When somebody hands you the keys to a car with a price tag of £171,397 you expect something special. They also expect it back in one piece. Is the Bentley Continental GT V8 Convertible special enough to warrant the asking price, and did I manage to keep it on theContinue Reading
The new SsangYong Korando has gone down well in the UK thus far, being far removed from the cars of old from the Korean manufacturer. To complement what is the cheapest SUV crossover on the market, SsangYong have now launched the Korando Sports.Continue Reading
Small is beautiful, so the saying goes. There’s the iPhone, Monaco and Keira Knightley for example, although they’re all quite expensive. I want something that’s small but also good value, avoiding the trap of increasing prices with miniaturisation that’s caught out Smart with the ForTwo and, more recently, Renault’s Twizy.Continue Reading
As the spiritual successor to the Yaris Verso, first impressions are that the Verso-S is doing a better job than the earlier car. Externally, it’s a sharp-edged mini MPV rather than the rather bulbous ‘popemobile’ of old, although there’s a similarity to its most obvious rival, the Honda Jazz. ThatContinue Reading
The Honda Insight was launched just over three years ago and it’s fair to say the reception wasn’t universally positive. In fact so scathing were some reviews that Honda introduced a revised model a little over 18 months later that addressed a lot of the issues of the first cars.Continue Reading
The Toyota Prius has been the clear leader in hybrid cars for some time, with many assuming it’s got a monopoly on the technology, so good has the Toyota PR machine been. However, with new technologies and improved battery performance there’s now some big name competitors. The Vauxhall Ampera’s 50Continue Reading
There’s only a few months before Lexus send the all new LS luxury saloon to their dealers, but we took the opportunity to try out the outgoing model to see just what the 2013 car has to live up to.Continue Reading
The new Vauxhall Combo van arrives on the market promising the biggest payload in the segment along with class leading capacity, with a range of engines running from a 1.3 litre diesel producing 89 bhp to a powerful 133 bhp 2.0 litre CDTi, all more frugal than the previous generation.Continue Reading
It’s certainly bold. The Vauxhall Maloo I’ve been given to test is making one massive statement, but I’m not sure what that statement is. It’s part luxurious cruiser, part muscle car and part pick up truck. I’m struggling to see the point.Continue Reading
My first experience of the Mitsubishi ASX was on a private circuit. Hurling it around while knowing there was nothing coming the other way was great fun, leaving me with a huge grin. Proof, if ever it were needed, that driving a slow car fast is far more entertaining thanContinue Reading
Last week I previewed the Goodwood Festival of Speed. If it didn’t excite you and you decided not to head down to Lord March’s pad in Sussex, then you missed out on yet another great event. Being so popular and being located in some fairly remote countryside, traffic is always anContinue Reading
The original Lexus GS arrived in the UK in 1995, seen as an attractive and imposing sporting alternative to the mainstream German alternatives of the day. Since then the GS has faded away a little, with few knowing what it was really about; was it a luxury car, a sportingContinue Reading
The Toyota Yaris is a well respected small car, selling in the first four months of 2012 nearly three times as much as the Auris HSD and Prius hybrid. Taking that hybrid system and putting it in the Yaris should turn it in to something astonishing, shouldn’t it?Continue Reading
We had the opportunity to head to a secret test facility at a village called Millbrook just off the A428 near Bedford for the annual SMMT Test Day, where manufacturers lay on a massive fleet of cars for us to hurl around private roads. It’s a tough job.Continue Reading
The Toyota GT86 is an important car for the Japanese manufacturer. Since the demise of the Supra, Celica and MR2, there’s been no ‘halo’ car in the range of worthy but functional family vehicles and, despite increasing sales, Toyota need a car that will get people talking about the brand.Continue Reading
The last time Mazda made such a well received entry in to a market segment was with the original MX-5 in 1989. The CX-5 won’t go on to be held in such high regard 20 years later, but it’s an impressive bit of kit that should worry those that produceContinue Reading
The Toyota Prius is very definitely the poster child of the eco generation, with Hollywood stars, politicians and the like all clamouring to be seen behind the wheel of what is perceived as the greenest car on the road.Continue Reading