Grumpy, me? Well for once, today I almost smiled, and others who happened to be in my workshop at the time were seen to be concealing grins (at the very least). Please agree that you won’t smile, nor laugh, nor titter, when you read this – and I promise that this story is true. Recently a new customer had brought his car to me for a pre-MoT check and service, which I duly started to carry out. … [Read more...]
Contributors
MG Electric Vehicle Concept car – on the road
An electrically powered MG? Certainly! Kim Henson reports. During a recent, fascinating tour of MG’s assembly plant and Technical Centre at Longbridge, Birmingham (to read about this, please click HERE), I was given the chance to test-drive a prototype of MG’s ‘EV (Electric Vehicle) Concept’ car. This is a small, electrically-powered, front wheel drive four seater, built on a … [Read more...]
Wheels-Alive visits MG at Longbridge, Birmingham
Some 90 years after Cecil Kimber created the first MGs, Kim Henson makes a pilgrimage to the Birmingham factory where today’s cars bearing the MG name are assembled… Before we start, I have to confess to rather more than just a slight personal interest in the factory where the current range of MGs is assembled, and in the adjacent Technical Centre where the cars were designed and developed … [Read more...]
Porsche 928
Author: Brian Long Published by: Veloce Publishing [veloce.co.uk] 204 pages UK rrp: £50 ISBN: 978-1-903706-30-5 The Porsche 928 is one of the puzzles of the first century of the automotive industry: How did a company steeped in the Germano-Czech tradition of race-bred rear engined air-cooled cars come, almost out of the blue, to build a front engined, water cooled GT which never had the … [Read more...]
Jaguar lightweight E-type: the autobiography of 4WPD
Author: Philip Porter Published by: Porter Press Ltd [www.porterpress.com] 320 pages Price £40.00 ISBN: 978-1-907085-17-8 Philip Porter is a well known Jaguar enthusiast and historian. He owns amongst others HP 9600, the original E-type fixed head prototype and as well as founding the Jaguar XK and E-type clubs, he has written extensively about the marque. His latest book, the Autobiography … [Read more...]
New Audi TT
Audi's third generation coupe is completely new in every department says Tom Scanlan A casual glance might not register this: the difference between this car and the outgoing model is certainly not as marked as was the difference between the first and second generation cars. The most obvious visual cue is the much-revised front end, with the Audi rings now removed from within the grille up onto … [Read more...]
New Vauxhall Corsa
Review by Tom Scanlan Vauxhall’s latest generation of its popular Corsa is now on the road. How new is it? Although all the dimensions are no different, all of the car’s body panels are new, and provide greater definition between the ‘sporty’ look of the three-door and the ‘premium’ five-door models. Almost every element of the Corsa’s cabin is completely new, including a completely … [Read more...]
Audi A3 Cabriolet
Following its launch earlier this year, we have now had the chance for a full road test of the Audi A3 Cabriolet. Tom Scanlan reports... The fabric hood opens or closes in eighteen seconds and can be deployed at speeds up to 31 mph. On a 70 mph dual carriageway, the £230 optional wind deflector kept buffeting up front to a minimum and the noise levels, even at the national maximum speed, were … [Read more...]
BMW’s Latest Models (October 2014)
Tom Scanlan experiences six cars from BMW and MINI in one day... 2-, 3-, 4-series and i-series BMWs plus all-new MINIS have all arrived in a rush over the past months. Wheels-Alive went into the Cotswolds to sample them. Newest ideas are the 2-series Active Tourer and 5-door MINI Hatch, along with electric power for the i3 and remarkable i8. The M4 cars now have a metal roof convertible … [Read more...]
Multi-model Driving Impressions – SMMT Test Day South 2014
BRIEF IMPRESSIONS: A VARIETY OF CARS DRIVEN BY 'WHEELS-ALIVE' AT THE SOCIETY OF MOTOR MANUFACTURERS AND TRADERS’ 2014 TEST DAY SOUTH Kim Henson reports… Every year, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) hosts a driving day specifically for motoring writers from the south of the U.K, and I always find this a very useful occasion for driving a number of cars from different makers, … [Read more...]
Paul Frère
Serge Dubois / Editions Sergio Leone Price: €49 256 pages Distributed by: la Fondation Roi Baudoin, 21 rue Brederode, Brussels 1000 Paul Frère died in 2008 aged 91 and this is the first posthumous work on one of the world’s foremost autojournalists to appear. Still professionally active until his last months, the Belgian was a top flight racing driver in the 1950s and after winning Le Mans … [Read more...]
The VW Golf Story
Russell Hayes Price: £40 288 pages Behemoth Publishing, www.behemothpublishing.co.uk ISBN: 978-0-9928769-0-6 Russell Hayes’s encyclopedic yet extraordinarily entertaining History of the Cortina appeared in 2012 on the 50th anniversary of Ford’s famous saloon. Now Hayes has done it again, this time with the VW Golf, arguably a much more significant car. He shows how the Golf grew out of … [Read more...]
Ferrari 250 GTO Workshop Manual
Glen Smale, Haynes, July 2014 ISBN: 978 0 85733 384 1 MRP: £25 156 pages Some years ago Haynes reinvented its famous workshop manual series as feature books on notable aeroplanes, boats, submarines and…..motor cars. The latest issue on the last-mentioned covers perhaps the most famous Ferrari of all time, the 250 GTO. Last of the dual purpose road and racing Ferraris, a mere 36 were built … [Read more...]
Please release me
The other day, the lad who works for me was looking puzzled (actually that happens quite often, but I digress). On enquiry, he explained that he had been looking in vain for the bonnet release catch/handle, on a modern Peugeot… He was surprised to find that this release catch/handle was in fact located on the left hand front door pillar, so is only accessible when the door is open. Now what … [Read more...]
Skoda Yeti
Skoda's new Yeti is assessed by Tom Scanlan... Skoda is on a bit of a roll at the moment, with buoyant sales figures. The Yeti can take some of the credit. The new version is available as either a 4-w-d car or, as in the test model, a front wheel drive version. This car is equipped with the least powerful of the 2-litre diesel engines, with 110 PS (140 PS and 170 PS outputs are also available) … [Read more...]
Nissan Qashqai 1.2 Acenta
Tom Scanlan tries out a second generation version of the ever-popular Qashqai Travelling in the new Qashqai was a pleasure. This new version of a popular car has raised its own bar. The seats are very comfortable with good lower-back support for the driver, who also gets a tilt/telescope adjustable steering-wheel. The instruments showed clearly, both in daylight and at night with … [Read more...]
Latest Volkswagens Sampled
Kim Henson drives two of the latest VW Polos plus the new Golf SV and the rapid Golf R... As model names, Polo and Golf have in each case been with us for around four decades, but of course these justifiably popular Volkswagen models have evolved as the years have passed, and – as has always been the case – the latest versions represent current ‘state of the art’ design and … [Read more...]
Suzuki 4WD range First impressions
Suzuki's Four Wheel Drive range, summarised by Tom Scanlan... Not a lot of people, it seems, know that Suzuki makes cars and not just bikes. They may have only 1.5% of the UK car market but buyers who move into a Suzuki for the first time tend to stay with it. No wonder, really, considering the value for money the cars offer: they seem well-made, with good quality materials and with generous … [Read more...]
Audi A6 Ultra
Tom Scanlan road tests the refined, sophisticated Audi A6 Ultra diesel. The end result of all the experience Audi has gained on the race-track with their unrivalled success over fifteen years at Le Mans is proof of the worth of motorsport. The A6 Ultra is probably the quietest four-cylinder diesel car I've driven, and perhaps six-cylinder cars could be included in that. The engine is the … [Read more...]
Bratislava or Bust… They Made It!
‘Everything Keeps Going Right’ was a Toyota advertising slogan of a few years ago, and thankfully it held true for a group of friends who drove a 16 year old RAV4 to Bratislava (and back again!) in aid of the Dementia UK charity. Kim Henson reports… Recently on Wheels-Alive I wrote about a group of first year medical students who were about to set off in an ageing Toyota RAV4 on the exciting … [Read more...]
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