THERE are some things you just don’t do.
Like visiting the Vatican city with your shoulders disrespectfully uncovered; asking for tomato sauce in one of Gordon Ramsay’s gourmet eating establishments; and ticking the option box for a roof like this on your new car.
THINGS are stirring in the garden, but after a dry spell of a couple of days, it’s hammering down with rain.
Not just any old little shower, mind you, but the sort that hurts your face as it drives into it.
Must be time to test a cabriolet then, and with ill-advised optimism, and impeccable timing, Audi’s neat new A3 Cabriolet arrives on the drive for appraisal, at around the same time the first UK customers were getting their cars.
FOUR-time Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel played an active role in the testing and evaluation programme of Infiniti’s new Q50 in his capacity of Infiniti’s Director of Performance.
So he was likely to be totally nonplussed by the fact the car brings to motorists a world-first steer-by-wire system – or to put it another way, a system with no physical link between the road and the steering wheel.
THE last time I had a ride in an Audi S1, rally legend Hannu Mikkola was in the drivers seat (no, honestly, he was) and he was holding the drivers door shut while changing gear, steering, and hooning round Goodwood race track for all he was worth.
Thankfully Audis flex significantly less these days so you and I needn’t worry about bits opening when they shouldn’t. The latest S1 is therefore a worthy successor to that short wheelbase S1 quattro from the 1980s that Mr Mikkola and I found ourselves in that day.
IT might not have had a rear wiper when it first went on sale, but it wasn’t long before the new Hyundai i10 was wiping the floor with some of its serious opposition.
Now there’s Son of i10, and it’s an even better proposition for anyone looking for a small, tidy, well equipped family car.
COULD any self-respecting non-Arsenal footy fan ever consider buying a car called the Venga?
Actually, there are probably some Gooners who wouldn’t buy one either at the moment, but they’d be missing a trick.
Because Kia’s family orientated supermini currently has the edge when it comes to results. It delivers on pace, practicality, efficiency (in terms of fuel), and as it doesn’t do a lot wrong, there’s not a lot of need for excuses…..
SPACE and running costs – two of the biggest factors facing the family car buyer.
And the other dilemma is whether to plump for a hatchback or a mini MPV.
Nissan’s latest Note is a car for those who crave practicality. It might not be hugely stylish or brilliant fun to drive but there’s a range of economical engines, as well as a decent amount of space.
Skoda’s latest model to hit UK shores could quite adequately sum up the Czech firm’s progress over the past few years – rapid.
Enjoying rising sales in a period of doom and gloom is not to be sniffed at, and their latest model revives a name that first appeared on one of their cars way back in 1935.
LOOKS like Nicole is getting her bus pass – ZOE is set to be the Renault name on the lips of motorists in the future.
And while Nicole certainly added a touch of glamour to the ad campaigns of old, the looks in this instance unreservedly belong to the car itself.