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 
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
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
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
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
Golf in sheep’s clothing? Skoda Octavia vRS 2.0 TSI
It must be tough being a Skoda Octavia vRS. Despite being a genuinely brilliant hot hatch in its own right, it can’t quite seem to shake off the shadow of its brother, the Volkswagen Golf GTI. Face it, the Golf GTI has a badge, a heritage and a level of credibility that the Octavia vRS can only dream of. Whilst the Golf GTI needs no introduction, the Octavia vRS needs a chapter and verse just to get itself noticed.
Yes, it’s fundamentally a Golf GTI in different clothes, but is it about time the Octavia vRS shook off its Primark image and stood on its own two feet? PetrolBlog spent a week in the company of a very blue vRS to find out. Read more
Dawn Raid: Volvo V60 T6 R-Design Polestar
4.28am. That’s the time the alarm was set to go off. But it didn’t get a chance to, because at 4.24 I awoke and by 4.25 I was out of bed and getting dressed. Even my alarm clock gets a day off on a Sunday.
Funny how during the week, the alarm is greeted with a swift smack on the snooze button as I savour every second in bed. But with the thought of a Dawn Raid ahead of me, things are different. By 5am, I was in the car and heading for the Shell garage at Sourton Down. As the highest point on the A30, I thought it would make a suitable point for the start of my pre-breakfast challenge. Read more
Jaguar Land Rover: The overlooked
PetrolBlog is usually your chosen repository for automotive waffle and bunk so we were slightly surprised to receive an invitation from the nice people at Jaguar Land Rover to experience its range.
Never ones to turn down the opportunity to try something new we sent Rob Griggs-Taylor to the National Motor Heritage Centre at Gaydon on a slightly overcast day, where a mouth-watering range of cars were lined up for his convenience. Makes a change from Skoda Favorits and Shatchbacks, eh?
First Drive: Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCT
Alfa Romeo has high hopes for its new TCT semi-automatic transmission. So high in fact, that it chose the International Space Innovation Centre* near Didcot in Oxfordshire as the venue at which to launch the new Giulietta TCT. If you’re aiming high, why not reach for the sky and go beyond? But then there’s a buoyant mood around the Alfa Romeo camp right now, not least because the manufacturer enjoyed a solid 2011, including its highest yearly new registration figure since 2002. And of the 11,563 cars registered, some 7,113 were Giuliettas. No doubt Uma Thurman had a part to play in that. Read more
PetrolBlog Car of the Year 2011
Perhaps I underestimated the scale of the task in choosing a winner of the PetrolBlog Car of the Year 2011? But having dreamt up the new PetrolBlog Score as a way of benchmarking the cars in question, I then had the less than enviable task of compiling the list of candidates. Yes, I know it’s now mid-March, making PetrolBlog the last website in the world to announce its car of the year from 2011, but at least I’ve had time to give it the overnight test. Or several overnight tests. Read more
Fusing horror with pain: Bentley EXP 9 F
“Customer and public reaction will be analysed following the unveiling of EXP 9 F at Geneva 2012, with the aim of refining the concept further. Above all, Bentley will be listening carefully to the reaction of customers and potential customers throughout the world, prior to making any definitive commitment to production.”
This is the penultimate paragraph of the press release that accompanied the announcement that Bentley will be unveiling the EXP 9 F concept tomorrow morning at the Geneva Motor Show. And I’m very, very glad the paragraph was there, as before then I was just about to give up all hope. Read more
Electric Shatchback: Renault Fluence Z.E Dynamique
The 14th of February 2012 was the day I finally got to drive an electric car. Yes, PetrolBlog has propelled itself into the 21st century by experiencing what some people predict is the future of motoring.
That point is debatable of course. There are alternative fuels in development and electric cars have some way to go before they can be considered a realistic alternative to the internal combustion engine. Not only are the cars costly to buy, but there just isn’t the infrastructure to support a nation of electric cars. What’s more, the charging time and the anticipated range of an average electric car just isn’t enough to satisfy most drivers.
But like it or not, electric cars are becoming more common place and can now be seen as just another model in a manufacturer’s range of vehicles. In a relatively short space of time, they’ve gone from being the slightly eccentric uncle in the corner to the perfect dinner party guest. Read more
Nissan’s crazy Juke-R
There’s a lot of waffle and bunk on the internet surrounding the Nissan Juke-R. For example, there’s a rumour that the bigwigs at Nissan HQ knew nothing about the concept and weren’t best pleased when news of its existence emerged from Europe. I suspect the story is the stuff of internet legend, but I rather hope that parts of it are true.
There’s something delightfully old school about the story. I have visions of a couple of chaps meeting in the bar after a work and, following a few of pints of Old Thumper, somebody makes the point that “we’re not using the GT-R enough”. A direct quote from Nissan. Read more
Practical magic: Renaultsport Twingo, Clio & Mégane
I must be the only person in the civilised world not to have seen one of the Harry Potter films. I haven’t even read any of the books.
Until now, this has never caused me any real problems. In fact, it’s only dinner parties where my lack of Potter knowledge has caused any real concern. As the subject invariably comes around to the latest ‘soopa-doopa’ Harry Potter and the Deathly Half-Pint movie, I’m forced to either miss 20 minutes of riveting conversation or nod my head gormlessly in a manner that would do John Redwood proud at a Welsh National Assembly meeting. Read more
Driven: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X FQ-300
It might be hard to believe, but the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution was born in 1992, so next year it will celebrate its 20th Birthday. Does that make you feel old? It does me, not least because 1992 was also the year that a mad fool gave me a driving licence and presented me with the freedom of British roads. I can’t remember the name of the chap who uttered the delightful words “you’ve passed”, which is a shame really, because he’s probably one of the most significant people I’ve ever come into contact with. Thank you Mr unknown chap at the Bournemouth test centre. Read more
Winter warmer: Peugeot 308 CC GT THP 200
It’s often reported that here in Britain, we buy more convertible cars than our friends on the continent. Despite having what can best be described as a changeable climate, we like nothing more than the thought of ‘wind-in-the-hair’, topless motoring. Indeed, research earlier in the year by LV= suggested that the number of convertibles on the road has risen by 599% since 1993, making them the fast growing car type in Britain. The total figure is just under one million, which must be music to the ears of hairdressers up and down the country who are tasked with fixing bad cases of ‘convertible hair’. Read more
Recession buster: Jaguar XKR-S
I’ve cracked it. Where countless politicians and economists have failed, I think I may have found a solution to the economic crisis. Forget quantitative easing, interest rates and house building, the one thing that can drag us out of the recession is the Jaguar XKR-S.
You might need to bear with me on this… Read more
First Drive: New 2012 Suzuki Swift Sport
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Date: 31st October 2011
I’ll get straight to the point. The new Suzuki Swift Sport is a better car than the old model. There you go, I’ve said it. PetrolBlog’s Car of the Year in 2010 simply wouldn’t stand a chance in a playground game of Top Trumps. The new car is quicker, lighter, faster, bigger and more powerful. It’s also more fuel efficient and produces less CO2 emissions. Job done then? We should be congratulating Suzuki on the new car and asking them to prepare an acceptance speech for PetrolBlog Car of the Year 2012? Well no, not exactly. Read more
