BMW X3: a true continental cruiser

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

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

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.