SMMT Test Day 2012: Speed dating, part one
Rising Sunderland – a British success story
New Suzuki Swift Sport: New and improved?
Half a Shatchback: Half the horror?
How do you solve a problem like a Shatchback? Simple, you grab a circular saw and cut the thing in half. No more Shatchback.
That’s exactly what Scottish car dealer Peter Vardy has done to promote its half price cars campaign. Being a Vauxhall dealer, they’ve naturally resisted the temptation to use a Nova or an Astra and have instead opted for a Ford Focus. Not just any old Focus either, but the Ghia. Very posh. Read more 
The Pentillie hill in a Saab 9000i
The Pentillie Festival of Speed is just 12 weeks away. Come the end of August, the Tamar Valley will be alive with the sound of hillclimb cars rising up from the quay, through the woods and past Pentillie Castle. It promises to be quite a spectacle.
I was there yesterday and couldn’t resist taking a quick, or should that be slow, run up the hill. The only problem was that I was in my Saab 9000i, not exactly what you’d class as typical hillclimb transport. But I did have a GoPro, so I was able to capture the thrilling high speed action. Read more
Is the Perodua Myvi cooler than a Peugeot RCZ?
What’s cooler? A Perodua Myvi or a Peugeot RCZ? You may say that this is a rhetorical question. No debate needed, the curvaceous and stylish RCZ is much cooler than the boxy and style-free Myvi, right?
Wrong.
You see, two things happened today. Read more
SMMT Test Day 2012: Speed dating, part one
Take 140 new cars. Add a number of closed roads and tracks. Throw in some free fuel and then sprinkle on some fine English weather. What have you got? The SMMT Test Day 2012.
If the fact that the SMMT invited me along last year was a surprise, the fact that they repeated the mistake for a second year was nothing short of a miracle. Arriving at the Millbrook Proving Ground and seeing 140 cars, each one with a set of keys in the ignition, you’ll forgive me for feeling a little like a kid in a sweet shop.
I’ve nicknamed the day ‘speed dating with cars’ and you can read last year’s report here. Here in 2012 I’ve attempted to sort the Mint Humbugs from the Lemon Bon Bons and the Werther’s Originals from the Sherbet Dib Dabs. Read more
Utilitarianism: Skoda Roomster Scout 1.6 TDI
The Skoda Roomster is quite a familiar sight on Britain’s roads. It’s hard to believe it’s nearly a decade since the concept was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show and six years since it finally made its debut. The Skoda brand has come a long way since then, picking up awards left, right and centre and producing some rather interesting cars. By way of an example, I only need to point to the likes of the Yeti, Superb estate and Fabia vRS.
The result of Skoda’s meteoric rise is that the Roomster has been largely forgotten. It strikes me that it’s become the embarrassing uncle of the Skoda range. Slightly oddball in character and not quite sure which box it’s meant to fit into. For every family I see in a Roomster, I see an elderly couple seemingly on their way to a garden centre. Read more
PetrolBlog at the SMMT Test Day 2012
Is it that time of the year again? No, not Christmas, but the annual SMMT Test Day at the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire. A chance to drive nearly 140 cars on a series of test tracks, including the famous Hill Route and High Speed Circuit. Doesn’t sound like a bad day, does it? So maybe it’s Christmas after all?
There’s also the small matter of having the opportunity to hobnob with 300 motoring journalists and bloggers, as well as chatting with the press and media teams of 33 different car manufacturers. Read more
Rising Sunderland – a British success story
As a child who grew up watching children’s television in the 1980s, I’m bound to say they don’t make them like they used to. Well actually that’s probably a fact as the modern stuff looks rubbish to me, Octonauts excluded.
One of my favourite features on children’s TV was when they visited a factory to see where something was made. One minute, Humpty Dumpty would be wandering around a cheese factory, the next minute Bungle from Rainbow would be taking a look at someone making chocolate. They were good features as they gave me a glimpse into something I wouldn’t otherwise have a chance of seeing.
But as far as I’m aware, they never went to a car factory. This may have been down to the fact that most of the time the workers were striking or simply because the factories weren’t shining lights of brilliance. It’s a shame. Maybe I should have written a letter to Jimmy Savile to see if he could have fixed it for me? Actually, maybe the car industry should have written to Sir Jimmy. But that’s another story. Read more
New Suzuki Swift Sport: New and improved?
The new Suzuki Swift Sport is more of an evolution than a revolution. Suzuki has taken the same basic recipe for the previous Sport, made a few tweaks here and there and created what a marketer may call a ‘new and improved’ car. I’ve never really understood that phrase, but in the case of the Swift Sport, it seems to work.
As I discovered on the European launch last year, the new car is in many ways a massive improvement on the old model. Apologies for repeating myself, but the new Swift Sport is quicker, lighter, bigger and more powerful. It’s also more fuel efficient and produces less CO2 emissions.
Case closed then? The new Swift Sport is the one to have? Well no, not really. Despite spending a fantastic week with the new car, I still can’t shake the feeling that the old car is better. I know I’m probably a lone voice and it’s a highly subjective opinion, but I didn’t quite fall head over heels for the new car in the same way as I did with the old one. Allow me to explain. Read more
Dear SEAT, please build this for Mii
I love the Volkwagen up! and the Skoda Citigo. For me, they were two of the most interesting cars on display at the Geneva Motor Show. They are highly relevant, cost effective, cute and customisable. What’s not to like?
But as I said in part two of my Geneva Unconventional report, I was left feeling a little disappointed by the SEAT Mii. For a brand that prides itself on so called Auto Emocion and Enjoyneering, the Mii just seemed like the poor relation of the up! and Citigo. For me at least, it was almost as though SEAT was lacking in confidence. So the news that’s coming out of the 2012 Wörthersee GTI tuning festival is rather encouraging. Read more
Win a VIP experience at the Goodwood Festival of Speed
PetrolBlog is off to the Goodwood Festival of Speed again this year. Sadly I can’t promise another ride up the hill in a priceless Swedish concept car, but I’ll undoubtedly spending far too much time taking photos for the Goodwood Festival of Parking.
My friends at Michelin will be sponsoring the Supercar Paddock, part of the festival that’s not going to be of great interest to readers of PetrolBlog. Why gawp at expensive supercars when there’s a host of Rover 800s, Citroën Xantias and MG Metros in the car park?!
What will be of interest is the fact that Michelin is offering the chance to win tickets to the 2012 event. Read more
Shatchback Calendar 2013
It seems as though you can get a calendar for just about anything these days. Walk into a shop during the run up to Christmas and you’ll be greeted by a selection of calendars to suit all tastes. If you like firefighters, kittens, kittens being rescued by firefighters, Cliff Richard, New Kids Take Direction 17, Top Gear or Jordan Price, you’re pretty much sorted. But as far as I’m aware, there’s never been a calendar for Shatchbacks. Until now…
If I’d have sorted myself out last year, there would have been a Shatchback calendar for 2012. But I didn’t. So there isn’t.
Instead, it’s time to plan for 2013 and thanks to the input of James Winstanley (@JWinstanley), I have a cunning plan as to how it will work. And this is where the readers of PetrolBlog come in. Read more
Fahrtman Longstroke rants: Tax
It’s almost a year to the day since Fahrtman Longstroke last had a rant on PetrolBlog, so this blog has being brewing for a little while. Here he tackles a subject close to heart of British PetrolBlog readers – tax. Over to you, Longstroke.
Let’s be honest, the UK has some fantastic roads. Indeed, one of my most enduring memories is overtaking a surprised biker on the Cat & Fiddle run in a twin turbo Bentley. Happy days.
Now, I make a special point of driving these fine roads as much as possible, partly for the love of driving but also because of the huge personal financial contribution I have made to them.
And the chances are that if you are a UK motorist then you too have paid through the nose for these fine roads, plus a load of not so fine roads too. Read more
Three: Darren’s Volkswagen Sharan
Taking a break from writing about his lovely Audi 80, Darren Leslie is back on PetrolBlog with some words on his Volkswagen Sharan. After the recent Ask MajorGav feature on 7-seaters, PetrolBlog will be getting a reputation for practicality and common sense. Blimey.
Three. It’s a harmless enough number in the general scheme of things. Defined as ‘the cardinal number between two and four’ by YourDictionary, it can generally be described as ‘not big’. In fact, I can, off the top of my head, think of many numbers that are bigger, and only two that are smaller. And apparently, three is the magic number. Well, it isn’t when you combine the word three with the word children. Especially where personal transportation is concerned. Read more
Minor Details: No.2 Vauxhall Nova flared arches
It’s been eight months since the last Minor Details update, so without further ado, here’s another one.
This week, Vauxhall has proudly revealed that its forthcoming MINI and Fiat 500 rival will be called the Adam. No, this isn’t a typo, that is what Vauxhall are genuinely going to call their ‘premium urban car’. Make of that what you will, but I fail to see the name catching on. Renault can kind of get away with it with the Zoe, as the Z.E reference is quite logical. I even have a fondness for the Nissan Cedric, Nissan Silvia and Datsun Violet. But Adam? No. Read more
PetrolBlog drives the Nissan Juke-R
Last week, Nissan announced the unthinkable. It’s going to put the Juke-R into production. They probably would have made less of a stir if they’d announced that they were going to develop a 480bhp rear-wheel drive Nissan Note GT-R. When I had the chance to get up close and personal with the Juke-R last year, the team was adamant that it was purely a concept. The chances of a production Juke-R coming from Nissan were a million to one, they said. But still, they come. Or words to that effect. Apologies to Jeff Wayne. Read more
Rob writes: Jaguar XK-ARRRRRRR
When PetrolBlog sent Rob Griggs-Taylor out to test the overlooked Jaguar Land Rover products a little while ago, we knew he’d probably take advantage of the cakes and coffee provided. What we didn’t know was that he would take advantage of the hospitality by borrowing another Jaguar-provided product…
Zero to sixty in four point two seconds.
As people who are keen on, perhaps even passionate about, motorised cars, that statistic is important. When I was young(er) my friends and i would gather round the hallowed Top Trumps pack ready to guess which of the stats would be sufficiently good to win the other players cards. “Top speed 193mph” one would intone, and all the other players knew that he was holding that Mayfair of top speed cars, the Lamborghini Countach. Read more
Cheap thrills: Perodua Kelisa
There’s been far too much new metal and expensive on PetrolBlog in recent weeks, so to even things up, here are some words on what was once Britain’s cheapest new car – the Perodua Kelisa. Its a car that’s much maligned and seems to take a constant battering from petrolheads, but have a read of David Bicker’s affectionate and lighthearted review and see if it changes your mind.
The Perodua Kelisa. It’s what happens when Bacofoil and a Moulinex blender are left alone and unchaperoned. St Jeremy of the Clarkson, (some say he’s an arrogant man with all the charm of a yeast infection), once purchased one of these little gems and set about it with a sledgehammer, such was his antipathy to it. That, for me, is reason enough to purchase one today. Read more
Ask MajorGav: 7 seats for £5k
A good friend of mine, Carol, has recently rediscovered the joy of driving by purchasing a Fiat Panda. To say she’s besotted with it would be putting it mildly. Given the chance, I think Carol would have the Panda parked up in her living room and treated to a warm drink before bed. Clearly buoyed by her new found love of cars, Carol has taken to helping her friends out with all matters of an automotive nature. So last week, I received an email from Carol looking for some advice for her friend, Sarah. Here’s the brief I received. Read more
First Drive: 2012 Peugeot 508 RXH HYbrid4 Limited Edition
Peugeot chose a couple of obscure locations for the UK launch of the new 508 RXH Hybrid4. A new and exclusive hotel and golf resort near Knutsford was nice enough, but given the car’s target market and tax friendly positioning, I did wonder if the nearby Knutsford Services on the M6 would be a little more apt. I was paired up with David McCourt of Manchester Confidential and given a road route designed to test the car’s prowess. It soon became apparent that we were heading for Manor House Stables, a racehorse yard partly owned by the footballist, Michael Owen. More on this later. Read more
Eco warrior: Fiat 500 TwinAir
I’ve never been a dedicated follower of fashion. When it comes to clothes, I’ll always err on the side of comfort. I’m also unlikely to jump on a bandwagon, choosing instead to wait for the next wagon, even if means I stand waiting in the rain like a sad chump.
It’s a similar story when it comes to popular culture. If a television channel constantly plugs a new show or insists on using the phrase ‘live and exclusive’, I refuse to watch it, choosing instead to catch it when it comes around on ITV4 or Dave. I’m also one of the rare members of the human race who doesn’t own a copy of an Adele album. Read more
