Three-thousand two hundred… three-thousand four… three-thousand six… BAM! The Lexus RC F forgets Japanese discretion and screams with joy in the Spanish evening sky, eight cylinders drumming as fast as your heart beats. Drum again, Yukihiko-san. In a world where engines are downsizing and turbos are added in multiples, theContinue Reading
Running a car on a tight budget is not a difficult thing to do. It’s something I make a hobby of (I know…) and have got through a long list of incredibly undesirable and unreliable cars, from a Renault Safrane to a Lancia Dedra. People do tend to ask howContinue Reading
Quality oozes out of every grille slat, vent and opening in the new Volkswagen Passat, the eighth generation of the model to have graced the world’s roads. Tasked with taking on the new, but very delayed, Ford Mondeo as well as more premium targets from the like of BMW andContinue Reading
The Maserati brothers Alfieri, Bindo, Carlo, Ettore and Ernesto were all involved in motor racing in the early part of the 20th century, winning back-to-back Indy 500’s in the 30s and going on to worldwide fame in the 50s when Juan-Manuel Fangio won Formula One championships with the team. ItContinue Reading
Even to the bloke in the van in front of me at the filling station this morning, the Alloro Green and yellow paint job on AMV 8, Aston Martin’s N430 Vantage press demonstrator was instantly recognisable. “I love Astons, beautiful aren’t they?” he declared as I topped-up its tank. “What’sContinue Reading
More than just a facelift, Ford has worked their magic on the new Focus, promising to make it faster, more efficient and more desirable. I find out if they’ve succeeded…Continue Reading
There are few invitations involving a 600-mile round trip which would elicit a positive response, but an invitation from one marque proved to be an exception. By the time you get to read this, last week’s whopping great pothole that shut all three lanes of one side the M25, andContinue Reading
The average house price in the UK is somewhere in the region of £250,000. On my meagre motoring journalist income I can only dream of average, settling instead for a three-bed semi in Huntingdon. Still, it’s better than my first flat. That had a kitchen small enough to allow meContinue Reading
Can a big SUV really manage 148mpg? Thanks to hybrid technology, Mitsubishi thinks so. We take the keys and find out…Continue Reading
When it comes to developing cars for new segments BMW is developing quite a knack at making something for everyone. The Bavarian firm may often come in for harsh criticism in this regard but in the case of its new 2 Series Active Tourer it looks set to win overContinue Reading
People want different things from cars. Some want outright practicality, at the expense of style. Others prefer economy, at the expense of style. For some it’s all about company car tax bills. There are quite a few that just want their cars to look good though and they’ll put upContinue Reading
No matter how much MG might cling to their British origins, every time you step in to the MG3 you’re reminded by an SAIC logo on the window that you’re driving one of Shanghai Automotive’s cars. Not that its Chinese parentage should concern you. If anything, having the backup ofContinue Reading
The A-Class has been around a while now, with the small Mercedes getting rave reviews for their A45 AMG super-hot hatch, but it’s the more frugal diesel versions that appeal to business buyers. Keen to take a larger share of the market, the German firm has glued an ‘ECO’ badgeContinue Reading
The Fiat Panda 4×4 just wasn’t man enough for Fiat, so they’ve taken the car, bolted on all manner of plastic bits to the bodywork and beefed up its off-road credentials. The result is the Panda Cross, a car that can apparently tackle any road you throw at it. ThatContinue Reading
It’s got more power per litre than a Bugatti Veyron, which sounds astonishing for a car as diminutive as the Ford Fiesta.Continue Reading
The Aygo has been a resounding success for Toyota, notching up some 760,000 sales across Europe over the nine years that’s it’s been available in the UK. Now it’s time for a change. Teaming up with their partners at Citroen and Peugeot, the new Aygo promises to be something different,Continue Reading
