PARIS WAS stolen by the Brits in 2012. The home team might have been out in force but it was McLaren’s P1, the first glimpse of its flagship supercar, that drew … More »First Drive: McLaren MP4-12C Spider
ENGINES – Ignore a car’s badge as, increasingly, it bears little resemblance to engine capacity. The rise in use of turbochargers for petrol motors and the one engine-multiple … More »Room For Improvement (Mercedes-Benz C-Class estate 2008-present day)
WE’D ALL like something for nothing, but few of us are sufficiently naïve to think this happens on a regular basis. You could argue that Bentley’s Continental GT … More »First Drive: Bentley Continental GT Speed
MY TIME with the Fluence has come to an end with a bang. Literally, because some fool has cracked the mirror housing by driving past too close and whacking it with … More »Powering down (Renault Fluence Z.E. end of long term test)
ENGINES – For many owners the i20’s petrol line-up will be the main attraction. If your annual mileage tally is low, it makes little financial sense to opt for diesel … More »Confidently Compact (Hyundai i20 2009-present day)
A NEW Volkswagen Golf launch is always much more significant than this seventh-generation model’s visual changes would have you believe.Aside from a little Audi-style … More »First Drive: Volkswagen Golf
HOLD YOUR fire. Yes, there is a brand-new seventh generation Golf just around the corner which will eventually spawn Cabriolet and GTI versions of its own. But that’s … More »First Drive: Volkswagen Golf GTI Cabriolet
THERE are no bargains any more, at least conventional wisdom would have you believe. For whatever reason - maybe branding, possibly rules and regulations - the notion … More »First Drive: Seat Toledo
IT’S DEFINITELY my fault of course, but I’d hoped to extract more miles per gallon from the A1 Sportback’s 1.4-litre TFSI petrol unit due to more vigilance on my … More »Nipped In The Bud (Audi A1 Sportback long term test month two)
AS THE days get shorter and the roads aren’t always as dry as I’d like them to be, I could quite easily start moaning about the pitfalls of running a Fabia vRS.Having … More »Fast Friend (Skoda Fabia vRS Estate Long Term Test Month Four)
YES, you are looking at the new Audi A3. No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you – it does look an awful lot like the last one. Frankly, given the A3’s track record, … More »Familiarity Breeds Contentment (Audi A3 2.0 TDI SE)
PREDICTING what customers might want is one thing, but getting it right time after time is what really separates the successful car companies from the also-rans. … More »First Drive: Mercedes-Benz CLS Shooting Brake
IN RECENT years there’s been a bit of a lack of affordable cars that would make the average person look twice, but the wait is at an end. Welcome to the Hyundai … More »First Drive: Hyundai Veloster Turbo SE
ENGINES – Although a niche car, the Cordoba originally came with the choice of a small capacity petrol unit plus a diesel in two states of tune. The 1.4 petrol variant … More »Suited And Booted (Seat Cordoba 2003-2006)