Life On Cars

Fire up the... Kia Rio

2012-02-13T21:10:00.003Z

I DON'T know if there's an award out there somewhere for Most Improved Car Maker but surely Kia must be in the running for it.

You can snigger all you like but I reckon that owners of the Korean company's cars can now join their Skoda-driving counterparts in switching their smiles to smug mode, because they're having the last laugh nowadays. Generous warranties and aggressive pricing are always going to count in a car's favour, but thanks to the massive strides the company's made with the likes of the pretty Picanto, the Top Gear-starring Cee'd and the strikingly styled Soul, it's increasingly closing the gap on its European rivals.

But if ever there was a dint in the company's armour it was the Rio, which despite its keen pricing never quite excited UK buyers enough to take on the Fiesta/Polo/Clio establishment. That's why the Koreans have gone to town with this third generation model, which on aesthetics alone is a huge improvement on its two lacklustre predecessors.

Slickly styled with plenty of neat detailing, the new Rio is much more like it it, pulling off the trick of looking slick and sophisticated without making its five door package difficult to access. The days of new Kias arriving in the showroom with black plastic bumpers and awkwardly proportioned angles, thankfully, are long gone.

It's just a shame that the interior still lets the side down; yes, it's very spacious and well equipped, but the actual quality of the plastics and the switchgear involved still give the impression of being made to a price, and not a particularly high one at that.

Nor is the Rio the most exciting car in the handling or performance stakes but nor will it ever let you down either, with handling that's reassuring rather than race car exciting and a ride and steering feedback that's smooth rather than jerkily informative.

On its own terms the Rio doesn't quite topple the Fiesta off its perch but it's an intruiging alternative, but that's before you factor in the seven year warranty and the price (the Rio starts at a shade under ten grand). Once you do the prospect of a Kia and cash in your pocket becomes a very tempting alternative.

So much so you'll be laughing all the way to the bank...

Start 'em young....

2012-02-11T20:57:00.004Z

THE young car nut I met earlier this morning took a particularly keen interest in my choice of wheels.

A woman got talking to this morning with a bit of a history of working in the motor industry - she now works for Isuzu, and can count stints with TVR and Multipart among her previous jobs - introduced me to her son, who was obviously keen to follow in the family footsteps and develop a passion for cars and motoring.

He took a look out at the window, clocked the little blue sports car I'd arrived in, and started with the obvious question.

"What is your car?"

"It's a Mazda" I replied. "A Mazda MX-5."

His eyes lit up with excitement. "Wow!" he commented gleefully. "An MX-5!"

I was, to be honest, flattered that a fellow petrolhead approved of my taste in small, affordable, rear-wheel-drive roadsters, so I decided to return the compliment by asking him the question I always get asked. What, I wondered, was his favourite car?

He paused for a moment and smiled. "BMW".

"Which BMW?" I asked.

"The yellow and black one!"

I wasn't expecting that one. Unless Munich's most famous motor maker has announced a collaboration with JCB or has a wasp-inspired new racing livery, I wasn't aware of any BMWs which are particularly famous for being yellow and black.

Not that I minded, though. The car enthusiast in question was three years old after all...

Prepare to fire up the... Honda NSX

2012-02-10T09:42:00.002Z

A SUCCESSOR to one of the most influential - and overlooked - supercars of all time is being considered by the company which first created it more than 20 years ago.

Few companies back in the early Nineties could boast that their fastest offering had been developed by the late Formula One ace Ayrton Senna or boast then-revolutionary construction and engine technology, so it's incredible to think the Honda NSX wasn't more of a hit. However, now that the world is cottoning onto the original's classic-in-waiting status prices for the original are soaring, and Honda itself is keen to cash in on the car's cult following by launching a long-awaited successor.

Yet that's exactly what Honda will be showing off at next month's Geneva Motorshow and if - or, more likely when - it generates enough interest the Japanese automotive giant is likely to get cracking on a production version, which is likely to show off the hybrid technology it's already used to good effect in the Insight and CR-Z among others.

Honda president Takanobu Ito said when he unveiled an Acura-badged version to American enthusiasts last month:

"Like the first NSX, we will again express high performance through engineering efficiency.

"In this new era, even as we focus on the fun to drive spirit of the NSX, I think a supercar must respond positively to environmental responsibilities."

Like the original, the new NSX will have its rear wheels powered by a mid-mounted V6 engine, but it'll use not just hybrid technology but also direct injection to make the most of every drop of fuel. It'll also use a dual clutch transmission with built-in electric motor, to create supercar acceleration while offering outstanding efficiency.

In fact, the biggest problem will be overcoming the brand snobbery which dogged the original, because the NSX will up against the prestige offered by the likes of Porsche, Lotus and even Ferrari.

Can lightning strike twice? With all the technology on offer with the new NSX, you'd hope not for Honda's sake.

West Lancashire pub to host military vehicle weekend

2012-02-08T15:39:00.003Z

MILITARY machines from as far back as the Second World War will invade West Lancashire this spring for a major public display.

The event is being hosted by Heatons Bridge Inn, near Scarisbrick, on the weekend of April 14 and 15, with enthusiasts from as far afield as Cumbria bringing machines to display on a field behind the pub.

Steve Flitcroft, secretary of the South Cumbria and North Lancashire Military Vehicle Trust, which is organising the event, said: “At other events in other parts of the region we see a lot of people turning up to take at look at the military vehicles because they generate quite a lot of interest.

"We are the largest military vehicle trust in the UK and Europe, with vehicles going back as far as the First World War, so we're hoping that over the weekend we'll be able to show off quite a good cross section of military vehicles from conflicts going right up to the present day."

Although the exact details of the displays included in the event have yet to be confirmed, the public can expect to see vehicles Willys Jeeps, Ferret armoured cars, Saracen personnel carriers and larger ex-military machines.

The club will incorporate a second world war pillbox, which still stands near to the pub, into their display.

Steve Winrow, manager of the Heatons Bridge Inn, told Life On Cars he was looking forward to seeing the event taking place in April and to seeing the variety of vehicles expected to attend.

"It's not something we've ever done before, but a couple of the trust's members approached us and asked if the big field at the back, and the pillbox, could be used to host the weekend show.

"I'm really looking forward to it - it should be a brilliant event which will offer the people of West Lancashire something a bit different."

The event, which will also include a road run, takes place throughout the day on April 14 and 15 at the pub, situated on Heatons Bridge Road. For more information contact Mark on 01704 545514.

Fire up the... Honda Civic

2012-02-07T08:36:00.002Z

SPOT the difference is a game I've never been especially good at, but it's one you'll be invited to play the first time you get a glimpse of this accomplished new Honda.

Give the new Civic the most casual of looks and - without wanting to be cruel - you'll be wondering whether the company's been spending its money on photocopiers rather than car designers. It does, if you're not paying attention and one passes you in the street, look almost identical to the outgoing model.

But there's some clever thinking behind the evolutionary rather than revolutionary styling. It seems you, The Great British Public, loved the looks of the old one but got a bit hot under the collar about a couple of niggles. The spoiler cutting right across the rear window, for instance. Or the slightly weird and very glassy rear lights. Or the fact you banged your head as you got in the back. That's why the new one's seems the same despite being compellingly different on closer inspection.

Admittedly it's business as usual at the back window because the spolier still cuts across it, but now at least it doesn't obscur the rear view so much it annoys you. The rear lights are a lot more conventional and straightforward, and anyone hoping to get out of the back has got some good news. Your scalp will emerge unscathed!

The new Civic isn't as much fun to drive as Ford's Focus or as achingly attractive as Alfa's Giulietta but goes for your head instead of your heart. It isn't the life and soul of the party but with its roomy and beautifully built interior, its punchy diesel powerplant and its intuitively easy controls, it's definitely the brains behind it.

So it's a single step back and about five steps forward for Honda. The new Civic is a little but duller, but an awful lot better.

Why everybody (still) loves a Land Rover

2012-02-05T16:21:00.005Z

"OFF-ROADERS are stupid and pointless," a friend suggested as we shot along the M6 somewhere near Stafford a fortnight ago. "You just don't need them."

All you need in an everyday car, he reckoned, is something cheap, comfortable, easy to look after and equipped with a healthy bit of oomph. Something, he reckoned, that's a lot like his turbodiesel Citroen Xsara. Anything with four wheel drive or knobbly tyres is just unecessary and expensive.

Seeing said mate utilise this argument - and win - hurt because I've always had a soft spot for 4x4s, and I don't mean the blinged-up, over-imposing "lifestyle" efforts from BMW and Audi either. I mean the off-roaders of the old school, the Jeeps, Isuzus and Shoguns with their unpretentious styling and obligatory Ifor Williams trailers. I especially like Land Rovers, particularly the proper ones which look like they've been styled on an Etch-a-Sketch. But having a soft spot wasn't winning an argument in the mildest winter we've seen in years.

Lukily, I found the answer I was looking for last weekend, when I ventured beyond my usual stomping ground into a place best known as The Countryside. There, there are hills and rivers and windy little lanes made muddy by the near-constant flow of tractors among them. Out there almost every house has a proper off-roader parked outside it, and when it suddenly started snowing I realised why.

After just a few hours The Countryside was no longer green and pleasant; it was like being trapped inside a Christmas card, only with more BBC Look North crews telling you off over the airwaves because you forgot to pack Ray Mears and a shovel into the boot. Naturally, I'd forgotten to bother with either.

With seven inches of the slippery white stuff to tackle my trusty old Rover did alright but I still wished it'd had the word "Land" in front of its name. Certainly, any Land Rover would have been better than the 11-reg SEAT Leon half a dozen of us had to push out of trouble, or the MINI Cooper which struggled to get over a humpback bridge without spinning its wheels, or the BMW 1-Series at the side of the A591 next to a driver who'd just given up trying.

On this cold, slippery, unforgiving day in The Countryside, nobody wanted the Porsches or BMWs the tourists had brought into the village the night before. But absolutely everybody wanted the 25-year-old Range Rover which was darting around the village completely unaffected. Like the local council's rather scabbier Defenders it was untroubled by the conditions, but it also exuded class in a way a brand-new X5 doesn't.

So off-roaders - proper ones at least - aren't stupid and pointless. Just ask anyone who lives in The Countryside.

Is the writing on the wall for troubled Saab?

2012-02-02T14:25:00.004Z

I BEGIN this week not with an intro, but a disturbing statistic. In December 2011 just eight of you treated yourselves to a brand new Saab.

That's not just the figure for a particular showroom or part of the north west, but for the whole of the country. I've refrained from writing too much about Saab's slow and painful demise until now because the story's a bit too soap opera even for this column, but unless a miracle of Lazarus proportions heads their way it's safe to say the Swedish firm is another motoring name consigned to the history books.

Which is a shame, because Saab made some cracking cars right up until their final dying moments, even if they did knock a few stinkers out along the way. They were a firm renowned for sticking their fingers up at the motoring establishment and insisting on doing things differently. Even when it annoyed the hell out of General Motors, their very boring and very American former owners.

How else do you explain efforts like the fabulous 99 Turbo, a quirky saloon renowned for its mid-range punch? Or that middle class icon, the original 900 Cabriolet? Admittedly, they weren't cars modelled on jet fighters (despite what the ads would have you believe) but nor were they automotive flotsam created by committees either.

My own favourites are the two generations of the 9-5, which disguised their humble Vauxhall origins to offer up their owners a masterclass in comfort and refinement.

Their killer problem was that 99% of the potential buyers decided they'd still rather have the BMW 5-Series instead, leaving the Saab to survive solely on its “at least it's not a BMW” appeal.

Saab could and should have flourished once it passed into independent ownership, but GM's insistence that nobody should have access to its technology has ruined any chances the Swedes had. There are all sorts of complicated reasons why the firm's Dutch owners have gone bust, but a big part of it was that General Motors vetoed any ideas of Beijing's car makers coming to the rescue in case the Detroit-funded tech underpinning today's Saabs fell victim to a bit of a Chinese takeaway.

Ford happily lets Indian-owned Jaguar use its technological know-how, and BMW grants MG's Chinese custodians the same privelige, but the idea of a Chinese firm getting GM's inside info via Saab just proved too much for the Americans.

Unless Saab is treated to a miracle which brings its UK sales above eight a month, I think the writing's on the wall.

Life On Cars has just enjoyed its best month ever, with the site being viewed more than 3,500 times in January! I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who reads and enyoys this site and the column in The Champion (published each Wednesday).

If you've got a motoring story or event you'd like to share get in touch by sending an email to david.simister@hotmail.co.uk or leave a comment below.

British Mini Club Show - Bingley 2012

2012-01-30T20:37:00.005Z

IF YOU liked the Mini gathering in Llandudno a couple of weeks ago then you'll love these pictures from the British Mini Club Show, held yesterday at Bingley in Staffordshire.

While there parts aplenty for the serious enthusiast, and a chance to meet rally legend Paddy Hopkirk, for me the stars of the show came from the seemingly endless rows of old Minis, in every shape, size, colour and condition you could possibly imagine.

Life On Cars took these pictures at the show:

For more information, check out the British Mini Club's excellent report on all the winners at the event.

Support classic cars by signing 16,000-strong petition

2012-01-28T22:41:00.003Z

THE Rover SD1, the Jaguar XJ-S, the Ferrari 512 BB, the Lotus Esprit, the MK1 Golf GTI and a host of other classic cars all have one thing in common.

They're all well over 30 years old but - thanks to laws a new petition is calling for an overhaul of - they're not eligible for any exemptions when it comes to road tax.

Why not? Well, the road tax exemption for old cars goes back to the 1980s, when a rolling rule covering cars over 25 years old was brought in, meaning your car was exempt as soon as it'd survived its first quarter of a century. Unfortunately, New Labour changed the rules in 1998, ending the rolling rule and leaving it so that no classic made after January 1, 1973 was eligible.

I support exemptions for owners of older cars - one of the reasons I can afford to keep a forty-year-old MG on the road is that I'm granted concessions on tax and insurance, in recognition of the fact that classic cars tend to spend their days going to shows and making people smile.

But it's absurd that a new generation of classic cars is being forgotten by this rule, something which at least 16,000 of you have already said you're not happy about by signing the new petition.

As the petition's author, Daryl Davey, puts it:

"History did not simply stop in 1972. These are not cars which are driven everyday but rather on sunny weekends, to attend enthusiast shows etc.

"It is vitally important that we help to preserve this important part of British motoring history."

If more than 100,000 people sign it between now and August 5, the Government will be required to debate the issue in Parliament, giving a glimmer of hope to a new generation of classic car owners.

If you care about keeping a generation of classic cars on the road, sign it now and show the Government what you think...

The Southport car company getting charged up by electric motoring

2012-01-27T17:47:00.005Z

A SOUTHPORT man has joined forces with a French electric car firm in a bid to encourage businesses across the north west to use more eco-friendly vehicles.

David Cowperthwaite, of Fylde Road, has teamed up with the makers of the Mia electric van in a bid to persuade companies to reduce their carbon footprint, and said that the unusual vehicle has already attracted attention from police forces, local authorities and the Royal Mail.

He has set up the Marshside-based firm TYC Electric Vehicles to help distribute the van in the UK, and told Life On Cars:

“I took the Mia to Liverpool last week to show it to an organisation interested in trying out electric vehicles, and we went down the M57. Even though we did a lot of miles and had the wipers and the lights on at 50mph it just kept on going and kept its charge, so electric vehicles can go a lot longer than people think.

"The organisations that have tried it have been really impressed with its performance and by how quiet it was, although with it being middle-hand-drive quite a few of them couldn't get used to sitting in the middle! The vehicle leaves no carbon footprint at all and you don't have to pay any road tax on it, so companies could save themselves thousands if they ran one over a couple of years instead of a van powered by fossil fuel."

Electrically-powered vans have this week been given a fresh boost by the Government after the Department For Transport announced that they would offer grants to businesses which buy them, which ministers say will save firms as much as £8,000 per vehicle as well as helping to reduce carbon emissions.

Among the organisations which have expressed an interest in the Mia is Merseytravel, who declined to comment but did confirm they had been looking at the vehicle as a possible addition to their fleet in the future.

Transport Minister Norman Baker said: "Electric vehicles are the arrowhead for a low carbon revolution in motoring and as more models come to market we’ll begin to see sales gather pace. Car buyers have had a year to take advantage of our grant and now it’s time for van buyers to get their chance to go electric. This is great news for businesses given the lower running costs of these vehicles – fleet buyers tell us that this is one of the most important factor influencing their decision on what to buy.

“It is radical initiatives like these which will allow us to create a transport system that both cuts carbon and is an engine for economic growth.”

Why I love mild winters

2012-01-25T22:40:00.003Z

THIS TIME last year the last place you'll have found me was behind the wheel of a classic car.

Winter is cold, wet, slippy and salty, which is exactly why you wouldn't want to venture out in a forty-year-old sports car crafted by the hands of British Leyland. But where last year there was gritting there's now grey skies and drizzle, so tonight I roused the MGB from hibernation and took it to the pub.

It is the polar opposite of the MX-5 which competes for my love and attention. It isn't a masterclass through the corners and nor is it especially fast, but it makes a wonderful noise as it burbles down the back roads.

But to understand why I love it you just have to look at this night shot I took earlier; it is, for want of a better word gorgeous. With perfect proportions, lashings of chrome and the right stance, it's a British sports car to be proud of.

I just hope there isn't a cold snap on the way.

Life is F.A.B if you can afford to customise a Rolls-Royce Ghost

2012-01-24T18:03:00.004Z

RUMOURS that Lady Penelope - International Rescue's chief representative in the UK - has returned to Rolls-Royce's showrooms have yet to be confirmed.

However, judging by these new images of the company's latest customised model, the Rose Quartz Ghost, it shouldn't be too long before TV fans are treated to a new series of the iconic Sixties action show Thunderbirds.

Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Rolls-Royce CEO, said of the company's new customisation programme:

“It is always our goal to exceed our clients’ highest expectations and fulfill their innermost desires.

"With highly bespoke Phantom and Ghost models, we are able to achieve this. The passion with which our bespoke craftspeople create these beautiful cars is reflected in some truly outstanding examples delivered across the globe last year."

Lady Penelope, of course, was famed for using a pink Rolls Royce in the original Gerry Anderson series, although for the 2004 movie adaptation she switched her loyalties to Ford, using a model based largely on the company's Thunderbird convertible.

The new Porsche Boxster

2012-01-23T12:41:00.002Z

IT MIGHT still feel like the dead of winter outside but that hasn't stopped Porsche announcing a new version of an open-top sports car favourite.

The Stuttgart supercar makers said the third generation of the Boxster will go on sale this spring with an all-new body, a completely revised chassis and a range of new flat six engines, and as with its two predecessors is hoping to be the keen driver's choice of convertible.

A Porsche spokesman said: "The styling of the new Boxster clearly signals the unique driving experience on offer; with shorter front and rear overhangs, significantly forward-shifted windscreen, a flatter silhouette and expressive edges. Inside, the passengers are enclosed by a new fully electric hood, which now dispenses with a compartment lid for the convertible top when stowed.

"The interior design offers the driver and passenger more space and reflects the new Porsche outline, while the distinctive centre console – originating in the Carrera GT – further improves ergonomics."

The Boxster goes on sale on April 28, with the basic version starting at £37,589 and the Boxster S starting from £45,384.

The old Renault 5, not the new one, is the perfect car for Cameron's Britain

2012-01-21T18:30:00.003Z

TORIES and Liberal Democrats, look away now. The buzzword I’ve heard most since the establishment of Cameron’s Britain is “austerity”.

Blame who you like but austerity is everywhere, from the library that shut down six months ago to the vacant shops dotting the town centres. The TV screens are awash with anarchic imagery of Greek people burning things and news correspondents looking confused, unsure of which political party or city banker to blame it all on. Everyone knows these are austere times. Except Renault.

The French, you see, are reckoning on a reinvention of the iconic Renault 5 as a way to light up the supermini market in the way the latest Clio and Twingo haven’t, but they’re making the mistake of tilting it squarely at the Citroen DS3. This, in Cameron’s Britain, is a mistake.

I like to think I know a bit about the Renault 5 because I owned one and absolutely loved it. While the fact my very ropey Campus model cost just £100 helped, it really was the archetypal austerity car. Due to the fact it came with absolutely no equipment at all the engineering effort went into making sure the few bits you did get worked perfectly, and even after 120,000 miles it still started on the button every single time. I suspected it’d survive everything up to and including a light nuclear blast.

It was also much, much quicker than an ancient 1.4 hatchback had any right to be and easily the most spacious car I’ve owned. Both, I suspect, down to there being absolutely nothing in the way of luxuries to weigh it down or clutter it up. Prison cells come better equipped these days than the old 5 did.

But the new one, if predictions are right, won’t be a car for peasants and paupers, but a posh one with all sorts of unnecessarily bourgeois equipment like cruise control and electric windows and central locking. In the old one, you were lucky if you got a working heater!

What Cameron’s Britain of spending cuts and soaring unemployment needs isn’t a Renault 5 that’s weighed down with pricey electrical equipment that’ll only break anyway. It needs a real replacement for the old warhorse, which offers cash-strapped families a five star Euro NCAP safety rating – another Renault tradition, don’t forget – and absolutely nothing else so that they too can afford a brand new car.

Then again, even if Renault does bring out a new and rather more decadent reinvention of the 5 it won’t reach us until at least 2014. Maybe they know something about an economic recovery the rest of us don’t?

Charge up the... Mia Electric

2012-01-19T08:48:00.003Z

THE ingredients would make for a mouth-watering supercar. It is rear-engined and rear-wheel drive, like a 911. The driving position is in the middle, just as it is in a McLaren F1. And it’s all put together by a small French specialist – just like the legions of Venturis, Alpines and Matras car enthusiasts love.

But the recipe is for a small electric van that’s full of surprises.

The Mia – which Life On Cars is one of the first publications in the region to test drive – is a battery-powered load lugger which Brit buyers will be able to order as either a car or a van, and the Franco-German firm which builds them are hoping a warm response over here will help them hit their production target of 10,000 cars a year. The van I tested was small and upright in the vein of, say, the Bedford Rascal beloved of small businesses back in the Eighties, but clock the smooth contours and you realise that’s where the similarities end.

Once you get used to that central driving position you realise the interior’s got all the gadgets you’d expect but is still sparsely laid out – if anything, it reminded me of the Lotus Elise, which also has a dashboard limited to a simplistic bar running across the cabin. It might not have been the last word in luxury, but I liked it.

Yet what really impressed was the way it drove, which is far better than you’d expect an electrically-propelled city slicker to manage. The steering was a little on the light side but I actually enjoyed the oomph offered up the little Mia, while the easy-going ride and the tidy handling will keep your passengers on either side happy. You almost forget that you’re limited to a top speed of 60mph.

Admittedly, it costs £20,000 – the same as a decently-specced Ford Transit – and only does 80 miles on a charge but I get where the Mia is coming from. If you’re one of those small businesses who raved about the Rascal then I reckon you’d love one of these, because it offers up the same sort of cargo space, it’s cheap to run, a doddle to park and makes other motorists look because it’s cute. If all you do are deliveries around town then the Mia’s a capable and eco-friendly contender for your cash.

It’s also – with the going rate for a secondhand McLaren F1 soaring into the millions – probably the only middle-hand-drive car I’ll ever test.

2012 Ormskirk MotorFest wins backing of councillors

2012-01-17T22:30:00.004Z

A 2012 Ormskirk MotorFest is one step closer to revving into action after West Lancashire councillors voted tonight to give it their support.

At a cabinet meeting at West Lancashire Borough Council – situated a stone’s throw from the MotorFest street circuit route – plans to support another event and to grant it funding to the tune of £17,500 were given the green light, paving the way for hundreds of classic cars and motorbikes to visit the market town for a second time.

Ormskirk councillor Adrian Owens, the borough council’s deputy leader, said at the meeting:

“I fully support the idea of another Ormskirk MotorFest. As an Ormskirk councillor, I saw that it was a great success.

“Here is an event which brought 10,000 people into the town, and while we should look for additional sponsors to help cover the costs of such an event I believe it is one the council should fully support.”

The £17,500 funding will be provided by the council to Aintree Circuit Club, who organised last year’s MotorFest and are keen to build on that event’s success for 2012.

Although the council has now lent its support to the Ormskirk MotorFest being held again a definite date has yet to be announced, although provisions have already been put in place to hold the event on the August Bank Holiday weekend, similar to the inaugural event last year.

Life On Cars, which in August 2010 was the first motoring website to reveal details of the inaugural MotorFest, produced an offically-backed magazine to help accompany the event.

What do you think? Let us know if you’re looking forward to a 2012 Ormskirk MotorFest by leaving a comment below.

Fear and fun on The Horseshoe Pass

2012-01-16T18:20:00.005Z

IT WAS with a particularly potent blend of apprehensiveness that I approached one of my all-time favourite roads yesterday.

On the way to the Mini show in Llandudno I ventured onto the wonderful bit of winding tarmac that is the Horseshoe Pass, which after an agonisingly long climb from the picturesque town of Llangollen takes you to one of the most stunning bits of scenery you'll find anywhere in North Wales. Only this time, I was more than a little nervous.

Only days earlier it'd been the scene of a tragic accident in which two people had been killed, which served as stark reminder that while a good road is great fun, it's deadly in the wrong conditions at the wrong speeds, and with it being such a cold day the threat of black ice was never far away. Nor was my weapon of choice for tackling it the best for a greasy winter run; while my MX-5, on new tyres, was no longer scarily skittish, the relative unfamiliarity meant I'd be taking it very easy on the way up.

Yet taken properly I can understand why the bikers love the Horseshoe as much as they do; it really is an awe-inspiring journey. With the Mazda behaving itself I could drop the roof, take in the crisp mountain air, and enjoy what really is some wonderful scenery.

Every year I always pull in at the same spot at the top for the obligatory, badly-taken smartphone snap, and it amazed me how different conditions at different times of year can completely change the same setting. Twelve months ago I ventured up there in my old Rover and was met with wet 'n' wild weather on a dark, grey day, while a few months before that I was in a brand new MX-5 and pulled up in a scene from The Italian Job. Yesterday, in my much, much older Mazzer, the steely blue skies and relentless low sunlight made for a different atmosphere again.

It is an endlessly enjoyable part of the world if you love cars and driving but as I pointed the MX-5's pop-up lights towards Ruthin I couldn't shake the feeling that that car and those roads had so much more to offer.

Roll on summer...

Mini Wirral to Llandudno Run 2012

2012-01-15T20:36:00.006Z

SCORES of small car fans descended on North Wales this weekend to show off a host of classic Minis in the seaside resort of Llandudno.

Life On Cars wrapped up warm, headed for the seaside and took these pictures of classic Minis galore for you to enjoy....

Have you got a classic car event you'd like to promote? Get in touch with Life On Cars at david.simister@hotmail.co.uk

Prepare to fire up the... Dacia Duster

2012-01-13T15:04:00.003Z

YOU'D be forgiven for thinking the small, no-nonsense off-roader is a dying breed, but at least one company's determined to bring it back.

Rewind the clock back 20 years and there were plenty of options for anyone needing to head into the countryside without the budget for a Land Rover, but the likes of the Suzuki Samurai, the Daihatsu Fourtrak and the Lada Niva are long gone. Dacia, however, are banking on bucking the trend with a modern alternative to spearhead their return to the UK market later this year, and are hoping hardy rural tyes are going to reckon their Duster 4x4 is rugged enough for the rough stuff.

A spokesman for the company has said that since its launch on the continent two years ago its carved a niche for itself, and said:

“Since its launch in April 2010, Dacia's off-road model – the sixth model in the Dacia line-up – has enjoyed tremendous success in all the countries where it is marketed. It is available with 4x4 or 4x2 transmission and combines unbeatable cabin space for its price with genuine off-road ability, while the model's diesel versions are particularly CO2-efficient.

”Dacia Duster is as much a functional buy as it is a leisure purchase, and it has lost no time carving out a real market for itself since launch.“

The Romanian company is owned by Renault and is marketed as the French giant's budget brand, in much the same way that Skoda already offers us Volkswagen know-how in a cut-price package. In fact, it's Skoda which is likely to present Dacia with the Duster's biggest challenge, with the Czech company's Yeti already offering similiar off-road ability on the 4x4 versions.

However Dacia could pull it off if the predicted £11,000 entry price proves right when it arrives in Britain in October, which is half what you'd pay for an entry-level Land Rover Defender. The Duster isn't going to win any prizes for prestige or originality, but if a no-nonsense off-roader at a no-nonsense price would make perfect sense for plenty of rural motorists.

Could the Geely Emgrand EC7 be 2012's most boring car?

2012-01-11T11:38:00.002Z

FORGET counting sheep, slurping cups of hot chocolate and coaxing yourself into warm baths. The cure for insomnia now comes in handy automotive form.

I am, for all sorts of reasons, someone who can't drift off easily, spending the small hours of the morning wondering why everyone else is snoring away. However, I'm hoping that by sticking a poster of the new Geely on my bedroom wall that I'll be granted an express season ticket to The Land of Nod.

The Emgrand EC7 will be the Chinese carmaker's first UK offering when it arrives later this year, and while I haven't driven one I'm sure there's plenty going for it. It does, for instance, offer you a roomy four-door saloon at the £10,000 entry price for most superminis, along with a five year, 100,000 mile warranty and generous equipment levels. It might even be fantastically good fun to drive.

But I can't see myself joining the queue of potential buyers because it is - for want of a better word - boring. It is about as memorable as a cloud on a cloudy day or a witticism delivered from the lips of Iain Duncan Smith. Aesthetically - and remember, lots of people do buy cars on the way they look - it is just a grey shape on some alloy wheels, livened up only by a styling slash in the front doors. I've been looking at a picture of one for most of the past week, and I still can't remember what it looks like.

I can see the Geely selling strongly, but to boring people who “only buy a car because they want something that'll get from A to B”, which is motoring shorthand for “I couldn't be bothered to check anything else out”. You know who you are.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be one of those people with a downer on anything Oriental who begins every dinner party conversation with the words “I don't want to sound racist, but...”. There are all sorts of interesting cars which come from the Far East, like the Toyota IQ, the Hyundai Coupe, the Honda Jazz and the Suzuki Kizashi.

It's just that the Emgrand isn't one of them.

2012 Ormskirk MotorFest: the latest

2012-01-09T16:43:00.004Z

WEST Lancashire councillors will next week decide whether to give plans to revive the Ormskirk MotorFest a £17,500 boost.

Last month The Champion revealed that members of the borough council's cabinet will discuss whether the Ormskirk MotorFest, which attracted thousands of visitors over the August Bank Holiday last year, should be held again in the hope of repeating the economic boost the market town enjoyed as a result of last year's inaugural event.

Now a report presented to cabinet members is recommending that the local authority gives organisers Aintree Circuit Club £17,500 to help cover the costs of a repeat event, with a decision set to be made on holding another event next Tuesday (January 17).

The report, which also suggests using commercial sponsorship to help offset costs, reads:

"The recent MotorFest helped significantly raise the profile of Ormskirk both regionally and nationally. The MotorFest presented the opportunity for the Council to be involved in a ‘good news' event that was well received by both the local / business communities and the event participants.

"If the event were proposed to be held again in 2012 then negotiations, decisions and appropriate funding would need to be in place fairly quickly in order to give a workable lead in time for good event planning. The successful running of the
first event has helped provide a good template for the organisation and delivery of any future events."

The first Ormskirk MotorFest event, which was held on August 28, was hailed ”an outstanding success“ by the borough council after an estimated 10,000 people visited the town to see more than 200 classic cars and motorcycles in a series of parades and displays, but while the cabinet report recommends giving a repeat event the green light no firm decision has yet been made on whether to repeat the event.

The decision is expected to be made by cabinet members next Tuesday night at the council's headquarters in Ormskirk.

How to spend £100 to stay alive

2012-01-08T19:00:00.003Z

A GIRL I USED to go out with a long time ago had a very particular aversion to chocolate.

She was - for someone not even remotely interested in cars - a lovely lass, but presented with even the smallest, crumliest smidgen of Cadbury's Flake she'd always retort the same mantra, which I've heard countless women retort since. A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips.

I reckon anyone into cars should adopt a similar chant when it comes to cornering; a moment on the bend, a lifetime on the mend. In other words, skimping on the right tyres can be the difference between being a master of the mountain roads and being the sorry soul who ends up in a field. As I've just discovered with probably the wisest £100 I've ever spent.

Until yesterday I had a set of Camacs - possibly the worst tyres ever made, despite being completly road legal, officer - performing the not-at-all daunting task of getting the power from my Mazda MX-5's rear wheels onto the road, and they were at best hilariously hopeless and at worst life-threateningly dangerous. For barely controllable oversteer at 15mph, just add water.

You might think tyres are just boring rings of rubber that you reluctantly slap on every 15,000 miles or so but the difference between my old ditch-finders and the brand new Toyos I've replaced them with is profound. It is, in non car speak, the difference between venturing up Snowdon in trainers and doing the job properly in a set of walking boots.

Despite being the same size, shape and material, the Toyos find grip where the Camacs wouldn’t, particularly in the greasy, wet, muddy conditions you’re likely to encounter in most corners at this time of the year. You can, courtesy of your right foot and a healthy dose of foolhardiness, still get the MX-5 seriously sideways if you want to, but no longer does it threaten to kill you every time you approach a damp roundabout.

Nor, by the way, are the benefits of pukka tyres restricted to the world of powerful rear-wheel-drivers; last year I swapped the ancient Dunlops on my old Mini for a set of sticky new Yokohamas, and in an instant it pulled away, handled and stopped better. I reckon if all blokes took tyres as seriously as a certain other type of rubber, there'd be far fewer instances of cars spinning off into lamposts and ploughing into ditches.

If there's one thing in motoring that's emphatically not worth skimping on, it's tyres. A moment on the bend, remember, is a lifetime on the mend.

Fire up the... Suzuki Kizashi

2012-01-06T14:10:00.003Z

THERE is, thanks to mankind's obsession with pigeonholing absolutely everything, a distinct heirachy when it comes to buying a new car.

Whether it's the new Mclaren at the very top end of the motoring marketplace, or the parsimonious Nissan Pixo at the bottom, everything is divided up into convenient classes and segments, so that any particular car is roughly the same size and shape as the ones it's competing against. Anything that breaks the rules just confuses Britain's notoriously fussy buyers.

So can Suzuki's Kizashi, which the Japanese are considering bringing to our shores, carve a niche? It is, after all, an unusual prospect; a Mondeo-style saloon that's smaller than a Mondeo, or an Insignia, or indeed any of the mid-range repmobiles usually found lurking on the outside lanes of Britain's motorways. It honestly could go either way, being either usefully smaller when it comes to parking and navigating the urban jungle, or not as capacious when you call on it to be a cargo freighter. Whatever you make of it, it's a bit bigger than, say, Volkswagen's Jetta but not quite the full Passat.

What it does do though is a passable impression of Doctor Who's TARDIS, because while its smaller exterior does translate into an air of agility from behind the wheel, your passengers in the back seats will swear they've stepped into a larger car. The interior might be a little darker than I'd like, thanks to the black materials used throughout, but boy is it spacious.

It also carries off the clever trick of looking a bit like every other contemporary saloon you've clapped eyes on - the front's got a hint of Golf to it, and the side profile a hint of Mondeo, but again that's not a bad thing.

Expect to pay £21,995 for the automatic, four-wheel-drive version they're bringing to this country's roads, and while I can't see it wiping out the Mondeo's dominance there's definitely a gap in the marketplace for this kind of car.

If you're looking for a sturdy saloon which is a smidgen smaller than the rest of the pack, go and start pestering your local dealer for it.

Why the little Austin Seven is worth celebrating in 2012

2012-01-04T11:13:00.003Z

THE Austin Seven - and I know I'm going out on a limb on this one - is the most significant motor ever made in a British factory.

It's officially now 2012 which means people with boiler suits and beards will be getting the party poppers out for a couple of cars celebrating significant anniversaries this year; everything from the AC Cobra, which reaches its half century, my own MGB GT, for which life begins at 40, and even the Ford Cortina, which first rolled out of the showrooms 50 years ago this year.

But it's the curious little Seven- a creation that'll be a staggering 90 years old this year - that I reckon should be the one worth celebrating, because the impact it's had on British motoring is still being felt to this day.

It's well documented that it effectively did for us what the Model T Ford did for the Americans, but did you know that it was the first small car that had all the controls where we'd expect to find them today? No messing about with two gearlevers or four pedals for your feet - just good, honest and easy to drive, like a Polo or a Fiesta.

Austin might be long gone but the car companies it inspired aren't; a lavishly-trimmed version, called the Swallow, eventually proved to be the ancestor to all of today's Jaguars, Lotus founder Colin Chapman cut his teeth by modifying old Austins, and Alec Issigonis - the man behind the Morris Minor and the Mini - first wowed the motoring world with a racing car based loosely on a Seven.

I know it's hard to imagine in 2012 a boxy, cramped, noisy and slow old vintage car being particularly good at anything but then in the old days, when everyone had TB and lived in black and white, Austin wasn't up against other cars. You either bought one of those or you bought a horse, and it's because of this that the Seven got oridinary Brits off their saddles and behind their steering wheels for the very first time.

You might not be that impressed with the Seven, but you can bet your great grandparents were.

Video: MGB GT

2012-01-03T16:14:00.006Z

I COULDN'T help but smile when one my favourite cars - my 1972 MGB GT - got some fan mail earlier today.

The car's previous owners sent an email to The Champion office to let me know they regularly read the updates on a thoroughly traditional and very British sports car I've been proud to own for the last 18 months, and it's for them that I include a video of the car in action.

An extract from their email reads:

Mr Simister,

You will be surprised, and I hope, pleased to learn that we follow your reports of "our" MGB and have compiled an archive simply because we are delighted that you gain so much pleasure from the car.I could not have wished for a better outcome; passing the car to someone who is really thrilled to own it.

Our friends look out for it and report "sightings". The previous owner, Alison, thinks we are mad...........but then she did not have the car as part of the family for 20 years!!

To which I've replied...

Thanks for your kind email and hope you had a good Christmas and an enjoyable New Year.

I'm delighted that you're still following the progress on the MGB. I am, as I'm sure you've probably gathered, absolutely smitten with it. Since its return to the road it's been on numerous runs into the West Lancashire countryside and was an entrant into the Ormskirk MotorFest last August; at the moment it's being treated to a new exhaust, fuel tank and stereo system, but when it comes out of winter hibernation one of my aims is to take it on the official MGB 50th anniversary run in Gaydon this April.

I'll have a look for a back copy of the magazine for you but in the meantime I'm happy to enclose a copy of the video, which I filmed a few weeks ago (before I fitted the new exhaust, incidentally). The video can be seen here:

The MGB will be back on the road once the sun comes out again, so I'm sure your friends will report plenty more sightings in the coming weeks!

More updates on Bridget, as I call her, to follow soon...

It's back! Part Two

2012-01-02T18:00:00.004Z

WAY back in 2011 my Mazda MX-5 returned to the road, after being treated to a series of fixes and upgrades.

Unfortunately, the only problem was that the closing days of last December were too dark, too wet and too cold to get any decent pictures, but with it being 2012 I've managed to take a few snaps of my newly-improved Mazzer.

Admittedly most of the bits you can't see, but I'm particularly proud of the traditionalist wooden trim I've had fitted...

It's back!

2011-12-31T16:56:00.003Z

IT WAS my last enjoyable moment of motoring in 2011, but what a moment it was.

Regular readers will already know that last month I decided that what I needed in my life was a MK1 Mazda MX-5, the one with the funny pop-up headlights and the grinning owners. With a little pub-based help from eBay and a search through the classified ads in The Champion, I came up with a charming G-reg example in Mariner Blue, which despite having just over 100,000 miles on the clock came in surprisingly clean nick and felt tighter than a drum to drive.

Which I've gone on to tell you absolutely nothing about... until now.

The truth is that it's been off the road for the last few weeks because - and I'm not proud to admit it - the car's Camac tyres let me down in spectacular fashion. Since then it's had a few optional extras installed, to follow on from my earlier efforts to fit a slightly more tasteful steering wheel.

The little blue sports car now has the spec to match the looks, with bigger brakes, a stronger rear axle, and new diff and propshaft. Oh, and some much meatier tyres, which still haven't arrived yet, making the drive from Rainford to Southport on the original budget rubber a not-at-all nerve-racking experience!

But then the rain stopped and - seeing as I never decline a chance to get a ragtop's roof down - I got reacquainted with why the MX-5 is still the best selling sports car the world has ever seen. Yes, the car hadn't been run for ages and the idle control was a bit iffy, and that somehow water had made it into the driver's footwell in its enforced holiday and made the interior smell like a damp dog. Worst of all, it was still on the heart-stopping (but sadly not car-stopping) budget tyres, meaning every roundabout was a choice between dawdling, wheelspinning or heading backwards into the nearest hedge.

In truth, it was rubbish because the car badly needs some decent rubber and a bit of TLC, but it was still an MX-5 with the roof down, which is one of motoring's great experiences.

Even I'll admit the little Mazda hasn't been the luckiest car I've ever owned, but maybe it's just that 2011 hasn't been its year. 2012 - and a summer of winding down leafy country lanes on tyres that are actually up to the job - is just around the corner.

My eternal gratitude goes to Ian, Anthony and Gareth Jackson of Parkhill Garage, based in Rainford, for having the patience to put up with my MX-5. I'm not terribly good at plugging things but if you live anywhere near Rainford, give them a ring on 01744 882749 if you need a repair.

Why 2012 is shaping up to be a great year for events

2011-12-30T11:07:00.002Z

IF ancient Mayan tradition and a rather poor disaster movie are to be believed then 2012 is going to be your last year on Earth.

Luckily, there's more than enough in the way of motoring events to keep you going over the next year, which is no mean feat given 2011 was a bit of a bumper year for car and bike shows in itself. Whatever your tastes you're bound to find something to look forward to later this year.

For starters there's another Woodvale Rally to look forward to, although when it takes off at RAF Woodvale near Formby on August 4 and 5 the organisers will have the tricky task of topping last year's magnificent Battle of Britain flypast, which at last year's 40th anniversary event literally stopped the show in its tracks. The good news is that I haven't been to a bad Rally yet, and with the show's usual blend of cars, bikes, planes and traders it doesn't look like there's one on the way.

A classic car event with a charity twist also returns to the region later this year, when the Lydiate Classic Car and Bike Show returns to the village's parish hall. All proceeds from the event go to Cancer Research UK, so you get to help a good cause while checking out a great selection of cars and bikes from years gone by.

There's also tantalising talk - but as yet no firm confirmation - that a repeat of last year's Ormskirk MotorFest is on the cards, with a provisional date of Sunday, August 26 for the full throttle event. Of all the events I went to last year, this was by far the one most enthusiasts told me they'd love to see happening again. With last summere's event offering up the surreal sight of a Ferrari Enzo, a SEAT touring car and a 40-year-old F1 car roaring around Ormskirk's one way system, I completely understand why.

And if you're prepared to jump into your car and drive a little there's a wealth of shows right across the north west, with everything from the Cholmondley Pageant of Power in Cheshire, the Totally Transport Festival in Blackpool, and every bike show, autojumble and indoor exhibition you can think of in between.

All you need now is some sunshine!

If you've got a motoring event taking place in 2012 you'd like to share with Life On Cars get in touch with us by sending an email to david.simister@champnews.com or call 01704 392404. For a full list of events visit www.lifeoncars.blogspot.com

Saab isn't dead yet, former chairman insists

2011-12-28T11:40:00.003Z

DON'T write Saab off as a name consigned to the history books because the company and its models aren't dead yet.

That's the message former chairman Victor Muller has told the world after most turbulent month in the Swedish firm's history, and suggested that a buyer for the beleaguered company may yet be found.

After personally declaring Saab bankrupt, Mr Muller told national media: “Under the new situation of bankruptcy, perhaps another type of scenario could be conceived, one where perhaps no Chinese parties are involved because that seems to be the sensitive element for General Motors.

"Perhaps Saab can find a new lease of life in a new structure with new ownership."

General Motors, the American automotive giant which owned Saab until 2010, still supplies Sweden with parts and technology for the 9-3 and 9-5 models, and has vetoed interest in the firm from Chinese firms after fearing that GM intellectual property would end up in the wrong hands.

Following the bankrupty declaration Saab's operations have been put under the control of receivers, but Swedish law allows companies that are in bankruptcy to be revived if an investor is found.

Do you own a Saab? Have you been affected? Let us know by sending an email to david.simister@champnews.com or by calling 01704 392404.

Fire up the... Volkswagen Polo GTI

2011-12-27T16:08:00.003Z

DEAR AUDI, I'm sorry that I didn't like the A1 which got given the Life On Cars roadtest treatment recently. It's a smartly styled car, don't get me wrong, but I just didn't enjoy the ride.

It's not even as though I don't enjoy the engineering that's gone into it, because I've also driven Volkswagen's Polo GTI, which takes the same basic technology and takes a different approach to making it sporty and fun to drive. At £18,275 for the three-door version I tried, it's also roughly the same price as the A1.

The Audi badge is always going to offer you a more polished air of prestige than the familiar Volkswagen logo, but the GTI name's got a special appeal all of its own, and when you clock the most potent of the Polo range you're in no doubt it's a bit of a treat to look at. With the five-spoke alloys and the subtle red rim around the radiator grille, matched up to the trendy tartan trim (no, seriously) on the inside, it's a car that's sporty in a subtle away, gently implying what it can do rather than shouting about it.

It's also a traditional hot hatch in the way it goes; thanks to the 1.4 TFSI engine up front being mated to a supercharger, it knocks out 180bhp, so it's got more than enough straight line speed to keep you entertained. More tellingly it also takes you through the corners smoothly and sweetly, and while it's not as manic as some of its rivals - particularly MINI's Cooper S and Citroen's DS3 - it's also smoother and more reassuring when the going gets tricky.

The great thing is that once you've stopping having fun the Polo GTI stops being a GTI and becomes a Polo, which last year impressed the motoring scribes enough to be crowned European Car of the Year. It might not be Earth-shatteringly innovative, but it's a polished, practical supermini that's tough enough to take whatever challenges you throw its way. It's just that this version's a lot faster than the others.

Should you buy one? That depends on how raw you like your hot hatches to be, because I reckon some of its rivals give you more smiles per mile by losing the Polo's smooth edges. None of them though have the same quietly menacing style or sense of impeccable quality as the Polo, which will still impress you on the right road.

It is as impressive as the fundamentally very similar A1 wasn't.

Merry Christmas from Life On Cars

2011-12-24T14:05:00.003Z

AS a special festive treat for both our readers a Christmas edition of the Life On Cars magazine to choose the car of the year is finally ready!

This bumper 20-page edition not only looks back at some of the best new cars, but memorable events, roads and shows from across the north west and further afield. Car and bike nuts are already looking forward to a great 2012, and Life On Cars is looking forward to reflecting that, but if you just can't wait until then put your Christmas turkey down and take a look back at some of the motoring highlights of 2011.

Sit back and enjoy the read...

Open publication - Free publishing - More cars

Honda Goldwing parade planned for Southport in 2012

2011-12-23T11:33:00.003Z

THE region's car connoisseurs have already had an early Christmas treat - now it's the turn of the bikers to get a bit of seasonal good news.

I've just had word from a group of Honda Gullwing enthusiasts that they're planning a Light Parade - a gathering of the giant Japanese machines with plenty of strobe lighting - to help raise funds for Queenscourt Hospice, with plans to ride scores of their machines through Southport town centre during a closed parade next September.

Jeff Thornton of Goldwings North West, who will be organising the event, said:

"Following a hugely successful event in Llandudno this year, it has just been announced by the Federation of UK GoldWing Clubs that their premier Light Parade will move to Southport for 2012.

"All the fundamentals for a great Light Parade Weekend are already in place with a keen and cooperative Town Council, excellent cooperation from Merseyside Police and a cracking venue, the 154 bedroom Prince of Wales Hotel on Lord Street, the Town’s main street, in Southport."

I know this column's called Life On Cars but if it's a motoring event - and especially one to help good causes in the north west - we at The Champion are only too happy to give it a boost, so I'll keep you posted with any more details as soon as I get them.

Watch this space...

Champion exclusive: Ormskirk MotorFest set for 2012 revival

2011-12-21T16:15:00.004Z

COUNCILLORS will next month discuss plans to bring a celebration of classic cars and motorsport machines back to Ormskirk in 2012, The Champion can exclusively reveal.

Members of West Lancashire Borough Council's cabinet will meet on January 17 to discuss whether the Ormskirk MotorFest, which attracted thousands of visitors to the market town over the August Bank Holiday, should be held again following the success of the inaugural event.

Mike Ashcroft, chairman of Aintree Circuit Club, which organised the event in collaboration with the council, said:

“We were obviously delighted with the way the event went earlier this year and it was a great success which exceeded everybody's expectations, with businesses in Ormskirk benefitting from all the extra trade which came into the town.

"We are delighted that West Lancashire Borough Council are thinking of working with us again on another event for 2012, and we're looking forward to the outcome of the cabinet's discussions next month."

The MotorFest attracted more than 200 classic cars and motorbikes when it was held in Ormskirk town centre and Coronation Park on August 28, with over 10,000 visitors turning up to see a host of static displays - including a Ferrari Enzo formely owned by rocker Rod Stewart - as well as a series of parade laps on the town's one-way system.

The Champion understands that the 2012 event will be held once again on the August Bank Holiday Sunday subject to budgetary considerations, with the potential for corporate sponsors to help underwrite the costs of hosting a second event.

Members of the borough council welcomed the success of the inaugural event and the boost it brought to the West Lancashire economy, and shortly after the weekend Councillor Ian Grant, the councill's leader, said:

"This was a fantastic event which really put Ormskirk - and the whole of West Lancashire - on the map. Not only did it attract thousands of visitors into the town during a bank holiday weekend, but it proved a bonus for local businesses, who had a real boost to their trade.

“It was a great day out for people of all ages and the council is incredibly proud to have supported it and look forward to the possibility of another similar event in the future.”

West Lancashire Borough Council has not yet responded to requests from The Champion for a comment on the MotorFest plans, but a full follow up will be included in the next edition published on December 28.

Life On Cars, which in August 2010 was the first motoring website to reveal details of the inaugural MotorFest, produced an offically-backed magazine to help accompany the event earlier this year.

Old cars with no MOT? Count me out

2011-12-20T10:25:00.003Z

CHRISTMAS, as everyone with an old car knows, isn't just a time for giving. It's a chance to get the spanners out and get a bit of automotive nip ‘n' tuck underway.

As you'll read this my old MG will be hidden away in a garage with its wheels in the air as part of a two-pronged effort to keep it out of the winter weather and to get it through the MOT in the spring, although I'll freely admit I know absolutely nothing about mechanics and have to rely on a team of friends and family to help keep the old girl going. I envy people who have even the slightest bit of mechanical nouse, because they can work miracles with carburettors.

But if you own a car older than 50 years old, new Government proposals will mean you won't have to bother any more. In what's possibly the loopiest bit of legislation ever to come out of Westminster, cars made before 1960 will no longer be required to go through the MOT. Ever.

The Government's argument is that all classic car owners are like my dad; timeless tinkerers, who spend entire weekends in their boiler suits, endlessly mending things that BMC, Rootes and all those other long-gone car companies didn't get right in the Forties and Fifties. For them, happiness is a Triumph TR3 that comes out twice a year on the back of a trailer, on its way to a car show.

But what about the likes of me, to whom mechanics might as well be voodoo? I like to keep my own motors mechanically prim and proper but I bet there's plenty of people out there who simply won't bother if there's no legal requirement for it to pass an MOT. I know it's a simplistic argument, but surely there's something reassuring in knowing that ALL cars - and especially ones with the stopping abilities of an ocean tanker - have been into a garage at least once in the past 12 months? Even a Jaguar XK150, which I reckon is about the fastest, most advanced car to fall into this bracket of golden oldies, will be comprehensively outdragged, outbraked and out-Euro-NCAPped by a three-year-old Focus or Astra, so surely it needs an MOT just as much.

I know the chances of coming across a rusty Morris Minor with no MOT on it whatsoever are slim to nonexistent, but it's still a chance I wouldn't want to take.

Coming soon - a great year of classic car events and shows

2011-12-17T12:41:00.004Z

A SUMMER of spectacular motoring moments is just a few months away!

There's an astounding array of events already being organised for 2011, and Life On Cars is looking to bring you details of all the best shows not only in Sefton and West Lancashire, but further afield as well.

In all cases it's advised to get in touch with the organisers sooner rather than later, as popular events get fully booked quicker than you might you think!

Here are a just a few of the many events being planned for later this year: There's an astounding array of events already being organised for 2011, and Life On Cars is looking to bring you details of all the best shows not only in Sefton and West Lancashire, but further afield as well.

In all cases it's advised to get in touch with the organisers sooner rather than later, as popular events get fully booked quicker than you might you think!

Here are a just a few of the many events being planned for later this year:

JANUARY

Sunday 15th: Wirral to Llandudno Mini Run

Sunday 29th: Mini Fair 2011, Staffordshire Showground, Stafford

FEBRUARY

Sunday 12th: Skipton Car and Bike Autojumble, Auction Mart, Skipton, North Yorkshire, 01697 451882

MARCH

Saturday 17th, Rainy City Custom Car Show, Event City, Urmston, Greater Manchester. 01484 667776.

Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th, North West Indoor Classic Car Show, Event City, Urmston, Greater Manchester. 01565 723863.

APRIL

Sunday 15th: MGB 50th Anniversary Run, Historic Motor Centre, Gaydon, Warwickshire. 01926 641188.

Sunday 22nd: St George’s Day Drive-it-Day Rally, Lancashire Auto Club

MAY

May Bank Holiday 2012: North Wales Splash Dash, Cumbrian Cruisers (www.splashdash.cumbriaminicruisers.co.uk)

Sunday 20th: Garstang Car and Bike Autojumble. Hamilton House, Garstang, Lancashire. 01697 451882.

Saturday 26th: The Fellsman Rally, Lancashire Auto Club.

Sunday 27th: Cheshire Classic Car and Bike Show. Includes Jaguar Day. Capestone Hall, Cheshire. 01484 667776.

JUNE

Monday 4th: Yorkshire Classic Car and Bike Show. Ripley Castle. 01697 451882.

Sunday 10th: Garstang Classic Car Show. Hamilton House, Garstang, Lancashire. 01697 451882.

Date TBC: The Lakeland Tour 2012, Ullswater, Cumbria

Friday 15th - Sunday 17th: Cholmondley Pageant of Power. 01829 222432.

Sunday 24th: Totally Transport Festival and Blackpool Run, South Promenade, Blackpool

Sunday 24th: Lancashire Classic Car Show: Hoghton Tower, near Preston, Lancashire. 01484
667776.

Saturday 30th - July 1st: Classic American Car Show. Tatton Park, Cheshire. 01565 723863.

JULY

Sunday 8th, Garstang Car and Bike Autojumble. Hamilton House, Garstang, Lancashire. 01697 451882.

Sunday 8th, Lydiate Classic Car and Bike Show, 288 Southport Rd, Lydiate, Lancashire

Saturday 14th, The 17th Coast to Coast Rally, Lancashire Auto Club

Sunday 22nd, North Wales Classic Car Show, Bodelwyddan Castle, Denbighshire. 01484 667776.

Sunday 29th: Classic Sports Car Sunday and North West Mini Show. Capesthorne Hall, Cheshire. 01484 667776.

AUGUST

Saturday 4th - Sunday 5th: Woodvale Rally, RAF Woodvale, Southport

Sunday 5th: Yorkshire Classsic Car Show. Ripley Castle, North Yorkshire.

Sunday 5th: 3 Sisters Run, Lancashire Auto Club, Three Sisters Racetrack, Wigan

Sunday 12th: Lytham Hall Classic Car and Bike Show. Lytham, Lancashire. 01697 451882.

Sunday 26th: Cheshire Classic Car and Bike Show. Capestone Hall, Cheshire. 01484 667776.

Sunday 27th: Lakeland Classic Show. Hutton In The Forest, Cumbria. 01697 451882.

SEPTEMBER

Sunday 16th: Garstang Car and Bike Autojumble. Hamilton House, Garstang, Lancashire. 01697
451882.

Friday 21st - Sunday 23rd: Highland Scottish Tour, Lancashire Auto Club

Details correct at the time of publication but may be subject to change. If you spot a detail that needs changing or would like to get in touch with details of your own event, send an email to david.simister@hotmail.co.uk

Fire up the... Audi A1

2011-12-15T16:43:00.002Z

IF you've got a hankering for history then you'll know the A1 isn't Audi's first attempt to crack the small car nut.

More than thirty years ago the engineers in Ingolstadt created a well-crafted three door hatchback to take on the likes of Renault's 5 and Fiat's 127, but when sister company Volkswagen created its own version the first generation of supermini buyers flocked to the cheaper car instead. It's a top bit of pub trivia; the very first Volkswagen Polo was a rebadged Audi.

You might be more familiar with the similarly ill-fated A2, Audi's innovative and beautifully built answer to the Mercedes A-Class, but the company are hoping it'll be third time lucky with their latest effort. Thanks to the MINI and the Fiat 500 premium small cars are all the rage, and the A1 wants a slice of the action.

The first thing you'll note is that it strays away from the deliberately retro touches of its rivals and goes for a much more modern style, looking more like a smaller A3 embellished with some neat touches like the silver roof pillars and the headlights which curve around the front corners of the car. It's a smartly-styled thing, and it's the same story when you move onto the sophisticated and well-crafted interior.

It's just a shame that the trade-off for polished looks is poor packaging, with the the rear accommodation in particular feeling dark and claustrophobic, while the boot is smaller than many of its supermini rivals and hampered by a high sill. If you're taken though with the A1's looks, build quality and badge value, these are small gripes you'll easily overlook.

But I couldn't - at least with the 1.4 TFSI Sport version I tried - forgive its ride, which is unbelievably hard. Yes, the A1 handles corners sweetly enough, but everywhere else it crashes and bangs over bumps and potholes, while the seven-speed automatic makes for jerkier progress than you might expect. While I'd hope it's a problem confined to just the particular version I tried, I can't recommend something with a ride that hard.

Besides, you can take the same basic ingredients of the A1 and successfully make them sporty in another car I actually enjoyed.

Tune in next week to find out what it is...

The TVR Griffith is back...

2011-12-13T17:38:00.005Z

...but let's get straight to the point. If you want to buy a new one, you'd better have the thick end of £100,000 to set aside.

That's how much TVR Motors, a company that's recently risen like a phoenix from the ashes, would like to charge you for their reincarnation of Blackpool's most famous automotive export. One of the few cars that - like an E-Type, an F40 or an XJ220 - I would do just anything to get behind the wheel of.

The new logo used by TVR Motors on its cars

The Griffith, I honestly thought, had gone for good in 2001, when TVR replaced it with the equally loud but arguably uglier Tamora, but now both are back thanks to TVR Motors' plans, as are the Tuscan, T350, Sagaris and - for those of who like TVRs a tad older - the Cerbera and Chimaera. But rather than being built by Blackpool by a team of plucky craftsmen in a collection of pre-fabs, they're now made to order in Austria, which is why they now cost Aston Vantage money.

A statement on the company's website - which also gives enthusiasts the chance to rebuild their existing TVRs with 6.2 litre V8 engines - says:

"TVR now offers customers to build the models Sagaris, Tuscan convertible, Tuscan MK II, Cerbera, Chimaera and Griffith to individual specifications.

"All cars feature a new 6.2 litre, 426 bhp, 420 lb/ft V8 engine, and a reinforced 5 gear gearbox at a fixed price."

I can see the logic; if you're a) as passionately in love with TVR's classics as I am and b) rich then you'll happily pay £100,000 for what will be the world's best Griffith, because it'll be faster, newer and better-built than any Griffith that's ever gone before. People will happily pay upwards of £100,000 for a reconditioned Jensen Interceptor, and even though it's barely 20 years old the Griffith arguably has a dedicated enough following to justify a costly reinvention.

It's just a shame the pricetage ruins a bit of the old TVR magic. When it was launched in the early Nineties a Griffith - and it didn't matter whether it was the 4.3 or the later 500 - could embarrass a Ferrari 348 for less than half the price. Price was a big part of the TVR's appeal, because a brand new Cerbera was "the fastest, noisiest thing this side of a Lamborghini Diablo" - as Clarkson put it - despite costing less than £50,000.

Jeremy Clarkson's test of the TVR Cerbera for BBC Top Gear in 1995

Being asked to stump up £100,000 for a car that cost a third of that in its heyday might make sense but it still doesn't seem very 'TVR' in its philosophy.

Would you?

A Christmas gift for all you readers

2011-12-11T19:30:00.004Z

CHANCES are if you're a car fan you'll like this a bit more than Mistletoe and Wine.

Yes, the not-at-all-prestigious Life On Cars Car of the Year Award is back, and as usual it comes gift-wrapped in a Christmas special edition magazine. With so many great cars launched this year it's been a right old nightmare trying to pick a favourite, but after a lot of agonising I've finally picked a winner which I reckon is just as impressive as Honda's CR-Z was this time last year.

If you liked the effort I came up with last Christmas then you'll be pleased to know all the additional awards - best road, best event, and so on - are all back as well, in what should be an enjoyable read once you've polished off your pigs in blankets and got tired of eating turkey.

The new edition will be ready in time for Christmas. Hope you like it...

Fire up the... Jeep Grand Cherokee

2011-12-08T17:12:00.002Z

DESPITE its all-American pretensions the biggest bruiser Jeep sells in Britain speaks to you with a curiously continental inflection.

Peel away the glitzy and defiantly stateside bodywork and the latest version of the company's Grand Cherokee has more than a few components any Mercedes mechanic will easily clock; yep, underneath it's got an awful lot in common with the latest M-Class off-roader. Yet, for better and for worse, the Americans have managed to make it feel reassuringly different.

The way the diesel-propelled 3.0 litre V6 Overland drives is that it doesn't pretend to be a low-slung sports car, and it's defiantly off-roader in the way it rolls and lurches if you really press on when you're driving. If you want revolutionary handling from something so high-riding, look elsewhere.

Yet I can forgive it that because the Grand Cherokee was clearly designed for conquering territories a tad tougher than Tesco's car parks, something immediately obvious when you glance at the centre console. On say, a BMW X3 you're met with a slick and sophisticated iDrive computer system, but the Jeep instead offers you a big, chunky switch, which lets you choose whether to put it up against snow, mud, sand or the M58. It's touches like this that let you know it's a proper mudplugger more than capable of coming out to play in the rough stuff.

You'll also either love or loathe its interior which seems to modelled more on the world of luxury yachts than motoring. With smoked black wood and lightest of beige leather trimmings it is a very American sort of place to be, but it keeps up the Stateside feel by being wonderfully comfortable and more spacious than any of the rivals I've driven.

At a whisker under £45,000 it isn't the cheapest 4x4 you're likely to come across, but it has a commanding driving position and a sense of imperiousness thrown in as standard, alongside all manner of gadgets and gizmos.

The Grand Cherokee isn't the best off-roader I've driven but perplexingly it is my favourite, which has got more to do with its indomitable spirit than any ability to tick the boxes.

Subaru switches to rear wheel drive for BRZ coupe

2011-12-06T14:17:00.003Z

THE sleek sister car of the muscular new Toyota coupe featured on here last week will arrive in Britain next July, it has been confirmed.

Subaru said its BRZ coupe, the result of a joint project with Toyota, will arrive here next summer and pack the same 200bhp flat four engine as the GT-86 coupe produced by its Japanese counterpart. Unusually for a Subaru the BRZ sticks with the Toyota's front engined, rear wheel drive layout - the company is renowned for using four wheel drive systems on its models.

A Subaru spokesperson said of the new coupe: “With 200bhp and 151 lb/ft of torque in a car weighing just 1,220kg, the BRZ has been designed for maximum – and accessible – driving enjoyment.

"The result of a Subaru-led joint-engineering venture with Toyota, the BRZ delivers a sensational and engaging driving experience, thanks in large part to an engineering and development programme that focused on achieving the lowest possible centre of gravity."

The Subaru BRZ is scheduled to go on sale in the UK in July 2012.

Fire up the... Citroen C-Zero

2011-12-03T21:22:00.003Z

IN THE dead of last winter, while everyone else was groaning about how much gritting wasn't being done, this little Citroen set a unique record.

The C-Zero, believe it or not, was the first electric car ever to successfully use Eurotunnel to make a cross-channel crossing between England and France. However, taking Le Shuttle isn't exactly hard for most cars, so in order to impress motorists on this side of Le Manche it's going to have to manage more than just the drive into a railway carriage.

Luckily the C-Zero's got green credentials on its side, being one of a trio of volt-powered vehicles all based around the design of Mitsubishi's petrol-engined I car (the other ones, in case you're interested, are Peugeot's iOn and Mitsubishi's own iMiev, which are almost identical in spec). It therefore comes with the gift of a Government grant, and an exemption from London's congestion charge if you're venturing down to the capital.

Unfortunately it also comes with the same snag that's bugging all electric cars on offer right now; you're not going to get to London without a series of lengthy recharges. It's not any fault of the car's, more a lack of charging points that'll let you recharge your batteries. Citroen's city slicker is just that; a city slicker that'll do 100 miles before you run out.

Yet - and I think this is the first time I've said this about an electric car - I like it. Unlike the Nissan LEAF, which is entirely conventional in its size and styling, the C-Zero's creators have remembered that it's unlikely to venture outside of the urban jungle and designed it to survive in its natural habitat. It's small and easy to park, the steering is light and responsive, it packs five people into a very small package and has styling that's just about cheeky enough to stand out. You forget it's an electric car. It's a small, simple car that makes you smile for small, simple reasons.

It is a fun little city car I'd happily spend £10,000 on as an eco-friendly city runabout. It's just a shame it costs £28,000, then.

A great car, then, ruined by a ridiculous pricetag.

A Life On Cars guide to petrolhead Christmas presents

2011-12-01T09:30:00.004Z

AS THE final bits of tinsel went up in The Champion office it dawned on me that it's December and Christmas is upon us. Mince pies, mulled wine, sleigh bells and Band Aid are back firmly on the festive menu.

The only problem is that I'm a petrolhead and - if you're reading this column, so are you - which means running the risk of getting a petrolhead present from a non-petrolhead partner, mum or mate down the pub. Which this year will almost certainly be , the latest in a long line of Jeremy Clarkson DVDs. It is the default Christmas gift if you know someone who likes their cars.

I haven't seen Powered Up yet but I've seen all of the fifteen or so DVDs and videos which preceded it, which have each ended up on my shelf after someone bought it me as a Christmas present. I can therefore safely bet this month's salary that Powered Up will contain the following; a race between some shiny new supercars, an appearance by The Stig, an unloved old car getting destroyed in a new and novel way and an analogy which winds up at least one celebrity. It is Police Academy 7 following Police Academy 6.

You could, of course, get the petrolhead in your life something for Christmas which isn't Clarkson's DVD; how about, for instance, a Land Rover branded lambswool wrap? Or a set of BMW-branded Bluetooth earphones? Or the oldest festive favourite of all, a Ferrari-branded baseball cap? There is no more surefire way of letting people passing you in the street know that you can't afford the car you're advertising at your own expense. Car-branded gifts are not cool. Don't do it.

If you really are stuck for Christmas ideas for the car nut in your family or group of friends then I'll happily suggest any of the following; a track day package, a day's off-roading tuition, a year's subscription to a decent car mag, a glossily-produced coffee table book on your car bore's marque of choice, an artwork from the Steve McQueen or Michael Caine movie of your choice or - if you're really desperate - one of those car care kits available from any department store worth their salt.

I await my DVD-shaped Christmas present from Santa later this month...

Fire up the.... Toyota Yaris 1.3 SR

2011-11-30T11:26:00.002Z

A LONG time ago, in a factory far, far away, Toyota made some epically reliable but unbelievably boring cars.

Chief among these was the Starlet, which back in the early Nineties failed to tempt the supermini faithful out of their Fiestas, largely because it looked so dull. That's why its successor, the original Yaris of 1999, was such a class act. In a stroke the company cracked the small car nut with something stylish and innovatively packaged, and it hasn't looked back since.

It's clear the company still knows how to make an engaging small car - you only need to look at the ingeniously packaged IQ and the cheeky Aygo for proof - but the latest version of the Yaris has some awfully big small car boots to fill.

The main thing you'll notice aboard the new arrival is just how roomy it is.

Admittedly, finding room for people and luggage where you mightn't have expected it has always been a Yaris party trick, but with the 2011 model the world's biggest car company has moved the goalposts again. If you're one of those freakishly tall people who find the Fiesta and Corsa a bit of a squeeze, the extra inches Toyota's eaked out of the Yaris might just swing it for you.

What you also notice is that the likes of the 1.3 SR version I tested are definitely aiming for the upmarket segment of the supermini sector - where people care more for equipment and bombproof reliability than image or driveability - and I doubt anyone familiar with the outgoing model are going to be dissapointed by the quality of the materials and the way it's been screwed together. It's also very generously equipped, with the stereo/satnav interface garnering particular praise, but then it needs to be for almost £15k.

Yet for everything it gains the new Yaris loses some of the ineffable magic which made its two immediate predecessors such a hit, lacking both the cheeky looks of the original and the sparkle that came across on every journey. It's by no means a bad car, but nor is it one that you'd choose over a Fiesta, a Polo or a Jazz.

Unless you're freakishly tall, that is.

Honda to offer go-faster version of CR-Z

2011-11-29T17:37:00.003Z

HONDA'S just announced the sportiest hybrid it makes will be made a little hotter with the announcement that a performance version will arrive next year.

The company said that it has teamed up with tuning firm MUGEN to offer go-faster version of the CR-Z hybrid coupe, which will offer up 50% more power than the existing car and rocket to sixty no less than three seconds faster.

Martin Moll, Head of Honda (UK) marketing said: “MUGEN Euro magic has created a super responsive yet eco-conscious model building on our sporting credentials and giving us the ability to compete in the hot hatch marketplace as we move into 2012.”

The standard CR-Z is the current Life On Cars car of the year, after impressing last year with its blend of performance and eco-friendliness.

The Ford Capri's back, and it's Japanese this time

2011-11-28T23:20:00.004Z

STICK your men's fragrances back on the shelf and unplug your smoothie maker. Metrosexual is out and hairy-chested is back in this season.

I know this because the Ford Capri, that most medallion-wearing, bitter-swigging, cigar-chomping of cars is back, even if it isn't actually a Capri. Or a Ford, for that matter. The only way isn't Essex (or more specifically, Dagenham) anymore. Thanks to Toyota, the only way if you want an outrageously powerful but surprisingly affordable performance car is their new sports coupe.

Yes, I know the newly announced GT-86 - the worst kept secret in motoring until this week - might be Japanese but it really is the iconic Ford reincarnated. It is, like a Capri, rear-wheel-drive, which I know from experience is intoxicating and intimidating in roughly equal measure, depending on the conditions and the weight of your right foot.

Like the later Capris, it's got a big, beefy engine (197bhp 2.0 litre flat four, if you're interested) under an endlessly long bonnet, and just like Essex Man's favourite it's got a swoopy coupe bodyshell. Prices haven't been announced yet but if the pundits' predictions of about £25,000 are on the money, it'll be the performance car bargain of the year. Like a Capri.

The funny thing is that there's a remake of The Sweeney on the way next year, but rather than going for the spiritual successor to all those leather-jacketed Fords of decades gone by they've gone with an actual Ford, in the shape of the front-wheel-drive Focus ST. A hot hatch which I'm sure will be brilliant in the best fast Ford tradition, but can you see the original Regan and Carter riding around in one? Or The Professionals, for that matter? Really? I'm not too sure, Guv.

I suspect Essex Man Junior - if such a medallion-wearing, unbelievably Seventies throwback of a bloke actually exists - would go for the hairy-chested rear wheel driver. I can only hope the baddies in the new Sweeney film, which comes out next year, do pick a GT-86 as their getaway car of choice, in the hope we'll at least be promised the Focus ST being involved in some proper car chases.

Which would be faster? Answers on a postcard to the usual Champion address...

You're nicked!

2011-11-25T15:06:00.004Z

THE latest in a long line of fast Fords has been given a starring role in a remake of a classic Seventies cop show destined for the big screen next year.

Ford confirmed last week that its new Focus ST will be appearing alongside Ray Winstone and Plan B in a feature-length remake of The Sweeney, the classic police procedural starring John Thaw and Dennis Waterman. The company said its new model, which goes on sale next year and musters up 250bhp from a 2.0 litre turbocharged engine, will be powerful enough to ensure the film's crooks “will always struggle to make a clean getaway”.

The original version of The Sweeney has enjoyed a longstanding association with Ford, after its main characters used a variety of Consuls, Cortinas and Granadas to reel in London's villains.

The film version of The Sweeney is due to arrive in cinemas next September but real life Regans and Carters will be able to enjoy the car earlier, when the Focus ST screeches into the showrooms next summer.

Fire up the... Renaultsport Twingo Silverstone GP Edition

2011-11-24T11:14:00.003Z

GILLIAN McKeith, I reckon, would be a big fan of this sporty little number from Renault.

This latest version of the Twingo, you see, has been on a bit of a crash diet, in a bid to get rid of any uneccessary blubber and get into great hot hatch shape. In fact, the only place its piled on the pounds is in the price; this run-out Silverstone GP edition weighs in at £14,995 - more than two grand more than the standard model.

But don't think this is all limited edition badges and no trousers - this run-out version comes with a host of options chosen to appeal to the keen driver, including a stainless steel exhaust system and a performance monitoring system which lets you record your favourite boy racer stats, including your lap times and the amount of time it takes to shoot from nought to sixty. Tip for anyone thinking of thrashing one; 8.7 seconds is your target time.

Despite all the options and the wonderfully cossetting bucket seats, however, this is definitely a hatchback designed for thrills rather than frills, something you can't fail to notice with the rather cheap-feeling interior. Spartan on equipment and clad in tacky grey plastics, it's not a car you buy if you enjoy being pampered in your spare time.

Where this car really shines is not on the motorway - where it's just too noisy to be a comfortable companion - but on the B roads, where it's clear that all the crash dieting and the company's Cup chassis really come good as you dart from corner to corner. It is a fanatically fit streetfighter of a car, and always feels far more frantic than its 133bhp 1.6 litre engine initially suggests.

While it's a bit too raucous for my tastes - for my money I'd still go for the slightly more polished Suzuki Swift Sport tested earlier this year for Life On Cars - it is undoubtedly a true hot hatch in the old school sense, and more than capable of giving weightier rivals a run for their money.

Just don't load it up with too much luggage, otherwise you'll undo all of Renault's hard work!

Unpimp My Ride

2011-11-21T22:39:00.004Z

XZIBIT and Tim Westwood would be disappointed. The first thing I've done with my new MX-5 is to look at the bling accessories on offer and decide not to fit them.

In fact I'm almost going the other way, because at least four of the bits added on by previous owners - the alloy wheels, the steering wheel, the gearknob and the front splitter - are all coming off. As you can probably gather from the photo above, I'm going for a slightly more traditional look.

The wheel on the left is the one that came with the car, and while I know plenty of people like that sort of thing sprouting from their steering column I couldn't shake the Sega Rally connotations, so it had to come off. As anyone who reads this column will already know, one of the things I love most about my MGB GT is its wonderfully traditional wooden wheel, which is why I've fitted a very similar one to the Mazzer. It not only looks the part, but feels it too.

I've also swapped the five-spoke aftermarket alloys for the smaller, standard MX-5 ones (which not only look better, and give a softer ride too) but the not-at-all-gaudy blue gearknob is being replaced by something a little more fitting for a retro sports car, and there's some wooden trim on the way to make the interior slightly more sumptuous.

Don't get me wrong, I don't dissaprove at all of modifying cars, but it'd be a dull old world if we all liked the same things and I just think a traditionalist sports car looks better with wood, leather and chrome than boy racer alloys and a Playstation steering wheel. Hopefully the finished result will look as good in the pictures as I imagine it!

It's amazing how a few bits bought relatively cheaply can take your classic from The Fast and The Furious to Heartbeat in an instant.

The reinvented Lambretta is a scooter I'd happily ride

2011-11-20T23:18:00.003Z

AS A rule of thumb I don't really do bikes, but every so often I'll make an exception.

Especially if the bike - sorry, scooter - in question happens to be a bit of an Italian icon that seems to have slipped under the petrolhead radar until now. Maybe that's because this is Life On Cars and I'm not exactly known for leafing through Scootering while loitering in WH Smith, but even so this relaunched Lambretta looks very alluring!

I've always been a bit of a Mod at heart, even going so far as to own a Vespa in my student days, but Lambrettas have always had a bit of an elusive quality because they're rare, treasured by their owners and therefore almost always an expensive thing to purchase. In fact, with the original scooters going out of production in the early 1970s your only chance to own a new Lambretta lately has been by popping down to your nearest trendy clothes shop.

But now someone's finally cottoned on that Lambretta is a cool brand, which is why the reinvented versions apparently proven such a hit sinch its UK relaunch earlier this year. What they've produced is what surely must be to motorbikes what the MINI and Fiat 500 are to cars; timeless and achingly trendy styling matched to modern day mechanicals. Throw in 50cc and 125cc engines almost tailor-made to fit the UK's learner riders and you've got a very cool and surprisingly green way of getting to work.

It's almost enough to enough to tempt me back onto two wheels. Shame my garage is full...

For more information about the relaunched Lambretta scooter go to the company's website www.lambrettamotorcycles.com

Forget the looks, the best bit about the new Honda Civic is the doors

2011-11-16T13:09:00.003Z

THE outgoing Honda Civic was always a car I'd buy with my heart. Yet - as anyone who's ever tried to get into the back of one will testify - it's absolutely not one you can buy with your head.

I had this point proven to me at a Honda dealership last night, when I was invited to play Spot The Difference between the Civic you know and love, and the new model, which goes on sale at the end of the year. I haven't driven the new model yet but after poring over both in nauseatingly boring detail I can tell you Honda has eliminated the old car's biggest problem; that you bang your head if you're getting in the back.

The old car's worst feature, amazingly, is a byproduct of its best; that its styling is such a brilliant aesthetic achievement. In 2006, just as Ford's restyled Focus was losing its Blake's Seven looks, along came Honda with something that looked like it'd been stolen from the set of Bladerunner. Here was, in a field of humdrum hatchbacks, something which looked and felt genuinely radical and edgy. It's just a shame the rear doors had a roofline which cut right across where your head naturally goes as you're getting into the back seats. I don't think I've ever got into one without ending up with a very sorry feeling scalp!

However, Honda's engineers realised this, and set the best boffins at their Minor Injuries Avoidance Department to the task of eliminating it from the new model. There are, if you're thinking of buying a 2012 Civic, many things which count in its favour, but its single biggest advancement is the saving you'll make in packets of frozen peas and Elastoplast. The funding crisis hitting the NHS hard will surely be softened as the queue of Honda Civic rear passengers at Accident and Emergency departments up and down the land disappears as the Honda faithful flock to the new arrival. People who wear hats will no longer fear for their headgear if they're asked to get into the back of a Civic.

Whether the new arrival's as appealing as the old one is something I'll only know once I've driven it, and I've got high hopes for Honda's latest effort. If its handling, performance and refinement are anything like as good as its rear door access, it'll be a hit.

For a car that's retained the original's wedgy shape, the Minor Injuries Avoidance Department have done a cracking job.

Fire up the.... BMW X3 3.0d

2011-11-15T16:22:00.002Z

AS I clambered into the big BMW's leather-lined cockpit and fired up its 3.0 litre turbodiesel engine, I made sure I'd left my preconceptions at the side of the road.

It's not that I've anything against the Bavarian motor maker's line up of ‘X' branded off-roaders, but more that since the first X5s appeared on British roads in 2000 I've spent years trying to remove them from their natural habitat of a few feet from the back bumper of whatever I'm driving. As someone who's spent years being tormented by drivers of BMW's off-roaders I am perfectly placed to absolutely hate the company's new and much improved X3.

But - having worn the boot on the other foot and driven it - I don't. In fact, I actually rather like it.

It is, for something roughly the same size of my old student flat, usefully brisk when you put your foot down. The X3 3.0d is emphatically not a fast car - for that you'll be wanting the meatier and thirstier petrol-propelled versions - but its turn of speed is enough to power down the middle lane of a motorway of your choice, looking down quite literally on other road users. It has that classic commanding driving position so beloved of White Van Man and off-roader owners.

But where it differs from both their vehicles is that you can also aim at an X3 at the twisty corners of a country lane and it'll respond not like an off-roader, but like a BMW, which in layman's terms means its a fine handler for something so tall. BMW's made this trick its schtick with all its off roaders, and it's business as usual with the new arrival.

It's also wonderfully accomodating inside, with plenty of space and gadgets aplenty - although you'd expect that for the £40,000 pricetag. More tastefully upholstered than Linda Barker's living room and built like a nuclear bunker, it is a lovely place to soak up the miles.

Is the £40,000 off-roader I'd buy? No, because I've test driven a rival I'd rather have which will be appearing on Life On Cars in the near future. But the big BMW's biggest achievement is that I really, really wanted not to like it, and I do.

It's that good a car.

Forget the midlife crisis, the Mazda MX-5 is a brilliant sports car

2011-11-10T11:47:00.003Z

MY MIDLIFE crisis has arrived at least a decade early.

That's the reckoning of my Facebook friends, reacting to the news that I've bought what I reckon is a seminal small sports car. After a lot of saving up and careful searching, I've finally got myself a Mazda MX-5!

Regular readers will remember that last week I failed in my pub-based exploits to buy an early MK1 on eBay (thanks for all your tips and suggestions, everyone who emailed in) but in the end I found what I was looking for in the classifieds of this very newspaper. A tidy blue roadster which, despite having clocked up over 100,000 miles in its 20 year life, felt tight as a drum to drive.

I've already braced myself for the armchair pundits' argument; the MX-5, lots of you have already told me, is either a girl's car or a flashing belisha beacon alerting other road users to an impending midlife crisis. Luckily, I have my ripposte ready to go, and it comes in the form of a question to all you MX-5 cynics. Have you actually driven one?

If you have then you'll have felt the finesse of its handling, revelled in the go-kart responsiveness of its steering and enjoyed what I reckon has always been its best feature; the flick-of-the-wrist gearchange. The first time I drove two years ago, is forever etched into my memory as a masterclass of how well a good car can handle.

True, these are features you'll find fitted to my MGB as standard, but the difference between a British sports car and a Japanese one is that the latter is built properly. MX-5s, in a nutshell, are fun sports cars that work properly. That's why it is by far and away the world's best selling sports car and why every car maker on Earth has copied it; if it wasn't for the MX-5 there wouldn't have been an MGF, an SLK or a Boxster.

When I was lucky enough to take a brand new one into the wilds of Wales last year, I fell in love with it, and that's why I decided to take the plunge and actually get one all of my own. Will it be better to drive, to own, and to live with than the Minis I'm used to? I look forward to letting you know.

If a midlife crisis is anywhere near as much as fun as an MX-5 is mid-corner on some twisty mountain road, then bring it on.

Fire up the... Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet 1.6 TDI

2011-11-09T16:44:00.000Z

GOLF, as anyone who's enjoyed a couple of rounds at the Royal Birkdale knows, is best enjoyed outdoors.

I reckon it's as true for the car as it is for the game, which is why it's so refreshing to see the good old Golf Cabriolet name making a comeback to Volkswagen's showrooms. In much the same way that the Golf GTI is synonymous with the hot hatchback, so the Golf Cabriolet is one of the icons of the open-top world.

You might have thought the company had played all its cabriolet cards with the Eos and its slick metal roof, but the smaller, soft-top Golf is positioned slightly below its older sister, in a bid to appeal to younger style-conscious buyers.

Costing roughly a grand less than the Eos across the range, it's giving fans of al fresco Volkswagens more choice than ever before.

The great thing the Golf, based on the proven mechanicals of the sixth-generation hatchback, has in its favour are its looks. Unusually for a cabriolet it's appealing with the roof up AND down, with the steep rake of the canvas hood giving it an almost coupe-like look when it's raining. The folding metal roofs which are de rigeur amongst its rivals might offer you more security, but on style alone the Golf's got ‘em licked.

The 1.6 diesel version I tested didn't offer a spectactulary exciting drive but there's plenty else to count in its favour, pulling well throughout the rev range while remaining quiet at higher speeds. Importantly for a cabriolet there's very little in the way of buffeting - the unwanted gust of wind that messes your hair up - and decision to decapitate the Golf doesn't seem to have spoilt any of its handling or composure.

Would one buy one? That depends on how badly you want a fancy folding metal roof with your flash cabriolet, in which case it's the older and slightly larger Eos you'll want.

In terms of driving, looks and packaging though I reckon the Golf's the better buy. But only slightly.

I still haven't found what I'm looking for

2011-11-07T22:42:00.004Z

LAST Sunday night I did something very stupid. I should have heeded the warnings. Cars, drink and mobile phones are a dangerous combination.

Luckily, I'd had just the one pint of Guinness so I realised when I'd had a lucky escape. I sauntered sadly back to the bar, ordered another and stuck the change in the jukebox. As I dipped my lips into the creamy froth I contemplated what I'd very nearly just done; I'd very nearly bought an old sports car over a pint with a smartphone.

Again.

The problem, your honour, started a couple of months ago when I realised that what my life was missing was a Mazda MX-5, the little soft top sports cars you see being driven around in the height of summer with their pop-up headlights and their grinning owners. So I sold the Mini and started saving up. Eventually, the day came when I realised I'd earned just about enough to get a tidy little runner.

That's how, over a quiet pint, a mate whipped out his smartphone, fired up eBay and introduced me to a world into which I've never previously ventured; buying cars on eBay. He had just the thing for me - a nice, clean MX-5 with 85,000 alleged miles on the clock, and mine for just £660. As long as nobody else outbid me in the minute the auction had left to go.

"£750," I chirped confidently. "Nobody's going to offer more than that with a minute to go."

But they did. Some smug so-and-so immediately offered £770. It was getting tense, and I was lost in the cerebral buzz of it all.

"£800. Thirty seconds."

The bargain MX-5 of the century was mine. Then it wasn't. The smug so-and-so chipped in with £820. The final 15 seconds were fading fast.

"£850," I nodded to my smartphone-wielding mate. "I'll give you the money for it tomorr..."

"Sorry mate, it's gone", my mate replied with a sympathetic expression. "Someone's got a bargain for £820."

And that was it. I'd either missed it or survived a close call with destiny. Either way, I'd just tried to buy a car on the other side of the country, completely unseen, with a smartphone and a pint of Guinness Extra Cold to guide me.

I escaped buying an old car on eBay and realised my lucky escape. I celebrated immediately with another pint.

Lexus hots up its hybrid hatchback

2011-11-05T14:00:00.003Z

LEXUS, it seems, are way ahead of me.

When I test drove the CT-200h earlier this year I walked away impressed but slightly frustrated; it was a hugely impressive hybrid hatchback, but "it isn't the last word in excitement". It was, I wrongly concluded, business as usual when it came to Japan's 1-Series bater. Even Kylie Minogue struggled to make the standard version look exciting.

But now the Japanese luxury car master's just spiced up the smallest of its models, meaning you can now enjoy a sports version of its hybrid hatchback.

The CT-200h Sport comes with the same eco-friendly powerplant as the normal version but it's been blessed with a tasty set of 17-inch alloy wheels, a new rear spoiler, flared sideskirts and a racy mesh grille among other cosmetic updates, meaning that while it doesn't have any extra go it offers plenty more show.

The company is, however, promising sportier handling, and said it's tuned the CT 200h F-Sport’s suspension for a more engaging drive, and fitted a lateral damping system as standard.

Yet for all the aggressive styling it's still an automotive eco activist thanks to its clever petrol/electric technology, meaning that it'll still return 68mpg and - thanks to its low emissions - cost nothing at all to tax.

In a stroke Lexus has just eliminated my main criticism of the CT-200h; that, for all its clever features, it was a bit boring. It's now just a little more Fast and Furious and a little less Friends of the Earth, and that's all I'd ask of it.

The CT-200h is available to order from Lexus showrooms now and costs £27,850.

Life On Cars, Issue Seven!

2011-10-31T14:15:00.002Z

THE LATEST edition of the Life On Cars magazine is ready!

Packed with the latest motoring reviews, news and features, it's an edition with winter in mind, and there's plenty behind the snowy cover to keep you entertained as the nights draw in.

Enjoy the read and let us know what you think...

Open publication - Free publishing - More cars

Life On Cars: the next issue

2011-10-28T21:46:00.003+01:00

EAGLE-eyed readers might have already spotted that the Ferrari Enzo on this very blog is now a brand new Skoda.

That's because there's a new issue of the Life On Cars Magazine on the way, and this rather wintry cover is all I can offer as a bit of a sneak preview. The finished product should be ready to read in the next couple of days.

Hope you're looking forward to it...

The older editions, including the Ormskirk MotorFest preview edition, can still be read by clicking here.

Fire up the... Vauxhall Insignia VXR

2011-10-27T13:52:00.003+01:00

THERE was a cracking piece in The Champion a couple of weeks ago about a man who used to keep a lion in his back garden every night.

Admittedly he did work for Southport Zoo but he still must be one of the few prepared to put up with a hard-earned reputation as one of the world's most ferocious and powerful predators, in a world where most people would opt for a slightly tamer tabby as a pet. It's exactly the same scenario with the Vauxhall VXR8 I tested earlier this year. I absolutely loved the growl from its V8 engine and its leopard-like talent for sheer speed, but it's a beast I'd struggle to own. It really is using a nuclear warhead to crack a nut.

Vauxhall however realise this and have just the thing for speed freaks grounded in reality, in the sleek shape of the Insignia VXR. As nutcrackers go this is one I doubt you'll be dissappointed with; it really is one of the world's great ground coverers.

Take the VXR8 out for a spin and it feels as though it's constantly on the verge of exploding into a surge of shotgun acceleration, which is exciting when you're in the mood for it but I'd imagine would start to grate slightly on the Monday morning commute. The Insignia's 2.8 V6 is much better, being docile and quiet enough for everyday jobs but you always know that you've no less than 325bhp at your disposal, ready to deploy at the slightest twitch of the right foot. It's particularly handy on motorways, where it'll effortlessly cruise for miles at a time.

But where the range-topping Insignia really shines is when you hunker down into its bucket seats and set if off along a twisty country road, where its four wheel drive and the composure of its chassis really starts to shine. For such a big car it really is a delight to drive, and with plenty of room and gizmos insides it's unlikely your passengers are going to start complaining.

You might think the VXR's £36,000 is its biggest problem but in fact it's its styling; the Insignia is a finely styled saloon, but somehow I can't help thinking the VXR cosmetics make it look like it was made by Nike rather than Vauxhall. Park it up next to say, a Jag XF and it's knocked for six in terms of style and prestige.

But you would have said the same thing about the Lotus Carlton twenty years ago, a car that's gone onto become a classic on account of its ability to effortlessly devour any road it comes across in a way which puts a huge smile on your face.

The Insignia VXR follows in that noble tradition, which is why I'd have one over its cartoonish big brother any day.

The great British insurance ripoff

2011-10-25T12:59:00.004+01:00

LIFE ON CARS has been innundated this week with responses from readers who say they are being crippled by the soaring cost of car insurance.

Last week we reported on a Commons enquiry which has been set up to investigate the rising cost of premiums, particularly for younger drivers, and residents from across the region have got in touch to share their thoughts on the issue.

Maureen Gladhill reported difficulties in getting quotes for her two daughters, and said:

"I feel that it is onerous and extremely difficult to pass a driving test nowadays and yet the greedy insurers still penalise young drivers, I feel so sorry for our young people, hammered with extortionate tuition fees, no job prospects and hammered by the insurance industry, it is about time for a parliamentary enquiry.

"I expect the insurers will claim the amount of claims (fraudulent or otherwise) account for premium increases, but I know that the government has tightened up on no win no fee with the new insurance portal system, so come on."

Last week a Transport Select Committee was set up in Westminster to look at the cost of car insurance, armed with new research which suggests a whopping 96% of younger drivers feel they are being "priced off the road" due to high insurance premiums.

A reader from Maghull, who did not wish to be named, agreed with that view and said:

"I fear these insurance companies are seeing an easy target within the driving community not only with young drivers but all drivers in general.

"All in all its a complete rip off. Not only for being young, male, female the car you drive but also dependent where you live. You are discriminated for where you live which I also feel is totally unacceptable. It's a joke and although i dont agree with having no insurance and driving around, I can see why it's an option. The insurance companies need a strip tearing from them and told to drop their prices."

The car insurance industry responded to the Parliamentary enquiry by saying that the rise in claims from personal injury lawsuits and an increase in uninsured driving had helped to drive costs up.

Otto Thoresen, director general of the Association of British Insurers, said:

"Rising claims costs from personal injury claims, excessive legal costs, insurance fraud and uninsured driving, coupled with lower investment returns in recent years, have unfortunately led to rising motor insurance bills for many customers.

"In fact the motor insurance sector has not been profitable for the last sixteen years because the amount paid out in claims and expenses has been greater than that received in premiums."

Younger motorists have reported paying premiums which are hundreds - if not thousands - of pounds in order to get insured, which has led to worries being discussed at the committee that increasing numbers of motorists are resorting to driving with no insurance at all.

Sue Bruce was another parent who complained of crippling prices to insure her children, and told Life On Cars:

"I have paid £3,500 for my 18 year old son to be on the road in this Citroen C1 which incidentally is not much more than the car cost. I do appreciate that the insurance companies have to cover themselves for the small amount of young people that do drive erratic on the roads, but when my daughter passed her test the insurance was £1,900 which is a big difference.

"Maybe these insurance companies. could come up with some kind of scheme where they would accept the driver paying monthly then earning some kind of a no claims bonus month by month therefore making it more affordable for young drivers to get on the road."

Sixties style, Teenies tech

2011-10-24T21:58:00.007+01:00

IT'S nice to think that when people go onto West Lancashire Borough Council's website to sort out their council tax, they might well be granted with this wonderfully evocative image featuring my very own MGB GT.

I only discovered this poignant picture of MGs from years gone by the other day when I was checking a possible Champion story out but I'll let you into a little secret; I haven't actually driven the bumble B much since that sunny Bank Holiday weekend. In fact, it's been holed up in a garage since then, undergoing a series of subtle but hugely beneficial upgrades.

First off, it's been treated to a much newer and less holey tailgate, which should do wonders in preventing the small lake which lives in the boot appearing every time it rains. Until it's finished I've been limited to taking the MGB out on days when I know it isn't going to rain, which with it being Britain means I've taken it out twice in the past month. It's frustrating, but my luggage will thank me for it!

Another essential bit of kit Santa's brought early is a new fuel tank which - trust me - isn't as dull as it sounds. My biggest bugbear with the BGT is that thanks to having the original fuel tank it suffers with the same problem as every other fortysomething smoker; its lungs are filled with muck, so it coughs and splutters if you ask it go for a run. A new fuel tank means not only less time coughing and spluttering at the side of the road but should actually mean it'll be able to dump more fuel into its two enormous carburettors, more of the time. Which'll make it faster.

But what I'm really looking forward to is the new stereo I've just had fitted to it, which moves the MGB's in car entertainment from a very stodgy Pioneer radio job from the early Eighties straight through to the very latest MP3-ready, USB compatible, digitally futuristic job I could afford. Get this; it's a a 1972 car with a DVD player!

This immediately begs two questions.

Should a 40-year-old classic have such a defiantly modern stereo? Admittedly, I did agonise over whether to fit a retro stereo, but decided against it because a) they're expensive, b) life is too short for a shoddy Seventies eight track stereo and c) the old stereo wasn't the original anyway, so I figured fitting an even newer one wasn't about to dent its originality. I'm sure the purists will sneer at classic car shows, but that'll be twice a year. Enjoying the right accoustics, on the other hand, is an everyday delight.

Do I need a car stereo with an inbuilt DVD player? I've tried to kid everyone that it's to keep me entertained on camping trips but the answer's a tad simpler than that; I am male, and all men love needless gadgets, especially ones in MG-style retro packaging. If I had enough time and expertise I'd build the world's first WiFi-equipped MGB, brimmed with weapons grade technology and gadgets that'd give a Porsche 959 a run for its money.

Which the leaky tailgate would immediately ruin...

Fire up the... Toyota Auris Hybrid

2011-10-20T16:54:00.002+01:00

TRAFFIC JAMS. You hate them just as much as I do, but it's where this clever hybrid hatchback from the world's biggest car company starts showing off.

Slip the hybrid version of Toyota's mid-sized hatch into its EV - or Electric Vehicle - mode and it suddenly becomes your very own Coalition Government, refusing to let you spend any money at all by frittering away precious fuel. Instead it sidles along in silence, determining not to restart its 1.8 litre engine unless you mash your foot to the floor. Like its pricier Prius sister, crawling through jams using absolutely no petrol at all is the Auris Hybrid's party trick.

Toyota practically invented the hybrid - the car which combines petrol with electric motors in the quest for eco-friendly motoring - over a decade ago with the original Prius, but I reckon the Auris is actually the better buy. It might not come with the Cameron Diaz celebrity endorsement its more iconic sibling gets but what you do get is a slightly more resolved package.

The Auris is, to my mind at least, not only better looking than the Prius but also a better drive, giving you more confidence once you leave the jams, stick it Power Mode and drive it like, well, like a car. No, it isn't going to make you the Jenson Button through the bends but thanks to its effortless auto box, fingertip light steering and a handy amount of grunt from its petrol-burning department it is startling easy to drive. Only the slightly fidgety ride and a lack of all-round visibility let the side down but otherwise I reckon it's got the Prius - an impressive car in its own right, don't forget - licked.

If your drive to work involves lots of twisty lanes then this probably isn't the car for you; it's too woolly and not communicative enough for cross-country work, where the petrol-powered traditionalists like Ford's Focus still rule the roost. If, on the other hand, your commute seems to be a never ending series of traffic jams, the Auris Hybrid is well worth a look.

Your wallet will thank you for it.

The new BMW 3 Series

2011-10-18T15:46:00.003+01:00

BMW's got back to doing what it does best after it unveiled the latest generation of its 3 Series saloon last weekend.

The Munich motor makers confirmed that the latest version of its compact executive car will start at £24,100 when it goes on sale next February, with a choice of four different engines available when it reaches the showrooms.

A spokesperson for the company said:

"The new BMW 3 Series Saloon is a car of contradictions: larger and more spacious than the model it replaces, but lighter; quicker in many cases, but more fuel-efficient; and more nimble and agile while even safer. There have been big steps forward in style, quality, comfort and specification for only a minimal price increase.

"A wider choice of trim levels and an extensive personalisation programme will allow 3 Series Saloon buyers to order virtually a bespoke car."

The 3 Series Saloon one of the BMW's biggest sellers, responsible for one-fifth of the company’s global sales.

Prepare to fire up the... Renault Twizy

2011-10-16T21:23:00.003+01:00

A RENAULT that's not even a car is set to arrive in the company's UK showrooms from spring next year.

The two-seater Twizy is described by the French firm as “an urban compact vehicle”, and uses an electric battery to power a narrow four-wheeler which blurs the lines between an electric car, a scooter and a quad bike.

But if that makes you think of mobility scooters used by the elderly, consider that it'll do 50mph and - thanks to its low weight - is capable of outdragging most conventional city cars away from the lights, while Renault are promising its nimbleness will make it great fun to drive.

Prices for the Twizy will start at £6,690, with monthly battery hire costing £40. For more information check out the Renault website at www.renault.co.uk

Video: Hyundai Velostar

2011-10-14T16:05:00.004+01:00

IT'S not often I'll upload the videos manufacturers make to plug their own models, but I thought I'd make an exception for this swoopy coupe.

Hyundai's got a bit of track record for injecting a touch of style into its sportier two door models, and the Velostar - which is technically a three door thanks to some clever engineering - carries it on for the firm in fine form.

So sit back, grab some popcorn and enjoy some lovely footage of what I reckon could be one of next year's big hits...

Italy's cars help brighten up our rainy British landscapes

2011-10-12T12:28:00.003+01:00

THE spaghetti bolognese came served with a question. Why don't I feature more Italian cars in this column?

Well, Mr Waiter at my favourite Italian restaurant, this one's for you. I'm as much a fan of Italy's cars as I am of its food. Which means I like them a lot!

I could be obvious and spend the next 300 words explaining the appeal of expensive exotics which all have a million horsepower and names ending with “i” but that'd be doing a disservice to all those wonderfully Italian cars you and I can actually afford, which help to make Britain's rain-lashed roads a slightly brighter place.

Take the Fiat 500, or specifically the glorious Abarth version I tested for Life On Cars. With its cheeky, slightly reto styling and its mini-Ferrari soundtrack it is the perfect embodiment of all that's good with Italy's automotive industry; maybe not as well rounded as its German, French or Japanese counterparts but somehow all the more engaging for it. If it's a city slicker, clearly Rome was the city its creators had in mind.

The traditional ripposte, of course, is that the cars coming off the production lines in Turin and Milan aren't as sturdy as the ones from Stuttgart and Wolfsburg, which when you look at how Fiat and Alfa do in the reliability surveys you can tell is at least partly true. But it's also true that one of the country's biggest successes isn't even built there - the aforementioned 500 is in fact screwed together in a Polish factory - and that last time I drove an Alfa Giulietta not one of its many components broke or stopped working in any way.

Besides, getting hung up about build quality would deny you what I reckon is one of the greatest car designs ever to come out of Italy, and I'm not talking about the Ferrari Dino, the Maserati Ghibli or the Lancia Stratos. They're all masterpieces but they're almost always consigned to museums and shows these days. The Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon, on the other hand, is still making supermarket car parks prettier places to this day.

The 156 saloon is a stunner in its own right and no bad place to start, but the Sportwagon I think is a true design classic because it's the only estate I can think of which significantly improves the styling of the car it's based on.

Just don't mention that it's less - not more - spacious than the saloon and therefore useless as an estate. What's losing an argument when you're doing it with style?

Is car insurance for the young too expensive?

2011-10-11T13:16:00.002+01:00

A PARLIAMENTARY committee led by a Liverpool MP has come to the same conclusion most motorists already know; that car insurance is crippingly expensive for younger drivers.

This week the Transport Select Committee has reopened its inquiry into the cost of car insurance, armed with new research which suggests a whopping 96% of younger drivers feel they are being “priced off the road” due to high insurance premiums.

Liverpool Riverside MP Louise Ellman, the committee's chairperson, said:

“I am extremely concerned about these results, which show that young drivers think they are being priced off the road because of the high cost of motor insurance. It is shocking that so many young drivers are considering breaking the law – by driving without insurance or changing the details they provide to insurers – in order to get a cheaper premium.

"It's revealing that most young drivers are also unaware that many insurers receive referral fees in order to deal with claims they make. This highlights why the committee called for referral fees to be made more transparent in its report on the cost of motor insurance earlier this year."

However, insurers continue to charge younger drivers higher prices than their older counterparts, and point to high accident rates to justify them - Department for Transport statistics show that although people under 25 make up just 12% of those on the roads, they're involved in more than a quarter of the accidents.

Are you a younger driver being hit by the cost of insuring your car? Or do you think the accident statistics justify the prices? Share your thoughts by sending an email to david.simister@champnews.com

Fire up the... Abarth 500C Essesse

2011-10-08T16:48:00.003+01:00

NEVER, so the old saying goes, judge a book by its cover. Especially not if the book in question is in fact Fiat's 500.

The 500's stylish retro shape is surely the Courtney Cox of the car world - in automotive terms it's getting on a bit, but it seems to have defied the ageing process and doesn't look a day older than it did five years ago. Cutesy it might be, but dated it definitely isn't.

Stranger still is that Fiat have somehow managed to create entirely different cars underneath those pretty curves, because while the Abarth 500C looks strikingly similar to its small car sisters, it couldn't feel more different. While the TwinAir 500 came across as a nostalgic nod to the original 1957 Fiat 500 and a generation of Italian scooters thanks to its natty engine noise, the Abarth feels as though Fiat's tried to sqeeze an entire Ferrari underneath the 500's skin!

This is immediately obvious when you start it up, because - unlike the TwinAir - the Abarth's blessed with one of motoring's great engine notes, a rally car warble at low revs which builds up to a Pavarotti-esque bellow when you put your foot down. It's a note that comes courtesy of an engine very similar to the one Life On Cars tested in the Abarth Punto last year, only in the smaller 500 you can really make the most of its 160bhp.

The particular Abarth I tried also came fitted with the company's Essesse kit, which is a must because it provides not only more in the way of straight-line punch but also upgrades in the ride and handling department, which transform the 500 from being a slightly soft city slicker to something which really inspires your confidence. You can also opt for some very Italian colour schemes to finish it all off, but it's hardly the last word in subtlety and if it were my money I'd go for the metallic grey of the particular car I tested.

Is it worth the £16,000 asking price? That depends on how much space you want with your pace, because the likes of Citroen's DS3 will offer you a similarly fun drive but with plenty more room for your luggage and rear seat passengers. If, however, you want something with an endlessly engaging personality and sense of style than the Abarth will prove a characterful companion.

It might be completely different from the last Fiat 500 you tried, but it's still a great book behind its appealing cover.

We should raise the motorway speed limit - but with a few strings attached

2011-10-06T15:54:00.003+01:00

HOW many motorway drivers does it take to change a lightbulb?

Given the not-at-all defensive tone of most of the articles about proposals to revamp the motorway speed limit, I thought I'd wait a week for the dust to settle to write mine, and open it with a joke. The answer, of course, is that none of them should even be attempting it. Not when they're at the helm of a tonne of metal doing 70mph. Or 80mph, for that matter. There is nothing funny about getting motorway drivers to change a lightbulb. This is serious business.

My dad actually wrote a letter to his MP urging him to vote against any attempts to raise the motorway speed limit to 80mph, saying it was “ludicrous”. Lots of you - mainly the Tory party - argue it's high time to add another 10mph to the speed limit. Others, including every road safety group you care to think of, say it'll lead to more accidents and all end in tears.

For what it's worth I don't agree with sticking with 70mph - but I don't necessarily agree with raising it either.

The thing to remember is that the 70mph was instigated in 1965, when most motorists ventured onto these newfangled superhighways in Ford Anglias and Austin 1100s equipped with skinny tyres and brakes the size of milk bottle tops. It doesn't take Jeremy Clarkson to tell you that today's motors of the masses - Focus, Golf, Astra - will easily outrun, outbrake and outhandle their fortysomething ancestors, and they're crammed full of airbags, anti whiplash zones and crumple zones even if they don't. Getting less than five stars in the Euro NCAP crash tests is very bad form in 2011, and it's for this reason I reckon modern cars at least are more than equipped to handle an 80mph limit.

Unfortunately, their drivers aren't. To this day the basic driving test doesn't include any motorway driving, which is insane and almost certainly explains all the middle lane hoggers, the headlight flashers, the outside laners who insist on doing exactly 69.99mph and the ones who think it's fine to shoot out from a slip road into lane three in a single ignorant swoop. Weirdly, there seems to be a correlation between all these drivers and sales of BMW's X5.

So I'd happily back an 80mph limit as long as those expected to do it are forced to learn how to drive on motorways properly. I've said it before and I'll say it again; I honestly believe speed, if you're trained how to use it properly and responsibly, is harmless in the right conditions.

On the other hand, we could ban all BMW X5s from the entire motorway network. Problem solved!

Will the winter weather bring woe to classic car owners?

2011-10-04T17:24:00.005+01:00

NOBODY else at The Champion has written it yet so I thought I'd get the ball rolling - it's only 11 weeks ‘til Christmas!

Don't worry, I'm not going to ask you whether you think the Christmas rush arrives too early these days but I've put to readers of tomorrow's Champion an entirely different problem, which hits lots of car nuts at roughly the same time every year. ‘Tis the season to be asking.

Where do you stash your pride and joy over the winter?

If you own, say, a Honda Jazz you're probably going to be completely unmoved by the question, in which case you're more than welcome to flick forward a few pages and check out this week's sports news. Modern cars are built to cope with frost and ice and grit and all those other unbearably cold and corrosive things commonly found during winter, in which case you're not going to worry about leaving one on your driveway for the duration. Classic cars, though, are an entirely different rusty kettle of fish.

Leave anything made, say, by British Leyland out in the open for more than six months and it'll start rotting in places you wouldn't have thought rot was possible (and I know this from the joys of Mini ownership). If you own a car made before, ooh, the Eighties and don't want it to dissolve into an iron oxide heap before next spring, you'll be wanting somewhere warm and dry to keep it.

Luckily, I have a garage for my MG but there's plenty of people I know who don't or simply have too many old cars for the one lock up they own, which is where the headache begins. There are garages you can rent but they're usually one-off lock-ups, meaning it's difficult to keep the old cars you've accumulated in one, cheap and affordable space.

Nor am I calling for the sort of specialist storage sites you find advertised in the back of Classic and Sports Car, which are used largely by supercar owners who keep them wrapped in cotton wool for eye-wateringly expensive months at a time. If you own an old Ferrari this is all fine and dandy, but most of the enthusiasts I know don't and can't afford it.

No, what we need is somewhere that's basic and cheap but dry and secure, where you can store your classic car and know that it isn't rotting away in all weathers.

Who's with me?

Do you agree? Share your thoughts by sending an email to david.simister@hotmail.co.uk or call 07581 343476.

So long, Mini Sprite!

2011-10-02T20:24:00.004+01:00

THE EXPERIMENT is over. Another of the Life Of Cars fleet has flown the nest!

Regular readers might recall that through most of last year I ran around in an original Mini, which was so comically unreliable that I sold it. With it being the ultra rare Mayfair Automatic, flogging it was my first mistake. Replacing it with another example of Longbridge's finest, I reckoned at the time, was my second.

Yet after finally selling it this weekend, I've come to a completely different conclusion. Two cars made in the same factory by the same people in roughly the same period of history couldn't be more different. If the Mini were a play, it'd be Blood Brothers.

My K-reg Sprite might not have been as sought after as my old Mayfair Automatic but it was everything the older car wasn't: fast, frugal, tight, confidence-inspiring and beautifully finished. Above all, it was one thing which I absolutely wasn't expecting to be after my months of mishaps in 2009 and 2010.

Reliable.

Dorothy, as I called her, might have been a little rough around the edges, she might have needed a bit of boot floor welding to get through and MOT and she didn't care much for heavy downpours, but not once did she let me down. She was also, thanks to a manual gearbox and a bigger engine, much more useable on motorways and on the tricky roads of the Lake District. She was - as I pointed out to the couple who've added her to their own fleet - a Mini you can really can use every day. As long as you look after her, of course.

The one thing both the Minis I've owned did have in common was the heart of every Mini's appeal; that it's ridiculously good fun to drive. I've driven the best pocket rockets Citroen, Renault, VW, Peugeot, Suzuki and even the makers of the modern MINI have to offer and none of them offer the smiles per mile a properly sorted classic Mini does. I have yet to get behind the wheel of a front wheel driver that's more fun.

Why then, did I get rid of it? Because Life On Cars is a broad church that revels in all things automotive, and there are so many other driving experiences I'd like to try. The MGB GT which got so many admiring looks at the Ormskirk MotorFest, for instance, isn't really finished yet. There's also all manner of old cars which keep getting my attention. One chap after my Mini even offered me a tidy MX-5 as a straight swap. I said no, but I was sorely tempted!

So I can end Mini ownership on an upbeat note, because I now know you can buy one that won't let you down. I don't reget selling it because it frees up the funds to get the MG up to scratch, but boy I'll miss it.

Come on VW, bring the beach buggy back

2011-09-30T08:58:00.003+01:00

TRUE to tradition the best of a bunch of new baby Volkswagens is in fact a Skoda.

Germany's giant of the car industry spent ages teasing us with the up! - which for the sake of keeping our grammar school pedants happy I'm going to immediately rename Up - which finally kills off the firm's unloved Fox in favour of a proper, cleverly thought out city car contender. Five minutes later Skoda (a Volkswagen-owned company, don't forget) launched a startingly similar car called the Citigo, which I'll bet my shoes will be every bit as good as the Veedub but quite a bit cheaper. Shot, self, foot and so on.

What grabbed my attention though was an Up which probably won't be arriving in your nearest showroom any time soon, called the Buggy Up. In a nutshell, it is a bright orange beach buggy, and beach buggies are very cool. During last week's unseasonably warm weather I'd have loved to have one in the garage.

Think about it; in an instant VW's moved the Up from its natural habitat of Liverpool city centre on a grey Monday morning to some sun-kissed boulevard in California which probably only exists in the heads of marketing men and Beach Boys fans. I've always had a soft spot for them because they are in essence convertibles with added convertible-ness and rugged styling, which is why I think the beach buggies based on the old VW Beetle sold as well as they did in the Sixties.

Sure, I appreciate that in Britain you'll look stupid if you turn up to business meetings in Burscough in a bright orange beach buggy, soaked because it's raining yet again, but VW would daft not to at least try selling it to the Americans.

Then again, some enterprising Skoda employees would probably launch their own version five minutes later. Shot, self, foot...

Mini run to Blackpool

2011-09-29T08:33:00.004+01:00

FOR the second time in the space of week I've ended up in Blackpool on a classic car run, although the classic car in question couldn't be more different.

Last night I ended up on the seafront in my trusty old Mini on a run through the world famous Blackpool Illuminations, as part of an event organised by Mini Southport and Ormskirk District:

The Blackpool Illuminations, which take place in the Lancashire seaside resort every autumn, are a popular run for north west classic car clubs, including Mini Southport and Ormskirk District.

Have you got an event you'd like Life On Cars to cover? Get in touch by calling 07581 343476 or send an email to david.simister@champnews.com

TVR: Blackpool's tower of sports car strength

2011-09-27T14:18:00.002+01:00

THE FORD Capri enthusiast gave the strangely styled creation a slightly quizzical look. "Why would you want to buy one those fibreglass bubbles?"

I was over in Blackpool last weekend covering a Ford Capri gathering for Life On Cars, and one owner I was chatting to seemed genuinely bemused when the one car that town can call its own suddenly thundered onto the seafront. The fibreglass bubble in question was a TVR and I struggled not to defend its honour. I challenge anyone with even the vaguest interest in cars not to love Blackpool's very own sports car.

The thing with TVR is that their products aren't really created in any conventional car industry sense, so I doubt any visiting bigwigs from BMW or Lexus would have been very impressed with the ramshackle sheds it called its factory. Certainly, I can think of no other car which was partly styled by the MD's dog, which after getting a bit peckish, bit a chunk out of the clay styling model for the Chimaera. This being TVR, the MD was pleased by his pooch's efforts and included the bite marks on the production model. That's part of the reason why TVRs are packed full of meaty goodness.

TVR was a slightly bonkers company, which as a treat for my 13th birthday I actually got given the chance to witness first hand on a tour of the Blackpool factory. The Griffith, Chimaera and Cerbera, I discovered, were crafted by hand out of plastic by chaps who'd then equip them with enormously powerful V8 engines, but no traction control, ABS, airbags or door handles. Nor did they think a car should be painted just one colour - as the iridescent and slightly mad TVR Tuscan proved - or have interiors that followed even the vaguest of logic. The styling was best described as surreal. This, I imagined, was how all cars in the future would look.

Unfortunately I'm now a fully grown boy and the cars of the future don't look like TVRs at all. In fact, TVR went bust four years ago just as something called the Credit Crunch happened and the queue of people who wanted to spend £50,000 on a plastic sports car with Star Wars styling dried up. In these recession-ravaged times, new car buyers simply don't want something that's been styled by someone's dog.

After the Capri show had finished, I went back to the old Bristol Avenue factory - the same site I'd toured as a spotty 13-year-old - and was heartbroken by what I saw. Behind the empty building was a yard full of moulds used to make the old TVR models and a Cerbera coupe the company hadn't quite finished, and they were being left outside to rot away, untouched and unappreciated. It was of the saddest sights I've ever seen.

So to conclude TVRs are badly built out of plastic, styled with canine assistance and completely irrelevant to any car that's gone before or since. Which is why, after all these years, I still want one.

Ford Capri Blackpool 2011 show

2011-09-25T19:22:00.009+01:00

FANS of the Ford Capri were in for a treat today when dozens of examples headed to Blackpool for a special celebration along the resort's seafront.

Members of Capri owners' clubs from across the north west brought their examples along, with a special section dedicated this year to the Brooklands 280 special edition, which is celebrating its 25th birthday.

The event was also given an unusual feel when enthusiasts of a rather different classic vehicle - Lambretta scooters from the 1960s - took an interest in the Capris, and pulled over on their machines to have a look at the fast Fords!

Have you got an event you'd like Life On Cars to cover? Get in touch by calling 07581 343476 or send an email to david.simister@champnews.com

New Jensen Interceptor set for 2014 debut

2011-09-23T13:00:00.004+01:00

THE biggest British sports car company you've never heard of is set to bring the iconic Jensen Interceptor back to life.

You might not be familiar with Coventry-based CPP Global Holdings but it's already linked to some of motoring's best known names and is now vowing to reinvent the Sixties supercar for the 21st century.

Brendan O’Toole, founder and co-owner of CPP, said:

"I started my career by restoring bodies and components for classic British sports cars, so for CPP to take the lead role in reviving this iconic brand is very exciting for the business, and for me personally.

"The Jensen design team has respected and honoured the great heritage and attributes of the original Interceptor, while injecting a contemporary edge and advanced technologies that will ensure it appeals to the passionate, discerning motoring enthusiast of today."

CPP might not be immediately familiar to most car enthusiasts but the brands it owns - off-roader specialists Bowler and Dutch supercar makers Spyker - will be, while the Browns Lane factory the firm operates on was for years synonymous with Jaguar as that company's main production site.

Rich car enthusiasts can get their name down for the new Interceptor, expected to arrive in 2014, by going to www.jensensportscars.com

Fire up the... BMW 640i Cabriolet

2011-09-22T23:11:00.002+01:00

IT'S probably better to think of this, one of BMW's biggest offerings, as not really being a car in the conventional sense at all.

The problem with testing plush cabriolets that aren't trying to be sports cars is that people only end up interested in one of its many impressive figures; the price.

So let's get it out of the way so you don't have to read right to the end before you
discover you can't afford it. It's £65,695.

That makes the 640Ci Cabriolet not only significantly more expensive than, say, a similarly-specced 5 Series salooon, but also £15k pricier than the Infiniti cabriolet Life On Cars will be testing in the next few weeks. Thinking about it logically in a recession-ravaged world, this Bavarian bruiser makes no sense at all.

But, believe it or not, there are plenty of people in the north west with the funds to spend their sunny afternoons cruising along the Southport Riviera, so to get into the 6-Series mindset you have to think of it as being like a land-going motor yacht.

It was also - until Infiniti's G37 arrived on these shores - just about the only luxury car which could four fully-sized adults in al fresco comfort, so it's definitely got an appeal if you're a (rich) family man. The question is whether it's worth the premium to have the blue and white propellor badge on your bonnet.

The BMW's unusual now among open tops in that its roof's still made from old fashioned canvas rather than folding metal panels, but don't let that put you off because it's one of the slickest in the business, folding away faster than the Infiniti's hard top and taking up less of the boot space. It's only at very high speeds you'll notice the difference.

From behind the wheel the BMW's a creamy, luxurious affair, cruising effortlessly, although I found the Japanese upstart slightly sharper and more fun to drive. Both though, are aimed more at offering comfort in spades both in the front and rear, and it's in the sumptuousness and space of the interior where the Beemer really excels.

The other ace up the BMW's sleeve, of course, is its depreciation; because unlike the Infiniti it's a long-established brand in the UK with plenty of cachet and street cred. That means more people are likely to want a secondhand BMW, and means you're more likely to see more of your money back when you come to sell it.

If you go for the Infiniti you'll be far from dissapointed - and £15,000 better off - but if money really isn't any object this BMW's going to prove hard to beat.

Blackpool birthday bash for the iconic Ford Capri Brooklands

2011-09-20T20:59:00.005+01:00

IT'S as old as me but looks and goes rather better.

Yep, the ultimate Ford Capri - the incredibly rare and sought after Brooklands 280 - is approaching its 25th birthday, and to celebrate connoisseurs of the cult coupe are heading to Blackpool this Sunday (September 25).

The event fires up at the Middle Walk on Blackpool's seafront from 10.30am, where there'll be two displays - one for the regular coupes, and another just for the Brooklands, the 160bhp, 2.8 litre special edition which saw out Capri production back in 1986.

Life On Cars will be there. Will you?

World's Most Dangerous Roads is the best bit of motoring TV in ages

2011-09-19T21:00:00.004+01:00

CONSIDERING I'M both a car nut and a self-confessed couch potato I find most motoring telly a bit hard to chew.

I've written about Top Gear before, which is by far my favourite car show but even I admit strays from being serious silly, often in the space of a single episode. Then there's the generic rubbish - usually on ITV or BBC Four - which are all directed by someone who deems that all motoring programmes must feature Driving In My Car at least once. It's Madness. Literally.

In fact, since the original Top Gear and the delightfully innovative Channel Four show Driven went west there's been surprisingly little to get revved up about. So I'm surprised that an all-too-short series that's just finished on BBC Two had me hooked.

World's Most Dangerous Roads sounds like the sort of horridly dull show you'd find lingering in the Discovery Turbo schedules but don't let the title put you off, because it's one of the best bits of Sunday night TV I've seen in a long time. The recipe's simple but suprisingly simple; get two go-getting celebs, send them to somewhere remote with a poor road safety record, stick them in a 4x4 and dial the tension up to 11. Well researched, packed with suspense and superbly produced, I reckon it's one of the best things the Beeb's done all year.

Admittedly, the sight of 'slebs swearing at a battered Nissan Patrol was always going to appeal to me but what's surprised me is how many non-petrolheads I know were watching it too, simply because it was a truly tense bit of television. By far the best bit was watching Hugh Dennis and Ben Fogle threading their Toyota Tundra along the narrowest of Peruvian mountain passes, crawling just inches from certain death as knackered trucks thundered past the other way.

If you liked that Top Gear special in Jeremy Clarkson had a similar near miss in Bolivia, you'll love World's Most Dangerous Roads.

It's just a shame that last Sunday's episode was the last of just three episodes, because this series was one that definitely deserved a longer run.

My advice? Catch it on iPlayer while you still can.

Driving delight in Dolgellau

2011-09-18T19:35:00.006+01:00

THE line of vintage lorries taking on one of Snowdonia's steepest mountain passes were putting my own efforts to shame.

I honestly thought, with the Rover's engine note rising from its usual simmer to an urgent third gear hum, that I was doing well. The A470 just south of Bleanau Ffestiniog is a bit of a desolate place at the best of times, packed with challenging corners and tricky inclines, and I summised that I done rather well there on what was a wet, cold and windy morning in the wilds of Wales.

Then I saw the parade of ERFs, Scammels and Cammells chugging faithfully up the other side (albeit rather more slowly, and presumably on their way to a show somewhere). The same road that broken me into a sweat was no problem at all for lorries older than my parents. Still, that was the only downside of two days of being let loose on the wonderful, empty roads of one of my favourite parts of the world.

I love driving in Wales for all sorts of reasons. There is, for example, the cerebral joy of pulling up in places with names like Cwmllecoediog, and the frustration of trying to pronounce them properly. Then there's the food, the drinks and the people you come across on your travels, all of which are second to none. But best of all are the miles and miles of empty roads which wind their way across some of Britain's most rugged scenery. Some of the best ones, like the famed Evo Triangle, are little pieces of petrolhead heaven less than two hours from Liverpool and Manchester.

Usually, I'd head towards the Horseshoe and Llanberis Passes but this time a journalistic assignment in Dolgellau gave me the chance to discover some equally cracking driving further south than I'd usual venture, but it's well worth a try. If you ever find yourself in Dolgellau with a couple of hours to kill, enough money to pay for 100 miles of motoring and even a vaguely nice car then I can happily reccomend the following; the A487 to Aberystwyth, A44 as far as Llanidloes, the backroads past the beautiful Llyn Clywedog reservoir, hit the A470 at Llanbrynmair and then blast yourself over the mountains back to your starting point.

View Larger Map

It's hard work, but you'll love it. I just wish I could drive roads like these more often...

David Simister's review of his destination in Dolgellau - the charming Cross Foxes hotel - will appear in the next issue of GR8Life Magazine.

Citroen Tubik: Why a shiny French box is my Frankfurt favourite

2011-09-15T13:22:00.002+01:00

IS IT the blemish free autobahns or the stream of Porsches which pound limitlessly along them? Whatever it is, you only need look at their latest motorshow to know the Germans don't do things by halves.

Considering it's one of of the world's biggest automotive events I've never really wanted to visit the Frankfurt Motorshow, unless I was doing it as a sponsored walk for charity. Better journalists than I take pedometers with them on this traditionally expansive event, and can clock anything up to 20 miles to catch up with the latest cars. Even looking through the manufacturers' news releases, hundreds of miles away in the comfort of The Champion office, hurts my head because of the sheer number of new models and announcements involved.

Jaguar's C-X16 is obviously the star of the show, or is it? Is it the new Land Rover Life On Cars featured not long ago? Or Volkswagen's Up? Or Honda's new Civic? Or one of no less three new fast Fords? Or Porsche's latest 911? Or a new Maserati off-roader I'd forgotten about until I started typing this paragraph? These are just the tip of an enormous automotive iceberg. There were, at the last count, more than 500 images of motoring metal to sift through.

I do, amongst all that, think I've found an unlikely star of this year's show, in the form of Citroen's Tubik. Lots of boring people have told me that a car is just a big shiny box but this Citroen literally is; angular to the point of being avantgarde, blessed with the same basic proportions as a cupboard and covered in what it appears to be tinfoil. But that's exactly what you get with an Airstream trailer, which is age-defyingly cool. So, I reckon, is the big, boxy French star.

If you've made it this far into the column with getting bored I think I can get away with telling you it is in fact a homage to the H-Van, the Citroen cargo carrier which spent decades as the staple transport of every small business from Calais to Cannes. It's this square-rigged star of its motoring past that Citroen's toying with reinventing, and even though it's still in the concept stages I'd love to see them come up with a production version, which the company reckons could carry nine in comfort. Try that with your Ford Galaxy.

So my highlight of what's a proudly German event is a shiny box created by the French. How very European of me.

Fire up the... Lexus CT-200h

2011-09-14T12:18:00.003+01:00

IN the weird and wonderful world of car badges, every letter comes with its own connotations.

D, for instance, will forever stand for diesel, while I - usually preceded by G and T - denotes fuel injection. Yet if you're in the market for Lexus' first hatchback, it's H, writ in the tiniest of fonts on the rump of the new CT200h, that you're going to be interested in.

H stands for Hybrid, the eco-friendly blend of petrol and electric power that Lexus and parent firm Toyota have made their own over the years. Indeed, step into the new arrival from the Toyota Prius Life On Cars tested earlier this year and you'll find yourself in very familiar territory.

The clever computer displays you use to find out how much of the Earth you're saving while driving, for instance, are almost identical to the ones you'll find in the Prius, and that car's party trick - seeing how long you can drive on electricity alone - has made it into its upmarket cousin. Make no mistake; like the Prius, the CT-200h comes stuffed with intelligent thinking.

But don't let that fool you into thinking this is a Prius in drag, because it's far from it. The challenging Prius styling has been ditched by the CT-200h for a far more sober set of clothes, and once you've removed the distinctive D-pillar it is, if anything, a bit of a background blender. For better or worse, it looks like a Lexus.

It's the same story on the inside, with a cabin that's cosseting and comfortably laid out rather than rakish and idiosyncratic. Passengers front and rear will find it easy to get comfortable but children in the back might find the CT tricker than most to see out of, with that unusual window shape meaning they have to crane their necks forward to get a better view.

In fact the real departure for Lexus is the way their smallest offering brings front wheel drive to the firm's showrooms for the first time, but don't let that put you off. Smooth, reassuring and a true motorway mile muncher, you won't regret being behind the wheel if you found BMW's 1 Series or Audi's A3 a little harsh for your liking.

The CT-200h isn't the last word in excitement but it gives you effortless comfort with an eco twist. Business as usual for Lexus, then.

Frankfurt Motorshow 2011: A Life On Cars guide

2011-09-12T09:03:00.005+01:00

TWO of the show's biggest stars come in the form of Jaguar's 380bhp C-X16 sports car, likely to go into production next year, and the Citroen Tubik concept, which has more than a hint of the iconic H-Van in its proportions.

BOTH SsangYong, with the XIV-1, and Subaru, with the XV, are hoping to attract attention at Frankfurt with boldly-styled takes on the familiar five door hatchback formula.

PEUGEOT have not one but two new offerings at the show, in the form of the wedgy HX1 concept car and the eco friendly RXH version of its well-received 508 range.

MILLIONAIRES were well catered for with this trio of new arrivals, in the form of the latest in a long line of Porsche 911 Carrera models, the Spyder version of Ferrari's spine-tingling 458 and Bentley's open-top Continental GTC.

HYUNDAI and Toyota both have plenty to shout about at this year's show, with the former offering up its new i30 range and the latter a plug-in electrion version of its Prius hybrid car.

VOLKSWAGEN offered up two very different takes on what a small car should be, with its outlandish NILS concept car - complete with gullwing doors - and the production version of its Up! supermini.

CHEVROLET is bringing its Malibu saloon, a popular value model in the States, to Europe for the first time, while Skoda is going after the growing Russian and Chinese markets with the MissionL saloon.

LAND ROVER offered its first glimpse in 28 years of what a replacement for the iconic Defender might look like, while Ford's Evos gives more than a hint as to what form a modern day Capri might follow.

BMW's stand will see the launch of a completely new sub-range, with two fully electric models, the i3 hatchback and the i8 coupe, in a bid to boost the German firm's eco credentials.

Rival firm Audi though, is hot on their heels with two new arrivals of its own, with a revival of the A2 supermini and the latest S8 supersaloon fighting for your attention.

Meanwhile two hatchbacks which have been well received in the UK have just been given a reboot, in the shape of a new Fiat Panda, and the second generation of the Suzuki Swift Sport, a Life On Cars favourite.

The 2011 Frankfurt Motorshow starts tomorrow (September 13) and takes place until September 25.

Guess the engine

2011-09-11T15:29:00.004+01:00

AS discovered lying around on my dad's back lawn earlier today.

In the best traditions of Rolf Harris, can you guess what it is yet?

Normal Life On Cars service will resume tomorrow with a guide to this year's Frankfurt Motorshow...

Fire up the... Citroen DS3 Racing

2011-09-08T10:13:00.003+01:00

THE chap from Citroen's press department, it turns out, was right. Step from a Citroen DS3 into this and you realise it's a completely different beast.

Not that this is necessarily a good thing. Last year I drove two different versions of the company's then new luxury hatch - the petrol and the diesel - and concluded it was a corker. Good looking, fun to drive and frugal to boot, the DS3 was one of the best drives of 2010, feeling like a true hot hatch without the added engineering weaponry. Of the all the cars I clambered into last year, this was one of my favourites.

Making something markedly different, like this range-topping DS3 Racing, runs the risk of diluting the original's appeal in the pursuit of going faster, harder and noiser than before. It is, without doubt, much lairier in the styling department, with plenty in the way of yoof-pleasing go faster stripes and multispoke alloy wheels. Then again, this is the spiritual successor to hot hatch icons like the AX GT and the Saxo VTS.

But where they were all about keeping things lightweight and the simple, the Racing's a much more luxurious affair. You'll love the leather bucket seats, for instance, which not only look the part but also keep you comfortable whether you're cruising along the motorway or - more likely - coursing down the country lanes. The quality of the materials and switchgear, apart from the “RACING” motifs, is also good news for drivers of the normal DS3, because the cabin's a refreshing and solid sort of place to be.

Not that you'll spend much time looking at it, because out on the road the £23,000 Racing's revvy 1.6 turbo engine is forever recommending you give it the beans. Plant your foot down and its whiff of torque steer will catch out the unwary driver, but learn how well it goes and handles and you quickly appreciate it for what it is; a very, very quick and capable car.

Loud, lairy and a little bit scary, the DS3 Racing might be better trimmed than some of its ancestors but it shows Citroen can still come up with a cracking hot hatch when they want to. It might not be to everyone's taste but it's seriously good fun.

So the Citroen DS3 Racing is completely different from its slower siblings, but it's also better.

Ormskirk MotorFest "should happen again", says council

2011-09-07T08:51:00.004+01:00

THE sight of Ferraris and Formula 1 racing cars roaring around Ormskirk's streets could happen again after the local council hailed Ormskirk's MotorFest as a boost to the region.

The local authority said the MotorFest attracted around 10,000 visitors to Ormskirk town centre and Coronation Park on Sunday, August 28, and said that it was looking at the possibility of holding a similar event.

Councillor Ian Grant, leader of West Lancashire Borough Council, said: "This was a fantastic event which really put Ormskirk - and the whole of West Lancashire - on the map. Not only did it attract thousands of visitors into the town during a bank holiday weekend, but it proved a bonus for local businesses, who had a real boost to their trade.

"It was a great day out for people of all ages and the council is incredibly proud to have supported it and look forward to the possibility of another similar event in the future."

The event, which was free to attend, saw more than 230 cars ranging from a 1915 Model T Ford to a Ferrari Enzo formerly owned by Rod Stewart taking part, with the highlight of the event being the closure of the town's one-way system to allow a series of parades along the streets of the market town.

The event, organised by Aintree Circuit Club with the backing of the borough council, had been billed as a one-off event, but entrants, visitors and West Lancashire councillors have overwhelmingly told The Champion they would like to see the event happening again, including some who feel it should become an annual event.

John Bailie, MotorFest co-ordinator, said: "This was a real demonstration of civic pride at a local level. With the support of West Lancashire Borough Council and the superb co-operation of the police and involvement of local businesses, we were able to put on an access-all-areas event which might normally be expected to take place at a conventional motorsport venue or the grounds of a stately home...we did it on the streets of a vibrant Lancashire market town.

“The feedback we are receiving from participants and spectators is very positive, and it seems that we've hit on a formula that works. The aim was to bring all aspects of motor sport and motoring literally to the man in the street, and it proved most effective. Over 90% of the participants were from Lancashire.”

In the third and final Life On Cars video from the event, enjoy these stunning images Champion photographer Martyn Snape took on the day. See if you can spot your pride and joy...

Did you participate in the MotorFest? Aintree Circuit Club is inviting any drivers, riders or event marshals/stewards to join them at an informal evening next Tuesday (September 13) looking back at the success of the event, which will see the club showing videos from YouTube and photos from Flickr on a big screen for all to see.

The evening starts at the club usual meeting venue at 8.00pm in the newly refurbished Aintree Suite at The Park Hotel, Dunningsbridge Road, Netherton. For more information visit www.aintree.org.uk

Video: SMMT North test drive day 2011

2011-09-05T14:25:00.005+01:00

Champion motoring correspondent and Life On Cars writer David Simister has travelled to Wetherby to try out some of this autumn's new motoring arrivals:

Full road tests of all the cars David drove will appear on both Life On Cars and in The Champion in the coming weeks.

For better, for worse?

2011-09-02T23:16:00.004+01:00

CAN a car be better and worse than its rivals at the same time?

That's the question that's been troubling me all the way back from Wetherby, North Yorkshire, where I've just been on one of the SMMT's test driving days. Thanks to having the A1(M), some sweeping A-roads and lots of twisty little country lanes just a stone's throw away, it's the perfect place to put some new motors through their paces and come to some contrived conclusions.

Last year it was the revelation that I'd rather have Suzuki's stonkingly good Swift over the rapid Lexus IS-F that got me, but this year it's Jeep's new Grand Cherokee, the big 4X4 bruiser you see pictured above. It is - and bear with me on this one - better than one of its key rivals despite being a bit worse.

I know this because I took it for a spin just after being let loose in BMW's X3, which aside from the £40,000 pricetag is annoyingly brilliant. Its 3.0 litre diesel quietly offers up all the punch you'd ever ask for, it's beautifully built, takes corners amazingly well for something so high-rise and even looks better than its slightly awkward predecessor. If you're in the market for a £40k off-roader, you really can't do much better.

But....but..... I'd rather have the Grand Cherokee, a car which - despite also having a 3.0 litre diesel unit - is thirstier, more roly-poly around the roundabouts and slower on the straights. Quantatively speaking it's not as good as the £5k cheaper X3, but it's the car I'd rather have because it has an indefinable X factor to it, a certain shine that makes it feel special.

I'll put it to you this way; on the X3's centre console is the circular silver switch which gives you access to BMW's iDrive system, which is a thing of technological beauty. Glance at the same space in the big Jeep and you're met with a chunky switch which lets you choose whether to conquer sand, rocks, mud or the M62. It's the little things. The X3 looks like an off-roader, but the Jeep - for better and worse - feels like one.

In that sense, the Grand Cherokee's a lot like the Wrangler I drove last year, because while it doesn't tick as many as the boxes you can't help but develop a bit of soft spot for it because it makes you smile. So it's worse than the X3, but it's also better.

Which would you rather have?

A full video report from the SMMT North test day will be posted on Life On Cars later this week.

The new Land Rover Defender

2011-08-31T09:19:00.003+01:00

IT'S been a long time coming, but it's finally happening. A new Land Rover is on the horizon!

To understand why this picture of the DC100 concept - an official image drawn by someone working at Land Rover, not an Auto Express-style artist's impression - marks such a momentous occasion in motoring history you have to understand the context.

The outgoing hardcore Land Rover, the Defender, has been with us in one form or another since 1983, and is the direct descendant of a string of off-roaders going all the way back to the original Series One of 1948. The fact that its styling and off-road ability have barely changed in more than sixty years mean it isn't just a Land Rover. It is the Land Rover.

It's a big deal to me personally because I've been brought up in a family of Land Rover lovers - two Series Twos, two Range Rover Classics and a 110 Station Wagon, if you're interested - you should care too. Travel to say, Shropshire or Somerset and every cattle auction, rural police station and country pub car park is brimmed with Defenders. The proper Land Rover, with its no-nonsense design and the obligatory horsebox, is just somehow part of the landscape.

Do I like the new one? It depends on whether Land Rover make a Horlicks of it or not. I actually quite like the styling and think it moves the car on, in the same way Jaguar managed with the XJ last year, but the secret to the old one's success was in its ability to do a thousand different jobs.

That's why, to make it work, Land Rover would need to make the DC100 not just in the shape you see above, but with an endless array of other bodystyles and in several different sizes to make it appeal to the Defender's customers, which is everyone from school run mum to the British Army.

Designing the new Land Rover is an awfully big deal, because it's an iconic off-roader that's been doing sterling work in some of the world's remotest places for more than 60 years. Replacing the Defender is one of the toughest tasks in motoring, and Land Rover knows it.

No wonder it's taken them 28 years to come up with it.

My Ormskirk MotorFest lap

2011-08-29T09:44:00.004+01:00

A FERRARI Enzo, a Frogeye Sprite, a brace of E-Types and a Noble with a Boeing-esque wing on the back.

It's not often you get to keep pace with such an eclectic collection of sports cars, and certainly not on Ormskirk's one-way system. Luckily, I have a 40-year-old MG that's more than up to the task.

If you were at last Sunday's Ormskirk MotorFest, you'll probably know by now it wasn't just a success in a vague, it-wasn't-a-flop sort of way. By noon, both the town centre and Coronation Park were swarming with people, and not just the usual bunch of sad petrolheads (i.e: me) either. Maybe it was the cast of cars and bikes that'd turned up or the unexpected sunshine, but something about seemed to capture the imagination of thousands of visitors.

I loved milling around all the old Triumphs (two and four wheeled) but I was also lucky enough to get a perspective few other visitors got; I actually got to drive the closed one-way streets in a classic car. A classic car that had encountered two different breakdowns less than a fortnight earlier. Boy, was I nervous.

Yet once I'd crawled out of Coronation Park and got onto the streets, the nerves faded away. Here I was in the event's only MGB GT, with the full-length sunroof open, cruising past streams of excited children asking their parents what all these strange old cars were. They absolutely loved it.

I've seen a couple of clips on YouTube since and seen what the thousands of visitors saw; a crisp Seventies GT car, burbling around Ormskirk with the sun bouncing off the chrome and the deep, throaty exhaust ricocheting off the shop front windows. Then again, I was out of the MG just in time to see the F1 cars and the superbikes strutting their stuff, and they sounded epic. The scream of the Saudia Williams as it scorched past the parish church is one I'll never forget.

I'm lucky enough to have experienced Ormskirk's MotorFest on several different levels; as a participant, as a visitor, and as a journalist covering it for The Champion. I'd like to use what little influence I have with this column to make a plea to Aintree Circuit Club and West Lancashire Borough Council on behalf of everyone who enjoyed it.

Please, please do it again...

Ormskirk MotorFest pictures

2011-08-28T17:27:00.007+01:00

THE FIRST pictures from today's Ormskirk MotorFest...

Champion reporter David Simister not only covered the event, but also took part in it, doing several laps of the MotorFest circuit in his 1972 MGB GT.

Among the event's big draws were a Ferrari Enzo formerly owned by rock star Rod Stewart, a top fuel dragster, and a host of racing bikes and ex-F1 cars.

A special online magazine produced by Life On Cars as a guide to the event has also been well received, and since been published earlier this week has been read by more than 250 people.

A full report from the show and a special Champion video will be uploaded in the next few days, so Life On Cars will keep you posted!

Have you been to the Ormskirk MotorFest? Let us know what you thought of it by sending an email to david.simister@champnews.com

Life On Cars: The official Ormskirk MotorFest magazine

2011-08-24T10:02:00.004+01:00

A FERRARI Enzo owned by none other than rock legend Rod Stewart is one of the many glorious machines taking part in the Ormskirk MotorFest on August 28.

You can find out all about in the latest edition of the Life On Cars Magazine, which is given over entirely to the event and is officially backed by Aintree Circuit Club, the show's organisers.

Enjoy...

Open publication - Free publishing - More cars

Video: Ormskirk Motorfest preview

2011-08-22T21:42:00.004+01:00

THIS ISN'T the sound of the Ormskirk Motorfest. That, as you'd expect, is going to be lots of deep-throated V8s, the scream of a succession of superbikes and the screeching of tyres.

What this is is the sound of West Lancashire town crier Don Evans, who is equally loud. He is therefore the perfect person to make a traditional announcement in the middle of a busy town centre, without the aid of a microphone and with some escaped lunatic who kept asking if I worked for The Ormskirk Advertiser throughout the recording (sorry about that).

The magazine, which has lots more information, will be on Life On Cars tomorrow. Until then, enjoy a proud Lancastrian speaking rather loudly!

Coming soon....

2011-08-19T23:50:00.004+01:00

THERE'S another issue of the Life On Cars Magazine on the way, and this time it's something a bit special.

Not only is the sixth issue given over entirely to the Ormskirk Motorfest, taking place on August 28, but it's a publication that's got the official backing of the event's organisers. Life On Cars has been given the behind-the-scenes look at one of the north west's most exciting motoring events, and in this new publication you'll be able to find out all about it.

Regular readers will also spot that the magazine's been given a bit of a revamp, to keep it fresh and full of ideas, which I hope you'll enjoy when it's launched in the next couple of days.

Watch this space...

Jaguar C-X16: The new E-Type?

2011-08-17T08:46:00.007+01:00

I KNOW I'M not a fan of teaser shots and sketches, but I like this one.

This is all that Jaguar's prepared to reveal right now about the C-X16, a new sports car it's promising to unveil at next month's Frankfurt Motorshow, and already rumours are rife in Internetdom that it's either a) the first clue as to how the current XK's successor will shape up, or b) the "small sports car" owners Tata have been dropping hints about for ages.

Ian Callum, Director of Design at Jaguar Cars said:

"Great Jaguars have always been beautiful, innovative and have looked firmly to the future. The finished C-X16 concept has the potential to do these things while retaining the ability to surprise, to excite and invigorate."

For my money, it looks a little like the old Aston Martin DB7, but that's not a bad thing.

Is it a true E-Type successor? Watch this space...

Why the 61 registration plate makes no sense at all

2011-08-16T17:40:00.003+01:00

THE centenary-edition Ford Fiesta, the revamped Renault Twingo, the more generously equipped SEAT Leon and a Nissan Micra with a supercharger. What do all these new cars have in common?

Nope, you're wrong. They're all being launched just in time to tie in with the launch of the 61-registration plate.

Back in ye olden days of say, 10 or 15 years ago, new registration plates used to be a big deal. I distinctly recall reading through special supplements made by papers like The Champion listing all the shiny cars you could buy on, say, an ‘R' registration plate. Now of course the supplements are long gone because - let's face it - nobody cares.

Why would you, when the current registration plates make no sense at all?

You'd be forgiven for thinking you'd need a maths degree to understand it. The new prefix, for instance, is 61, which marks out that your new motor's been registered in the second half of 2011, although it's too complicated to explain why. The two letters that precede it, I know because I don't get out more, signify where in the country you bought it - but not in any way Joe Public is going to understand - and the three at the end you make up yourself. Still following?

It's completely and utterly unsurprising that precisely nobody gets worked up about having the latest registration plates anymore, because nobody I know actually understands them. Numberplates, I've reckoned for years, need as much as a revamp as some of the cars they'll be destined to appear on.

Why not, for instance, replace the completely meaningless local lettering with, say, postcodes? People understand postcodes and have better chance of being able to tell the police, for instance, that an L39-registered car is from the Ormskirk area. It'd also have the added benefit of giving visiting motorists a clue as to what town they're in (unless, like me, you run on Pub Satnav).

And scrap the six-month thing, for Pete's sake. If you lose the smug factor after six months, why bother? Change it to say, just ‘12' for next year's new models, and stick with it for the whole 12 months. Buying a new car will regain its cachet in an instant.

Finally, the last scramble of numbers should just be something dull and chronological; for instance, if you were the 1,001st person to buy a car in the PR8 area, then yours should be 1001. It's boring but at least people will remember it, which is what you'd want if your 12-registered C-Class gets stolen in a resumption of last week's riots. It's also at least slightly more sensible than the surreal system currently used for new cars.

Unless anyone's got any better ideas...

Hundred End Festival of Transport

2011-08-15T16:01:00.005+01:00

CLASSIC car connoisseurs from across Sefton and West Lancashire helped to make a charity festival held near Hesketh Bank a success.

More than 200 owners of classic and vintage cars and motorbikes headed to Elim, off Hundred End Lane for the 10th Hundred End Festival of Transport, which organiser Brian Moorcroft told Life On Cars had met with a warm response despite wet weather during parts of the weekend (August 13 and 14).

“It was a very good event, with about 250 cars in all, and even though the weather wasn't on our side earlier on the sun did eventually come out and make it an event everybody enjoyed,” he said.

“Even though there was another event on in Lytham St Annes on the same weekend, which made it quieter than usual, we were still confident we could beat last year's fundraising total of £2,840, which goes towards helping the Clatterbridge Cancer Care Trust.

Mr Moorcroft, who exhibited his own 1933 Austin 10 Cabriolet, also added that he would like to thank both William Hunter of Huntapac for providing portable toilets for the event free of charge, and Mere Brow business Top Trophies North for providing the trophies presented as awards to entrants in the event.

Have you got a motoring event or story for Life On Cars? Get in touch with David Simister on 01704 392404 or send an email to david.simister@champnews.com

The quantum mechanics of MOT testing

2011-08-09T17:19:00.005+01:00

AS of right now my Mini is a four-wheeled Schrodinger's cat. It is not just a car. It is a paradox of quantum mechanics.

For anyone not into their tricky brainteasers, Schrodinger's cat is an unfortunate feline which gets stuffed into a box*, alongside, say, a vial of poison, and then locked out of view. Said moggy is, until you open up the box again, both alive and dead at the same time. It exists in two simultaneous states. Just like the internals of the 19-year-old Mini Sprite now that I've booked it in for its MOT.

The box itself - the bits of the Mini I've been able to check out - are fine. The tyres are in good nick, all the lights and switches work as Austin Rover intended, the gaping holes that used to be the boot floor have been welded into a pleasing patch of clean metal and there aren't any rough edges you'd accidentally stab yourself with. The sills appear solid, but that's the problem. They appear solid.

To stretch a metaphor a tad too far, the "cat" is all the bits I haven't checked because I haven't had it up on a ramp, like you're supposed to. Has corrosion taken hold in places you can't see unless you've access to a proper garage? Are the shock absorbers shot to bits? Have the emissions dipped to dangerously carcinogenic level? Basically, my car mechanically is brilliant and rubbish at the same time, because I honestly won't know until tomorrow. This is why I, as someone who is rubbish at mending things, dreads the MOT.

Stay tuned to find out just how bad the news is when it emerges from the garage tomorrow morning...

* No cats were actually harmed in the writing of this article

UPDATE, August 11: The cat, it turns out, is dead, because the Mini has failed its MOT. The good news is that it shouldn't be too tricky or expensive to revive it. Cue the phone call to PartCo!