CAR manufacturers seem hell bent these days on turning us into a nation of budding racing drivers.
Just look at the number of buttons on your average steering wheel – not quite as many as Red Bull’s star man Daniel Ricciardo has to contend with admittedly – but it’s a growing trend to put as much control at your fingers tips as is possible.
And it’s not just your sporty models that are guilty. Cars like the new Hyundai Tucson are having a stab at it as well.
VOLKSWAGEN’S Sharan is a car you’ll consider if you’re a parent about town. Even more so if you’re a parent with a growing band of ankle biters in tow.
Safety is obviously very much in the mind of the designer and the buyer, so the big sliding doors each side allow safe access and exit, and for junior junior you can even have a built in booster seat with its own removeable head bolster to cut down the risk of injury in a collision.
But while Sharan, as a full size MPV, may have the attraction of a van to some, there are very many more creature comforts on board.
HOW many cars have you driven that come with an Orrefors crystal gearshift lever as standard?
South of zero, I’d guess, but it’s one of the classy little touches you’ll find in Volvo’s latest range topper, its twin engined XC90 T8.
With its twin engine set up, it showcases the future for Volvo, one of the features of which will be the distinctive Thor hammer headlights you’ll also find here lighting the way.
LOOKING for something in which to conduct a fast trip across country? Then can I commend to you the Volkswagen Polo GTI?
It has the necessary attributes. It’s a small but nonetheless roomy little car, it’s exceptionally well finished – and it has one of those highly efficient VW Group engines providing the propulsion. It adequately lives up to the GTI tag.
LEXUS’S first foray into this compact SUV sector of the market bears a body that has obviously been chopped and shaped by someone wielding a big Samurai sword.
Lots of sharp cuts and angles give it a distinctive, purposeful presence, and one you’re not going to miss as it glides past. Certainly the most aggressive and mean looking car we’ve had on the drive for some time.
Very angular, dramatic shapes at the front and rear – hugely distinctive indeed with its ‘get out of my way’ front grille.
CLEARING the iced up front screen of Audi’s larger than life Q7 is not a job you could imagine Warwick Davies managing too well.
Nor anyone else ever so slightly vertically challenged to be honest. It’s on mornings like this that you realise just what a full on vehicle the Audi it is.
YEARS ago I was a dissenting voice in the regular debate over Escort v Astra.
Even when it switched to Focus v Astra I was unwavering in my opinion (for what it counts for) and could never fully understand or appreciate why everyone banged on about the Ford – competent as it was – when the Vauxhall was patently a better family car.
Nothing that came out of Dagenham swayed my opinion and just for good measure, I thought the Astra was neater looking too.
1955 – a memorable year that saw my first birthday, the resignation of Winston Churchill as PM due to ill health, the legendary Dam Busters film was released, Clarence Birdseye began selling fish fingers in the UK, and across the channel in Paris a car called the DS made its debut at their motor show.
Which was the most notable occasion can be argued in pubs the length of the A1, but with the sad exception of Sir Winston, we’re all still around.
ON the drive this week we have a hatchback that has all the outward appearance of a washed-too-often and shrunken Qashqai.
Nissan’s new Pulsar certainly toes the family line in terms of looks, and proves to be a roomy alternative to some of its main competition in the market.
TO SAY Audi’s A4 been part of a German blitzkrieg of the UK premium sector would be something of an under-statement.
The big three Hermanns (Audi/BMW/Mercedes Benz) account for a whoppingly large portion of the classy sector of the market, so when one makes a move the others take note.
And rightly so because the all new A4 – with its focus set on comfort and technology in equal measure – is a car to seriously consider if you’re in the £30,000 plus buying bracket.