wheelwobble

What's outside today 45 - 1915 Ford Model T

2008-07-03T17:15:00.008+01:00

Outside Ford's Dunton Technical Centre last weekend, that is. This year is the 100th anniversary of the Ford Model T and Ford offered us the chance to use it for the Verdict, albeit on private roads. This is the car with Ivan Bartholomeusz, one of the people who looks after Ford's UK Heritage Collection, which is kept in a big warehouse in Dagenham, rather than in a museum.

This car is a lot of fun, once you get used to the bizarre pedal arrangement shown below. The left-hand pedal engages first gear in the depressed position and second gear (there are only two forward gears) in the raised position. Between the two is neutral. The centre pedal is reverse, and the right-hand pedal is the footbrake. The lever is a transmission brake - when applied, it also puts the car into neutral. The throttle is operated by a stalk on the steering wheel, rather than any of the pedals. It sounds absolutely impossible, but it's not too difficult to grasp with a bit of practice.

One interesting fact I picked up from the chaps at Ford; while these cars are very old and exceptionally appealing, they are in fact not worth very much. Ford simply made too many of them for them to be particularly valuable.

Glorious Goodwood (II)

2008-07-03T11:37:00.004+01:00

Just been looking at the Goodwood website and it appears that the Airbus A380, which is even bigger than the 747, will be making an appearance on the Saturday 'in low speed action'.

I just hope the display will be a bit more ambitious than that low-key description suggests.

Glorious Goodwood

2008-07-03T11:04:00.010+01:00

Counting down the days until the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which starts at the end of next week. As usual, I'm looking forward to it enormously but this year I'm also feeling slightly nervous about the whole thing as I've invited one of my car-mad German friends to come along too; I've been telling him for years what a fantastic event this is and he's finally decided to take the plunge, so I'm really hoping it doesn't rain like last year, which could turn the whole thing into an enormous disappointment.

Just about everyone I've spoken to about the Festival of Speed has the same favourite memory as I do, which isn't strictly car-related at all; back in 2004, I think it was, the organisers lined up a South African Airways Boeing 747 to do an aerobatic display.

Exactly. That's what I'd have thought if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, but it is possible for a jumbo to put on a spectacular show, as the very capable crew of that SAA plane showed. I don't think they quite got it to loop the loop but more than once I was convinced the thing was going to fall out of the sky. I suspect that there may have been some complaints from the Earl of March's neighbours as I don't think the 747 has appeared at Goodwood since. I suppose it's too much to hope for a repeat performance this year!

Reinventing the wheelchair

2008-07-03T10:29:00.008+01:00

Back in the saddle, or perhaps that should be back at the wheel, after a long busy period dealing with other stuff.

Lots of catching up to do but one thing I'd like to mention straight away is my small role in spreading the story of the revolutionary new Trekinetic wheelchair. I first encountered the wheelchair's appropriately named inventor, Mike Spindle, when he took part in the Verdict test a month or two back. We got chatting about his work and in particular the wheelchair; the chair itself is fascinating, but so is the story of its development. I thought it deserved a wider audience and when I outlined it to the powers-that-be at the Independent, they obviously agreed because they immediately commissioned me to get it into the paper. This appeared yesterday and you can read it online if you click the title link for this post.

I don't think I even began to do justice to the product, the designer or the story with all its twists and turns - that would have required a book, rather than a double-page feature - but I hope some of the flavour comes across.

The Trekinetic chair embodies a wide range of innovations but probably the most obvious of these is its 'monocoque' design in which the main components are attached to a very strong and stiff carbon fibre seat. Traditional wheelchairs, which haven't changed much since the thirties use a steel tubular frame with a canvas seat stretched across it. The change is analogous to that made by the car manufacturers when they abandoned separate chassis and bodywork in favour of lighter, stronger all-in-one body shells.

The functional advantages of the Trekinetic chair for wheelchair users are very clear, but what's difficult to get across to anyone who hasn't seen it in the metal, is that it is also an exceptionally beautiful object, especially in the recently introduced GT-3 version, which is optimised for street use and finished in white.

The other thing that is difficult to convey on the page is Mike Spindle's enthusiasm and his commitment to the project over the last eight years or so. If every British fifteen year old could hear Mike tell the story of how he developed the chair, we'd be a nation of engineers within a generation. That said, it's important not to underestimate the quality of what we've already got; Mike has a background in the highly successful UK Formula 1 industry (seems strange to refer to it as that, but that's what it is) and can source most of the work and parts he requires for his high-tech product here in the UK.

The Trekinetic website is at www.trekinetic.com

Honda's marvellous new diesel Accord

2008-04-16T19:03:00.003+01:00

At last a chance to post after a busy few weeks.

In Austria at the launch of the new Honda Accord. As usual with Honda, while the car is pretty good, this is really all about engines. Just spent the afternoon trying the 2.2 litre diesel unit, which according to Honda is all, or nearly all new. It really is staggeringly good - it feels five or ten years ahead of most other four cylinder diesel engines out there. I'll be particularly interested to see how Subaru's new boxer diesel stacks up against it; that's turning up in the Legacy in a few weeks' time.

Terminal 5 - what's all the fuss?

2008-03-28T16:22:00.007Z

Came through Terminal 5 today on my annual trip to the Techno-Classica classic car show in Essen and encountered none of the problems that have been so widely reported over the last two days - although I had checked in online in advance and was carrying only hand baggage, which probably helped. My flight to Duesseldorf was almost bang on time.

The new terminal itself is magnificent, although it does suffer from the usual BAA problem that the vast, lavishly appointed retail outlets take precedence over the operational side of the airport; even with the relatively low traffic levels going through T5 at the moment, the wait at security was fairly long.

On the plus side, the vast glass frontage gives a great view of the airport and plane movements from the main section of the terminal, and the overall tone is very classy - budget conscious families looking for something cheap, quick and straightforward to eat are going to be disappointed. KFC, BK and McD appear to be completely absent at the moment; I reckon they'll be in within a year when some of the fancy shops don't make it.

BAA probably deserves to be broken up and I find BA's smug, complacent style deeply annoying but I have to say that today, the two companies combined, against all the odds, to give me one of my best flying experiences in recent memory.

What's outside today 44 - Vauxhall VXR8

2008-03-11T23:00:00.009Z

Tear-stained hankies today when the man from Vauxhall came to take this one away - it's brilliant.

The VXR8 is the successor to the much-loved Vauxhall Monaro, and like the Monaro, it's really an Australian Holden, in this case the sportiest version of the latest Commodore.

This car is aimed at BMW's M cars, Mercedes AMG models, the RS Audis and the 'R' Jaguars but it's a lot cheaper and a lot less intimidating - you can just get in and drive the thing.

Much of the VXR8's appeal derives from this, its 6.0 litre Corvette-derived V8 engine; you might expect this to be a slow-revving, lazy affair, but it's actually quite zingy. The same goes for the automatic transmission fitted to our test car which was a quick-shifting six speeder, rather than a slushy, slurry four-speeder of the sort usually associated with US cars.

I haven't driven any of the less powerful Australian Commodores, but the VXR8 is so good, I wonder whether Vauxhall has considered bringing these cars over as a delayed replacement for the Senators and Omegas that were so popular with users such as the police.

What's outside today 43 - Mercedes R280 CDI

2008-03-06T23:34:00.003Z

Actually, this has just gone back, but I forgot to take the usual shots of it outside my house. I have to admit, my previously negative feelings towards this rather oddball car have mellowed a bit, but I still have difficulty seeing who would actually buy one.

A lot of good kit under the rather unusual styling - in particular the V6 diesel engine and the Mercedes seven-speed automatic transmission.

What's outside today 42 - Subaru Impreza WRX STI

2008-03-06T23:21:00.006Z

This is a good car coveted by bad people, so I'd better be a bit circumspect about locations and dates - these were taken a few days ago outside a budget chain hotel in the South of England.

Of course the STI is faster than the 1.5R we tested a few weeks ago, but the family resemblance is unmistakable, despite the vast difference in power and the STI's body mods.

The STI is surprisingly docile when driven gently and it isn't noisy or harsh at all.

The interior isn't much fancier than that of the 1.5R, but that's because all of the money has been spent under the bonnet, as this shot shows.

What's outside today 41 - Mercedes C Class estate

2008-02-27T15:12:00.006Z

Actually, this one went back today.

It's the new estate version of the latest C Class - the C220CDI Sport estate automatic, to be precise. Normally I'm not a fan of bodykits, but this AMG effort works pretty well - although I'm not convinced that switching the Mercedes star from the traditional location on the top of the bonnet to the middle of the grille is a great idea.

In the past, the idea of fast bodywork like this on a humble 220 diesel Mercedes would have been a bit of a joke, but this one really is fast enought to live up to the looks.

Overall this is a good effort, but I wish Mercedes could get back to producing the classy sorts of interiors it offered in the past. This is an area in which the company has lagged behind in the last few years - it's getting better again but the problem is that the competition isn't standing still.

BMW MINI v Fiat 500 - some more thoughts

2008-02-14T11:32:00.005Z

I've now had a chance to drive the 500 and I was pleasantly surprised, although I think the MINI will still be the driver's choice among the retro small cars if only because of the availability of the sporty Cooper and Cooper S versions which don't (yet) have any direct counterparts in the 500 range. Did someone mention the word Abarth?

On the other hand, for some time to come, it's the rarer 500 that's going to be getting the admiring glances. But the Fiat's strong suit is this; at the moment, the 500 is at least as cool as the MINI but it's much cheaper. In price terms, the 500 range tops out at about the same level as the cheapest stripped out MINI One without essential options such as air con. Against that, of course, though, the MINI has a fantastic depreciation performance and very good multi-year servicing packages.

What's outside today 40 - Fiat 500

2008-02-13T11:36:00.006Z

Excellent service from Fiat's press department, which got this to me this morning after I contacted them about a booking for the 500 on Monday afternoon. Normally, our press car bookings involve a lead time of several weeks, so Fiat's performance was especially impressive given that the 500 is one of those cars everyone is trying to get their hands on at the moment. Although I'm quite booked up at the moment, I thought I'd better grab the chance to slot this one in when I could.

I haven't had a chance to drive this yet, but I'm sure that looks alone are going to carry the reinvented 500 a long way.

In styling terms, it's much more convincing than some other retro efforts such as the VW New Beetle and Chrysler PT Cruiser - in particular, Fiat has done well to keep the proportions and general look of the original 500 when the new car has a front-mounted engine instead of the rear engine of the old car.

Of course, the car Fiat will be hoping to emulate with the 500 isn't the New Beetle but the BMW MINI - that will be a tougher nut to crack but I think Fiat may be able to do it if the dealer back-up and so on is as good as the car.

Ken changes his mind - again?

2008-02-12T21:07:00.000Z

Ken Livingstone has confirmed that the London Congestion Charge will in future exempt cars emitting less than 120g/km of C02. Although this is in line with the original thinking for revising the scheme, most recent reports had suggested that the proposed exemption would be dropped because of the large numbers of cars that were expected to sneak in under the limit.

Lots of the car-makers have put out press releases trumpeting which models in their ranges will be exempt. Renault claims that 31 models in its range will be CC free. Apart from Lexus' hybrids, which continue to enjoy the exemption as well, I think the classiest car to slip through is BMW's 118d - not the last word in prestige and luxury, but hardly the sort of hair-shirted economy motor Ken probably had in mind when he first thought of the exemption either.

Anorak Corner 9 - horsepower: metric and imperial

2008-02-11T21:58:00.001Z

A minor change to the layout of the Verdict means a few more pieces of data are now being included in the small specification table that appears at the top of the test. For example, we are now listing each test car's power output, and the chosen measure is imperial bhp (brake horsepower) rather than the very similar metric horsepower, usually referred to as DIN PS = Deutsches Institut für Normung (the relevant German standards body) and Pferdestaerke (German for horsepower). Where the manufacturer issues a figure in terms of PS, we are turning into an imperial bhp number by applying the relevant conversion factor.

Lots of carmakers like to use DIN PS because it looks impressively techy and German, but the irony is that in Germany itself, in advertising material and so on, the PS measure has now almost completely died out. Power outputs are now normally given in terms of kW (kilowatts), and the PS figure can only be shown in brackets after the main kW figure.

What's outside today 39 - Subaru Impreza 1.5R

2008-02-08T18:50:00.000Z

This is the new Subaru Impreza - not the nutty 300 horsepower WRX STI variant, although that will be turning up before too long as well - but the basic 1.5 litre version.

Now I may end up changing my mind about this once I get my hands on the WRX STI, but at the moment, I'm in what I'm sure is the minority in thinking that this is probably the more interesting car. The WRX STI is a performance bargain at £24,995 but what about the 1.5R, which comes in at only half of that, £12,495?

Of course, it doesn't have the outright power of the WRX STI, but it still has the same all-wheel drive system and boxer engine layout as well as lots of standard equipment.

Oh - and I've said it before - white is back. I know the new Impreza has had a bit of stick for its styling but I actually quite like it, especially in white.

Aston Martin linking up with Mercedes?

2008-02-07T22:01:00.000Z

Yesterday's Financial Times Deutschland reports that Aston Martin is exploring a possible cooperation with Mercedes, with engines being the most likely area for any joint efforts. I must say my initial reaction was that this is a bizarre and unlikely pairing but I suppose it does make some sort of sense. Aston is still relying, I believe, on dedicated cells or facilities within Ford plants for its engines (at Cologne of all places, for at least some of them, I think); I suppose this would allow it to break free from that arrangement.

Perhaps Aston engine production could even be repatriated to the UK if Mercedes' specialised racing engine operations here could be used, although I've no idea whether they are remotely suitable for the purpose.

Once again, proof that it's worth monitoring the German press for motor industry news that can sometimes escape the attention of UK publications.

Anorak corner 8 - Kia cee'd indicator stalk

2008-02-07T12:15:00.000Z

This is the indicator stalk of the Kia cee'd SW I was testing recently. The hatchback version of the cee'd that appeared on the Verdict last year had a right-hand indicator stalk. Now, as the photos shows, it has migrated to the left.

In fact I think this is the second or third change since I first tried a pre-production cee'd at the original launch in late 2006, I believe it was. Although I think there's much to be said for a right-hand stalk on an RHD car, I hope Kia's now finally made up its mind!

Blast from the past 11 - Fiat 500

2008-02-06T01:00:00.000Z

The proper Fiat 500, that is, not the 2008 model. Spotted this on a trailer in Surrey when I was down there a week or two back for the Verdict test of the Kia Picanto.

I think Fiat has captured the spirit of the original very well with the new car but we're still no nearer knowing which precedent for retro models it will follow; will it be a flash in the pan like the New Beetle, or will it endure like the BMW Mini? I hope it succeeds, but it depends quite a lot on boring stuff like resale values and customer service, as well as the buzz generated by the new 500's excellent styling. This is a great chance for Fiat to build its market position - let's hope it doesn't mess it up.

What's outside today 38 - Kia cee'd SW

2008-02-05T21:47:00.001Z

This is the Kia cee'd SW - a welcome visitor to my drive, although it did overstay that welcome slightly when there was a glitch in the arrangements for returning it to Kia.

Just in case you thought Kia's very busy Department for Silly Names hadn't got its hands on this one, perhaps I should mention that in some countries, this estate version of the cee'd isn't called the SW but the Sporty Wagon. Actually, the more I think about the name Sporty Wagon the more I like it - it just sounds so cheerful.

Anyway, I'm a fan of the cee'd and in particular the value for money it offers and the SW has done nothing to dent my enthusiasm for it, offering, as it does, generous rear seat room and luggage space.

This test car has a petrol engine, but the sweet 1.6 diesel that's available is better; I notice Kia still has a special offer that means you can get a diesel cee'd for the same price as the equivalent petrol model. That deal's a steal.

Overfinch - still going strong, apparently

2008-01-30T23:07:00.000Z

Years ago, Overfinch used to produce drastically modified versions of the original Range Rover. If I remember correctly, a typical change involved the replacement of Rover's own Buick-derived 3.5 litre V8 engine with a 5.7 litre small-block GM V8 combined with suitably uprated brakes and suspension. These cars cropped up regularly in Autocar and other motoring mags where they got a lot of favourable coverage.

I hadn't noticed any reporting on Overfinch for ages, and to the extent that I thought about it at all, I'd assumed that the Overfinch concept had probably been overtaken by Land Rover's policy of producing its own performance derivatives of the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models.

So I was interested to see that Overfinch still seems to be in business, a fact I discovered when I popped into Tesco near Farnham during my recent Verdict testing with readers in Surrey for the Kia Picanto, and discovered the company's smart modern office next door.

Perhaps there's a way of getting our hands on one of these for the Verdict. We shall see.

What's outside today 37 - Vauxhall Antara

2008-01-30T10:35:00.000Z

This is Vauxhall's newish SUV, the Antara. It looks remarkably similar to the Chevrolet Captiva which is hardly surprising given that they are more or less the same car.

Unlike the Captiva we tested for the Verdict last year, this car has a diesel engine, a much better choice for a heavy 4x4.

Where the Antara disappoints a bit, perhaps because it tries a bit too hard, is with its interior; our top-end SE spec test car was fitted with lashings of leather and wood which didn't quite come off - looked a bit over the top IMHO. I suspect the less expensive versions may actually have nicer interiors.

The Antara isn't bad to drive though - flat, fairly car-like handling and a high driving position make for a relaxing drive on long journeys.

What's outside today 36 - Kia Picanto Ice

2008-01-29T22:27:00.000Z

Actually, this went back yesterday but I've only just had a chance to post these pics.

I'm not sure the facelift the Picanto recently underwent did its looks any favours but apart from that I was pretty impressed.

What's best about the Picanto is that it offers four doors, lots of equipment and enough space, at a pinch, for four adults. That's pretty remarkable when you consider it's a whole class - at least in terms of price - below mainstream European cars such as the Polo and Clio.

It's not a bad drive either - more evidence that Kia is on the up.

That explains a lot

2008-01-28T20:05:00.000Z

Today's FT has an interview with Jaguar's design boss Ian Callum about the prospect of the company being taken over by the Indian group Tata. While he is not particularly critical of Jaguar's current owner, Ford, he does let slip a real gem:

"Offering a rare insight into events at the British luxury carmaker following its purchase by Ford for $1.4bn in 1989, Mr Callum indicated that there had frequently been tensions in the relationship. He disclosed that, in spite of Jaguar management denials at the time, the X-Type small Jaguar – sales of which have fallen far below expectations – was essentially designed in Detroit and presented as close to a fait accompli to reluctant designers and engineers at Jaguar’s Whitley design centre, near the Midlands city of Coventry."

It will be interesting to see what happens to the X-Type once the links to Ford have been cut. It's no secret that sales have been far lower than the company had originally hoped for but I recall reading that the X-Type's financial numbers don't look anything like as bad as they used to now capacity utilisation at the Halewood plant is much higher following the decision to switch Freelander production there with the introduction of the latest model.

What's outside today 35 - Volvo C30 F

2008-01-16T23:46:00.000Z

This one went back today. It's the bioethanol-capable version of the C30 - it uses the same 1.8 litre engine as the Ford Fusion FFV that featured on the Verdict last autumn. The fuel itself is called E85 because it's 85% bioethanol and 15% petrol (the petrol is required for cold starting in northern Europe, apparently).

I had a chance to do the standard C30 about a year ago and I think its a fairly nice machine - and a good-looking one as well. I have to say I'm a bit surprised there aren't more on the roads, although pricing that's a little bit on the high side may be holding it back.

Unusual colour scheme - it's a sort of off-white pearlescent paint. More evidence, I suppose that the manufacturers are trying to find, if not the new black, then the new silver metallic.

Anyway, I've been testing and reporting on E85 capable cars since they first appeared in the UK about two and a half years ago and progress has been painfully slow - the car manufacturers and the supermarkets are often held up as the bad guys when it comes to environmental matters but in this case they've done their bit by making the cars and the fuel available. It's the government that's let the side down by not providing bigger tax incentives for renewable fuels, along with us, the car-buying public, for not buying the cars or the E85.

Saturn - what planet is GM living on?

2008-01-15T20:45:00.000Z

An interesting report today by the UK Newspress service from the Detroit motor show about the GM Saturn brand. Apparently, GM has decided that Saturn is now going to be its 'green' brand, and launched three eco-friendly models at the show.

Two of these cars are supposedly environmentally friendly versions of a clumpy SUV called the Vue, which looks suspiciously like the Chevrolet Captiva and Vauxhall Antara to me. One is a hybrid due to appear late this year, and the other is a plug-in hybrid that's expected to appear in 2010.

That's all very well as far as it goes, but why doesn't GM just make a bit of an effort to get its US buyers off SUVs and US-market bloatmobiles and into something a bit more like its much more fuel efficient (and much better) European cars. A more fundamental objection is this; if we're going to crack climate change, I think GM needs to do a bit more than just offer greenery (or what passes for it) as a bit of a gimmick for one of its smaller brands - it really needs to do something across its whole operations.

Anyway, I find all this chopping and changing when it comes to the Saturn brand a bit depressing. I can remember following closely what GM did with Saturn from the time it was founded as the group's sixth North American brand (next to Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Pontiac) in 1985, through to the launch of the first Saturn car in 1990. It was a fascinating story; at the beginning, Saturn was kept entirely separate from the rest of GM, and had its own plants and models. The idea was to get out from under the burden of legacy plants and practices and reproduce some of the conditions that allowed the Japanese 'transplant' factories built on greenfield sites to flourish. At least in the early years, GM's efforts and the products themselves got a fairly good press but Saturn has never, apparently, been that successful in financial terms, which is no doubt why it has lost much of its independence in the last few years, and AFAICT, its cars no longer seem to be produced in separate plants.

RIP The Independent's motoring section - long live The Independent's motoring coverage

2008-01-14T18:48:00.000Z

Tomorrow is the first Tuesday in many years that no motoring supplement will appear with The Independent. The good news is that in future, you will still be able to read some of the regular long-running motoring features at the weekend; the Verdict will be published as part of the Save & Spend section in the Saturday paper while other favourites such as the great John Simister's road tests and launch coverage will appear in the Independent on Sunday.

What will be lost are the Indy's one-off motoring features, often on off-beat subjects, which gave the section its quirky, distinctive character. Over the years, a number of big-name writers were persuaded to write for the motoring section, including the late, great, LJK Setright, Alexei Sayle and Brian Sewell. The Independent's coverage of the motoring scene was also well regarded by our colleagues in the motoring press. These achievements are all the more remarkable when you consider that Sean O'Grady and Carl Reader, who edited the section during its four-year life, had to get by on an editorial budget that was probably only a fraction of the size of those enjoyed by rival publications.

I will be doing my best to ensure that the Verdict continues to justify its presence in the paper by, in particular, upholding the test's two greatest strengths - the wide range of vehicles tested and the enormous lengths we go to to involve readers from every corner of the country, an effort that is probably unmatched anywhere else in the overwhelmingly London-centric national press.

Tata's 1 lakh car

2008-01-14T15:58:00.000Z

Tata's new cheap car caused a bit of a stir last week. It was originally touted as the first 1 lakh car, a slightly obscure description for an international audience (1 lakh is an Indian counting unit of 100,000 and this is a reference to the car's target price in local currency), so at the launch it was described as the Nano, which I think is a pretty good name if Tata can secure the rights to use it in its main markets.

In its press releases, Tata also referred to its new baby as the People's Car and said that it was part of a 'blitzkrieg' of new product announcements. I assume this unfortunate echo of Nazi language is unintentional, although if the Nano does as well as the Beetle, I'm sure Tata will be very happy.

Anyway, to the car itself - I haven't driven it and I haven't even seen it in the metal but I like what I've been able to find out about the Nano very much. A few observations. The Nano's mechanical layout - a small rear-mounted engine in a five-door hatchback body - is broadly similar to that of Mitsubishi's 'i' car, and the Smart For Two, two of the more interesting small cars on the market today. The other thing I found interesting about the Nano is that it is recognisable as what you might call a 'complete car'. By that I mean that every element that anyone would consider essential in a proper car is present, even if in pared down form. The Nano has four road wheels, a steering wheel, and space for a full complement of passengers. I had feared that in its efforts to cut costs, Tata might have been forced to produce, say, a three-wheeler or something with motorbike-style handlebars, or without full bodywork.

Although it doesn't seem to be everyone's cup of tea, I also quite like the Nano's styling, which, at the rear, is similar to that of Tata's larger Indica, the car that was briefly sold in the UK in modified form as the City Rover. That was sneered at by some reviewers because it had a few rough edges by western standards, and Rover probably pitched its price a bit too high, but its industrial significance - that Tata was capable of producing a car that was broadly competitive in international markets - was completely underestimated.

I'll be very interested to see whether Tata really can deliver the car for INR1 lakh, which, according to my calculations, is almost exactly £1,300. From the coverage I've seen, Tata seems to be conceding that this is the target for a very stripped down version (something like the red car in the second photo above with unpainted bumpers), but nevertheless, the Nano is still going to be a lot cheaper even than other bare-bones specials aimed at developing countries, such as the Renault/Dacia Logan or the Fiat Palio.

There seems to be a certain amount of angst out there about the prospect of large numbers of Nanos flooding onto the roads in the hands of India's growing middle class, and the consequences that may have for climate change. I have to say I don't particularly share that concern; I think it's just impossible - as well as wrong - to insist that Indians shouldn't be allowed to get onto the lowest rung of the motoring ladder when we ourselves in the west drive far heavier and thirstier cars. A better idea might be to ask whether our big, heavy European motors shouldn't look a bit more like the Nano. Most of the car journeys we make on this small and crowded island are short and are undertaken at fairly low speeds - a suitably adapted Nano would probably be able to do the job in the overwhelming majority of cases.

What's outside today 34 - Skoda Fabia

2008-01-13T17:29:00.000Z

This is a bit of a cheat - the Fab, as I like to call it, was actually a visitor to my drive shortly before Christmas but I've had a lot of non-car stuff to deal with lately, so I've only just got around to posting this.

Liked this one quite a bit - it's very big inside and very easy to get in and out of for a small car. The other thing I liked about this particular car was its three cylinder diesel engine. Not everyone likes the slightly raggedy beat these engines have but I'm a fan.

One or two things I wasn't so keen on where our particular test car was concerned. The rather drab green metallic paint didn't really show off the Fabia's styling to its best advantage - this model looks a lot better in lighter and brighter colours as these show up, for example, the black roof pillars better. Also, the mid-level '2' trim on the test car features a lot of light grey plastic; the cheaper '1' and more expensive '3' have an all dark-grey set-up that is a lot more tasteful.

The only real drawback of the Fabia, though, as I mentioned in my piece for The Verdict is that the larger Octavia - also an attractive car - is not much more expensive.

C-Charge chopping and changing

2007-12-20T12:47:00.000Z

I was interested to see a brief report in yesterday's Times suggesting that Ken Livingstone was about to drop the Congestion Charge exemption he had planned to introduce next year for cars with official CO2 emissions figures of 120g/km or less.

Apparently, so many cars are now sneaking in under the limit that Ken is worried they will flood the streets of central London. I can see why he feels he has to make the change; after all, I don't suppose the BMW 318d was the sort of hair-shirted economy car he had in mind as benefitting from the exemption when he first suggested it. But on the other hand, the prospect of avoiding the C-Charge has obviously provided a useful spur to the car manufacturers to improve their emissions performance; they and their customers are probably entitled to feel cheated now that the proposed concessions won't be available. The real problem is that having been burnt once, the car-makers might not respond to incentives and initiatives of this sort in the future for fear of being messed about again.

Great spots 11 - hydrogen-powered bus in Hamburg

2007-12-09T23:02:00.000Z

Saw this on my trip to Hamburg last week. There are a number of these operating in the centre of the city - the stuff coming out of the exhaust is just steam, so local pollution is minimal.

I'm a bit hazy about hydrogen engine technology, but I think this is a fuel cell vehicle, rather than one that takes the BMW approach of using hydrogen in a normal combustion engine, which, as I discovered when I drove the company's Hydrogen 7 model earlier this year, is more or less indistinguishable from the standard product, at least from a driving point of view.

Lessons from a life on the road 3 - don't touch Windows Vista with bargepole, at least not yet

2007-12-06T22:43:00.000Z

Looks nice and has lots of good features but crashes and freezes constantly, at least in my experience. Problems arise in particular when you have several Internet Explorer windows open - this tends to make it difficult to use paid-for public wifi services which use small windows for time counters, inputting credit card details and so on. Exactly what you don't want when you're on the road without the back-up of an IT department and you have limited time to get stuff done because you're running on batteries.

I think I'll go back to one of my older XP-based laptops until Vista gets sorted out - hopefully at the first big revamp.

What's outside today 33 - Mercedes E-Class taxi

2007-12-04T21:01:00.000Z

Outside the main railway station in Hamburg that is. The only car I've been in over the last 24 hours was a W210 E-class estate taxi that took me from here to my hotel last night.

The W210 (the version of the E-Class built between 1995 and 2002) has always been considered a bit of a poor relation in quality terms compared with its predecessors, the W123 and the W124, but I noticed that the one I was in last night was still running well with over 400,000 km on the clock. The only area in which these cars seem to show any significant deterioration is their damping, which tends to give the impression of being a bit worn and floaty. The diesel engines always sound super-fit, and the interiors stand up well, even on the W210, it seems.

Even so, as the photo shows, other cars are making inroads into German taxi ranks these days - look at that Touran, for example. That would have been unthinkable a decade ago. Mind you, in Schwerin in eastern Germany I did see a Dacia Logan being used as a taxi earlier this year. At least things haven't slipped that far in prosperous Hamburg - yet.

MINI Colorado to be built in Austria

2007-12-04T18:11:00.000Z

Didn't expect to return to this subject so soon, but the online edition of the Financial Times Deutschland reports today that BMW will use Magna in Austria to build the new SUV model in the MINI range, the car that is often referred to in press reports as the Colorado (not sure if that is an internal project code or whether it really will be called that once it is on the market).

The FTD looks at this very much from a German perspective, and focuses on the dire consequences for Karmann of failing to win this contract. The possibility of UK assembly isn't even mentioned - I suppose the factory in Oxford is bursting at the seams already.

Anyway, apparently, the Colorado is due to be launched in 2010 and sell at a rate of about 40,000 per year. From memory, I think BMW is in the process of ramping Oxford MINI production up from something like 240,000 to 280,000 per year, so most MINIs will still be British.

I wonder whether a MINI SUV will really work. So far, everything that BMW has done with the MINI has been a success, so I suppose you'd have to bet on the Colorado being a hit as well. On the other hand off-roading and 4x4 aren't really part of the MINI tradition, and BMW always seems a bit timid about doing anything that isn't a reinterpretation of some past Mini theme - you only have to look at the interior of the MINI to see that.

Incidentally, Karmann and Magna were both mentioned as possible suppliers to Aston Martin for the four-door Rapide; it's even more important for Karmann to secure that work now.

Definitions 6 - Trabant government

2007-12-03T00:23:00.000Z

'Trabant government' = the administration of Mr G. Brown.

In last Friday's Telegraph, Jeff Randall likened the present government to a Trabant, on the grounds that we had to wait ten years for it only for it then to fall apart within six months.

Well it tickled my funny bone, anyway.

A fascinating visit to KWE near Newbury

2007-11-30T19:55:00.000Z

A very interesting outing today to Jaguar restorers KWE who are based in a small industrial estate on the grounds of the former Greenham Common base.

Chris Knowles - the 'K' in KWE - showed me around the company's facility, which specialises in particular in XJs, especially the post 1979 Series 3, and the mechanically very similar XJS. Chris thinks that what he calls the 'third market' for cars is going to get a lot more important in future; let me explain that term because I think it represents an interesting idea that we may hear a lot more about in the future. The first and second markets for cars are the new and mainstream second-hand car markets respectively. What Chris calls the third market is that for substantially remanufactured 'as new' cars that aren't just enthusiasts' occasional play-things, but vehicles that are a practical alternative to new cars for everyday use on modern roads.

The third market will probably be driven by eco considerations as much as anything else - while these old Jags don't normally have modern environmental kit like cats, the use of a restored car saves the energy and other costs involved in building a new car.

This visit also provided an unexpected treat; Chris let me sample his V12-engined demonstrator, and I think I would have to agree with him that it really is a viable alternative to a modern prestige car for someone who wants something a bit different. I'd never had the chance to try the famous Jag V12 engine before, a fact I'd long regarded as a huge gap in my experience, so it was great to be able to put a big fat satisfying tick in that particular box.

The photo above from KWE's workshop shows the XJ's rear suspension assembly (actually it's upside down) - the famous inboard disc brakes and half-shafts that double as suspension wishbones in this sophisticated set-up can be clearly seen.

Anyway, more on this in my piece in the Indy in the new year; Chris tells me it may be possible for us to borrow a KWE car for the Verdict as well, which should be a lot of fun.

Anorak Corner 7 - the eyeball vent

2007-11-29T21:08:00.000Z

These were very popular on British cars of the sixties - Cortinas and Hunters, for example - but I was surprised to see them on the 1977 Capri I had on test recently (see below). I thought they'd been phased out by then.

I've always thought this was a very simple and effective design but I recall reading somewhere that they tended to be leaky and draughty, and that's what eventually did for them.

Anyway, so keen was BMW to plunder the back catalogue of British car design for the retro detailing on the MINI that it reinvented the eyeball (see above for an example from last week's Clubman test car). I think the first BMW MINI had just two but the latest revamped version has four. Can't remember whether the 'proper Mini' had eyeballs back in the sixties, though.

Alistair Darling - Sonata Watch Update 1

2007-11-27T10:28:00.000Z

Mr Darling is still using the Sonata - saw him getting into it live just now on Sky News - so it looks like it's a permanent part of his transport arrangements.

He looked a bit glum but I don't know whether that was because he was getting into a Hyundai, or whether all that other stuff is getting him down. Perhaps he was cheesed off because he's been watching TG and therefore realises his Sonata is no longer the latest model. I noticed that he got into the front seat alongside the driver, rather than getting into the back - very democratic.

Alistair Darling - last year's model

2007-11-26T23:27:00.000Z

According to the 'News' section of last night's Top Gear, the Hyundai Sonata has had a bit of a face lift.

So as if Alistair Darling didn't have enough to feel depressed about with the collapse of Northern Rock, the loss of two CDs containing half the nation's personal data, and tax receipts running at far below the expected level as the economy slows down, his shiny new Sonata is now out of date.

Mind you, although most of his problems were inherited from his predecessor, I fear Mr Darling is now in danger of becoming last year's model himself.

What's outside today 32 - MINI Cooper Clubman

2007-11-26T22:42:00.000Z

Although I love the BMW MINI, I have to confess I was a bit sceptical about the Clubman, especially after all that fuss about the 'door on the wrong side' (the second side door on the right-hand side of the car, which opens into the traffic when the car is parked at the side of the road in RHD markets).

But a few hours with this car were enought to dispel any doubts. It goes just as well as the standard version, and coped easily with a long trip north to Newcastle for the Verdict on Saturday and Sunday. I needed a few cans of Red Bull on the return leg but the Clubman itself was as fresh as a daisy when it arrived back at 1.30 this morning.

I think the combination of maroon metallic (well, Nightfire Red as BMW call it) and silver pillar trim on this particular one looks brilliant and the divided rear van-style doors are fantastic.

I also think the Clubman's stretched styling looks better than that of the normal MINI - especially, and somewhat perversely, on the left-hand side where the lines aren't spoiled by the fussy shutline of that second side-door.

Aston Martin Rapide to be built abroad?

2007-11-23T22:45:00.000Z

Today's FT had what appears to be a detailed, well-sourced story saying that the new four-door Aston Martin Rapide is likely to be built outside the UK. Four continental European supppliers - Valmet, Pininfarina, Karmann and Magna - are named as possible partners.

The first thing this list tells me is that this is probably not a classical cash-driven off-shoring move. Pininfarina has a great pedigree both as a designer and maker of fully-built cars. Karmann and Magna have also assembled specialist models for prestige manufacturers such as Mercedes, including, in Karmann's case, cars with such challenging features, from a design and manufacturing point of view, as folding metal roofs. Valmet, of course, has produced a very large proportion of the Porsche Boxsters on the road today; as far as I know, nobody has ever suggested that these Finnish-built cars are not as good as their German-made counterparts. On the basis of these companies' track records, I have no doubt Aston will be able to get the Rapide built to the required standard. As I've mentioned here before, some of Karmann's big contracts for fully-built cars are running out over the next year or so, so this company will especially welcome the chance to bid for Aston work.

Free trader that I am, though, I still feel very slightly uneasy about Astons being built abroad, simply because Britishness is such an important part of their identity. Mind you, nobody seems to get too upset at the German Ford-built engines fitted to some of the current models, or the sought-after Zagato cars that have featured in Aston's range in the past.

So if cost isn't the main reason for this possible outsourcing of Rapide production, what is? It looks like capacity constraints at Aston's existing UK facilities are the main reason - the current models are selling very well, and deservedly so.

I think the next UK manufacturing operation to bump up against capacity constraints is likely to be BMW's MINI plant at Oxford, where the new Clubman has joined the standard model and the convertible on the production line. Once again a manufacturer will have to try to judge whether the appeal of a quintessentially British product is likely to be fatally undermined if it is actually built outside the UK (for better or worse, I suspect the answer to that question is a resounding 'no').

Talking of the Clubman, I have now got my hands on this at last, which is the second car I'm testing during a busy two-Verdict weekend. More on that later.

What's outside today 31 - Volvo V70

2007-11-22T23:02:00.000Z

Volvo's big new estate.

I must admit I rather like modern Volvos' styling - the strong shoulder line inspired by that on the old 140/240 mixed with smooth curves produces a look that's both handsome and distinctive.

Not sure about the back end though, which looks a bit awkward.

Still, as I discovered on my recent trip to Gothenburg, there's no better car than this to have a crash in. Heading west with this one for the Verdict.

Mr Darling's Hyundai Sonata

2007-11-21T14:54:00.000Z

During government crises, the 24 hour news channels follow the main players' every move - that includes hanging around just to get a shot of, say, Mr Darling getting into his car outside 11 Downing Street for the short journey to Parliament. Completely pointless in terms of advancing anyone's understanding of the real story but moderately interesting for the automotive anorak.

As chancellor, Gordon Brown seemed to stick for ages with a maroon metallic '51' reg Vauxhall Omega. That looked to me like a not so subtle attempt to highlight his supposed modesty and parsimony with the public purse by way of contrast with you-know-who next door at Number Ten.

Anyway, yesterday, I couldn't help but notice that Mr Darling was being shuttled about in, of all things, a Hyundai Sonata. I can't think of any other country in the world where the finance minister would be issued with what amounts to a Korean-built minicab as his chauffeur-driven car, but the more I think about it, the more I like the idea. The Sonata says 'I've got nothing to prove' and also demonstrates Britain's commitment to free trade and the genuine openness of its public procurement policies.

It would be nice if the Rover 75 were still available or if the budget would stretch a Jaguar S-Type or XF, but I wouldn't like the UK to be like protectionist France, where the car manufacturers seem to feel obliged to produce big, crap, unprofitable cars that don't sell, just so that French politicians can travel in a home-produced vehicle.

Actually I have to admit I quite like the Sonata. Apart from the rather vague steering, it's a fairly good effort - although the one I saw Mr Darling getting into on the telly yesterday was only about the second or third I've come across since we featured this model on the Verdict over two years ago. And the Treasury could have saved even more if it had gone for the Sonata's cheaper sister model, the Kia Magentis.

Car of the Year

2007-11-20T22:12:00.000Z

The European Car of the Year rankings are great fun but the organisers' insistence on using a large, diverse international jury has produced some very strange results indeed over the years.

Nobody could complain about the NSU Ro80 (1968), Peugeot 504 (1969) or the Citroen GS (1971), but what about the Talbot Horizon (1979) or the Renault 9 (1982)? Mercedes has only won once in the CotY's history while BMW has never won at all - barmy.

I haven't yet driven this year's winner, the Fiat 500. Anyone who likes cars will want it to succeed in order for Fiat to have a secure future but I still have a few doubts. The 500 probably has even the BMW Mini beaten for cute retro looks, but it will struggle to match the Mini on the road. Unlike that car, which is based on an expensive bespoke platform, the 500 shares with other small Fiats. Then there's the ownership experience; will the 500's quality levels and Fiat dealers' performance be able seriously to compete with the proposition offered by the Mini - just about the best resale on the market and staggeringly cheap multi-year servicing packages? We shall see.

Of the other cars short-listed this year, I particularly liked the new C-Class (brilliant steering - the thing everyone keeps mentioning) and the Kia cee'd - a great car with keen pricing and a fantastic warranty. But the new car that really got under my skin this year didn't even make it onto that short list. I'm talking about the Land Rover Freelander 2. Normally I think of soft-roaders as being a particularly pointless class of car, and the first-generation Freelander scarcely registered with me at all. But the all-new model is a supremely polished product. Subtly improved styling, a great diesel engine, a beautiful interior and a commanding driving position surprisingly reminiscent of that offered by the larger Land Rover models. Great stuff.

Jaguar XF - again

2007-11-17T23:34:00.000Z

Last week, at the MPH section of the Classic Car Show, I had the chance to sit in the new XF. If there are any doubts at all about the exterior styling, there can be no concerns about the XF's cabin, which is stunning. Like the interiors of older Jags it contains a fair amount of wood, but it's not remotely pipe and slippers.

The big reservation I still have about the XF is not whether it will turn out to be fantastic (I suspect it will be) but whether its market positioning is correct. Mercedes spins the fabulous CLS off the high-volume E-Class; Jaguar has produced a car that's a CLS competitor but without that E-class volume - and therefore cost - advantage to back it up.

Look at the engine options, which only compete with the upper end of the E-class range, or the CLS. What's really needed is a convincing XF version fitted with the 2.2 litre diesel from the Freelander 2 to go up against the 520d and E220 CDI.

2007 Classic Car Show at the NEC

2007-11-11T17:14:00.000Z

An absorbing few hours at this year's show. It's been ages since I attended any event at the NEC. I think the last thing I went to there was the last of the Birmingham motor shows before the shift back to London. Then, the NEC was very old and tired but now it seems to have had some sort of makeover - I have to say, I was quite impressed.

Hundreds of cars and a similar number of photos - hope to come back to some of those later. I'll just mention two highlights for now: the first was seeing the expensive sister model of the 1977 Capri II I've had on test lately, the 3.0 Ghia. As well as having a lot of extra kit and a motor that actually fills the engine bay, it had the one thing the 1.6L lacks that I couldn't really do without - head restraints, in this case built into the seat backs.

The other was an intriguing story about the return to production of a car that has always interested me and which I narrowly missed the chance to drive when it was still a current model. A possible for the Verdict, or maybe a feature, I think. As always with such shows, the entrance fee was worth it for the work ideas and leads generated - quite apart from pleasure of seeing the old cars of course.

What's outside today 30, Blast from the past 11 - 1977 Ford Capri 1.6L

2007-11-09T11:32:00.000Z

A fine example from Ford's own collection.

Apparently it was donated by the proverbial one careful lady owner, and it's done only 25,000 miles from new.

Verdict testing this weekend in - where else - Essex.

From a driving point of view, the Capri really shows its age - especially where the brakes are concerned - but it has a certain charm, nevertheless. This 1977 model just predates the facelift that produced what was widely but unofficially known as the Capri Mk III, the one that featured so heavily in The Professionals.

Lord Drayson goes racing in the USA

2007-11-08T17:55:00.000Z

Lord (Paul) Drayson's departure from the government in order to concentrate on motor racing is widely covered in today's newspapers. I spent a fascinating day at Brands Hatch earlier this year interviewing him for an Independent feature about his racing career, which was topped off by a few laps of the circuit passengering Jonny Cocker - Drayson's talented young co-driver - in the peer's bioethanol powered racing Aston.

Some reports have suggested that there may be more to this development than meets the eye, but for me, the reason he gives for this change - that he wants to further his motor racing career while at the same time promoting the use of renewable fuels - rings true. When I interviewed him, he spoke openly about his desire to race internationally with the ultimate ambition of competing at Le Mans with a bioethanol-powered car.

As a motoring enthusiast and a firm believer in the benefits of biofuels, I can only wish him well in his campaign. As a UK taxpayer, I hope that his departure from government - described officially as leave of absence - doesn't turn out to be permanent. Defence procurement and supply, the area for which Lord Drayson was responsible, is a notoriously difficult part of the MoD, and with his strong business and engineering background, he seemed to be one of the few recent holders of the defence procurement post who was up to the epic financial and technical challenges involved.

One area in which he expressed a particular interest when I spoke to him was the possibility that the defence industry, with its very long lead times, might learn from Britain's successful motor racing sector, which innovates very rapidly and routinely incorporates these innovations almost immediately into its products. About a month ago, it was reported that the first meeting of UK motor racing firms and defence contractors had taken place - it will be interesting to see whether this initiative now continues and bears fruit.

Incidentally, the defence procurement job seems to attract motoring enthusiasts. The late Alan Clarke (of diaries fame) was one - Lord Drayson was another. I've got no idea whether the new minister, Ann Taylor, is a closet petrolhead, though.

Wheelwobble Wallflowers 3 - Fiat Croma 2

2007-11-06T22:18:00.000Z

Snapped this one when I was in Italy a month or two back. You hardly ever see them in the UK and they're fairly thin on the ground in Fiat's home market, too.

Once again, an example of a car that's perfectly adequate but which, because it doesn't have a fancy badge, is completely ignored by most buyers. Actually what's under the skin is pretty good - the GM Epsilon platform that's shared with cars such as the Saab 93 - and the semi-MPV body is roomy and practical too. The only drawbacks I recall from our Verdict test of the Croma were the surfeit of light grey plastic in the cabin and the rather bland styling. I have to confess to rather liking it once I'd put in a few hundred miles behind the wheel.

The Croma was removed from the UK price lists earlier this year, although I think officially it's still available to special order.

Fifty years of Trabants

2007-11-06T11:09:00.000Z

Tomorrow is the fiftieth birthday of the former German Democratic Republic's most famous automotive product, the Trabant. This gives us a useful reminder that while capitalism isn't perfect, it at least provides us with an enormous choice of excellent cars at reasonable prices. Imagine being a car enthusiast in the GDR and having to wait years - or even decades - for the privilege of handing over your life savings for a piece of crap like the Trabant.

That said, it should also be borne in mind that the makers and designers of cars in the old planned economies of Eastern Europe operated under severe constraints. Access to certain materials and mainstream western parts suppliers was limited, while funding was restricted to what could be squeezed from the latest five or seven year plan in a system that emphasised the collective and communal over the sort of individual aspiration and ambition represented by car ownership. I still think that the Skoda Favorit, for example, which appeared in the then Czechoslovakia in 1987, and in western markets from 1989, was a remarkable achievement, given that it was close to being competitive with western cars of the time, despite being developed under these limitations. Certainly, it was good enough to get Volkswagen interested in the company, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Of course, what made the Trabant famous wasn't its qualities as a car but its starring role in the film footage of the night the Berlin Wall came down - celebrated in this commemorative model, which I am sad to say, still sits on my mantelpiece gathering dust almost twenty years after the event.

Nevertheless, it's a pity that the grotty Trabant got the limelight when there were so many more interesting GDR vehicles - nothing you'd actually want to to have owned at the time, of course, but more interesting nevertheless. The Wartburg 353 for example, wasn't too bad when it was introduced in the mid-sixties, although it was hobbled by its two-stroke engine. The Barkas van occupied the same popular role in the GDR as the Ford Transit in the UK or the VW 'Bulli' van in West Germany, while East German trucks such as the IFA W50 and the smaller Robur were widely used not only in the domestic 'market' but in the Third World as well. The only East German brand that wasn't absorbed or closed after the Berlin Wall came down was Multicar, a manufacturer of very small vehicles for municipal use such as street sweeping. Anyway, more on some of this interesting stuff another time.

What's outside today 29 - Honda CR-V

2007-11-04T07:27:00.000Z

This is broadly comparable with the Chevrolet Captiva and the Land Rover Freelander 2 which have featured on the Verdict over the last few months.

The Freelander represents a particularly interesting comparison. The first Freelander and the first CR-V had fairly similar styling, which was hardly surprising given that Honda and Rover would still have been close partners during the early part of the two cars' development, although AFAIK they never actually shared any parts.

Honda has just launched the third generation of CR-V - the car tested here - while the Freelander is just into its second model generation, which gives you some idea of the funds available to the two manufacturers for new development.

The two cars are now very different in appearance; Land Rover has very successfully kept the best elements of the first Freelander's styling while at the same time linking its smallest 4x4 more directly in visual terms to its more expensive models such as the Range Rover. Honda's car looks good but a bit anonymous given that it doesn't have sixty years of 4x4 design heritage to tap and therefore has to do its own thing. The Freelander's interior is a lot classier as well, in my opinion.

The CR-V is very car-like to drive - there's very little roll on corners for example - although I'm not especially keen on the steering. Diesels work best in something like this, and Honda's petrol engines, which tend to be revvy with a strong top end would normally be the exact opposite of what you'd want, but the petrol unit in our test car worked reasonably well.

Definitions 5 - launch paunch

2007-10-31T21:57:00.000Z

If you ever meet a tubby motoring writer, what you see is not an example of beer belly but of launch paunch, the thickening of the waist produced by the excellent hospitality provided by motor manufacturers when introducing their new models.

More Volvo safety stuff

2007-10-31T06:24:00.000Z

Just about to embark on a second day of finding out about some of Volvo's new safety technology.

Yesterday was all about Volvo's emerging active safety applications - stuff that helps you to avoid an accident or minimise your speed on impact, rather than protecting you once you are in one.

This included hands-on demonstrations of systems that either warn you about conditions - for example the presence or behaviour or other road users - that may cause an accident, or intervene in order to take over the braking or even steering of the car in such a way that an accident is avoided or takes place at a lower speed. Much of this involved deliberately driving cars at large obstacles and relying on Volvo's technology to avoid a collision. It's actually quite difficult to do this without instinctively braking or steering away, rather than letting the car do the work, even when pedestrians are represented by dummies and other cars by huge inflatables - hitting those is enormous fun, by the way. I'm sure there's a market for some sort of car-based game that uses those.

Lessons from a life on the road 2 - subscribe to 3's Mobile Broadband service

2007-10-30T18:26:00.001Z

For anyone who spends a lot of time on the road and can't afford to be offline for long periods, 3's near-flatrate mobile broadband service is spectacularly good value for money - GBP15 per month for 3GB gives a connection over 3's UK mobile network that is as fast as most domestic broadband services, especially if you are in an area where 3 has upgraded its UMTS network to HSDPA.

But here's the really good bit - the service can be used for no extra charge in other countries where 3 has a network, such as Sweden, Denmark and Italy, avoiding those exorbitant roaming charges that always provide such a bitter after-taste to an enjoyable trip abroad when they turn up on your bill.

Volvo Cars Safety Seminar

2007-10-29T22:31:00.000Z

A night at Heathrow before nipping over to Sweden tomorrow for Volvo Cars' Safety Seminar. Back in the seventies and eighties, if there was a single manufacturer whose name was synonymous with safety, it was Volvo. That link seems to have faded a bit since then; Mercedes, if anything a more important safety pioneer than Volvo, has probably been less shy than it was about its role in important advances, while, more recently, manufacturers such as Renault have established their own safety credentials through their success with the modern NCAP crash tests.

Perhaps Volvo wasn't too sad to lose some of its prominence in the area of passive safety as this was probably also associated in buyers' minds with less positive attributes such as tank-like styling and stodgy handling.

Now that Volvo may be on the block - I know no more than has appeared in the papers on this subject - perhaps it wants to put some of its expertise in this area in the window in order to increase its attractiveness to potential buyers.

Blast from the past 10 - Mercedes 280SE Cabriolet (1968-71)

2007-10-28T22:30:00.000Z

Afternoon tea at Petersham Nurseries cafe in Richmond today - a haven of tranquility in busy London.

This - a favourite model of mine - was in the car park. Nice to see that this car seemed like it was in daily use rather than being pampered and locked away - the Mercedes star was missing from the top of the radiator grille and the front bumper had a ding too. Unfortunately this one has also picked up those chrome trims on the wheelarches that some people fit to older Mercs. Not so keen on these myself.

Still great to see, though.

What's outside today 28 - Mercedes A150

2007-10-27T21:05:00.000+01:00

Testing with readers in and around London this weekend.

What's interesting about this car is that, give or take a couple of options, it is the cheapest new Mercedes you can buy - prices start below £14K. What I'm trying to work out with our reader-testers' help is whether this is cheap for a Mercedes or expensive for a smallish hatchback.

Haven't reached a conclusion on that question yet, but in general this is a likeable car; small petrol engines are very much out of vogue at the moment, but the one in this car is surprisingly smooth and lively Plenty of interior space, too, and a tasteful all-black interior. Doesn't feel quite as solid as Mercs of old, though.

Lots of BMW stuff

2007-10-26T23:33:00.000+01:00

Just back from Wiltshire, where I had the chance to try a lot of new BMW model variants. On the face of it what was on show was a range of mid-life updates to the X3, 6 series coupe and 5 series saloon, as well as the new coupe version of the 1 series. Some of this stuff was nevertheless very impressive.

First, the 1 series coupe; I tried two versions of this. The first was the 123d, which despite its name has a 2.0 litre, rather than 2.3 litre diesel engine. It's not just any old 2.0 litre diesel engine though - with 204 horsepower, it's actually the most powerful production 2.0 litre diesel in the world, and, as one of the men from BMW pointed out, provides a specific output of over 100 horsepower per litre, which is the sort of thing you'd traditionally expect from one of the BMW M cars. I also tried the 3.5 litre petrol version of the 1, which was very quick indeed and good value at about £26,000, considering how much performance it provides.

From the most powerful 2.0 litre diesel engine in the world to the most powerful 3.0 litre diesel you can buy, fitted to the misleadingly titled 635d. Wonderful, that's all I can say.

But my personal favourite was the superficially less exciting 520d - this has had its power boosted to 177 horsepower, and when it is equipped with an automatic transmission, as in the case of the one I tried, it is extremely refined. The only drawback of this car from BMW's point of view must surely be that anyone who tries it just won't see the point in buying one of the more expensive models in the range. The same engine does a similarly effective job of powering the X3, which seems to have a much classier interior than it used to.

As well as their impressive on-road performance, these cars all turn in some of the best official fuel consumption and CO2 emissions figures around.

UK car production on the up

2007-10-24T22:27:00.000+01:00

According to the SMMT, UK vehicle production was up 2.1% at the end of September on a year-to-date basis, at 1.29 million.

This means full year production is likely to be not far off the highs achieved in the early Seventies and then again in the first few years of this decade. Thats a remarkable achievement considering that the last few years have seen the closure of Peugeot's plant at Ryton, Vauxhall's Luton works, and the final car assembly end of Ford's Dagenham operation - not to mention the demise of MG Rover.

It is a little remarked upon fact that Britain has lost almost an entire car industry in the last twenty or so years but gained almost an entire new one as well. The old 'Big Four' volume manufacturers - Leyland, Ford, Chrysler/Rootes and Vauxhall, have with the exception of Vauxhall largely disappeared in terms of UK production. What we have in their place are new Japanese plants run by Honda, Toyota and Nissan, as well as revived, previously niche-bound but now massively expanded prestige operations such as Bentley, Aston, Rolls, Land Rover and MINI - only Jaguar isn't really living up to its potential, and even that may change once the new XF hits the market.

One by-product of this shift is that not only is the industry almost as big as it's ever been, but the average value of the cars being made is probably a lot higher. Notwithstanding the possible rationalisation of Land Rover's and Jaguar's production facilities after Ford has sold these off, I think we will now hold on to most of what is left of the British industry.

Great spots 10 - '57' reg MG TF

2007-10-23T23:16:00.000+01:00

Driving south from central Birmingham to the M42 earlier this evening, I spotted a bright yellow MG TF with a '57' registration plate. I know there were quite a few unsold MGs and Rovers that were registered well after MG Rover went down, but my guess is that this car was something to do with the planned relaunch of small scale Longbridge production of the TF. I noticed that the TF badge was centrally located on the rear panel, which I don't think was the case with the pre-2005 examples, but apart from that, this car looked pretty much standard.

Personally, I've always thought the TF looks pretty good, especially the frontal styling, which I think gives the car a much better face than the original F's round headlamps. It's worth remembering that while the F was introduced over ten years ago, the TF update was a much heavier revamp than it appeared - for example, the main side panels are a single piece item, and the TF achieved good crash test ratings, especially for pedestrian safety. I think from the point of view of looks and the basic layout and mechanicals, the car has aged very well - it's the interior that needs most work if any relaunched TF is going to be a success.

What's outside today 27 - Kia Kee show car

2007-10-20T00:58:00.000+01:00

Frankfurt am Main, 18.10.07. Outside Kia's impressive new European headquarters - in fact on a quiet piece of road at the exhibition complex that hosts the Frankfurt motor show.

A bit of a lull in the Verdict testing programme this week, but I was kept busy carwise on Thursday with the opportunity to nip over to Germany to drive Kia's Kee design study. The chance to get behind the wheel of manufacturers' show cars, prototypes or design studies is a rare privilege. Normally, car-makers are extremely nervous about letting journalists anywhere near a car that isn't the finished product, so it was interesting not only to be able to sample the Kee but also get a long chat with its designer Peter Schreyer, formerly of Audi.

The picture shows the car being loaded onto its transporter after a few days of being sampled by UK motoring journalists, a process which it survived in one piece - presumably much to the relief the people at Kia, who were about to ship it straight out to the LA motor show, where I'm sure it will appeal to the Americans.

Herr Schreyer was very generous with his time when explaining his work to us - I hope my forthcoming piece for the Indy will do this interesting story justice.

More detail on Karmann's difficulties

2007-10-09T18:11:00.000+01:00

The online edition of Financial Times Deutschland carries more information on the problems at Karmann. Apparently, Karmann's boss, Peter Harbig, has given an interview to one of Germany's leading car mags, Auto, Motor und Sport, in which he disclosed that in the worst case, an additional 600 and 700 jobs over and above the 1800 or so that have already been reported could be at risk.

Specifically, the Rheine works will need to close in autumn 2008 when production of the A4 Cabriolet ends. At Osnabrück, the company desperately needs a follow-on contract for the Mercedes CLK convertible by July next year.

What's outside today 26 - Virgin Pendolino

2007-10-07T23:48:00.000+01:00

My dirty little secret - I may be a motoring journalist but I also enjoy a nice long train journey. I'm on an off-duty visit to Manchester at the moment and I decided to let the train take the strain - here it can be seen this afternoon at journey's end at Piccadilly station. A very good job it did too.

A special thank you, too, by the way, to the bearded one for providing so many laptop power points on his new rolling stock.

Today's trip reminded me of another journey I took on the West Coast Main Line way back in 1984. A student friend of mine who was a bit of a train-spotter tipped me off that the British designed and built tilting train, the APT (Advanced Passenger Train) was running as an unadvertised relief train on services between London and Glasgow. With his help, I was able to make sure I got a ticket for the APT, which I remember as a great performer - I experienced none of that stuff about spilt coffees and queasy stomachs that filled the British press at the time and finished the APT off. I think I read somewhere that the queasiness was caused by the amount that various hacks had to drink on the demonstration trips rather than the characteristics of the train itself, although I don't know how much truth there was in that.

Anyway, apparently, our British tilting train technology ended up in Italy where it was incorporated in the Pendolino line on which Virgin's trains serving the Northwest are based, so it made it onto the WCML in the end.

Karmann in trouble

2007-10-07T19:55:00.000+01:00

An interesting story that's been bubbling away over the last week in the German press but hasn't really featured much in English language publications. Karmann, the German coach-builder, has run into a very sticky patch indeed. The company says it needs to cut about 1800 of its 7000 jobs, including about 870 of the 4000 positions at its main Osnabrück site in North-Rhine Westphalia.

So - what's the problem? Well, let's go back to that description coach-builder; that's how Karmann is normally classified but in truth it is something rather more impressive. Like Magna-Steyr in Austria and Valmet Automotive in Finland it is really a contract manufacturer capable of manufacturing complete cars from the ground up - it's just that it does this for other car companies rather than selling those cars under its own name.

Over the years, Karmann has worked with a wide range of automotive groups but its relationship with Volkswagen has always been central to its business. Convertible Beetles were churned out in Osnabrück for decades, and of course, there were the two families of Karmann Ghia coupes in the sixties (not many people realise that there were two distinct model families, but that is an interesting story for another time). More recently, Corrados and Golf convertibles have been built in large numbers too.

Anyway, Karmann says its existing contracts for delivering fully built-up cars will come to an end in late 2008. One problem, according to the German media, is that Volkswagen isn't putting business Karmann's way, a decision that is being put down to Porsche's growing influence at VW; apparently there is bad blood between Karmnn and Porsche that dates back to a legal dispute in the nineties in which Karmann claimed that Porsche was copying its ideas. A further report suggests VW is actually interested in buying Karmann.

I'm not sure where all this will end but the automotive world would be a poorer place without the cars from Osnabrück, so let's hope some better news turns up soon.

What's outside today 25 - Ford C-Max Flexifuel

2007-10-01T09:11:00.000+01:00

Outside my parents' place in Gloucestershire, that is - Morrisons is slowly expanding its network of forecourts that provide bioethanol-based E85 but any test of an E85-capable car still means heading for East Anglia or the West Country where the main clusters of pumps are to be found.

Same story as before - the fuel is slightly cheaper than unleaded but not by enough to offset the typical mpg penalty suffered when running on E85 (variously estimated at up to 30%). More movement is needed on the tax front before E85 can really take off - but if the fuel pricing can be got right, the E85 thing is a great concept. Unlike, say, LPG, E85 doesn't require a separate tank; cars like the C-Max FFV can run on any mixture of petrol and bioethanol in a single tank. And Ford doesn't charge a premium for FFV models, so you can buy one and just wait for the price of E85 to come down. If it doesn't, you can just run on unleaded without any drawbacks.

BTW renewable fuels have come in for a bit of criticism over the last year or so. It's important to bear in mind that bioethanol has nothing to do with the recent fuss about palm oil, which is an issue connected with bio-diesel. I'm still convinced renewables are an important part of our motoring future - if we're to have one at all - as long as sustainable and efficient methods of production can be enforced, either legally or by pressure from well-informed consumers asking lots of questions.

What's outside today 24 - Binz E220CDI Limousine

2007-09-30T22:44:00.000+01:00

29th September 2007, outside the headquarters of Binz UK. Yes, that's right, Binz, not Benz.

Now don't go thinking that this fine car (GBP80K plus) has anything to do with those ghastly cut-and-shut American stretch limos. Binz is a German coach builder and Mercedes fully approve these vehicles which are built this way from the start, often with heavier duty parts than the original. Unlike most conversions, this car comes with a full Certificate of Conformity, a full DaimlerChrysler guarantee and even the more unusual parts can be ordered through the main Mercedes system. All vehicle systems such as ABS are preserved and the limo is crash-tested.

Our test car was fitted with the same E220CDI engine found in the standard E Class that we featured on the Verdict a few weeks ago; it was more than capable of hauling around the longer, heavier Binz model. The increased length is scarcely noticeable, even on tight roundabouts.

I've been keen to get this car onto the Verdict since trying it at the SMMT test day a few months ago, and it didn't disappoint.

Brits and their shiny new cars

2007-09-28T11:43:00.000+01:00

The British have a somewhat ambivalent attitude towards cars. Nobody gets very upset when UK car factories close, taking proud names with them, and, over the years, we've had enormous difficulty sustaining even a small to medium-sized national motor show.

But we buy more cars in relation to our population than just about anyone else in Europe. A few years ago, I produced a quick piece of analysis for the Independent that showed that Britain bought more cars per head than any other European country apart from Luxembourg and, if I remember correctly, Belgium, which just shaded us for second place. But the UK was significantly ahead of car-mad Germany, for example, an indication of how prosperous Britain has become since the seventies, when we were the EU's poor relations. I mentioned this last finding to one of the industry's foremost analysts and so at odds was it with his picture of the sector that he simply refused to believe it. But I checked my numbers and they were correct.

I haven't done the figures but I think Germany nosed ahead of the UK again last year in terms of car sales per head of population, but that was probably a one-off brought about by a mini-boom in German car sales ahead of a VAT increase that came in at the end of 2006. Yesterday, the Financial Times Deutschland was reporting that German car sales have gone off the boil again this year but also mentioned some other interesting facts. The average age of the cars on German roads is 8.1 years - only Portugal, Greece and Finland have older cars - compared with 7.1 years in the UK.

The Germans like their sausages but these days, it seems, bangers are what they drive, rather than what they eat.

Gadget update

2007-09-26T00:34:00.000+01:00

Lately for most of my travels I've been using the Garmin nüvi 310, mainly because I was able to get hold of this with full European mapping at not too bad a price. This has generally performed very well, although it has delivered a few 'prat nav' moments, sending me on slightly off-beat routes; I think like most sat navs I've used, it is a bit biased towards recommending the shortest, rather than the fastest or most sensible routings, even when set to 'fastest' rather than 'shortest'.

I also had a chance to look at Medion's latest stuff last week - although this has traditionally been a budget supermarket brand for consumer electronics, there seems to be a determined effort to push the latest stuff up-market, so there are lots of piano black high-gloss casings. Hope to get my hands on some of their latest stuff for testing, so hopefully will be able to let you know whether Medion's latest gadgets are as polished in terms of performance as their flashy appearance suggests.

What's outside today 23 - Seat Altea 2.0TDI DSG

2007-09-24T23:57:00.000+01:00

Outside my brother's place in South London, which I am using as a base for this week's Verdict test with southern readers.

By far the most impressive thing about this car is the combination of VW's 2.0 litre TDI engine - a lot less rowdy than the 1.9 - and the DSG gearbox.

I'm a bit less convinced by the Altea's styling - the best looking of Seat's current mid-range models is the Leon, the least attractive is its mid-sized MPV, the Toledo, with its dumpy rear. These two cars and the Altea all have similar frontal styling, and the Altea lies between the Leon and Toledo both in terms of size and attractiveness. Very roomy and practical, though

High speed running in Germany

2007-09-21T23:46:00.000+01:00

I've just been fiddling with my sat-nav after using it extensively on my recent trip through Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.

I noticed that it has recorded a maximum speed for the trip of 129mph, which I reached (legally and safely) in a brief burst on a completely clear stretch of the A5 between Basel and Frankfurt. The Alfa 159 (2.2 litre four cylinder petrol version) I was driving at the time felt like it had more to give, but I would have required a much longer piece of empty road to max it safely.

But don't go thinking that the Autobahns are a high-speed paradise. Long stretches of the A5 have a 120 km/h limit, have only two lanes in each direction, or are clogged with traffic - that means average journey times probably aren't much better than they would be in the UK.

Road tips 9 - Swiss motorway A2 and Gotthard Tunnel

2007-09-18T21:35:00.000+01:00

Came this way today heading north from Italy to the Frankfurt motor show. The A2 is interesting in its own right - a very large percentage of it runs in tunnels or over high Alpine bridges, but the centre-piece is the single-bore, single carriageway Gotthard Tunnel, which runs for over ten miles.

Driving such a long distance in a tunnel can be a bit disorientating. It makes you wonder whether a road tunnel under the Channel would ever have been a practical proposition - from the driving point of view, that is, quite apart from the technical and financial obstacles.

Opinion has apparently turned against completing the originally planned second bore; the Swiss resent their country being used just as a transit route between Germany and points south. This brings pollution but few economic benefits, despite the 'Vignette' flat-rate toll system imposed on visitors.

On Friday, I also did the Arlberg tunnel in Austria on the S16; that's almost as long as the Gotthard (14km as opposed to 16.4km) but less well known.

Why recommend the A2 and the Gotthard Tunnel? Well the engineering is deeply impressive, so they are worth seeing for that reason alone. They also save a lot of time compared with going over the Gotthard pass, although that could be an interesting experience in itself. Haven't been that way recently enough to comment.

What's outside today 22 - Opel Vivaro

2007-09-18T06:11:00.000+01:00

16.09.07 Casal dei Fichi, Francavilla d'Ete, Marche, Italy. Had a go on this while helping out with transporting people around at my pal Bruce's wedding. It can carry an awful lot of people and their stuff and it's fine to drive, although I noticed that it has a big gap between first and second gears.

Anyway that's enough on the Opel Vivaro - more on the wonderful Casal dei Fichi another time.

Great spots 9 - Porsche Panamera prototype/development car

2007-09-15T08:03:00.000+01:00

Undergoing testing on the Stelvio pass - Porsche's forthcoming four-door saloon/coupe. The silhouette of the car appeared to be the real thing, but there were various bits of superficial disguise that were apparently designed to divert attention from the true window and shut lines, although these could, for the most part, still be made out. No photo, I'm afraid - just couldn't get my camera out in time. The Panamera was coming the other way and was gone in a flash, if you'll forgive the pun. Anyway, have a Google and you'll find that there are plenty of surreptitious pix of this thing out there already. I'm not sure it looked quite as nice as the Mercedes CLS or the photos I've seen of the Aston Martin Rapide - my impression was of something that was slightly dumpy at the rear, although that could have been a trick induced by the light disguise.

My guess would be that Porsche wasn't exploring or tuning the car's outright handling capabilities on the Stelvio because you can't really get up enough speed for that sort of thing on large sections of the pass. So it was probably stuff like brakes, transmission and cooling system that were being put to the test here - and how.

I also saw a Vectra on the pass that seemed to have one or two small pieces of superficial disguise at the front or rear and a deep, rumbly engine note - not sure what that was but again, it could have been a manufacturer's car undergoing testing of some minor mods, or something more exciting hiding under a plainish skin.

Road tips 8 - Ss38 Stelvio pass

2007-09-14T17:40:00.000+01:00

About fifteen years ago, I discovered Hugh Merrick's The Great Motor Highways of the Alps, which was first published in 1958, in a second-hand book shop in Charing Cross Road. As its title suggests, this is a guide aimed at British motorists of the day who were interested in exploring the main Alpine passes.

It's a fascinating book, not just for the information it contains about the passes themselves, but also for the now hopelessly quaint and antiquated advice it dispenses for drivers of British cars that weren't really designed with high-speed cruising and mountain driving in mind. Bear in mind, for example, that most British drivers in those days wouldn't have seen a motorway in their lives, so they needed to have the basics of Autobahn driving explained to them from scratch.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I was always very taken with Merrick's write-up on the Stelvio. This is not quite the highest pass over the Alps, but it's famous for features such as its challenging hairpins, and for that reason is often considered to be 'the big one'. Every year since I found Merrick's book I've promised myself I'll take a crack at the Stelvio during the few months it's open each year but other stuff - usually work - has intervened. This year, a trip to a wedding in Italy finally provided me with the excuse I needed and yesterday was the big day.

Of course, in the last minute rush, I forgot to pack the book so I did this the twenty-first century way - I just punched the destination 'Stelvio Ss38' into my portable sat-nav and set off from my starting point, Friedrichshafen airport down on Lake Konstanz.

Anyway, one result of relying on the sat-nav to get me there was that I ended up traversing the Stelvio from the northern/eastern end, which I think is called the Prato side.

This seems to be by far the tougher option as it involves ascending, rather, than descending, the famous sequence of 48 tightly packed hairpins near the top on that side.

The right-handers on this section are deadly. They need to be negotiated very carefully, often in first gear and on full lock, taking you onto the other side of the road under conditions in which you are almost blind to approaching cars coming downhill. The only way to look out for this oncoming traffic is to crane your neck up and to the right and look for it out of the very uppermost portion of the right-hand rear side window of your car as you approach the bend. There also seems to be the risk of grounding either your car's front end or nearside sill, although the long-nosed Alfa I was driving escaped without any such scrapes. If there's a knack to tackling these nasty right-handers, I didn't discover it.

If I'm honest, at least the way I did it, the Stelvio probably wasn't quite the great driving experience I'd been imagining it would be all those years. It was just a bit too extreme for that with all that first gear work - and there were too many nutty cyclists and bikers around to make for a relaxing drive, even on a quiet day. Generally, the hairpin bends on the southern/western (Bormio) side aren't anything like so tightly radiused - I think it would be much more fun to blast up this side fairly quickly and then descend the tight hairpins on the northern side facing the great views on that slope, which include several glaciers.

That said, the scenery was far more impressive than I'd imagined, and at the end of a long day's driving there was a real sense of achievement at making it across.

I'd certainly recommend the Stelvio but it really isn't for the faint-hearted, not least because of the almost unimaginably deep sheer drops that can occasionally be glimpsed through the sometimes incomplete safety fencing. Tackling the Stelvio also commits you to long drives on fairly demanding roads either side to get in and out as well, especially at the Italian end, so you probably need to allow a full day for this, all things considered. Also, if you set off and decide part of the way through that you've bitten off more than you can chew and want to turn back, that may involve a challenging drive too.

And please don't tackle this unless your car is in good condition. I can't imagine how Merrick's readers in their miserable fifties British motors, complete with drum brakes and hopelessly puny engine braking, ever made it through.

What's outside today 21 - German Hertz hire car Alfa 159 SW

2007-09-14T09:11:00.000+01:00

Outside the Holiday Inn Padova that is. En route to a pal's wedding further south at the weekend. The booking was for a Mercedes C Class 'or similar' and 'or similar' turned out to be the Alfa Romeo 159 SW - no complaints about that all.

In fact, if they'd given me a Merc I'd have been stuck as the German end of Hertz doesn't allow its hire cars from German prestige brands to be taken to Italy or eastern Europe (presumably because there's too high a risk that they will be nicked), a fact that I didn't discover until I started reading the boring hire documentation on a coffee stop in Italy because I didn't have a newspaper or an Internet connection to hand. Alfas are OK though.

I hadn't driven the 159 before but I was impressed by its performance on a long demanding day of driving across the Alps yesterday - but more of that later.

What's outside today 20 - Smart For Two Passion

2007-09-11T18:53:00.000+01:00

This is the Smart For Two Passion which we have been using for the Verdict test.

This thing really impressed me. If you accept the limitation that it's a strict two-seater, there are virtually no compromises. The passenger cabin is actually pretty spacious and there's even a fairly useful amount of luggage space (over 200 litres - which is enough for, say, two bags/cases that use the full airline carry-on baggage dimensions). The 1 litre engine is easily powerful enough to keep up with other traffic, even on the motorway, and the For Two stays very well planted for something that looks a bit topply.

Our test car had an automated manual gearbox - this one seemed to change gear a bit more quickly than those on some previous models, where this arrangement came in for a bit of criticism, but still seems to suffer a slight delay. The cheapest models don't have the 'automatic' function but still do without a clutch pedal; you change gear either by nudging the gear-stick forwards (to change up) or backwards (to change down), or use the steering-wheel-mounted paddles that are provided. Overall, a cracking effort.

What's outside today 19 - a load of Smarts

2007-09-08T14:50:00.000+01:00

Actually, this was yesterday, rather than today, and this is the scene outside the Hotel du Vin in Bristol, the location of the launch for the Smart For Two, rather than my usual gaff.

This one is the slightly hairy Brabus version - there were two LHD examples to try.

I was able to take away what is expected to be the big seller in the range - a Passion - for the Verdict test and completed most of the testing with our readers down in Devon and Somerset yesterday. To be honest, I'm not too keen on the Brabus, which I think is a bit pointless, but the basic car is excellent; it's extremely roomy for two people and although this new version represents a consolidation of the Smart concept rather than a big leap forward, it still contains an awful lot of clever thinking.

Great spots 8 - 'Porsche Design' sat nav at the IFA trade show in Berlin today

2007-09-04T20:00:00.000+01:00

A quick snatched post at Schoenefeld airport on the way back from a brief visit to Berlin to take in the IFA broadcasting and consumer electronics trade fair. Excellent show, but extremely difficult to navigate given the mind-boggling complexity of Berlin's exhibition complex.

Not all of it was automotive stuff but today I came across Porsche Design's sat nav. I think it's from the branch of the family that designs sunglasses rather than sports cars but a highly stylish item nevertheless. No doubt it will command a hefty premium but I doubt it'll do a better job of getting you to where you want to go than the stuff that's already out there from Garmin and the rest.

What's outside today 18 - Mercedes-Benz E220CDI

2007-09-03T23:18:00.000+01:00

Just back from a long Verdict trip to Scotland during which this mile-munching Merc scarcely broke sweat.

It's scarcely possible to believe that this is the slowest and cheapest of the three E Class diesels - in most UK conditions, the E220CDI has more than enough go.

Anyway, two reasons for testing the E220CDI - first, it had a lot of detail improvements aimed at boosting quality last year, and second, it's going to provide a useful baseline comparison for another Verdict which I'm expecting to be one of our more interesting tests - that's not finalised yet, so more detail later.

Autocar's excellent Jaguar coverage this week

2007-08-30T00:34:00.000+01:00

Lots of coverage of the new XF in this week's Autocar, which is well worth checking out. All very encouraging, especially some of the photography which provides a bit more confidence that this car will be a hit. Also, there are the usual updates from the apparently well-informed Julian Rendell on the latest developments in the bidding for Land Rover and Jaguar, which Ford is in the process of selling at the moment.

However, there was also an interesting letter in the mag from a reader touching on the subject I raised here a day or two back in connection with the XF and S-Type - Jaguar's failure to exploit the full range of power units that are available to it in order to provide what would appear to be attractive car/engine combinations. In this case, the reader's letter focused on the X-Type and asked why the company doesn't offer this model with the 2.7 litre diesel V6 in combination with the four-wheel drive transmission fitted to the 2.5 litre and 3.0 litre petrol-powered X-Types.

I've often wondered myself why no diesel/4WD combination is offered because especially in estate form, this would be a great car to sell in Bavaria, Northern Italy, Southern France, Austria and Switzerland to people who want something a bit different and like to go skiing at the weekends. If the 2.7 litre V6 doesn't fit, why not try the existing 2.2 litre diesel already fitted to the X-Type in combination with the 4WD transmission? As I was able to establish in the relevant Verdict tests, this engine is a convincing performer in the existing 2WD X-Type and also in the new 4WD Freelander, so I'm sure a 4WD 2.2 litre diesel X-Type wouldn't feel underpowered. Perhaps there's more to this than meets the eye, but surely this is something that could be addressed at minimal expense just by assembling various bits that already go into the car in different combinations?

Euro NCAP ratings for the Fiat 500, Renault Twingo, Kia Cee'd and Peugeot 308

2007-08-29T21:28:00.000+01:00

The Euro NCAP results have just been published for these four cars. When these ratings were first introduced, it was quite common for even fairly grand models from manufacturers with a good safety reputation to achieve only two or three stars out of five on the main Adult Occupant Protection score.

Over the years, it has sometimes been argued that the tests don't capture the complicated sorts of challenges presented by real-world accidents and that manufacturers may be designing their cars to get good test results rather than for ultimate safety. But I suspect these grumbles are overdone and that the tests have played an important role in driving up standards.

Now, a five-star result for Adult Occupant Protection has become almost essential in market terms, so when a mainstream model gets only four stars, that tends to attract a bit of comment. All of the models listed here get five stars except the Twingo, which gets four. What's remarkable about this is that, of the mass manufacturers, Renault was the one that really appreciated early on how important these ratings could be in building its reputation, and, over the years, it has bagged a whole series of five star scores for its cars.

These days, with the five star rating for adult passengers becoming so common, it's the ratings for the protection of child occupants and pedestrians that really separate cars. None of these four models achieve the maximum five stars for Child Occupant Protection, or four stars for Pedestrian Protection. In fact no Child Occupant Protection score is published for the Twingo at all. Not sure what is going on there.

Oh, and a quick PS - sorry to be so boring by going on about the Kia Cee'd again but the five star rating awarded to this car is yet another piece of evidence that it is right up there with the best comparable models from the european manufacturers.

Jaguar XF - great car but too few choices?

2007-08-28T23:51:00.000+01:00

This is the new XF, the successor to the old S-Type. If the photos and initial reports are anything to go by, this is going to be a great car. Jaguar seems to have finally shaken off its obsession with retro and produced something stunning - dare I say it even looks a bit like a four-door Aston?

But I still have one or two concerns. In the initial line-up, there's no room for the brilliant 3.6 litre V8 diesel that is used to such magnificent effect in the big Land Rovers. In fact, this hasn't made it into any Jaguar model so far. The XF makes do with the admittedly very agreeable 2.7 litre V6 diesel but could do with the extra firepower in order to compete more effectively with the Germans. Come on, Jag, get cracking. This is urgent stuff.

It's lower down the range, though, that I see the biggest problem. Mercedes and BMW sell far more units of the E Class and 5 Series than Jag does of the S-Type. IMHO, that's not because the Jag is inferior but has much more to do with the fact that Jaguar only competes with the top end of the 5 Series and E Class ranges. The lower-end BMW 523i and 520d, and Mercedes E220CDI are convincing products to which the S-Type range had no response, a mistake - for that is what I think it is - repeated with the initial XF line-up. There was a 2.5 litre petrol version of the S-Type for a bit, but this always seemed to be the poor relation of the range.

Really, there are no bad Jags. Rather, I think the problem has always been that the company tends to produce good cars that slightly miss the mark in market terms (too small, say, or too big or too retro) - unlike Land Rover, its sister company, which hits the bull's eye every time. But I'd love Jaguar to prove me wrong with the XF - and I can't wait to get the chance to drive it.

What's outside today 17 - Aston Martin Vantage Roadster

2007-08-28T21:18:00.000+01:00

Or at least it was until this morning.

Yes, it really is as good as it looks!

But I still think the coupe has a very slight edge...

Cars on TV 1 - NDTV's Car and Bike Show

2007-08-20T15:02:00.000+01:00

NDTV is an Indian 24 hour news channel; it's carried on Sky as Channel 513. Every Sunday morning at 10.30 it broadcasts its motoring programme the Car and Bike Show.

This provides a window on a different motoring world altogether. There's none of your knowing Top Gear style irony and cynicism here but a lot of breathless enthusiasm for the latest scooters and budget motors. Interesting to see what's available on the Indian market, too. Last week's show had a review of the Chevrolet Avea (not sure whether that's a small American Chevy or a Korean Daewoo-style effort) which majored on the chrome strip on the bootlid, chrome being quite a big subject that features quite heavily on this programme.

Truly fascinating and well worth a look.

MINI Clubman - how Mini, how British?

2007-08-17T23:00:00.000+01:00

It's hard to believe it but the BMW MINI - or the 'shouty' Mini as I always think of it because of BMW's insistence on spelling the name out in capitals - has been around for about six years and is now in its second generation.

Even today, old bores like me scrutinise BMW's every move for evidence that the company is compromising on the car's Britishness. On the face of it the new Clubman seems to confirm the worst. The single rear side door is optimised for left-hand drive markets, which is to say, it is mounted on the right. That means British rear seat passengers step out into the traffic, not on to the kerb.

Continental and US markets favoured over British buyers? In fairness, I think not. The main reason no rear door can be fitted to the Clubman's left side is that the fuel filler is in the way. And the fuel filler is only on the left hand side because that's the traditional location - the nearside - for the fuel cap on a British RHD car.

Personally, I'd like to have seen BMW be just a little more ambitious with the Clubman, giving it a bit more of a stretch both within the wheelbase and in the tail, i.e. more of an 'estate' shape, in order really to sort the rear legroom and provide some decent luggage space. I think a couple of Italian coachbuilders were offering conversions along these lines. And I'm not too sure I like the - I hope optional - trim that can be seen on some publicity shots, which presumably pays homage to the rear wooden exterior frame on the original. I believe the wood was purely ornamental on the original Mini, compared with the Morris Minor, on which it was structural (I think I've remembered that correctly). But it's still a welcome addition, and I'm sure that like everything else BMW has done with the MINI, it'll be a raging success - and at least the original squared-off Clubman nose hasn't been revived.

What's outside today 16 - Chevrolet Lacetti

2007-08-17T13:19:00.000+01:00

This weekend a panel of Independent readers in Yorkshire will get to be the stars in a reasonably-priced car when they try the Chevrolet Lacetti.

I'm especially interested to see how it performs on the journey north. The Lacetti is one of those cars that have somehow escaped me until now, but I always take a particular interest in what is coming out of Korea, a country that represents one of the bigger motor industry stories at the moment.

Initial impressions are that the interior is just a little on the grey and plasticky side but well equipped and not too bad for the price. Of course, the real proof is in the driving. Another Korean Chevrolet, the Captiva, featured on the Verdict a few weeks ago - that was generally a rather likable machine but could perhaps have done with just a little bit more polish.

Anorak corner 6 - Bentley's individually signed engines

2007-08-13T23:26:00.000+01:00

A bit of under-bonnet detail from the Bentley Azure test. At least on the more expensive models using the most recent versions of the traditional Rolls/Bentley 6 3/4 litre V8 that dates back to the fifties, the company still fits a little plaque bearing the name of the person that put the engine together. The engine on our test car was assembled by P.A. Titley. I'm happy to report that Mr Titley appears to have done a magnificent job (at least I'm assuming it's a Mr Titley rather than a Ms Titley, even in these liberated times) in this case.

Aston Martin fits these little plates as well but recently they have borne the name of the person who carried out the final inspection, presumably because that company's engines are no longer made the old-fashioned way. I don't suppose making people put their name to their work is an absolute guarantee of quality (think of all those corny Verdict test write-ups that have appeared under my by-line) but I'm sure it helps.

UK bioethanol update (2)

2007-08-13T22:15:00.000+01:00

I've now been to most of the Morrisons forecourts offering E85 but today was my first visit to the pumps at Wellingborough in Northamptonshire. This required only a minor detour from the A45 which I often use in combination with the A43 as a handy northeast-southwest cross-country route through the Midlands.

As far as I could tell, there was no outward sign at all that the Wellingborough site was offering E85, although the fuel was available at a full set of pumps - which, unlike those at Norwich the other day, weren't padlocked. As usual, E85 was 2p cheaper than unleaded.

It looks like Morrisons now has 16 sites offering E85. The expansion of the network is proceeding only slowly (I think Morrisons has undertaken to provide E85 pumps at every new forecourt it opens) but significantly, there are now six sites - Wellingborough is one - outside the two original clusters in Somerset and East Anglia. The others are at Cardiff (which we used on the Verdict test of the 95 BioPower estate earlier this year), Swadlincote (Derbyshire), Crowborough (East Sussex), Speke (Merseyside) and Johnstone (Scotland).

UK bioethanol update

2007-08-12T21:27:00.000+01:00

As I mentioned below, when I was out for a spin yesterday in the 93 BioPower, I filled up with E85 at Morrisons in Norwich. Morrisons is still maintaining the 2p per litre differential between E85 and unleaded (E85 is the cheaper) that it set at the launch of the new fuel over a year ago, at least in Norwich.

As I've said before, Morrisons and Saab, as well as Ford and Volvo have done their bit by making the cars and the fuel available but we probably still need the Treasury to give E85 a bigger tax break than it enjoys at the moment for the fuel really to have a chance of taking off (cars deliver far fewer mpg when running on E85).

I was slightly depressed to see that Morrisons had actually had to resort to padlocking the E85 pumps at Norwich, presumably to prevent motorists accidentally filling unsuitable cars with it. I didn't exactly get the impression that they were doing a roaring trade in the stuff, although one of the Morrisons staff told me that quite a lot of police vehicles were now using E85. I knew that Somerset and Avon police were using E85-capable cars but this was the first time I'd heard of Norfolk police adopting them as well. As usual, I got the feeling that the Morrisons staff had been well briefed about E85.

I'm doing this week's Verdict in Somerset/Wiltshire which is where one of the main clusters of Morrisons E85 pumps is, but I notice that the company has now opened its first outlet for the fuel in Scotland - a good excuse to get up there for the Verdict the next time a suitable car comes up.

What's outside today 15 - Saab 93 BioPower

2007-08-12T12:11:00.000+01:00

This is the BioPower version of the Saab 93. That means it can run either on normal unleaded or E85, a mix of 85% bioethanol and 15% unleaded. Externally, it's more or less indistinguishable from the standard model - apart, that is, from the enormous BioPower stickers attached to the sides of this test example.

Yesterday, I took it out on one of my favourite test routes - setting out from Cambridgshire to Norwich on the A11 before heading north to Cromer on the North Norfolk coast and than back home via Cley, Fakenham and Swaffham.

All jolly agreeable, and a route that allowed me to take in a stop-off at a Morrison E85 pump for a quick top-up - the one at the Norwich store, which lies within the shadow of the Carrow Road football ground, in fact.

Got back home in a good mood late in the evening, my head full of moderately warm thoughts towards the comfy, inoffensive if rather bare Saab. Made a cup of tea and casually picked up my copy of the delivery note for the 93 in order to take a closer look at it. What followed was the worst case of what Americans call 'sticker shock' I've had in connection with a Verdict test car since Ford sent us an admittedly very impressive Focus diesel estate about two years ago that had been specced up to the eyeballs for an on the road price of about 25 grand. The Saab - which I should, in fairness, mention is the priciest Vector Sport variant fitted with a few options like metallic paint - comes out at a scarcely believable GBP28,000.

I've always had a soft spot for Saabs and I'm a strong supporter of what the company is doing in promoting E85 with its BioPower models. But that price seems to be hopelessly ambitious to me. Remember that a Skoda Octavia is probably at least as well built as a Saab and, despite being Golf-based, is probably as roomy (in particular where luggage, as opposed to passenger space is concerned) as a 93. But Octavia prices start at about 11 grand; the deeply impressive and very rapid vRS estate version costs about GBP18,500.

Some other yardsticks - Mercedes C Class prices start at GBP23 thousand, BMW 3 Series prices at less than GBP21 thousand. And the Vauxhall Vectra estate starts at less than GBP16K - that's relevant because, as General Motors products, the 93 and the Vectra have quite a lot in common under the skin.

What's outside today 14 - Bentley Azure

2007-08-11T09:56:00.000+01:00

This just went back to Bentley about an hour ago. I think it's the most expensive car we've had on the Verdict, with the possible exception of the Maybach that featured a few months ago. How expensive? GBP225,000 - and that's without counting in the value of that number plate which I'm guessing must be worth as much again, recalling as it does the initials of W O Bentley, the original founder of the company.

There's no experience quite like that of driving the Azure - the view out along the long, long bonnet topped with the traditional winged 'B' is simply terrific.

Just like the octagons that appeared everywhere on Austin Rover's reinvented MGs in the 1980s, that Bentley 'B' is ever present in the Arnage. It appears on the wheel centres and on the button on top of the gear selector, for example, and even on the little dust caps on the tyre valves. I was especially relieved that these beautiful and highly covetable items survived until the end of our testing un-nicked.

Blast from the past 9 - Nissan 240Z

2007-08-10T11:11:00.002+01:00

Or, as it was known in the UK, the Datsun 240Z. This was the first of the 'Z' line of coupes and perhaps also the first car from Japan to sell on desirability and performance rather than value for money and dependability. It's quite hard to believe that those sleek clean lines date all the way back to 1968. I snapped this well-kept example on Nissan's stand at this year's rain-soaked Goodwood Festival of Speed - which accounts for the large number of people with umbrellas in the background!

Later generations of Z were flabbier but remained popular (although to a far greater extent in the US than in Europe) because they continued for years to benefit from the rosy glow generated by the great original.

With the latest 350Z (there's a silver one in the background of the 240Z photo), though, Nissan is right back at the top of its game. We've already had the 350Z on the Verdict - where it proved immensely popular with our reader-testers - but I'm just wondering whether the extensive revisions this car has received lately provide enough of an excuse for us to get away with featuring the magnificent 350Z a second time...

Hyundai i30

2007-08-08T09:14:00.000+01:00

I've become a really boring Johnny-One-Note on the subject of the latest Korean cars and the severe competitive threat they represent for some of the more complacent European manufacturers. Give me half a chance and I can bore on for hours about Kia's new Cee'd, its fantastic seven year warranty and the staggeringly impressive Slovakian factory in which it's built.

Today, Autocar gives the Cee'd's sister-under-the-skin, the Hyundai i30, the full test treatment and rates it very highly indeed - I think more and more people are sitting up and taking notice now. Will try to get an i30 booking for the Verdict soon. I'm sure it won't be as popular with the Independent's reader-testers as some of the more exotic stuff we have on the test, but it's a lot more significant in industry terms.

Road tips 7 - Bundesautobahn A555 between Cologne and Bonn

2007-08-06T15:21:00.000+01:00

Today is the 75th anniversary of the opening of the A555, the road that is now generally regarded as the first German Autobahn. It's not the only contender for the title; the older AVUS motor racing and testing circuit in Berlin, now integrated into the Autobahn network, is one - and if my memory serves me correctly, another section between Frankfurt and Darmstadt also has a claim.

In fact, the A555 didn't formally become an Autobahn until 1955 and only got a second carriageway as part of a huge construction project in the mid-sixties. Until then, it had a single carriageway layout providing two lanes in each direction. What marked out the A555 in comparison with earlier roads when it opened in 1932 was that its use was restricted to motor vehicles and its junctions were grade separated.

On this basis, I reckon the claim of the A555 to be the first Autobahn is a fair one. It's worth noting, though, that this isn't just a dry technical matter but a slightly sensitive political question for Germans as well. Classifying the A555 - opened the year before Hitler came to power - as the first Autobahn allows the motorways to be regarded as an invention of democratic Germany, rather than as a product of the Nazi regime. Personally, I think that's probably irrelevant - the big construction push that gave the Autobahn network the basic outline it has today certainly did take place under the Nazis, so I don't think it makes much difference whether the birth of the Autobahns can be traced all the way back to 1932 or only to some politically inconvenient later date. I can't really see that this valuable infrastructure project deserves to be tainted by its links to the 1933-1945 period either way; it would probably have been built anyway - if at a slower pace.

So what's the A555 like today? I lived in Bonn for a number of years in the nineties, so I had the A555 on my doorstep and know it well. Large sections have no speed limit and the long, straight southern stretch nearest to Bonn is of the best pieces of unrestricted road anywhere on the German network. It's also one of the closest decent unrestricted sections of Autobahn to the UK, but please, please don't take that as a recommendation to take your car there for a high-speed blast unless you have a lot - and I mean a lot - of experience at driving at speeds that are much higher than those that are common on British roads. Traffic on unrestricted German Autobahns does move faster than traffic in other countries, but opportunities to go much beyond 100mph safely and responsibly are comparatively rare these days because of the weight of traffic and the condition of some of these roads. Those opportunities are hard to judge if most of your driving has been done in countries with speed limits, however good a driver you might think you are - and the consequences of cocking it up don't bear thinking about.

That apart, you may be asking why the Germans should have all the best roads (sorry if that sounds a bit like the question about the devil and the best tunes - didn't mean it to come out that way). The answer is that I'm not sure that they do. There are about 12,000km of German Autobahn (more than three times the British total of about 3,700km) but the standard of much of the network is surprisingly low. Often there are no hard shoulders and most sections have four (i.e. two in each direction) lanes, rather than six. New Autobahns are still being built according to this comparatively low standard. The age of some Autobahns also means that route alignments, slip-roads and junctions are often poor. Britain has avoided many of these problems - not through skill or foresight but simply because we started building our motorways much later.

One of the most interesting facts published in the German press today in its coverage of the A555's 75th birthday was to be found in the Financial Times Deutschland; only 3,000km of the German network has six lanes, the standard that is almost universal in the UK, so on this measure, the two countries are probably more or less equal. Remember too that much of the UK A road network would be classified as motorway in almost all continental countries - stretches of the A14, A34, A55, A19, A38, A13, A12 and A2, to name some of the most obvious examples, would qualify - and things don't look so bad here.

That said, I'd have to admit that we still don't have anything to match the gloriously long, flat, straight unrestricted southern stretch of the A555 near Bonn. I'd love to have been able to take the CL500 there this week.

What's outside today 13 - Mercedes CL500

2007-08-04T21:47:00.000+01:00

The magnificent ninety grand Mercedes CL500.

What can I say? Looks wonderful, goes like stink and built like an old-school Merc. The black alcantara roof-lining is an especially pleasing touch.

The only little snag so far is that one of the motors in the front passenger seat apparently gave up the ghost for about 24 hours, leaving the seat in an unusable position, although that seems to have corrected itself now. Perhaps I was just pressing the wrong buttons, although I don't think so - if there's no recurrence, I'll give the car the benefit of the doubt.

Cool Wall Fridge Magnets (2)

2007-07-31T23:13:00.000+01:00

Now had a chance to put my Top Gear Cool Wall fridge magnets up.

In my 'Sub-Zero' category, I've got the Aston Martin V8 Roadster, the Alfa Spider, the Alfa 8C, the Skoda Roomster, the Porsche Cayman and the Ford Focus ST.

There are magnets for the presenters as well in the TG set. I'm afraid that while Messrs Clarkson, Hammond and May are all brilliant at what they do, they are all in the 'Uncool' category on my fridge door. That's because they're all white middle-class, middle-aged men who are obsessed with cars - there's no way anyone who falls into this category (and I'd include myself in this) can regarded as cool. The mysterious Stig? Now that's a different matter - his magnet is in the 'Sub-Zero' section.

Top Gear magazine - 'Cool Wall' fridge magnets!

2007-07-30T23:35:00.000+01:00

I'm a big fan of Top Gear the TV programme but I don't often read Top Gear magazine. The August issue is well worth buying, though, because it comes with a set of fridge magnets that allow you to set up your own version of the famous 'Cool Wall'; hours of innocent fun, I'm sure!

Haven't set mine up yet, but I think I agree with the TG assessment that the Aston Vantage is sub-zero.

Great spots 7 - hybrid Ikea company car

2007-07-30T16:03:00.000+01:00

A month or two back, Ikea made a bit of a splash in the national press when it announced that it was switching its fleet of company cars from diesels to hybrids.

I spotted one of these recently in the car park at Ikea's store near Leeds - interestingly enough, it's a Honda, rather than the more common Toyota Prius.

I heard a whisper that IKEA's fleet only contains about a dozen cars, so perhaps the impact of this move is going to be limited. However, I did notice that IKEA has switched almost all of the light bulbs on sale in its stores over to the long-life energy-saving type, so perhaps this is more than just corporate greenwash.

Road tips 6 - A170 Sutton Bank

2007-07-30T15:20:00.000+01:00

I'm not sure whether the tip should be to avoid Sutton Bank, a steep and winding section of the A170 near Thirsk, like the plague, or to make a point of seeking it out.

One thing's for sure; it's one of the most distinctive features on the UK primary road network, although I don't believe it is actually, as is sometimes claimed, the steepest UK 'A' road. It nevertheless has a fearsome reputation. HGVs regularly get stuck and caravans are banned completely.

I recently drove up Sutton Bank for the first time in a few years when traveling to North Yorkshire for the Verdict test of the Land Rover Freelander 2. I have to admit, this time around, it didn't seem anything like as hairy or dramatic as I remembered it - put that down to the torque of the Freelander's diesel, I suppose - but it's still an enjoyable drive, especially if you can get a clear run unobstructed by slow traffic. Great views from the top of Sutton Bank, as well.

What's outside today 12 - Chevrolet Captiva

2007-07-24T09:52:00.000+01:00

Going back today. A sound, even pleasant, machine but I can't help thinking that the advertising message - 'premium SUV without the premium' - doesn't really strike the right note.

Our test car was the pricey top-of-the-range model but it didn't have the polish of the Freelander 2 that was on the Verdict recently. Going on about it being 'premium' (not sure I like the word anyway) rather draws attention to that, and away from the basics, which are actually done rather well. I'm not sure the renaming of Daewoo as Chevrolet really works either but that's another subject.

These specific grumbles apart though, and looking at the big picture, the Captiva is another piece of evidence for the growing strength of the Korean industry.

Anorak Corner 5 - colour scheme on the sat nav display of the Land Rover Freelander 2

2007-07-16T12:12:00.000+01:00

When I entered the North Yorkshire National Park on Saturday, the background of the Freelander 2's sat-nav display turned from the usual light orangey-brown to a vivid shade of green.

Which is about right I think - the North Yorkshire National Park is very green indeed.