Blogs

  • Rolls-Royce: older is better

    </p> Don’t you find modern day Rollers rather disagreeable? All that bling. All that overstated chrome, slab sides and footballers’ wives high chintz interior. Now they’ve sliced the roof off the Phantom it gets even worse – you can see the tasteless buyers in their perma-tanned glory. <a href="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/anythinggoes/WindowsLiveWriter/RollsRoyceolderisbetter_FA1D/P0037973%5B2%5D.jpg" atomicselection="true"><img style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin: 5px 5px 5px 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="158" src="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/anythinggoes/WindowsLiveWriter/RollsRoyceolderisbetter_FA1D/P0037973_thumb.jpg" width="240" align="left" border="0"></a> And no, my prejudice against the modern Rolls isn’t based entirely on envy. Good luck to ‘em, and all that. At least the sort of lottery winner who rolls down to the nearest dealership and splashes a deposit has got the genuine excuse that, with a ‘G’ reg Ford Escort as trade in, they don’t know what an automotive faux pas they’re making.

    2 April 2008
    Anything goes

  • Tickling the Mini to life

    </p> Never having been inside a car factory before, I took up an offer from BMW to visit the Mini plant in Oxford yesterday. It’s one of the UK motor industry’s biggest success stories, knocking out 800 of the hatchback, Clubman and cabriolets every day – 260,000 for the year.<a href="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/anythinggoes/WindowsLiveWriter/TicklingtheMinitolife_F3A4/MiniJCW%5B2%5D.jpg" atomicselection="true"><img style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 5px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="161" src="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/anythinggoes/WindowsLiveWriter/TicklingtheMinitolife_F3A4/MiniJCW_thumb.jpg" width="240" align="right" border="0"></a> Yet despite the unrelenting pace of production, what really amazed me was the lengths taken to get each car perfect. This is best summed up in the paintshop.

    2 April 2008
    Anything goes

  • The best job in the world

    </p> There are times when it feels like car journalism must be the best job in the world. And not because of the places we visit, the things we see, or the cars we drive; if you’re enthusiastic about cars, there’s little more enjoyable than writing about them, believe me – and that’s what drives most of us.<a href="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/anythinggoes/WindowsLiveWriter/Thebestjobintheworld_BC07/911carrera%5B2%5D.jpg" atomicselection="true"><img style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 5px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="189" src="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/anythinggoes/WindowsLiveWriter/Thebestjobintheworld_BC07/911carrera_thumb.jpg" width="240" align="right" border="0"></a> But the other day it didn’t feel like I was onto such a winner. I wasn’t on a long, rainy photo shoot, or dealing with a tricky PR, dealer or owner. I wasn’t even under pressure with a deadline. I was in a car, being driven to an airport by a man paid by an agency, on behalf of a car company who I had been visiting with.

    2 April 2008
    Anything goes

  • VW Campervan: the official revival

    </p> If you love the old rear-engined VW campervan, Kombi or Type 2, as the first 1950 version was officially known, then there is good news. Volkswagen has finally realised what a heritage asset it has in these old vans, and is now starting to support them.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/anythinggoes/WindowsLiveWriter/VWCampervantheofficialrevival_C40D/0242-%5B2%5D.jpg" atomicselection="true"><img style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin: 5px 5px 5px 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="157" src="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/anythinggoes/WindowsLiveWriter/VWCampervantheofficialrevival_C40D/0242-_thumb.jpg" width="240" align="left" border="0"></a>There was plenty of evidence at this week’s Essen Techno Classica show in Germany - it’s one of the biggest classic car events in the world - where VW mounted a fine display of period campervans, both of the early split window variety and its ‘bay window’ successor. Also on view was a fire-engine red - because it was in the fire service - 1958 double-cab pick-up, which VW was marking the 50th anniversary of.

    1 April 2008
    Anything goes

  • Mosley: how long can he remain boss of the FIA?

    </p> Don't make a habit of reading the News of the World, but must say I had to check that it wasn't 1 April when I saw its coverage yesterday of a man, which the newspaper purports was FIA president Max Mosley, in what might best be described as a bewildering pose.<a href="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/racinglines/WindowsLiveWriter/MosleyhowlongcanheremainbossoftheFIA_F8DB/IMG_4159%5B4%5D.jpg" atomicselection="true"><img style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 5px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="172" src="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/racinglines/WindowsLiveWriter/MosleyhowlongcanheremainbossoftheFIA_F8DB/IMG_4159_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg" width="258" align="right" border="0"></a> </p> It will, I suspect, be down to some very expensive lawyers to fight Mr Mosley's corner for whatever vindication he seeks, but putting aside the charitable observation that it looks like one deeply troubled guy, the question the motor racing community is now asking is 'How long can he survive as the boss of international motor sport?"

    31 March 2008
    Motorsport

  • The thinking man's 911

    </p> So after my last post on the Scirocco I found myself cruising the internet looking for relevant examples. And, after a bit of lateral thinking on the subject of German coupes, I started looking at some online 944s. <a href="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/cheapfastcars/WindowsLiveWriter/Thethinkingmans911_F4A8/P01_1089%5B2%5D.jpg" atomicselection="true"><img style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin: 5px 5px 5px 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="179" src="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/cheapfastcars/WindowsLiveWriter/Thethinkingmans911_F4A8/P01_1089_thumb.jpg" width="240" align="left" border="0"></a> </p> This Porsche is a sort of heavy metal Scirocco, and for me one of the very best sportscars of all time. Even more so – and prepare yourself for sacrilege here – I’ve always preferred it to the 911, what with a proper water-cooled engine in the right place and far fewer associations with red-brace wearing merchant bankers.

    31 March 2008
    Half-price heroes

  • The man who dreams about V12 diesels

    Here’s an interesting factoid: did you know that the man who managed the engine development programme for the original E30 BMW M3 is now batting for the opposition? That’s Audi, I hasten to add. Wolfgang Hatz is his name, and I met him this weekend, just after driving the R8 V12 TDi concept. </p> <a href="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/autocarconfidential/WindowsLiveWriter/ThemanwhodreamsaboutV12diesels_9FFD/VOR070005_medium%5B2%5D.jpg" atomicselection="true"><img style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin: 5px 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="274" src="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/autocarconfidential/WindowsLiveWriter/ThemanwhodreamsaboutV12diesels_9FFD/VOR070005_medium_thumb.jpg" width="390" border="0"></a> </p> He’s a thoroughly nice bloke (despite appearances&nbsp;in this rather twee&nbsp;Audi press photo) and at the same time a bit of a motor industry legend. After leaving BMW in the late 1980s, he went to work for Porsche and worked on the 964 RSR, among other projects.

    31 March 2008
    Confidential

  • GT5: Too good to resist

    </p> I&nbsp;spent yesterday evening hanging around an underground car park near London’s Park Lane. Why? Because the launch of the new Gran Turismo 5 racing game was taking place in this strange setting, and I wanted a go.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/anythinggoes/WindowsLiveWriter/GT5Toogoodtoresist_F7D1/JM_01GTGameMG_4684%5B2%5D.jpg" atomicselection="true"><img style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 5px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="240" src="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/anythinggoes/WindowsLiveWriter/GT5Toogoodtoresist_F7D1/JM_01GTGameMG_4684_thumb.jpg" width="198" align="right" border="0"></a> Sony had taken over (and cleaned up) the tarmac maze of tunnels and parking lots that are hidden underneath Hyde Park in the middle of the capital. This usually dank, dim-lit place is more often full-to-burst with plush BMW and Mercedes saloons owned by advertising execs who work in Soho. But for one night only the PlayStation people filled this boring parking netherworld with supercars, games consoles, grid girls, beer and burgers. And set the mood with the sort of lighting you’d expect to find in an upmarket vodka bar

    28 March 2008
    Anything goes

  • Terminal 5: why the fuss?

    </p> Good morning from the newest and most glassily transparent addition to the UK public transport network since St. Pancras has its Eurostar makeover: Heathrow Terminal Five.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/anythinggoes/WindowsLiveWriter/Terminal5whythefuss_B327/Terminal5%5B2%5D.jpg" atomicselection="true"><img style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin: 5px 5px 5px 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="173" src="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/anythinggoes/WindowsLiveWriter/Terminal5whythefuss_B327/Terminal5_thumb.jpg" width="240" align="left" border="0"></a>We’re used to being at the front of the automotive news agenda – but it’s not often I find myself entangled in a story all over the national TV bulletins. And I have to say – from today’s perspective at least – don’t believe the anti-hype. I can happily report that everything seems to be running normally. Expecting chaos after yesterday's cancelled flights and five hour delays I made sure I got here in plenty of time. I needn’t have hurried though, there seem to be no theme park sized queues and I breezed through check in and security with barely enough time to take it all in.

    28 March 2008
    Anything goes

  • Ford Ka: basic but brilliant

    </p> I have an admission to make.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/stillatthewheel/WindowsLiveWriter/FordKabasicbutbrilliant_E258/24032008461%5B2%5D.jpg" atomicselection="true"><img style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin: 5px 10px 5px 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="170" src="http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blogs/stillatthewheel/WindowsLiveWriter/FordKabasicbutbrilliant_E258/24032008461_thumb.jpg" width="240" align="left" border="0"></a>I didn't know that in the gadget crazed throws of i2008, you can still buy a new car with nothing more than a tape deck and radio for entertainment. I was dimly aware that you could still get cars without central locking, but imagined that they were only available from makers who still class a heater as a selling point. Not so. I had a go in a 57-plate 1.3 litre Ford Ka at the weekend, courtesy of a well-known daily rental company. It came with seats, a dashboard, wheels and a body shell. And that's about it.

    27 March 2008
    Tester’s notes

Find a car review

Choose a make

Then a model

Driven this week