dynamics. On average it’s 110kg lighter than the 207, and up to 173kg on some versions. Vidal also explained about the psychology of steering wheel size. The one in the 208 is smaller than the one in the RCZ, which is a sporty car. From a design perspective, he can get away with it because the driver doesn’t need to be able to see the instruments through the steering wheel anymore. In the 208 you see them over the top instead. “The physical feeling is different because the wheel is smaller. You get good handling in cities but people also associate smaller steering wheels with sportier handling,” Vidal added. It will be interesting to see if the 208 can tempt people out of the Citroen DS3 and MINI.

Worthy car of the year winner?

2012-01-12T13:59:00.000Z

The morning after the night before and feeling considerably better than I have on many such occasions following the annual What Car? awards bash. I’ve discovered the solution. Drink less. The biggest night in the UK awards calendar by some distance, it’s a great networking opportunity for a freelancer like me. With more than 1,000 industry people in one room – The Great Hall at The Grosvenor, Park Lane – it’s a not-to-be-missed chance to catch up with old contacts and make some new ones. Taking the top honour was the VW up! city car which has yet to be properly launched in the UK and which I’ve yet to drive. Hoping to get a go in the next few weeks. It means I can’t really say if it’s a deserving winner, but I was surprised to see not a single mention or nomination for the Range Rover Evoque. Perhaps the Land Rover team were as well, given the number of big guns they had wheeled out for the event.

Driven: Vauxhall Corsa VXR Nurburgring Edition

2012-01-09T09:35:00.002Z

Spent some time over the weekend in the Vauxhall Corsa VXR Nurburgring Edition. With just over 200bhp pumping out of the 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine, it’s quite the hot hatch. It will hit 60mph from a standing start in 6.5 seconds and has a top speed of 143mph. The steering is wonderfully direct and to use the old motoring journalism cliché, it corners on rails. Sadly the downside to all this is that the ride is very firm. And I mean very firm. On the well-maintained tarmac of a circuit – such as the legendary one in Germany where much of the car’s bespoke suspension set-up was developed – I’m sure it’s fantastic. But on the ageing concrete of the A14 dual carriageway and rural A-roads of Suffolk it quickly got tiresome. I ventured on the B-roads and quickly decided that was just too much for my stomach to handle. At £22,295 it’s a lot of money for something where the enjoyment of driving is so compromised. One other thing; the car looks great from the outside, and the interior has been well dressed up with sporty styling features, but it’s hard to hide the dated design behind the cabin.

Smallest ever Jeep on the way?

2012-01-05T07:32:00.001Z

Happy New Year blog-followers! Hope you had a good break. By the lack of activity over the festive period, you can gauge that I did. So back to business. At the previously mentioned Fiat Panda launch, boss Sergio Marchionne was asked about plans for Alfa Romeo and Jeep, now part of the wider Fiat Group portfolio. He replied that both have international appeal, but that “Jeep is the only brand I don’t have to explain to anyone”. That’s because everyone knows what Jeep is and what it stands for – authentic off-roading, aggressive styling, etc, etc. Marchionne then went on to raise the prospect of a B-segment Jeep, which is a fascinating thought. It would be smaller than anything the firm has done before – the Compass (pictured) and Patriot are C-sector – and a way of tapping into the trend for downsizing. My problem with the idea is two-fold. Firstly, Marchionne needs to get the C-segment sorted first because both vehicles were sales flops in Europe. Second, how do you make an authentic B-segment Jeep? The brand has always been about having that go-anywhere appeal. Design a small off-roader with the necessary technology and it will too expensive to compete with class rivals, but build one that can’t scale rocky crevaces and people will shun it because it’s not a proper Jeep. Tricky situation.

MINI has Christmas all wrapped up

2011-12-22T10:11:00.003Z

MINI has this week shown it hasn’t lost the creative touch when it comes to marketing. If you’re looking for something last minute and unique for the MINI fan in your life, this might do the trick. It’s not an actual present, but might liven up an otherwise dull one! Available through MINI UK’s Facebook page, the app allows you to devise and customise your own wrapping paper. Starting with a blank page, visitors choose the background colour then ‘drag-and-drop’ from a selection of festive icons to create their own design. These include images of snowmen, mistletoe and Santa. Message options include ‘It was alive when I wrapped it’ and ‘Isn’t it amazing what you can find in skips these days’. Once the paper is designed, simply print it out. Genius. This is the last post before Christmas, so have a great one and thanks for supporting me during 2011.

Taking Italian cars to a new level

2011-12-19T09:47:00.002Z

So to the Panda, which I really liked. The design has kept all the character of the outgoing model, on sale since 2003. This new Panda is only the third one in 31 years and Fiat bosses hope it will help banish the reputation of iffy reliability in Italian cars for good. The above picture was taken in a whole new department at the Pomigliano plant just outside Naples, where the Panda is now being built (previously it was in Poland). It’s essentially a quality control division, which Fiat has had before but never to this sort of standard and attention to detail. The plant, formerly the home of the Alfa 159, has been given a massive and hugely expensive overhaul to bring it into the 21^st century. Staff have also undergone a major retraining programme. If anything is going to help save the Italian economy it’s initiatives like this. The Panda goes on sale in the UK from late February. The issue is going to be finding customers; back in 2003 Hyundai and Kia were nowhere. Now, cars like the excellent i20 and Rio are going head to head with the Panda and have a headstart.

Driven: Mercedes SLS AMG

2011-12-15T06:32:00.002Z

The head-turning power of a rare car never ceases to amaze me. Add into the equation an ability to offer something genuinely extraordinary – a party trick that no one else can perform – and there’s literally no end to the queue of people who will leave a sticky noseprint on the glass. This week’s wheels belong to the Mercedes SLS AMG, a car launched a couple of years ago but which I never got to drive at the time. Its ‘party trick’ is the gullwing doors, harking back to the classic 300SL of the mid-Fifties. So far I’ve driven it as far as Gatwick Airport (I’m writing this in a hotel room in Naples, where I’m driving the all-new Fiat Panda. More on that next week). But after a brief trip to our village school on Tuesday I returned to the car park to find a small crowd. Same story yesterday at the cashpoint. It’s all the usual questions; how much, how powerful, how fast. I answer happily then swiftly follow up with the truth – it’s not mine. Looking forward to the journey home later today when I’m back in the UK. Let’s just say I won’t be going the most direct route home.

Do we know how to treat two-wheelers?

2011-12-12T09:24:00.000Z

Keep seeing stuff on Twitter about the number of cyclists being killed on London’s roads this year. AA president Edmund King has been quite vocal on the issue (along with how many goals his young sons score each weekend in their football matches. They seem to average about six a game.) Don’t know if fatalities are higher than last year, but some reseach for an article I was writing last week dragged up some interesting cycling facts. Bike use was up 12 per cent between 2009 and 2010 – which can only be a good thing – when almost every other type of vehicle use was down. What’s worrying the insurance companies – I was writing for the customer magazine of one – is that riders’ lack of protection means massive claims and pay-outs. It’s not fixing bikes but bones that’s expensive, and in some cases paying out on life policies. Do car drivers know how to treat people on two wheels? Many riders would say not. It’s a fair point, and why does the Government’s long-standing THINK! road safety campaign feature no advice for drivers on how to deal with cyclists? There’s nothing about it all; no adverts, no posters, no guidance, nothing. That seems plain wrong to me.

Indians head here as MINI heads for India

2011-12-08T08:37:00.003Z

Interested to learn that MINI UK is entertaining a group of top journalists from India ahead of the brand’s launch there next year. January’s Delhi Motor Show is the formal announcement of what’s happening and when, so 17 hacks have travelled here to visit the Plant Oxford factory and the MINI Park Lane showroom in central London. Wonder how the cars will go down there? If it’s like the rest of the world, a storm. MINI is now on sale in 90 countries, and sources tell me it could go live in anything up to another 12 next year. Vietnam and the Bahamas are apparently high on the list. The MINI is about as far away from India’s best known car – and supposedly the world’s cheapest, the Tata Nano – as it’s possible to get. But the middle-classes are apparently growing like Topsy. So will they want to personalise their MINIs with vast numbers of options as the Brits do? Will they go for the budget One model, or the flagship JCW? I don’t imagine Indian roads are the best in the world so the ride might be pretty harsh. I’d have thought it would be the ideal opportunity to launch the MINI Scooter, seen as a concept a couple of years ago!

Driven: Audi Q3

2011-12-06T09:24:00.001Z

Is Audi running out of niches to fill? You have to wonder. The latest model is the Q3, which I had the chance to drive for the first time yesterday. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that it fits in beneath the Q5 and Q7 as the smallest SUV in the range, but how much smaller is it? The Q5 is 4.62 metres long while the Q3 is 4.38 metres, so just 24 cms difference bumper to bumper. Get a tape measure out or just hold your fingers up. Is that enough to justify a whole new car? I’m not sure. Audi says the Q3 will appeal to a younger buyer but it seems a moot point to me. That said, Audi is having another excellent year; sales and market share are at a record high and 14 new or replacement vehicles due in 2012. Unsurprisingly it drives very well and is full of premium features. One element that interested me was the driver’s seat, as it always does because I’m 6ft 4ins tall. Opt for the electric adjusting chair and there’s a far smaller range of movement than if you pick the one with levers to manually pull and push. In the former my head was brushing the ceiling lining when on the lowest setting, on the latter I had clear space. Bizarre.

End of the road for Maybach

2011-12-01T08:14:00.002Z

To the surprise of no one, Daimler has killed off Maybach. I’ve been around the industry long enough to remember the ridiculous launch of the brand back in summer 2002. It involved craning a car in a glass case on to the QEII’s sun deck (pictured), then taking a load of journalists on a trans-atlantic cruise with it. When they arrived in New York harbour, a helicopter lifted the case off the ship and carried it to Wall Street where the car went on show. I wasn’t important enough to get the invitation back then, but I do remember my colleagues didn’t come back on the boat – they took Concorde. At every major motor show of the five years I’ve wondered how long Maybach had left. To be honest I’m surprised it has lasted as long as it has. Maybach always had a tiny little stand, always in a corner and always in the shadow of the much larger Mercedes one. It must have been massively galling for the Germans of Daimler to see just how much more successful their rivals at BMW were being with Rolls-Royce, which always had an enormous stand. How much more successful? Since 2003, Maybach has sold 3,000 cars globally, with around 115 coming to the UK. In the same period R-R has shifted more than 12,000 units. It might sound like a daft thing to say, but somehow Maybach always lacked the class of R-R. It’s been an expensive folly.

Could you do me a favour...?

2011-11-29T08:43:00.003Z

I'm keen to know who is reading the blog and if it's hitting the spot. Please could you spare me an extra few seconds and post a quick comment below, just let me know why you're reading it. Tell me if you're a car enthusiast, industry PR, fellow journalist, friend of mine or just an interested member of the public. Thanks.

What should an EV sound like?

2011-11-28T08:35:00.002Z

I spent a couple of hours last week in the company of Steve Levine. The name might not be familiar but his client list will be – Culture Club, The Beach Boys, Motorhead, etc, etc. From his garden shed studio, record producer Steve is working with tech firm Harman to create sounds for electric vehicles (EVs) so visually impaired pedestrians don’t get run over. Obviously there aren’t many EVs on the road at the moment but the number is set to grow. Harman has done its own research on what drivers want, and the answer is it depends on the type of car. Family drivers want something fairly dull and uninteresting, sports car owners want something a bit more involving. The EU is looking at how this issue should be regulated, but with no legislation in place right now Steve has a blank canvas. It’s purely a research project at the moment so there’s scope for some fairly wacky stuff – think space ships – but serious thought is going into Steve’s work. Take the issue of volume; how loud should an EV be? In urban areas you get ‘noise reflection’ from buildings so arguably it doesn’t need to be as loud as in the country, where hedges just absorb the sound and offer no bounce-back and there may be less pedestrians anyway. Will future EVs be smart enough to know where they are and if people are present then adjust the volume accordingly? Perhaps.

Driven: SsangYong Korando

2011-11-24T09:09:00.002Z

I mentioned in the last post that I was meeting the new team behind South Korean brand SsangYong. Three years ago it went into administration globally, but has been rescued by Mahindra & Mahindra, a massive Indian conglomerate that builds cheap and cheerful SUVs for its home market. SsangYong gives it something more upmarket for those customers, and allow it to exploit the no-frills SUV sector in Western Europe, particularly for people who need to tow. The problem is the product. Take the all-new Korando (pictured); it looks okay from a distance, but it lacks the refinement of pretty much everything else in the sector. It’s a world away from best-selling Nissan Qashqai, and even rival products from South Korea, the Kia Sportage and Hyundai ix35, are a class apart from the Korando. To be fair to the SsangYong UK top brass, they’re reaslistic about the car’s shortcomings and accept they’re only ever going to be a niche player. The ‘at least 10 per cent cheaper than our rivals’ tag will get customers through the door, but I’m afraid you get what you pay for.

Fog and how not to drive in it

2011-11-21T08:39:00.003Z

Yesterday was very foggy in East Anglia and the Yarrow family was heading up to Southwold, on the Suffolk coast. It’s back roads and tiny villages all the way, so narrow 60mph speed limit zones broken up by occasional 30mph areas. In the fog, I didn’t want to be doing much than 20mph in any of it. I was pretty content following a Ford Fiesta doing that speed and there was no chance of getting past anyway. But that didn’t stop two young lads in an old VW Golf having a go at a double overtake. Needless to say, they got halfway through the task before bottling out and diving into the gap between me and Fiesta. A friend travelling the same route a few minutes behind had also come across them and had a similar experience. Drivers like that will kill us all. Idiots. More fog today, so a slow trip down to Hatfield, Herts, to meet up with team behind the relaunched SsangYong and drive the all-new Korando (pictured). Key question is why are they bothering. Finding customers might be a challenge.

Beetle misses the boat... again

2011-11-17T08:59:00.001Z

Saw the Beetle R concept (above) at the Geneva Motor Show in March and liked it. This week it’s made its US debut at the LA Motor Show and I reckon the Yanks will probably love it. Their enthusiasm for the original Beetle was always strong thanks to the Herbie films (a machine Auto Express readers this week voted the seventh greatest movie car of all time). It’s hard to think of the new Beetle, the one launched in 1999, as anything other than a missed opportunity. When the MINI came along two years later, it showed VW what it should have done. The Fiat 500 only compounded the problem. Early next year we get the new Beetle, the one this R version is based on. So will VW be offering a vast array of accessories and personalisation options in the way MINI and Fiat has done? The answer is I don’t know; the VW public website gives you the option to download the accessories brochure, but when you do you get a message saying it’s currently unavailable. What about the brochure for the actual car? No, that’s unavailable too. Seems VW hasn’t learned any lessons about marketing its heritage in the last 10 years.

Honda's hi-tech car sales technique

2011-11-14T12:02:00.002Z

As well as being an example of hideous spelling, the Motorola Xoom is a tablet PC along the lines of the Apple iPad. Every Honda dealer in the country will soon know this because each is getting a couple of them to help sell the all-new Civic (pictured above). Using what’s known as ‘augmented reality’, customers will be able to use the Xoom’s built-in camera to view a specially prepared showroom car. Doing so will bring up additional information on various aspects of it – design, engines, environmental technology, etc – to the Xoom’s screen. Honda bosses say the benefits are numerous; firstly, it’s a hi-tech and fun way for customers to interact with the car. Secondly, it helps motivate the staff by giving them more to play with than just brochures. But it’s the third reason that I thought was most interesting. Using a Xoom helps standardise the messaging about the car. In short, sales staff can’t be trusted to give all the information – or all the right information – about the new Civic. I would have thought that was a key criteria for the job, and if they can’t get that right they shouldn’t be working in car sales.

Driven: BMW 1-Series

2011-11-10T08:16:00.001Z

Had the pleasure of visiting Bracknell, Berks for the first time in my life yesterday. Not sure I’ll be hurrying back. Called in on BMW to borrow a new 1-Series for a couple of hours as I couldn’t make the launch event. The 2004 original was nobody’s favourite BMW – mainly because of the styling – but you can’t argue with 100,000 units sold in the UK alone. It was a good car to drive, and the engineers haven’t lost that spirit in the MkII model. It’s also a damn sight prettier, looking far more like a compact estate. The newcomer rides and handles very well, and it’s less crashy over bumps than its predecessor. But what struck me most was the attention to detail on the interior. My 116i Sport had delicated touches of Coral Red trim around the cabin, and they were replicated on the key fob. I’ve never seen that on a new car before. Also, the twin cupholders ahead of the gearstick had removable plastic inserts, which turned them from a dumping ground for the car key and a mobile phone into an appropriately shaped storage area. The car’s one problem is the rear; it’s still not very spacious, despite an extra 30mm in the wheelbase.

The route to the future?

2011-11-07T09:51:00.002Z

I spent a couple of days with infotainment expert Harman recently. You might know the company better by some of its brand names, such as Harman/Kardon (in Mercedes cars), or Mark Levinson (Lexus). It’s also behind speaker maker JBL. I was with the company to hear about some future technologies that it’s working on, much of which are to do with reinventing the electrical architecture of the car so manufacturers can offer more and better features. But Harman is also developing the software to be used on these next-generation cars, and a great example is what it’s doing with sat-nav. Take a look at the picture above. If you’ve seen the Leonardo DiCaprio sci-fi thriller of last year, Inception, you’ll be quite familiar with this! If you haven’t, you won’t know what I’m talking about! The point is this system is called MultiPerspective, and it folds the map at the horizon through 90 degrees. It allows you to see much more of the route ahead, so you can pre-empt junctions. Pretty clever, huh?

A cracking little Suzuki

2011-11-03T09:30:00.001Z

Suzuki isn’t a brand I write about very often, perhaps because it’s a minnow compared with some. It has a stable one per cent share of the UK car market, almost entirely made up of retail rather than corporate customers. It has loyal fans, but not much of a reputation for taking risks and offering niche vehicles. A good example is the news that it’s to launch rivals to the Nissan Qashqai and Juke. Hardly a surprise – Suzuki isn’t alone in spotting those vehicles have struck a chord with buyers – but neither model will be arriving for at least another three years. ‘Late to the party’ doesn’t really go far enough! Replacements for the ageing Jimny and Grand Vitara are also on the way, but they don’t and won’t sell in great numbers. Volume for Suzuki comes from the Swift, which is a reliable and affordable supermini. However, with the launch of the Swift Sport in January – a car I’ve driven this week – the range has been given a real lift. It’s a cracking little hot hatch and while 136bhp doesn’t sound like much, the car only weighs just over 1,000kg. It’s not the fastest, but it’s certainly one of the most fun. And at £14,000 it’s a lot of car for the money. I loved it!

Hyundai Santa Fe gets everywhere

2011-10-30T19:35:00.000Z

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

2011-10-24T09:00:00.004+01:00

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

2011-10-20T06:50:00.003+01:00

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

2011-10-17T06:57:00.000+01:00

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?

2011-10-13T11:12:00.003+01:00

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'

2011-10-10T10:24:00.001+01:00

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

2011-10-07T08:47:00.001+01:00

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

2011-10-03T09:24:00.001+01:00

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.

Driven: Chrysler Ypsilon

2011-09-29T09:01:00.003+01:00

First the corporate message. These are the thoughts of Saad Chehab, president and CEO of the company, who I sat next to at dinner on Tuesday night. “Chrysler is an American brand and people have an affinity with that here, like Apple and Nike. If I was to think about all the mistakes that have been made [in Chrysler and Lancia’s history], the inappropriate cars, the inconsistencies, I’d get nothing done. I can’t help that and we have nothing to be ashamed of today. We have to reach out and think about what makes a Chrysler. Walter P Chrysler was always the middle finger to brands like Lincoln and Cadillac. He wanted to do it better and cheaper, and had a history of thinking outside the box. We have the capability to build great and high quality cars.” All well and good, and sales aspirations for the Ypsilon supermini are ultra-low, only 4,000 cars next year. Ford sells that many Fiestas every fortnight. I’m sure the brand’s 50 dealers – plus 20 new ones next year – can achieve that. But the car is a bit of a disappointment. It’s just not premium enough, its exterior looks aren’t conventionally handsome and the instrument layout (above) is a bit of a mess. And why on earth does the digital temperature read-out noticeably flicker when the standard-fit stop-start system re-engages the powertrain? That can’t be right. I tried two versions of the 900cc TwinAir and they both did it.

Nearly 20 years on, Lancia is back... (sort of)

2011-09-26T09:26:00.003+01:00

Brand image isn’t everything, but it’s not far off. Lancia quit the UK in the early Nineties with not much of one left. Unreliability and rust were its biggest problems, coupled with dealers who didn’t seem to give a monkey’s. But this week marks the UK media launch of the Lancia Ypsilon (above), except it’s wearing a different badge on the front grille. Since Fiat Group rescued Chrysler from admin – so it now owns that brand plus Jeep and Dodge – the car is being sold here through showrooms that shift Grand Voyager MPVs and, well, that’s about it. I’ve never driven a Lancia and I have to say this is a launch I’ve been looking forward to for a while. What I’m most fascinated by is the business case; the Ypsilon is a premium supermini, territory occupied very successfully by the Audi A1, the entire MINI range and, to a certain extent, Fiat’s own 500. They’re cars that sell based on brand image, and neither Chrysler or Lancia, nor the unknown Ypsilon moniker, have much of that in the UK. I’ll admit I’m sceptical – and from chatting to colleagues I know I’m not alone – but will be going along Tuesday/Wednesday with an open mind. Find out my thoughts later in the week.

MINI on the move again?

2011-09-22T06:47:00.005+01:00

Writing this from an Austrian hotel room, where I've been driving the new MINI Coupe (not in the hotel room, obviously). At dinner last night I was chatting to senior executives from the company about future plans. The Paceman concept, a sort of Countryman coupe, has been given the green light for production and the brand will launch in the potentially huge market of India in 2013. MINI seems unable to do anything wrong; the Coupe we drove yesterday is another great little car, a two-seater with a surprisingly big if slightly odd-shaped boot to add a dash of practicality. But what about extending the brand in new directions? MINI showed some scooters a couple of years ago so could there be a two-wheeler on the way. I'm told not. Top brass say the core competence is cars and it will always be that way.

Smart wheels... literally

2011-09-19T08:45:00.003+01:00

Fascinating chat on the Peugeot stand last week with its design boss Gilles Vidal about the use of active aerodynamics. The stunning HX1 people carrier concept had some genuine innovations on it, including the six seats which slide into the back of each other like spoons, allowing maximum use of cabin space. But I was most interested in the wheels, which as you can see from the picture above, feature fold-out blades. At speed they automatically deploy to create a flat wheel surface to improve airflow. There are three rear spoilers which move away from the boot top to do the same thing, and even the headlamps have an active element to reduce vortices. Vidal told me: “Active elements such as a rear spoiler have traditionally been about generating more downforce, but now we are moving to a time when it’s more about aerodynamic efficiency. For example, we all know that a tapering rear end of the car is good for that, but it’s not always good for the aesthetic. So we design the car as we want, but when you move in it, elements of it move too.” He was honest enough to say this is long way from a production possibility, not through design and engineering competence but from a development cost perspective. Clever stuff, though.

Car of the show

2011-09-15T15:49:00.003+01:00

Highlight of the Frankfurt Motor Show for me were the Land Rover Defender concepts. Just reading the opening few lines of the press pack on the stand confirmed this car has the potential to take the rugged 4x4 deep into the 21st century.The car features Terrain-i scanning tech to warns of hidden obstacles ahead and can even suggest alternative routes. The excellently named Wade Aid uses sonar to assess water depth and suggests the optimum speed to get through safely. A dashboard button can activate integrated tyre spikes for ice routes, and the permanent 4x4 system can be turned off with Driveline Disconnect that physically decouples the rear axle when so much grip isn’t needed. Fantastic. I love it all.

It's Frankfurt time again

2011-09-12T11:13:00.001+01:00

Writing this from the departure lounge at Heathrow, heading off to the Frankfurt Motor Show. Pretty much everyone I can see around me is someone I know, either journalist, PR or car company executive. It’s hard to convey the size of this event, which starts with press days tomorrow and Wednesday. It alternates every year with Paris, so the travelling circus of motoring media only goes to Frankfurt every other year. But it’s always one no one really looks forward to, from a logistical perspective anyway. That’s because it’s an exercise in German willy-waving – my stand’s bigger than yours – and trying to navigate your way around in a hurry, as we always are, is a nightmare. The upside is the vast amount of new product and concepts that will be on show. Will post some stuff later in the week.

The boy who cried wolf

2011-09-08T08:05:00.000+01:00

Dot-matix signs over motorway carriageways are an excellent invention. They can warn you of accidents ahead, future events that might cause traffic problems and a host of other stuff. But their effectiveness – and drivers taking them seriously – relies on accuracy. How many times have all of us seen them giving duff information? On the M25 last Sunday night near Heathrow they repeatedly warned of fog. There was none and little chance of any. It was laughable. Then two days later, on the same stretch but in the opposite direction, they were doing the exact same thing. Again, no chance of fog. Not fives miles later they suggested there was a queue ahead and changed the limit to 40mph. We all dutifully slowed down expecting to find a problem. Yet again there was nothing. They’re the classic example of the boy who cried wolf. It’s no wonder drivers ignore them and don’t stick to the variable speed limits.

Loving the NILS concept

2011-09-05T07:44:00.001+01:00

Is this the future of urban transport? I hope so because it looks fantastic. VW’s single-seater EV concept will be unveiled at next week’s Frankfurt Motor Show. Called NILS, it has a range of 40 miles and a top speed of 80mph, which mean it will easily cover the daily return journey of almost three-quarters of Berlin and Munich commuters. Technically, it’s the same as a Formula 1 race car, with the driver in the middle, the engine in back and free-standing outboard wheels. It tips the scales at just 460kg. I can’t help thinking this is the sort of pioneering vehicle that could have been wearing a Smart badge, had Daimler not got confused and tried to go mainstream with a four-door reskinned Mitsubishi Colt.On an almost totally unrelated note, news of a excellent initiative. The people who were sacked from the military last week through no fault of their own are being encouraged to seek work in the low-carbon vehicle industry. Forces’ careers advisors and Cenex, the UK’s Centre of Excellence for Low Carbon and Fuel Cell Technologies, reckon ex-Service personnel have the kind of advanced engineering skills and experience now being sought in hi-tech EV manufacturing. Top idea.

New safety concerns for Toyota?

2011-09-01T13:03:00.001+01:00

Texting while driving has led people to prison because they’ve not been paying attention to the road ahead and caused an accident. On many cars, if your phone is bluetooth-paired, you can read an incoming message on the dashboard screen. Mercedes’ COMAND system has offered this function for years. But to date no new car has permitted you to reply, for what Mercedes called “obvious reasons” when I spoke to them about it. In short, it doesn’t think it’s safe. But all that is about to change, and the car in question isn’t some high-end model from a German brand. It’s the new Toyota Yaris. Driving it yesterday, it has a multimedia system called Touch & Go and you can reply to texts. You can either input the characters individually or use templates that you have set up earlier, eg, “I’m driving now, will reply later”. What came as a surprise to me is that the Yaris allows you to do this while the car is moving. Interesting to see how that plays out. Not convinced it’s a good thing.

Driven: Kia Rio

2011-08-25T07:42:00.001+01:00

There is little doubt that the Kia Rio is an excellent new supermini. It continues the Korean firm’s transformation from budget brand to company that should be genuinely taken very seriously. It looks great, drives well enough, and the pick of the engines is the surprisingly lively three-cylinder 1.1-litre diesel that, on paper at least, offers 80+mpg. All good then… so why do I feel a bit disappointed by the car? I think it’s the interior. I was hoping for more. I was hoping it would continue the standard set by the Cee’d, and then bettered by the Soul, Sportage, Sorento and Picanto, but I don’t think it does. The reason is the toggle switches you can see in the picture above, just below the three round ventilation knobs. I’ve seen this photo a few times since it was released earlier in the year and hadn’t picked them out as something of concern, but in reality they are big and ugly and pointless. They don’t really fit with the rest of the dashboard design. I’m writing this in my Portuguese hotel room, having chatted last night to Kia’s design director Peter Schreyer. He said the toggles were a deliberate attempt to move away from a flush-fitting, soft-touch, integrated cabin design, and that he will be using them again on future cars. I think they might have better suited to the Sportage or Sorento – altogether chunkier cars – rather than the Rio. But hey, it’s just an opinion.

Van-tastic

2011-08-22T17:06:00.002+01:00

There must be a degree of a frustration when the sector your vehicle sells in is defined by the opposition. The Vauxhall Vivaro is a perfectly good van, but if I wanted to describe it to you any further I would say it is Transit-sized. And you would know exactly what I mean. It’s got three seats across the front, is driven by tradesmen the nation over and has a utilitarian dashboard with plenty of room at the base of the windscreen for a copy of The Sun. I don’t drive vans very often, but I borrowed this one from Vauxhall for a group of 10 of us to transport our camping gear to a music festival. It proved perfect for the task, in part because we could get one of those large trollies you see at garden centres into the back to help move our stuff at the other end. (I should say we didn’t steal the trolley, one of our number runs a nursery). The main issue when driving one is the lack of visibility when reversing; sure, there are door mirrors but it’s amazing how little use they are when you’re the size of a Transit – sorry, Vivaro – and have no rear view mirror. Ironically it had an optional extra called the Vision Pack (£100). Not sure what benefit that brought.

The most influential interior ever?

2011-08-18T09:14:00.002+01:00

Spent the last couple of days immersed in the world of the Jaguar XF for a buyer’s guide that I’m writing. One of the more interesting bits was a chat with a main dealer who said it was the interior of the car that really wowed potential buyers. It’s not just that it remains a sophisticated reinterpretation of a Jag cabin (pictured), but what the dealer referred to as the ‘Jaguar handshake’. By that he means the active elements of the ignition process, which are the pulsing red ‘heartbeat’ on the starter button, the rotating dashboard air vents and the rising round gear selector. In his opinion, it was those which had helped redefine modern Jaguars and brought a new and younger type of customer into the brand, people who would never have considered one before. Up to a point he’s right. The exterior design, such a departure from the S-Type, also helped. But it got me thinking about other examples of where a new style of cabin had sparked such a transformation in public thinking about a brand. And I couldn’t think of a single one.

Light fantastic? Er, no

2011-08-16T08:57:00.003+01:00

Just had my first experience of headlights that automatically swap between main and dipped beam, a feature on the 2012 model year Jaguar XF (pictured). You might wonder why I’ve not come across this before, and the reason is that on launch events – unless you get seriously lost – you never drive at night. Me and the Jag had an eight-mile trip down the A14 dual carriageway at about 11pm on Sunday night and the auto-function kicked in. Sensors scan the road ahead for movement and light, and if they find none they switch to main beam. As soon as they spot something coming the other way, or a vehicle overtakes you, they select dipped. Clearly it’s very clever, but actually I have to say I didn’t really like it. It must have flicked between the two options 30 times in the space of those eight miles, and sometimes staying on one for just a couple of seconds before switching back. Had I been controlling it myself I doubt I would have been close to half that number. The theory is it will help road safety by improving the driver’s vision, and maybe you get used to it, but I found it quite irritating. It’s a feature I could live without.

My wife's car of the year

2011-08-11T09:08:00.002+01:00

It’s awards season in the motoring world, and it seems there’s a new set of gongs being handed out on pretty much a daily basis. I’m not going to burden you will my personal honours – I’m not pretentious enough to think anyone cares that much about my views, and if you read this blog regularly you will know my thoughts on the latest good and bad cars – but I will pay tribute to the VW Golf Cabriolet. It has achieved what most of the test cars that come to and go from my Suffolk driveway fail to do… and that’s get the nod of approval from Mrs Y. I’ve been busy writing at home all week and as it’s school holidays she’s been running around in the Golf – roof up and down – with the kids. There is no greater seal of approval for a new car than her broad smile and the words “I really like that car, what is it?”. Her face turned rather sour when I dropped the bombshell that it was £27,000 and she wouldn’t be getting it for her 40^th birthday next year. The good news is I’m off to drive it this morning. If I think she’s right about the Golf Cabriolet I might start sending her on launches…

The road to hell

2011-08-08T09:47:00.003+01:00

I will do pretty much anything to avoid spending time on the M25, mainly because however long I leave to complete that section of the journey, it’s always way short of the mark. Friday night was a case in point; got stuck through the roadworks going from the A12 junction down to the Dartford Crossing. What should be about 20 minutes maximum took more than twice that. There was no obvious problem or reason for the delay. Coming back the same way yesterday, I witnessed first hand how one person’s idiotic and selfish driving can cause these so-called ‘phantom jams’. A VW Golf GTI came down the slip-road on to the motorway at a ridiculously fast speed, cutting across the white hatching to head through too-small gaps to get to the outside lane. I was probably eight cars back but everybody in front of me instinctively stood on the middle pedal because of this one reckless individual. We all bunched up, we all came to a virtual standstill and for no real reason. This Mexican Wave of red lights spread back and suddenly what was a perfectly happy snake of drivers became a traffic jam. Brilliant. Some people don’t deserve a driving licence.

A worthy winner

2011-08-04T08:42:00.002+01:00

Went to the Auto Express awards on Tuesday night to see the Range Rover Evoque crowned Car of the Year. It’s a mould-breaking model for the company and for the SUV sector generally, and that’s always a points-scorer with the magazine’s judges. I drove the car (pictured, above) last week and it’s an excellent machine. I was most impressed by the interior space; the dropping roof/rising waist combination tricks the eye into thinking it will be tight in the back, but actually it’s not. There seemed to be general agreement that the Evoque was a worthy winner amongst the industry VIPs present. One of them was Nick Reilly, on hand to be inducted into the Auto Express Hall of Fame. That was another popular honour; Reilly was MD of Vauxhall when I started out in this game, and has since risen through the General Motors ranks to be president of European operations. Nobody has done more to secure the future of the car industry in the UK than Reilly, helping transform Ellesmere Port into a state-of-the-art operation and promoting Luton’s van plant where the Vauxhall Vivaro is built.

VW Sharan makes ideal camping car

2011-08-02T09:08:00.002+01:00

Been away camping for a few days with the family and Volkswagen kindly loaned me a new Sharan for the trip. As a seven-seater it would be too big for us as a regular family car – it’s me, my wife and two kids most of the time – but it proved its worth over the weekend. With the third row of chairs folded flat the people carrier swallowed all the camping kit, and when we met up with grandparents on a day out, I reconfigured it in seconds and it was ideal transport for the six of us. It also impressed a friend of mine who was part of our multi-family trip. He’s also got a wife and two little ones, but works as a photographer and needs space for all his camera kit. He was very impressed with the flexibility of the Sharan’s interior, and also the little ‘attention to detail’ things. He was genuinely impressed with how the second row seat base tilts to allow it to slide further forward to create better access to the third row (pictured, above). I think he might be visiting a VW dealer very soon to trade in his ageing Peugeot estate!

Sticky little sucker

2011-07-28T01:17:00.007+01:00

I get sent motoring products pretty regularly, a percentage of which are genuinely innovative and fill a gap in the market. The others? Hmmm…. the less said the better. So when I was offered the chance to try out something claiming to be ‘The World’s Strongest GPS and Smartphone Vehicle Mount’ I was intrigued. I hate suckering things on to the car windscreen, and the picture (above) suggested I might not need to anymore. When the device, the Exomount by Exogear, arrived it didn’t look anything special. But actually it is, and I have to say I’m rather impressed. Not only does it clamp to anything – window, dashboard or interior trim – it does so without leaving nasty sucker or residue marks behind it. It works with patented technology and as long as the surface is flat you should be fine. And not just in the car; it attaches to walls, doors, pretty much anything. The spring-loaded clamp is very solid and will take numerous different types of phone or sat-nav. Have a look at www.exogear.co.uk for more details.

The sat-nav with consciousness

2011-07-25T09:25:00.004+01:00

It’s amazing how quickly we have come to accept and rely on the technology in modern cars. Getting into my VW Sharan test car, I turned on the radio, ignored the FM/AM options and went straight to the crystal-clear DAB digital channels (pictured). Before I set off I paired my phone with the built-in Bluetooth so I could make and take any calls hands-free. When I got stuck at the railway crossing on the way out of my village, the stop/start system killed the engine to save fuel. All well and good… which is why it was quite amusing when the sat-nav suddenly took on a life of its own. Despite not having a route programmed in – I knew where I was going and that I was going to get stuck in rush-hour M25 traffic, so what was the point? – the system suddenly decided to give me a verbal message. It helpfully warned me of traffic congestion ahead. Excellent, a system that can think for itself. The irony was I’d been slowly crawling around the northern section of my least favourite motorway at about 20mph for the previous 30 minutes.

A very talented young man

2011-07-21T09:10:00.003+01:00

Aged 14 and taking my exam options, I was politely invited not to bother with Art. I had plenty of creative imagination, teacher Mr Perry told my parents, but lacked any sense of skill with a pencil to get it down on paper. So I am always in awe of people who can draw, particuarly to the sort of standard I saw on Tuesday. I was in Maranello, Italy for the results of the prestigious Ferrari World Design Content 2011, which brought together the world’s most talented young automotive design students, including some from London’s famous Royal College of Art. What they can do with a pencil – and then with some very fancy computer software, and then with a scapel and a block of clay – is genuinely inspiring. But it’s more than that; as well as being good at art they have the vision to pen something that’s unique and innovative. Congratulations go to a confident young man from Sussex called Henry Cloke, (above) who clearly has a very bright future ahead of him. Taking 3rd place overall doesn’t sound like a triumph, but there were 400 original entries and it's done his career prospects no harm at all. And well done also to the South Korean team from Hongik University in Seoul, whose reaction when their overall victory was announced brought a smile to many faces.

The crazy French

2011-07-17T13:59:00.001+01:00

The words ‘car chase’ and ‘funeral cortege’ don’t often appear in the same sentence, and for good reason. But then again, I’ve never been to a funeral in France before, so maybe that’s just how they do it. The plan was for a convoy of cars to drive from the funeral parlour to the crematorium, a distance of perhaps 20 miles, most of which was autoroute. At the front was a converted Mercedes Vito van carrying the coffin of my good friend Colin. I was expecting something slow and sedate at maybe 40mph. Instead, as soon as we got on the autoroute, the Vito set off at a hell of a pace overtaking all and sundry. We mourners, in a mix of British-plated family runabouts a long way from home and hire cars, were struggling to keep up. I hit 95mph briefly in my rental Corsa just trying to keep the van in sight. It wasn’t exactly dignified, but I think Colin would have found it quite funny.

2011-07-11T09:08:00.003+01:00

A bereavement means no posting today. There won't be one Thursday either. Normal service will return next Monday. Sorry.

App-solutely the way forward

2011-07-07T08:32:00.001+01:00

Been writing a piece for Auto Express magazine this week about apps that car manufacturers have developed to promote their products. As I write at the start of the article, most have them and those that don’t say they will have very soon. What was interesting to me was that many of them are somewhat lacking in creativity and needless to say they didn’t make the final cut. Okay, I appreciate it’s important for an app to showcase what’s in the showroom – the model range, the optional extras, a car configurator, locating a dealer and booking a test drive – but a little more imagination beyond that wouldn’t hurt. Some apps do go the extra mile and I wasn’t surprised to find it’s the up-and-coming brands who are at the cutting edge of that. Hyundai has an app version of its boot-shoot TV advert, Skoda and Chevy have ice hockey and baseball games respectively, and Kia has a weird boxing thing with cats. Yes, really. Yet again these innovative brands with fast-improving cars are pointing the way forward.

A day to forget

2011-07-04T09:04:00.002+01:00

What I loosely called “tomorrow’s jaunt down to central London” in my blog posting of this time last week turned into a bit of a nightmare. I set off at 6.15am and by 6.30am was at the back of traffic jam. There I stayed, staring at the back of a Ford Galaxy, for an hour and a half as a lorry fire had shut the A14 in Suffolk in both directions. I ended up diverting north to Ely and left my Mercedes SLK test car at the train station there to head into London. When I got back at about 7pm I’d got a parking ticket (pictured, above, which I’m appealing) and on the drive home my wife phoned to say the oven wasn’t working. Terrific. When I say the road was closed by a lorry fire, that’s not strictly true. It was closed by the local fire chief, who happens to be a good friend of mine. I ribbed him that he’d made me late, to which he replied that two other people had already moaned at him about the same thing! The HGV was apparently carrying car components, including pyrotechnic seat belt pre-tensioners which had started to go off. Part of the truck had actually blown all the way to the far side of the far carriageway, hence the need to close the road in both directions. Why do so many lorries catch fire? In radio traffic reports you hear about it far more regularly than car fires.

A pain in the back

2011-06-30T16:24:00.003+01:00

I don’t know much about the world of car seats other than there are companies – Lear is one that springs to mind – which spend a lot of money designing and developing them. They are obviously meant to be comfortable, supportive and look smart. The ones in the latest version of the SLK, Mercedes’ smallest two-seater, definitely tick the last box. They are also technically advanced; the integrated air-scarf system, which blows warm air on to your neck to keep you warm when you’ve got the roof down, makes a genuine difference. But are they comfortable and supportive? After three hours on the road, driving from my house in Suffolk to Goodwood in West Sussex, the messages from the pain receptors in my back were telling me they were not. I don’t know why the Merc’s seats didn't agree with me, and I realise this is completely subjective, but they didn’t. I used to have a problem with the Honda S2000 too, but it’s not something I’ve experienced for a good while. It’s odd, because in last week’s Porsche Cayman R – another two-seater – I had no problem at all and happily toured the country all week. What's interesting is that a slow-burning pain in the back isn't something a potential customer is going to pick up on during a half-hour test drive off the dealer forecourt. They'll only realise a week later when it's too late.

A busy week ahead

2011-06-27T08:14:00.002+01:00

A couple of trips out coming up this week, one as an old-school journalist and the other as a road-tester. First up is tomorrow’s jaunt down to central London to cover what’s been grandly called the 2011 SMMT International Automotive Summit. It’s a day of talks, seminars and Q&A sessions with some big-hitters from across the automotive sector, including a Government minister or two. Titles include ‘Technology: Moving Towards an Ultra-Low Carbon Future’ and ‘What Can UK PLC Offer the Global Automotive Industry’. From a journalist’s perspective there should be plenty to write about, and that’s straightforward enough, but it’s a while since I’ve attended an event like this and from a consumer’s perspective it will be fascinating. Also this week I’m heading down to the Moving Motor Show (pictured), the second staging of the pre-cursor to the Goodwood Festival of Speed. I didn’t manage to make it to the inaugural MMS last year because of other commitments, but this time Ford is basing the launch of the new Focus Estate from there so I’m going for that. The idea of the MMS is a good one, namely that visitors can actually take cars for a test drive. It’s what the British Motor Show tried to do but failed, so I will be eager to see how it works down at Goodwood.

Driven: Honda CR-Z Mugen

2011-06-23T05:13:00.001+01:00

So a little feedback on Tuesday’s trip to Rockingham and my session behind the wheel of the Honda CR-Z Mugen. It was short but, as the saying goes, sweet. No road time but about a dozen high-speed laps of the BTCC circuit was enough to demonstrate the car’s strengths. Costing in excess of £150k, this one-off prototype has been designed and built to push hybrid technology in front of a new type of customer, to show that you can have your cake and eat it. The idea is that it offers Civic Type R levels of performance and on a drying track, and with all the electronic aids switched off, it did that and more. The super-sticky Yokohamas helped, but car’s solid chassis and motorsport-derived mechanicals are clearly a strength. Now a strict two-seater rather than a 2+2, and with a host of upgrades including a supercharger, it just kept going, lap after lap, getting quicker and quicker as my confidence grew. What’s more, it made a fantastic noise. With 50 per cent more power and torque, any production version – and nothing has been decided – won’t be cheap. But it will certainly appeal to a limited number of enthusiasts and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s good news for them in the next few months. It would be a welcome addition to the continuing Honda/Mugen family.

Mugen's take on the Honda CR-Z

2011-06-20T09:09:00.001+01:00

Off to Rockingham circuit tomorrow meet up with guys from Honda and its in-house tuning arm Mugen. You might remember the limited edition Civic Type R from early last year, which saw the relaunch of the famous motorsport badge in the UK after a significant gap. This time the two have joined forces to develop a hot version of the CR-Z, the 2+2 coupé which Honda calls the world’s first sporty hybrid. When I drove the standard CR-Z last year I genuinely enjoyed it, but you had to ignore its hybrid credentials, grab it by the scruff of the neck and drive it hard to appreciate its dynamic qualities. That didn’t do wonders for the fuel economy but it was fun. So it will be interested to see what Mugen has done to the car. It’s described as a one-off prototype but I would imagine that it’s ready to go into limited production as soon as someone gives the project the green light. Media reaction to the car – to be generated this week – will be key to that decision.

Tow cars go toe to toe

2011-06-16T09:59:00.002+01:00

I’ve always been slightly bemused by the Tow Car of the Year awards, a staple of the annual motoring calendar. The 2011 honours are revealed today and the overall winner is the VW Passat Estate TDI 170 PS (above). I’m not a caravanner, never have been and, in all honesty, am never likely to be. Despite that, from an outsider’s perspective I can appreciate caravanners need to replace their car from time to time like everyone else, and want to make sure they get something that’s up to the task. But surely whatever they choose will be hauling for a tiny proportion of its road-going life. You wouldn’t honestly judge what to buy by giving too much weight to that single criteria, would you? To my mind, almost everything else would be ahead of it – styling, comfort, standard equipment, eco-credentials, price, dynamic performance, etc, etc. Surely any car of a decent size and with the right towbar fitted can drag a caravan to a campsite and back?

The ultimate vehicle for 40-year-old men

2011-06-13T08:45:00.004+01:00

For the car enthusiast, my front drive has been a spotter’s paradise this weekend. My birthday party on Saturday meant an influx of friends from all corners of the UK, bringing with them a wide range of vehicles. Besides the previously mentioned Porsche 911 Targa, the Mercedes CLS 55 AMG was getting plenty of attention, as was the Mazda MX-5 bought just this week from www.sportingcars.co.uk, a Sussex used car company which specialises in just selling this one model. Who knew such a place existed? Not me. The Jaguar XF earned a few admiring glances, and there was even some interest in the VW Touran, which my friend who works in private surveillance has had modified so he can sit in the back and watch and photograph the world going by without anyone noticing. But all these were put to shame by the Ford Transit-based camper van recently bought by some friends as an alternative to a tent. It’s a worrying sign that men of a certain age (erm, 40) still get excited by performance hardware, but also have more than a passing curiousity in something with a sink, fridge, hob and fold-out beds.

Happy birthday to me

2011-06-09T08:18:00.002+01:00

Everyone has perks to their job. Okay, maybe that’s too sweeping a statement. I’m not sure what they would be for the chaps from Anglian Water who have been doing something to the sewers down my road all week. Perhaps it’s the joy of seeing someone else enjoying the perks of their job? Yesterday morning a Porsche 911 Targa 4S arrived on my drive and therefore life is good. I always said I’d have a Porsche before I was 40 – which is today – so technically it’s true. Sadly it will have to go back next week. Reading the spec sheet on the car has made me realise that unless I win the lottery I’m never likely to be a 911 owner. This is £86,000 worth of loveliness, but that’s without the extras. The cream paint job costs £1,805, the cocoa leather interior is another £2,343 and even the floor mats cost £122. All in all, it’s £97,787. That’s more than I’ve ever spent on a car by £92,000 and change. Perhaps by the time I’m 50…

The perfect car for a camping trip

2011-06-02T09:40:00.002+01:00

Progress towards my 40^th birthday seems to be dogged by ill-health at the moment. Firstly, my back spasmed pretty badly and then I’ve had some sort of stomach bug that’s laid me low for a couple of days. It’s possible I picked it up while camping with the family last weekend, a trip to Derbyshire’s Peak District. I borrowed a Skoda Superb Estate for the journey and it performed admirably. I really don’t understand the badge snobbery that still goes on around Skoda. The Superb Estate is a fantastic load-lugging family vehicle that’s spacious, well specced and well-designed, and great to drive. It has the solid build quality of all VW Group products and at £26k it’s considerably cheaper than many of its ‘big badge’ rivals. I still get the ‘but I couldn’t possibly own it, it’s a Skoda’ mantra from some people, but that’s just short-sighted. It’s the same with Hyundai and Kia; these three companies are doing some of the most interesting products at the moment, really challenging the established volume brands. I would urge you to check them out if you’re in the market for a new car.

Coming to a showroom soon...

2011-05-26T10:16:00.002+01:00

The Kia Soulster was a funky yellow concept car that debuted at the New York Motor Show last year. It was a good place to unveil it, because the quirky Soul supermini has become something of a sales phenomenon since it went on sale in the USA. With its wide range of colours, body decals and smart wheels it’s become a hit with the Stateside college campus community. It’s not such a massive seller in the UK – in fact you see very few around – but I really like it because it’s not a bog-standard small hatchback like a Vauxhall Corsa or Renault Clio. The reason I’m telling you all this is that I have it on good authority that a production version of the Soulster is getting very careful consideration at the highest levels in South Korea. It perhaps wouldn’t have the pick-up truck rear end, but be more of a Soul Convertible. The roof is likely to be the sort of ‘slide-away’ canvas top that’s on the Fiat 500C. The reason for the new version is that with three B-segment cars – the Soul, the Venga and the all-new Rio that’s coming in the autumn – Kia needs to make sure these products are sufficiently different so it doesn’t just steal sales from itself. And it would be Kia's first foray into open-air motoring.

I broke the law... but I'm not alone

2011-05-23T08:46:00.002+01:00

I’ve got a confession to make. I broke the law on Friday and then I did it again yesterday. I loaded up a couple of bikes on to a hatchback-mounted bike rack (like the one pictured above), and you couldn’t see the number plate because of them. My eight-year-old son and I went camping over the weekend and went to an area of Suffolk that’s very popular with cyclists, partly because it’s flat and partly because it’s pretty. At the campsite we stayed on I counted at least half a dozen other drivers who had done exactly the same as me. I can totally see the reasons for the law being as it is; the police want to be able to read the number plate. But it’s widely ignored by drivers who can’t be bothered going to the hassle of getting a new number made up – which is legally a whole lot harder than it used to be – and then working out a way of attaching it rigidly to the outermost bike so it doesn’t flap about in the wind. For the couple of times a year I do it, I’m simply not bothering because I know the chances of getting pulled over by the police are almost nil. They’ve got better things to do with their time. They’re only going to worry about me if I’m weaving all over the road or committing some other offence. At least I hope that’s the case, because I’m camping again next weekend.

Driven: all-new Kia Picanto

2011-05-19T05:51:00.002+01:00

Writing this from a hotel room in sunny Bordeaux, where I’m driving the all-new Kia Picanto. I’ve done about 50 miles in what’s expected to be the top-selling 1.25-litre engine – there’s also a smaller three-cylinder 1.0-litre – and seen it in what’s likely to be the most popular trim, known simply as ‘2’. You won’t be surprised to learn there’s also ‘1’ and ‘3’. And I can say with my hand on my heart that you won’t find a better city car on the market for the money. Until yesterday, my favourite was the Hyundai i10, and obviously Kia is its sister company, but this is better in every aspect. It rides and handles like a much bigger machine, and on a twisty B-road can actually put a smile on your face. There’s not many city cars do that. Fuel economy of 65mpg will also make owners happy, it’s got a characterful design inside and out – it’s much funkier looking that the Hyundai – and all for around £10,000. The new Picanto is everything the Chevy Spark should have been, but wasn’t. It’s a great little car.

...and then I got run over

2011-05-16T10:39:00.002+01:00

I was struggling to think of what to write today. My back is still bad and my wife has been signed off for fortnight after having her appendix out the old-fashioned way, ie, not with keyhole surgery. I’m told it’s like having a Caesarean but without the baby to care for. Needless to say, motoring matters have not been at the forefront of anyone’s mind in the Yarrow household. And then I got run over. I say ‘run over’… I got hit by a car. Only its door mirror, which was akin to me hitting my funny bone on something hard. It hurt, but I wouldn’t be requiring an ambulance. Here’s what happened: I had taken my kids to school, was walking home and about to use a zebra crossing. There was a pale green MkIII Micra a good 20 metres away – I even found a picture of one on the Nissan media website – so I assumed the driver would slow if they needed to. I wasn’t paying much attention to it, and with my back as it is, I tend to be staring at the ground quite a lot. Next thing I know it’s caught my left elbow. The driver didn’t stop, there was no acknowledgement of the incident whatsoever. I can only assume he or she simply didn’t see the 6ft 4in bloke crossing the road in front of them. Unbelievable.

French electrics? Clearly still a bit iffy...

2011-05-12T09:16:00.000+01:00

I’d like to tell you my back is cured, but sadly it’s not. Even a healthy dose of Diazapam to help my muscles relax doesn’t seem to be helping much. So to the Peugeot 508, which arrived on Monday afternoon. I can’t really offer much in the way of a considered opinion on its merits yet – driving isn’t my strong point at the moment, and walking is something of a struggle if I’m honest – but I can tell you that it seems to be blighted with the same electrical niggles which coloured my last experience of a big Peugeot. I ran a 406 Coupe during my days at Auto Express, the 3.0-litre V6, and thought it an excellent car to drive. However, the orange-on-black display screen at the top of the centre console seemed to have a mind of its own. It flickered persistantly, randomly changed read-outs for no reason and eventually a horizontal section of the pixels died. So I had to smile when I went out in the 508 yesterday to run my son to Cubs to find the date/time read-out (above) had reset itself to midnight on 1 January 2007 and was flashing at me. Not great for a car with less than 1,000 miles on it.

It's been a difficult weekend...

2011-05-09T09:50:00.003+01:00

I’ve been rating cars for the last 13 years one way and another, but rarely have a I paid as much attention to the comfort of the driving position as I have over the last three days. I put my back out quite badly on Thursday night, which happens to me from time to time thanks to a weakness dating back 20 years. I’ve still had to get on with life generally, which means I’ve been gingerly lowering myself in and out of a vehicles over the weekend. The family Ford Focus estate isn’t great for bad back sufferers, mainly because the seating position is quite low. Much more preferable is the Wrangler, which is much higher and therefore easier for me to get in and out of. It's been the car of choice over the weekend, and thankfully the weather has been okay because I've not got the strength to get the roof back on it. Not sure what I’m going to make of the Peugeot 508 (above) that’s due on my driveway later today. Whatever happens, I will continue to avoid bumpy B-roads and anything with speed humps for the next few days.

Hottest Corsa yet blasts in

2011-05-05T08:55:00.002+01:00

This is the first official picture of Vauxhall’s most powerful Corsa ever, the new VXR Nürburgring Edition, which goes on sale later month. At its heart is a re-worked version of the standard car’s 1.6-litre turbo, uprated from 192bhp to 205bhp and with around an extra 20Nm of torque. A modified engine management and turbocharger system, plus a sports exhaust with reduced back pressure, have all contributed to the rise in power. The risk of torque steer – too much power going through the front wheels, causing the car to wander off line when you power through corners or there’s a change in road surface – is reduced thanks to a mechanical, multi-plate limited-slip differential. Under the skin component firm Bilstein has developed bespoke spring and damper units, with a reduced ride height by 20mm at the front and 15mm at the rear. All this means a 0-60mph time of just 6.5 seconds and a top speed of 143mph, while a unique bodykit and colours will mark the Corsa Nürburgring out from the crowd. All yours for £22,295 – a lot of money for a Corsa, but it could be worth it. I will let you know in due course.

The genius of the T200 accessory

2011-05-02T09:25:00.001+01:00

Praise the Lord! I am a believer! I have seen the future and its name is K4.600 with the T-Racer T200 attachment. It’s about this time of year that the pressure washer emerges from garage hibernation, firstly to get the bugs of the front of the car and secondly to give the patio a clean-up. But over the weekend these jobs were made so much easier by an invention that will be hailed by men everywhere who clean patios as ‘genius’. The actual pressure washer, supplied by well-known and respected brand Karcher, is nice enough and claims to use less water and electricity than previous models. Lovely, and ideal for bug-busting on the Ford Focus. But it’s the attachment that was news to me. Rather than just having a lance that does the patio in a two-inch strip and sprays crud everywhere – which has traditionally been my technique – this little baby is about the size of a dinner plate (pictured above). Attach it to the end of the lance, then cleaning the flagstones is like running a hoover over them. There’s no fuss and no mess because all the water and crud stays underneath the T200. What used to be the work of two hours was all over in 20 minutes. It was a revelation. Why anyone would do it the old fashioned way having tried this is beyond me. I’m sold.

BMW X3: a true continental cruiser

2011-04-21T10:21:00.005+01:00

Want to give a brief mention to my holiday, because it involved a ridiculous amount of driving. Took the family skiing to the French Alps for the third time, but it was our first go at it in a car. Two and a half hours to Dover, a ferry crossing, and then another nine hours in a south-easterly direction. With two kids aged eight and five, I wasn’t completely sure how it was going to pan out, but nothing ventured nothing gained. If it was a disaster we wouldn’t be doing it again. Transport of choice was an X3, which BMW had rather optimistically supplied with snow chains in the boot. I’d seen the weather forecast so they stayed at home. Have to say the car performed faultlessly. The 2.0-litre diesel engine was a pleasure, and for the bulk of the trip the car sat at 83mph with the cruise control on (130km/h is a much more civilised motorway speed limit, don’t you think?). Credit too goes to BMW’s iPod connectivity, which made the hours pass by quicker. Plug the player in under the central arm rest and select everything through the iDrive controller next to the gearstick. You even get the album cover artwork displayed.

Yours to own; the 'British-built' MG6

2011-04-18T09:47:00.002+01:00

So MG is back (so am I, lovely holiday, thanks for asking) and the first production versions of the MG6 have rolled off the famous Longbridge line. Dealers have collected their demonstrators, been given a civic send-off by the leader of Birmingham Council, and the order books are open. Never mind that virtually all the components are shipped over from China for ‘final assembly’ in the UK, a historic automotive brand is back in business with its first new model in 16 years. Hurrah! Strike up the band! Are there any customers that really care? Not so sure. Okay, so the MG6 has been designed and engineered at Longbridge, now a tiny factory compared with how it used to be in the glory days. Reviews of the car in the mainstream magazines say it’s average at best, and I would like to have a go myself but there’s no sign of a launch event for the wider motoring media. You would think the company would be thrilled to have a new car and would be eager to get everyone and his dog writing about it. Not so. It remains to be seen what happens to MG, but I don’t expect I will be seeing an MG6 on the road any time soon.

More motorsport - check local press for details

2011-04-04T09:13:00.003+01:00

Among a load of political announcements made in the last week was a very interesting one for performance car fans. In short, the Government is going to look at how more ‘closed road’ motorsport events can be staged. Ministers have recognised they are crowd-pleasing entertainment, and that means people come to watch, and that makes money for the organisers and the local economy. There will be a three-month public consultation to establish how existing legislation can be amended to allow motorsport to take place on public roads. No time scale has been announced – it needs parliamentary time – but it’s likely to happen within a year. The move has been welcomed by the Motor Sports Association (MSA), which has been pushing successive governments to empower local authorities with the right to suspend the Road Traffic Act without having to resort to an Act of Parliament. I think it’s great news. Local events, where 120,000 aren’t turning up and trying to get close to the action, can only spread more grass roots enthusiasm for motorsport.

This will be the last post for a while as I'm off on holiday with limited internet access.

Last-minute Mothers' Day prezzie...?

2011-03-31T08:37:00.002+01:00

If you know anything about precision driving, you will know the surname Swift. Russ Swift is a legend when it comes to making cars dance in ways that the manufacturers never envisaged. His Austin Montego advert, where the car slides sideways into a parking bay, remains an iconic Eighties commercial and became his trademark stunt. Son Paul was barely out of nappies when he started in the family business; the story goes he used to put the family’s ride-on lawn mower up on two wheels – copying what his dad did in full-sized cars – at the age of seven! Now all grown up and in his thirties, Paul Swift is recognised as one of the best in the business, and his skills have featured in numerous stunt shows, TV programmes and adverts. So if you’re looking for a last-minute present for Mothers' Day – and your mum is the adventurous sort! – why not book her a day with Paul Swift Precision Driving (hmmm… maybe not. Just drop hints to your other half in time for your birthday or Christmas). Experience days start at around £200 and you can learn J-turns, donuts and even have a go at that high-speed parallel parking. Visit www.paulswift.com for more.

Peageant powers forward

2011-03-28T09:18:00.002+01:00

Despite having a comedy name that sounds like something from a Harry Enfield sketch, the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power (it’s pronounced Chumley) is a motoring event growing in status. Launched in 2008 as a Goodwood Festival of Speed for the north, it’s staged at Cholmondeley Castle in Malpas, Cheshire and – after pulling in 50,000 people last year – was awarded Best Tourist Event in Cheshire 2010. That’s perhaps not the most prestigious honour in the world, but it’s still an impressive achievement for a three-year-old idea. It’s sponsored by Bentley – based just down the road in Crewe – and the car maker has signed on the line until 2013. This year it will be bringing along the Continental Supersports Convertible ice speed record car. With the four-time world champion rally driver Juha Kankkunen at the wheel, last month it set a Guinness-approved top speed of 205.48mph on the frozen waters of the Baltic Sea. Masses of other automotive exotica will also be display at Cholmondeley, plus displays of motorcycles, helicopters, powerboats and hovercrafts. It’s all taking place on 15-17 July, and is another great example of why there will never be another British Motor Show. Visit www.cpop.co.uk for details.

The smart cookies at Porsche

2011-03-24T08:12:00.004Z

You’ve got to take your hat off to Porsche, it knows a thing or two about marketing a car. On the day dealers open the order book for the 918 Spyder (pictured), they also announce they offering every customer putting down a deposit on that car the chance to buy a limited edition version of the 911. This latter car is actually badged the 911 ‘Edition 918 Spyder’. Production is limited to 918 units – exactly the same number as there will be examples of the 918 – and it gets a few unique features and detailing over the 911 Turbo S on which it’s based. The cynic in me sees this as Porsche just trying to squeeze another £125,000 out of the people who are ordering the 918 Spyder because they think they should have both cars, rather than just the one they want. I wonder what the percentage take-up will be, and what will happen to the rest? Customer deliveries of the Spyder will start in November 2013 – as a LHD model only – once each has paid £670,000. The rear wheels are driven by a plug-in hybrid drivetrain with combines a 500+bhp V8 petrol engine with two electric motors delivering another 218bhp. The result is a car that will hit 62mph in 3.2 secs, but return 94mpg fuel economy and only 70g/km of CO₂ emissions.

Mugen-tuned CR-Z on the way this year

2011-03-21T09:54:00.002Z

Got to love this picture. It’s concrete proof that Honda’s long-term approved tuning partner Mugen is working on a hot version of the CR-Z. The standard car received decent enough reviews when it was launched, with the general consensus being that if you ignored it being a hybrid and drove it hard like a sports car it offered plenty of grin-inducing thrills. The Mugen variant will have more power and torque, thanks to enhancements to both the 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol engine and the Honda IMA hybrid system. Bespoke brakes and suspension will be fitted to improve the chassis dynamics. Honda says it will deliver Type R-like performance, and in some driving conditions the changes made to the exhaust and induction system may even result in greater mpg and lower CO₂ emissions. What’s going to mark it out from the crowd, though, is the bodykit. Check out the ground-hugging front bumper and the tidy rear spoiler. It’s also going to have a carbon fibre bonnet and new Mugen alloys to keep the weight down. Want to be first to see it? The CR-Z Mugen will make its world debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July.  

Driven: Vauxhall VXR8

2011-03-17T07:44:00.001Z

Driving a large yellow saloon with two-tone alloys and a rear wing is enough to attract pedestrian attention during ‘walk to school’ time in most villages. Doing it with a 6.2-litre V8 growling away as I threaded my way slowly through the parked cars was enough to have me reaching for the brown paper bag and scissors. The revised Vauxhall VXR8 is not everyone’s cup of tea. But at up to £29,000 less than is rivals – cars like the Audi RS6, Jaguar XFR and Mercedes E63 AMG – it’s worthy of consideration if you’re in the market for something loud and lary. It’s still developed from the HSV model from GM’s Australian division Holden. But for this generation it’s based on the higher spec E3 GTS model, rather than the ClubSport R8. The latter is still available as an entry level model costing £45,000 from selected Vauxhall dealers, while the newcomer is priced at £49,500. With a new look inside and out, styling and quality feel much improved. The 431bhp V8 makes a fantastic noise on start-up and pushes the car to 60mph in 4.9 seconds. There’s a choice of manual or automatic transmissions, both with six speeds and both with mechanical limited slip differential. I drove the auto, which has a swift kickdown for when you want a burst of speed. But performance figures of 320g/km of CO₂ and 20.6mpg mean eco-motoring awards won’t be forthcoming.

CPP: the car company you'll be hearing more of

2011-03-13T17:43:00.002Z

You will have heard of Spyker, the Dutch boutique car maker that surprised the industry just over a year ago by buying troubled Saab from General Motors. You may possibly have heard of Bowler, the specialist 4x4 company which turns Land Rovers into high performance off-roaders such as the Wildcat and Nemesis (pictured, above). But I doubt very much you’ve heard of CPP Global Holdings Ltd, the Coventry coachbuilding firm which now owns both the Spyker and Bowler brands. I chatted with Brendan O’Toole, managing director of CPP, at the recent Geneva Motor Show. We talked about the Spyker deal, which is great news for the skilled West Midlands workforce that had already been building the C8 Aileron for Spyker under contract before the sale went through. News of the Bowler deal wasn’t public knowledge at that point, but clearly negotiations were ongoing. O’Toole seems like a switched-on bloke who has got the interests of the British car industry at heart. He says CPP’s strategy is to grow as a collection of complementary specialist automotive businesses. He’s got Russian money behind him and there’s plenty of that around. So what brand is next to join CPP, I wonder?

Autocar's 5,000th road test special edition

2011-03-09T16:45:00.003Z

My postman is a bit of a car enthusiast and knows what I do for a living. He put two and two together pretty soon after we moved in, what with the ever-changing range of brand new metal that litters my drive and the extensive array of motoring magazines he has to force through my letterbox. But I think even he was amazed when the latest issue of Autocar turned up. Weekly car mags are normally around 100 pages, but this particular one looks like a monthly. It’s four times as thick, and has been put together to commemorate Autocar’s 5,000^th road test. Autocar is the longest running car magazine in the world, and while its staff test-drive half a dozen cars every issue, they only do one full road test, the carefully measured assessment of every aspect of a new vehicle that runs over several pages. It’s something rival magazine Auto Express doesn’t do and marks Autocar out as unique. Fittingly, number 5,000 is the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport – “the fastest we’ve ever tested”, according to the front cover – but the magazine has also reprinted 50 other road tests from down the years. It’s a fascinating read and I’d urge all petrolheads to take a look.

Golf Cabrio reborn

2011-03-07T08:56:00.004Z

The VW Golf Cabrio has a special place in my heart. Christmas 1998 was my first as a motoring journalist, and me and my girlfriend – she’s now my wife – were heading to her parents on the morning of 25 December. It obviously wasn’t warm, but it was a bright and sunny enough day for us to get the fabric roof down, wrap up in fleece jackets and woolly hats, and blast the cobwebs away down some twisty Cambridgeshire back roads. It was one of those great drives I will always remember. After a gap of 10 years the Golf Cabrio is back, unveiled at last week’s Geneva Motor Show. Sitting below the hard-topped Eos as VW’s entry level convertible – it’s about 20cm shorter – the two-door four-seater will go on sale this summer. Interestingly, the two siblings have an identical wheelbase, which means the newcomer should be pretty roomy inside. The Golf boasts an electrically-powered fabric hood which can be lowered in 9.5 seconds, including on the move at speeds up to around 18 mph. From a sentimental point of view, for me it was one of the highlights of this year’s Geneva exhibition. I can’t wait to go on the launch, and might try to sort out borrowing one for over Christmas. Knowing my luck and recent winters, it will probably snow...

Bertone's take on a new 'Baby Jag'

2011-03-03T16:07:00.001Z

For me, this week’s Geneva Motor Show will go down as the one where I got lucky and managed to interview chatty people who were in a good mood and responded positively to my probing questions. Based on at least 10 previous experiences of visiting the event – I’ve lost count how many times I’ve been – that’s not always the case. Perhaps most open of all was an American car designer called Michael Robinson, who stood proudly next to his creation on the stand of Italian styling house Bertone. The stunning purple saloon was his take on what a new small Jaguar – a replacement for the X-Type – should look like. The concept car was created with the blessing of Jaguar designers, who were probably as eager as anyone else to know what they should do with that particular hole in their range. Robinson explained that what happens to the car next is completely out of his hands. Jaguar people have seen it and profess to like it, but moving from that to giving it the green light for production is a massive step. In modern times, Jaguar has never out-sourced design and production of a car, and in all honesty is probably not likely to with something as important as a new entry level saloon. At least Michael Robinson was honest enough to admit that. Nice guy. Will try to find him again at another show.

Jaguar's new baby... with teeth

2011-02-28T08:56:00.002Z

Tomorrow is Press Day at the Geneva Motor Show and, as every year, I will be there. First stop of the day will probably be the Jaguar stand to get a closer look at the XKR-S, the most powerful and fastest series production sports car the firm has ever built. The super-coupé will hit 60mph from a standing start in 4.2 seconds. That’s 0.4 quicker than any current XKR and it will rocket on to a top speed of 186mph – 12mph more than the XKR with the Speed Pack. Power comes from the same supercharged 5.0-litre V8 engine that’s under the bonnet of every XKR, but it’s been uprated from 510 to 550bhp. Bespoke suspension changes have also been made to both the front and rear, for improved performance and to boost driver appeal. The XKR’s Adaptive Dynamics system has also been reprogrammed to allow more enthusiastic drivers to explore the edges of the handling envelope. Also from Jaguar but not on its stand is something called the B99, which is a concept by Italian styling house Bertone. It’s previewing some ideas for a new entry level saloon to replace the X-Type, which was finally killed off last year. The work is Bertone’s but it’s been done with the full permission of Jaguar, and the story goes that Bertone’s stylists even got a briefing from Jag’s design boss Ian Callum before they sharpened their pencils. Some said Jaguar would never again attempt a BMW 3-Series rival after the X-Type’s failure – it was a reskinned Ford Mondeo with a few tweaks – but looks like that’s not the case.

Smart ForSpeed: lovely, but why?

2011-02-24T09:36:00.002Z

Smart’s journey from an idea by the boss of watch firm Swatch – and to be a brand sold under the umbrella of the VW Group – has not been easy. Eventually launched as a sibling to Mercedes, financial problems led to the early demise of the Roadster and ForFour models. You may also remember the CrossBlade, 2002’s short-lived version of the ForTwo with no roof or doors, ideal for Florida and that’s about it. Yet Smart is persisting with the idea and is to reveal the ForSpeed concept at next week’s Geneva Motor Show. This time it features an electric powertrain, and a fully charged battery is sufficient for 84 miles of driving. A ‘quick-charge’ system will take the power cell from zero to 80 per cent capacity in 45 minutes. Revisiting something unsuccessful like the CrossBlade is a strange choice to simply demonstrate a new EV propulsion system. Comparisons with the Crossblade are inevitable because of the way the ForSpeed looks. I can only conclude it plans to build a production version. I’ll learn more next week.

Labour of love

2011-02-21T08:58:00.002Z

Spent much of Friday in a very rural corner of Oxfordshire in what used to a watermill and associated buildings. Today it’s the rather ramshackle home to the kind of automotive project that only the British can do properly – vintage restoration. The chaps at Fiennes will take the rusty wreck of a pre-WW2 Rolls-Royce or Bentley and turn it back into a thing of beauty. Needless to say, this is not a job that can be rushed. I don’t like putting my car into the garage and not getting it back the same day. At Fiennes it’s not even a case of you heading off on holiday and picking it up when you get back. People have emigrated for shorter times than it takes their skilled engineers! Two years is the average time for a full restoration, though company owner Will Fiennes told me last summer they finished a car that the customer dropped off 12 years ago!! Think he’d had some financial problems part way through, which is why it had taken so long. Testament to the quality of Fiennes’ work, the car had gone straight to a Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club event at Rockingham Castle in Northants and won its class.

How did I get around before the iPhone?

2011-02-17T09:25:00.002Z

It’s amazing how quickly the Apple iPhone and its associated apps have become part of our motoring fabric. Earlier this week I drove to Colchester railway station using my TomTom app. When I arrived I paid for my parking with my RingGo app (which is brilliant). I checked the train times using an app. When I was in the capital I navigated the streets using my A-Z app and the one for the Tube. Tomorrow morning I will be driving to Oxfordshire to interview some people at a Rolls-Royce restoration company, and will be checking the state of the traffic on my route using the RAC app. Imagine the screen of the iPhone built into the dashboard of your car. Obviously it wouldn’t be a separate screen, but the same one as the sat-nav and infotainment system. It’s only a matter of time before that happens, and with Apple-style downloadable apps part of the software of your vehicle. I predict it will be on a new car within the next two years. I know for a fact that Ford is working on this and its engineers won’t be alone. Get ready for the future.

Pagani Huayra: rarer than you know what...

2011-02-14T09:28:00.002Z

Was researching the new car from Italian firm Pagani at the back end of last week, for a piece to go in gadget mag T3. Considering this is the company’s second ever car – if you count the various different versions of the Zonda as one – then it appears to be an astonishingly accomplished machine. The newcomer is called the Huayra, which we are told is to be pronounced ‘Why-Ra’ and like the Zonda, is named after an Argentine wind. It has apparently been on the drawing board since 2003 and you can’t argue with it as a stunning piece of automotive design. It’s taken the ‘cab forward’ cues of the Zonda and turned them into a much more mature vehicle. The car is built around a carbon-titanium tub, with the 6.0-litre V12 – bought in from Mercedes’ tuning arm AMG – located behind the seats and visible through a glass screen. Access to the cabin is via gull-wing doors, revealing a brushed aluminium and leather interior that’s as much about art as functional design. I’d like to think I will have one of these on my drive, but in reality that’s never going to happen. My working life is more at the mainsteam end of motoring, and this is a world away from that. Maybe only 100 of these will be built – probably spread over the next decade or so – and the cost is expected to be £1milllion. The chances of me ever seeing one on the road are like winning the lottery. I’ve only seen a Zonda once, and that was because I knew the owner.

Nissan's 370Z replacement?

2011-02-10T10:31:00.001Z

Details of what the car companies are going to unveil at next month’s Geneva Motor Show are now coming in thick and fast, but this one caught my eye. With the launch of the Leaf going on, Nissan is maximising the PR opportunity by giving a debut to this stylish machine. It’s called the ESFLOW electric sports car concept and uses technology from its sibling to show how EVs aren’t going to kill the thrill many people get from driving. The rear-wheel drive two seater features electric motors on the back wheels and can hit 60mph in under five seconds. A single charge of the lithium-ion batteries gives a 150-mile range. It’s difficult to tell exactly how it looks from this image, but the long bonnet, high waistline and steep wraparound windscreen are classic features for this type of car. Thankfully there’s no shot of interior; I’m not totally convinced that gold leather and perforated gold suede seats, with doors trimmed in dark blue leather and suede, is going to be easy on the eye. I’ll wait until Press Day on 1 March to find out. The obvious conclusion is that the ESFLOW might be some sort of replacement for the 370Z. That’s certainly a question to be asked of Nissan’s top brass.

Qatar: the future of the car industry?

2011-02-07T09:24:00.002Z

Lots in the press last week about the Volkswagen XL1, a concept car that’s in many ways the spiritual successor to Honda’s original Insight of the late Nineties. The covered rear wheels and coupé-style body are the obvious link between the two, as is the pioneering approach to taking motoring forward not in small steps but in giant leaps. Any vehicle which can manage 313mpg has got to be a good thing, but the most interesting thing about the XL1 is where it was unveiled. I’ve never been to the Qatar Motor Show but I suspect it won’t be long before I’m heading to this tiny state in the Middle East. Just as it’s transformed itself from a British protectorate known only for pearl-fishing into a massively wealthy gas and oil-rich Arab Emirate, so another change is on the way. Most industry commentators expect Qatar to become an increasingly important player in the global automotive scene. The state is already a significant shareholder in VW – no doubt part of the reason why the XL1 debuted at the local motor show – and the German firm has announced plans for new a R&D centre within the Qatar Science Park. Just as these tiny countries are using their vast cash reserves to buy in global motorsport – Formula One, MotoGP, etc – so they are doing the same with the car industry and the associated circus that comes with it. Sadly, it means we will never see another British Motor Show. Why? Because the car makers won’t support it when places like Qatar are so much more glamorous and make it so cheap and easy for them.

McLaren readies 'Job One' for first customer

2011-02-03T08:46:00.001Z

I really like this picture. There’s something peculiarly British about two blokes hand-finishing the bodyshell of a high-performance sports car before it goes off to the paintshop. I’ve even had a go at this very job, not at the McLaren factory where this picture was taken, but almost a decade ago at Longbridge when MG Rover was still around. I wasn’t let loose on a real car, but on a sample panel. It’s not just a question of rubbing the buffer over the surface for five minutes; this is a precision job that takes experience to get right. Polish too much and you leave what’s underneath too thin to take the paint. I came away with new-found admiration for what I presumed was unskilled labour. The vehicle in this picture is the first McLaren MP4-12C production car taking shape in race firm’s base in Woking. It’s been released to show the world that Britain’s newest supercar is on the way. The plan is to build up to 1,000 more like before Christmas, and they will be sold through a network of 35 retailers in 19 countries.

Jensen (Interceptor not Button) returns

2011-01-31T10:07:00.002Z

Even the people who are passionate about cars don’t always appreciate the idea of owning a classic. There’s a hassle factor attached, whether it’s running a Ford Anglia from the Sixties or a Rolls Royce from the Thirties. I have friends with both and they regularly moan about cost, reliability, etc. It’s equally true for a sports car such as the original Seventies’ Jensen Interceptor The Chrysler V8 engine meant impressive performance, but the infamous leaking windscreen meant there was a price to be paid. Talking of money, if you’ve got £107k lying around and don’t want to sit in a damp patch, why not buy a new Interceptor? A new business has recently launched taking old versions and uprating them with the 6.2-litre V8 from the Corvette. Give the 2+2 interior a new leather trim and respray the bodyshell and you’ve got a very handsome beast indeed with a year’s warranty and an engine that’s guaranteed for 100,000 miles. Have a look at http://www.jensen-cars.co.uk for details, but I paid them a visit on Friday and took an Interceptor R out for a spin. They’re hoping to sell up to 15 cars a year and there are plenty of people willing to sell them an old Interceptors to be used as the donor car. Thankfully there seems to be a decent queue of buyers for the finished product, and a mention on Top Gear a week last Sunday has helped too. Good luck to them!

Welcome back Toyota

2011-01-27T10:06:00.004Z

Many motoring journalists get quite excited by Formula One, and with the new season just round the corner, there’s lots of talk about the rule changes and how that will impact on the leading contenders. Personally, I find it a bit the races a bit dull. Touring Cars is more my thing and it’s nice to see the return of Toyota to this year’s BTCC grid. The firm has pedigree; three championship titles fell to Corolla drivers Win Percy and Chris Hodgetts in the Eighties, while a Carina racked up numerous race victories in the Nineties. Erm…. yes. And that’s about it. The car maker is heavily plugging the Avensis-based Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC). Built by Bucks-based GPR Motorsport, it will make its competition debut in the opening round at Brands Hatch on 3 April. I’ll be there and will be putting in an appearance at my nearest circuit, Snetterton, later in the season as well. Two privateer teams – Dynojet and Speedworks – have so far committed to running an Avensis. Others may follow suit, or could wait to see how the season pans out before signing up in 2012. My feeling is Toyota wouldn’t be doing this if it didn’t believe the car was competitive. It’s had enough bad PR in the last year with all the quality recalls. I hope it lives up to the expectation.

PS: off to meet the team behind the reborn Jensen tomorrow. More on that next week

Renault trio do it again

2011-01-24T10:42:00.002Z

It must have been interesting sat on the Renault table at last week’s What Car? awards. In the hot hatch category there was a short-list of three vehicles – the Twingo Renaultsport 133 Cup, the Clio Renaultsport 200 Cup and the Megane Renaultsport 250 Cup. You will no doubt have spotted that all three of these potential winners are from Renault, and it’s the second year in a row the French firm has achieved that feat. For all its problems – lacklustre design on the current range and, bizarrely, an industrial espionnage scandal involving leaked secrets on its pioneering electric vehicle programme – the Renaultsport team do know how to build a hot hatch. In the style of a BBC presenter, other cars are available – Golf R, Leon Cupra R, MINI Cooper S, Polo GTI, 500 Abarth – and I know for a fact all these were considered for the short-list. But none made it; as one of the What Car? team said, the stock versions of the Twingo, Clio and Megane are hardly class-leaders, but with the expertise of Renaultsport they certainly cut the mustard. So what was the overall winner? The Megane edged out its siblings, just as it did in 2010. The test team say the Cup version “grips and changes direction like a Scalextric car” yet amazes because it’s so undemanding to drive.

Loving the Hyundai Veloster

2011-01-20T09:11:00.002Z

I have fond memories of the Hyundai Coupe. In the first weeks after I started in motoring journalism – on Auto Express magazine in 1998 – I was sent on a performance driving course. It was somewhere in North Yorkshire, involved learning advanced roadcraft, but also the ins and outs of taking a car round a circuit while getting the low-down on the dark art of automotive evaluation. As my previous assignments on local newspapers had been covering courts, councils and cats up trees, this seemed impossibly glamorous. The weapon of choice for this two-day funfest was the Hyundai Coupe. It was the most sporty car I’d ever driven, and even thought I didn’t fit in it particularly well – it’s not built for people who are 6ft 4ins – it was something I will always remember. Hyundai has been missing that kind of halo car since the last of the Coupes were shifted at basement prices in 2009. Now, with the Veloster, they have something to compete with the likes of the VW Scirocco. It’s got a unique door arrangment, with one on the driver’s side and two for the passenger, and is certainly a striking looking – if not obviously attractive – machine. It will be in showrooms by the end of the year priced around £19,000.

Vauxhall Corsa VXR Blue

2011-01-17T08:41:00.002Z

Looking for a new hot hatch but can’t afford a Golf GTI? You might want to consider this special edition of the Vauxhall Corsa VXR. Called the Blue, it’s priced £19,425 – which seems like an awful lot of money for a supermini, even one with 190+bhp. I accept the fact it’s good value compared with rivals such as the Citroen DS3 R and MINI Cooper Works, but it’s almost £20k for something you will struggle to fit four average-sized adults in. I’m genuinely amazed people can afford to spend that on any new car in the current economic climate. Included in the price is the unique metallic paint job – described as Arden Blue – plus the 18-inch alloys, dark-tinted glass, bespoke interior air vents and Recaro seats. It’s a saving of £445 over the cost of speccing a standard Corsa VXR with this kit. Inside, blue detailing can be found throughout, including the stitching on the leather steering wheel, the interior air vent and the trim on the sports seats. Power comes from a 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine, pushing the VXR to 60mph in 6.8 seconds and a top speed of 140mph. The Blue is on sale now but won’t arrive in showrooms until the end of next month.

New Porsche in Detroit

2011-01-13T09:08:00.002Z

Any new model from Porsche is an exciting event, but a whole new vehicle really gets most performance car hot under the collar. This mid-engined coupé is a test bed – company top brass called it a ‘racing laboratory’ – that demonstrates what happens when the technology from the 911 GT3 R Hybrid race car is mated to the design of the 918 Spyder concept, from last year’s Geneva Motor Show. I’m sure you’ll agree it’s a heady cocktail, and colour scheme of the iconic 917 track car only adds to the pleasure. The newcomer was unveiled at this week’s Detroit Motor Show and is called the Porsche 918 RSR. The V8 engine is a development of the direct injection unit from the RS Spyder race car, but tuned to give 563bhp at 10,300 rpm. The electric motors on the two front wheels each contribute another 102bhp, giving a grand total of 767bhp. The additional power, which is generated during braking, is stored in an optimised flywheel accumulator.

The allure of Allora

2011-01-10T09:17:00.003Z

The Autosport Show at Birmingham NEC starts later this week and runs through to Sunday. For the first time in a good many years I’m not going at all – too many other commitments make it impossible – but despite the impact of the recession, the event and that end of the automotive industry seem to be going from strength to strength generally. Evidence comes in the form of Creation, a British company making its Autosport Show debut, which effectively exists to fill the gaps caused the recession. If you’re the boss of a performance engineering firm, and you’ve been hit hard and are lacking the finances to redevelop tooling and infrastructure, outsourcing to someone like Creation is one way round it. Evidence of what Creation can do is pictured above. This car, bearing a striking resemblance to the McLaren F1, is called Project Allora and is a design concept and production feasibility study for an undisclosed international client. The mid-engined two-seater features a composite body over a steel underframe and uses a V8 engine to deliver supercar performance. My guess is it will never see the light of day; it’s a technical advert for Creation’s skill and ambition, designed to drum up trade from other companies. Just goes to show, for every one person struggling because of economic conditions, someone else will prosper.

Loving the power of online comment

2011-01-06T08:01:00.003Z

I’m not sure why, but an article I wrote which was published in the Daily Telegraph’s Saturday Motoring supplement in September suddenly appeared on its website earlier this week (pictured above). No fanfare, no fuss. It just appeared as ‘new’ news with a 4 January dateline on it. I’m not complaining – I’ve been paid, I’m happy enough – but what’s interesting is the online debate it prompted. Have a look at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/green-motoring/8027759/Is-your-car-as-clean-and-green-as-you-think.html The article says that while CO2 emissions are important as they’re reckoned to cause global warming, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide and particulate material from diesels are just as significant because they cause asthma. Cars you think are green because they have low CO2 actually don’t do so well on some of the other nasties. Within a few hours there were more than 20 comments from people on both sides of the debate. Some said it was great the issue was being highlighted, others got very heavy into the science and questioned my agenda. What’s facinating to me as the author is that when it first appeared in print I got a couple of emails from random people who had found my contact details online, offering their opinions. But stick it on the website and suddenly lots of people want to have their say and more importantly they can. I love that about the internet.