BIT OF A BLOW. Dave Randle explains how it pays NOT to think the worst if an unusual breakdown occurs... So we made space in the schedule and booked up the first caravan holiday of Spring. Not an epic; just far enough away to be off the intermittent communication lines of Romney Marsh and sequestered among the Surrey Hills several times as far above sea level. We’re just getting back into … [Read more...]
Features by Dave Randle
Latest Suzuki Swift – First impressions with a different, scientific approach…
New Suzuki makes the running... Applying science to automotive assessment, the inimitable Dave Randle shares his own fascinating thoughts on Suzuki’s newcomer. As a classicist, I naturally turned to Swift for a quote that would do justice to the latest automotive bearer of that name. The best I could come up with was: ‘You’re lucky enough to be different, never change,’ which, while it’s true in … [Read more...]
Citroën’s Innovative New Suspension System
Citroën Springs Ahead… by Dave Randle. Above and beyond all its other innovations and achievements, Citroën is renowned for its ‘cushion of air’ ride quality. For over half a century it has developed and refined its ‘hydropneumatic’ and ‘hydractive’ systems until the late C6 and the still just present C5 represented the apotheosis of technical advancement in a world where it too often seems … [Read more...]
Renault Kadjar 1.5 diesel First Impressions
Holding fast – Kadjar exemplifies Renault’s powers of recovery… Says Dave Randle. French national giant, Renault’s road hasn’t always been either straight or smooth. Yet somehow it has always managed to navigate the virages dangereux and the chaussées deformées of the industrial landscape with vision, flexibility and finesse. It was nationalised in the first place to keep it from going off … [Read more...]
Let’s Hear it For the Citroën Xantia – plus a useful Gatwick Airport parking tip…
The Citroën Xantia and me Dave Randle waxes lyrical about this modern Gallic classic… I’d already had three Xantias in a row when I asked our local specialists to find me a top of the diesel range Exclusive 110 HDi. Five years ago, they came up with the goods: a beautiful storm grey example with rare yellow leather seats. All my Xantias had been prodigiously reliable and all had done 200,000 … [Read more...]
Kia’s new Sportage First Impressions – an alternative view
Has Kia succeeded in house-training the SUV? Dave Randle gives his own individualistic and inimitable view of SUVs in general and Kia’s new Sportage in particular… Time was, and not too long ago, that four-by-fours and so-called Sports Utility Vehicles were rather uncouth affairs. They mainly found favour with those who believed other motorists were out to get them, so, as well as being built … [Read more...]
Wot, No Driver? Is this really a good idea? Here’s some food for thought.
Driverless (Autonomous) Cars A personal view by Dave Randle, who is unconvinced this is the best way forward... Whatever it says on the packaging, smart televisions and smart phones are anything but. Any smartness going around remains with the people who made them. All any machine can do is to choose between various pre-programmed options through binaries and Boolean algebra. This is not … [Read more...]
The Goddess – still amazing at 60!
The Goddess at 60: Citroën’s design icon retains its timeless beauty Dave Randle is your guide to this sleek, evocative, ahead-of-its-time machine… Although the years immediately following World War Two in Europe were a time of rationing and austerity, they also saw an upward shift in public expectations and the first flowering (if that’s the word) of consumerism. Many returning service … [Read more...]