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SMMT test day: the good, the bad and the awful
Published on 2012-05-25 13:59:00
Every year the UK’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) holds a test day at the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire. The site is generally closed to the public but it provides a variety of different circuits designed to simulate public highways – including twisting B-roads, tight city streets and a two-mile circle of endless five-lane motorway. It also provides gradients more > read more
TV’s Jonny Smith to put the eek into EV
Published on 2012-05-23 06:45:00
Jonny Smith, owner of some doubtful sideburns and a man of acquired automotive tastes, has bought himself an electric car. If you’ve ever caught Smith’s delightfully quirky work on TV’s Fifth Gear you’ll guess he’s not the kind of bloke to nip into to a Nissan dealer and order up a new Leaf. Nor has he purchased the last of the Tesla Roadsters. Smith might hanker after a bit of Tesla pace but > read more
Hybrid numbers start to stack up
Published on 2012-05-22 13:39:00
Throw a stick up a central London street and you’d probably hit a hybrid (or a U-turning black cab, or a stationary bus, or possibly a cyclist running a red). Fuelled initially by the London Congestion Charge and latterly by their suitability for crawling painlessly between traffic lights, there are now oodles of hybrids threading the narrow lanes of the capital. According to Toyota, it has > read more
Sensibly stupid: from Porsche 959 to 918 Spyder
Published on 2012-05-16 11:05:00
In the 1980s sports car maker Porsche produced a limited-edition £150,000 supercar called the 959. Its appearance was deceptive – it looked like an overinflated Porsche 911, but under the bulbous bodywork lurked running gear that had taken a very big stride beyond the contemporary air-cooled car. All four wheels were driven, for example, while the body was made of aluminium and lightweight > read more
Petrol cars under 100g/km
Published on 2012-05-11 16:33:00
Until very recently, if you wanted a car that promised very low CO2 of under 100g/km, you were forced to look at either a diesel or a hybrid. Both came with drawbacks for the green-tinged buyer. Firstly, there was price. Diesel cars are typically more expensive than an equivalent petrol model, and hybrid cars have never been known for their low upfront cost – all those batteries and electric > read more
Vauxhall follows Fiat with its Mini-chasing Adam
Published on 2012-05-08 04:39:00
Vauxhall has clearly looked on enviously as Fiat and Citroen have lured better-off buyers to their otherwise bargain-bin brands with the 500 and DS3 city cars. The company has been busy following the same recipe to cook up its own competitor, previously codenamed Junior but now officially announced as the Vauxhall Adam. Much like the retro Fiat and distinctive DS3, the Adam will attempt to > read more
EcoVelocity show goes east to Excel
Published on 2012-05-05 17:22:00
The second EcoVelocity show started today, and if it seems to have come around quickly that’s because it has. Last year’s event, in the grounds of Battersea power station, happened in September but the 2012 repeat has arrived months early, and it’s moved to the Excel centre on the other side of London too. Comparisons with the British Motor Show, which twice filled this venue, would be > read more
Mio Spirit 485 satnav review
Published on 2012-05-04 11:11:00
I’ve been testing a new satnav unit over the past couple of weeks – a Mio Spirit 485. It’s easy to find this unit for sale online at just under £80, and it offers a lot of features for the cash. There’s a 4.3-inch screen that’s bright enough to be visible on sunny days, attentive spoken guidance with street names and landmarks, and real-time traffic alerts, all in a light 150-gram package. > read more
Chevrolet Cruze review – 1.7 VCDi edition
Published on 2012-04-26 12:21:00
A day after I tested the £29,995 Chevrolet Volt, I drove the £16,725 Chevrolet Cruze. This is a price point at which Chevy is more used to competing, somewhat below the going rate for a car of its size, rather than stratospherically above it. The Cruze in question is a five-door hatch fitted with Chevrolet’s new 1.7 VCDi engine, a diesel unit that produces 130PS (128bhp) and 300Nm (220lbft). I > read more
Chevrolet Volt review - UK edition
Published on 2012-04-19 12:30:00
The flat Cambridgeshire fenlands might lack even the most modest of hills, but they nonetheless provide an interesting place to test a new car. If you’re looking for cracked, patched and crumbling asphalt, sharp off-camber bends, long arrow straights and staccato transverse ridges – plus the odd juddering level crossing – you’ll find them all on the narrow roads that criss-cross the peaty > read more
Fast charging a Nissan Leaf (or not)
Published on 2012-04-17 11:08:00
Nissan’s 100-day The Big Turn On campaign rolls on, but my role as a roving billboard is no more. Nissan Leaf car 23 was hauled away yesterday afternoon by a man with a Nissan Navara pickup truck and a trailer. The diesel-powered manner of my Leaf’s departure underscores the big, divisive issue that hangs over all electric cars like an obdurate cloud – severely limited range. From my front door > read more
BMW's Olympic vision
Published on 2012-04-15 17:48:00
I’ve written a couple of times before about BMW’s involvement in this summer’s Olympic Games. The company is providing a fleet of fuel-efficient cars to ferry athletes around, which will be a high-profile showcase for its latest and greenest cars, including the recently launched 320d Efficient Dynamics Edition. The company is also hoping to cement a few mental associations between the peaks of > read more
Renault Twizy 45 review
Published on 2012-04-14 06:56:00
In between testing full-powered versions of Renault’s Twizy in Ibiza last week, I also got to sample the Twizy 45, a slower and lighter version of the little electric runabout. As the name hints, the Twizy 45 is limited to 45km/h (28mph) compared with the 80km/h (50mph) top speed of the full-fat Twizy 80. The slower version is also 32kg lighter – it’s not obvious where the weight has been shed – > read more
Volvo V40: no bargain but should prove frugal
Published on 2012-04-13 12:58:00
Volvo will plunge into the posh part of the family hatchback market with its new V40. Priced from £19,745 it will have to square up against Audi’s A3 and BMW’s 1-Series to win customers. It might not have the most desirable badge in the C-segment – the part of the car market where things are roughly Golf-sized – but Volvo will no doubt turn out to have built one of the safest options. Independent > read more
Renault Twizy review – Colour and Technic editions
Published on 2012-04-11 08:28:00
About 18 miles into my first drive in Renault’s remarkable Twizy I stopped to take photographs, borrowing a rustic shed on the island of Ibiza as a contrasting backdrop for my plastic-panelled electric pod. A wizened local, presumably the owner of the dilapidated lean-to I’d commandeered, wandered over as I took my first snaps. He stuck his hands in his pockets and asked a question. I have no > read more
Living with a Nissan Leaf
Published on 2012-04-04 11:22:00
Fortunately I haven’t been living in a Nissan Leaf – I’m not David Blaine – but I have put a few miles on the electric car that Nissan kindly loaned me last Friday afternoon. I’m participating in The Big Turn On – a 100-day effort to highlight electric motoring. My first worry was recharging the car, after failing to get a specific charging point installed. A very helpful engineer from British > read more
A-Class, second hand
Published on 2012-03-31 06:08:00
It’s a Saturday morning and the previously sunny weather has decided to take the weekend off, so while it’s dull and grey outside the colourful world of car buying has lured me back to my laptop. Earlier this week I wrote about the outgoing Mercedes-Benz A-Class and what interesting second hand cars they might make. Time for some fantasy garage shopping. Awarding myself a budget of £12,000 – > read more
Renault Twizy: what the papers say
Published on 2012-03-30 13:52:00
This time next week I’ll be testing a Twizy, the little electric runabout from Renault that crosses a scooter with a supercar (well, it does have two seats and scissor doors, just like a Lamborghini). OK, so Twizy might lack a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it 0-60 time, indeed it runs out of puff at 50mph, but it offers things no supercar can. It’ll squeeze through tiny gaps in traffic and it will be > read more
GreenMotor and the Nissan Leaf Big Turn On campaign
Published on 2012-03-30 12:35:00
I’ll be driving a Nissan Leaf electric car for the next couple of weeks, as part of Nissan’s 100-day campaign to raise awareness of electric motoring – The Big Turn On. GreenMotor.co.uk is one of 10 blogs taking part across the UK. Not all the blogs are about cars, never mind green cars. They range from parenting blogs like Daddacool to, erm, I’m not sure what MouldyFruit is about but I think it > read more
Merc’s A-Class: no longer in a class of its own
Published on 2012-03-29 06:24:00
I couldn’t get near the new Mercedes A-Class at the recent Geneva Motor Show press day, such was the media interest in the new car. The scrum seemed ironic, given that the car is very much a me-too effort and not remotely groundbreaking. It’s a Merc that apes other successful cars, most notably the Audi A3. It will also vie for sales with BMW’s 1-Series plus upper-end VW Golfs and sundry posh > read more
Alfa Romeo Giulietta review – 1.4 MultiAir TCT edition
Published on 2012-03-28 10:04:00
As with so many modern cars, the Alfa Romeo Giulietta can be driven in multiple modes, even more so when fitted with the company’s new twin-clutch TCT gearbox. The new box lets you relax in fully automatic mode, or play rally driver by pulling and pushing your way through the gears sequentially. Or there’s an optional pair of paddles for flapping up and down through the cogs either in auto or > read more
Vauxhall Ampera – UK review
Published on 2012-03-27 10:17:00
Last summer I drove an Opel Ampera along Dutch roads as smooth and flat as a frying pan. Today I’m driving another Ampera, this one wearing Vauxhall badges, over roads that are more rock cake than pancake. Welcome to extended-range electric motoring, UK style. And the verdict crossing our crumbly asphalt? Not bad at all. The Ampera soaks up the worst without complaint, and only gets a bit fidgety > read more
Volkswagen Up review – High Up edition
Published on 2012-03-20 11:57:00
My first impulse last week, faced with a selection of new Volkswagen Ups to try, was to plump for the BlueMotion Technology edition. It is the leanest and most efficient of the various new Up models, after all. But every Up is a small, simple and frugal little city car, so there’s more than just one model you might reasonably consider if you have a green conscience. Particularly if you live > read more
Cut price EVs (but no bargains) at Peugeot-Citroen
Published on 2012-03-19 10:35:00
Peugeot and Citroen have been hawking their own versions of Mitsubishi’s i-Miev electric city car for a while now, and it’s hard to imagine who might have bought either of them. Priced at £28,155 even after the government’s plug-in grant, the egg-shaped Citroen C-Zero and Peugeot iOn have been asking for a couple of thousand pounds more than the £25,990 Nissan Leaf — which happens to be a bigger > read more
VW Up review – BlueMotion Technology edition
Published on 2012-03-18 08:08:00
Testing VW’s City Emergency Braking system turns out to be harder than I expected. It sounds simple enough: aim a brand new Volkswagen Up at a brick wall, get up to 10mph, and see what happens. But your instincts scream “brake” as the bricks loom large, and it takes a conscious effort of will to keep feet off the pedals and trust that the system, which uses an invisible laser beam to detect solid > read more
Honda EV-Ster: shrink-fit electric roadster
Published on 2012-03-13 10:13:00
It didn’t debut at the Geneva Motor Show, but Honda’s pocket-sized, battery-powered roadster attracted lots of interest at the Swiss show nonetheless. First seen at the Tokyo show in December, the EV-Ster is just 357cm long – or about half a metre shorter than Honda’s CR-Z hybrid coupe, which itself seems barely bigger than a shoe. The EV-Ster is slightly too long and marginally too wide to slot > read more
Toyota’s FT-Bh is light but no lightweight
Published on 2012-03-08 03:32:00
My favourite car at this year’s Geneva Motor Show was also one of its most ungainly. Toyota’s FT-Bh may be as pretty as a bullfrog but it has its own entrancing charm nonetheless. And with a claimed 134.5mpg fuel consumption and 49g/km CO2 emissions, it certainly ought to demand attention. That’s about twice as good as you’d get from a 1.0-litre Yaris.Toyota’s goal with the FT-Bh was to achieve > read more
Renault Zoe ZE unmasked: keenly priced and clever too
Published on 2012-03-07 07:08:00
The production version of Renault’s pretty Zoe ZE electric supermini will be one of the cheapest EVs available when it reaches UK showrooms later this year. Prices will start at £13,650 plus an additional £70 per month to lease the car’s battery. Unveiled yesterday at the Geneva Motor Show, the Zoe ZE is propelled by a 65kW (87bhp) electric motor, with peak torque rated at 220Nm. Acceleration > read more
Hyundai i-oniq to show off range-extender tech
Published on 2012-03-01 06:29:00
Concept cars rarely resemble anything that eventually rolls down a production line, but I hope Hyundai is serious about making something influenced by its i-oniq show car, which will be exhibited at next week’s Geneva Motor Show. Hyundai uses the term “fluidic sculpture” to describe its current design theme. I’m not sure why, since the i-onic doesn’t look very fluid or sculptural to me, but it’s > read more
Super spec and a big price for Chevrolet's UK Volt
Published on 2012-02-29 16:12:00
Chevrolet’s Volt will be offered in a single trim level costing from £29,995 including the government’s plug-in car grant, the company has confirmed today. The extended-range electric car will come generously equipped with an options list stretching only to an audio upgrade, shinier wheels and nicer paint. Standard items include 17-inch wheels, heated leather seats, a leather-trimmed wheel, > read more
Volvo’s new V40 looks good – in parts
Published on 2012-02-28 05:53:00
Leaked images have been bandied about on the web for a while, but we can finally take a legitimate look at Volvo’s upcoming V40 hatchback, now that the company has formally released pictures into the wild. The new car must battle the imminent new Audi A3 plus a host of other rivals from Alfa Romeo’s Giulietta to Volkswagen’s Golf when production starts in May. UK deliveries will start in the > read more
Rinspeed Dock+Go: Thunderbird 2 for the city and beyond
Published on 2012-02-26 12:25:00
We can all agree that the Smart ForTwo is a very short car, and therefore a bit skimpy when it comes to luggage space. But few of us would imagine that the solution is to bolt on half an extra car, complete with its own axle, turning the ForTwo into a six-wheeled buggy that wouldn’t look out of place trundling across the surface of the moon. Nevertheless, that’s what hare-brained Swiss modifier > read more
Toyota’s Yaris Hybrid will undercut Honda’s Jazz
Published on 2012-02-24 06:13:00
Toyota has announced new details about its upcoming Yaris Hybrid supermini, and Honda won’t be happy. The small Toyota will undercut Honda’s Jazz Hybrid on price, while also delivering a far superior result on official emissions and economy tests. While the Jazz Hybrid range runs from £15,995 through to £19,305, depending on specification, Toyota has announced that the petrol-electric Yaris range > read more
Holy hybrids Batman, is that the new FT-Bh?
Published on 2012-02-22 08:39:00
Toyota has released teaser photographs and a video revealing brief glimpses of its upcoming FT-Bh concept car, which is due to go on show at next month’s Geneva motor show. As the photo of its tail reveals, the compact hybrid looks as if it might offer suitable transport for Batman and Robin, with its vertical rear lamps formed into a pair of scalloped, bat-wing wiggles. Batman would need to be > read more
Geneva 2012 motor show - the GreenMotor preview
Published on 2012-02-17 10:50:00
Long before the first day of the Geneva Motor Show, manufacturers habitually begin jostling for attention by revealing what they’ll be revealing, so to speak. Here’s a selection of the Geneva 2012 announcements that have already been announced. Peugeot has announced a lurid 208 GTi Concept for Geneva. It’s a 200bhp attempt to reawaken fond memories of the extinct 205 GTi, assuming any untarnished > read more
No “i” in team – or in BMW’s Olympic fleet, sadly
Published on 2012-02-16 06:42:00
The Olympics will come a tad too early for sponsor BMW when the games begin this summer. The company is furnishing a fleet of cars and motorcycles, plus 400 pedal cycles, to provide transport for London 2012. But its most innovative new products – the i3 electric car and i8 plug-in hybrid – won’t quite be ready in time.BMW is sponsoring 130 athletes aiming to compete this summer, all of whom hope > read more
Kia Rio review – 2012 EcoDynamics edition
Published on 2012-02-15 11:53:00
Half a decade ago, Kia lured German car designer Peter Schreyer away from the Volkswagen group, where he had delivered some outstandingly elegant and successful designs including the original Audi TT, first-generation A3 and mark-IV Golf. Installed as global design chief at the Korean brand, Schreyer has since overseen a series of productions Kias which, while perhaps never quite as arresting as > read more
Ford’s pillarless doors go beyond the B-Max
Published on 2012-02-13 02:00:00
Ford’s upcoming B-Max is not just a small MPV with unusual doors, it’s also a rolling showcase for Ford’s growing expertise in the use of high-strength steel. And that expertise means that the B-Max’s innovative doors, giving uninterrupted wide-open access to a car’s interior, will become a feature of other Fords in the near future. Darren Palmer, product development director at Ford of Europe, > read more
Real-time data for EV charging points
Published on 2012-02-07 12:03:00
Electric cars are already a practical option for journeys within a radius of 40 miles or so, but longer trips still require a degree of planning. I’m due to take charge of a Nissan Leaf for a couple of weeks in March, and I’m already wrestling with the combinatorial problem of which charging points might let me visit family members who live in awkwardly remote spots like north Norfolk. As you can > read more
Citroen DS5 joins the DS dynasty [Updated]
Published on 2012-02-03 09:03:00
Citroen’s design manager, Andy Cowell, introduced the new DS5 at a small reception last night, organised via Twitter and held in the new London offices of the SMMT. Cowell is a softly spoken Briton who has worked in Paris for 20 years. He’s very clearly proud of the work done on the three-car DS line-up, although he seemed a mite disappointed with the DS4 – it’s evidently not selling as well as > read more
Fiat goes large with new 500L
Published on 2012-02-02 06:14:00
Fiat’s hugely popular 500 city car was clearly inspired as much by the reborn BMW Mini as it was influenced by its own tiny, rear-engined, air-cooled, 1950s namesake. So it should come as no surprise that the Italian company is now chasing hot on the profitable heels of the fashionable Mini Countryman with its latest lifestyle offering, the 500L.With a surprising lack of marketing flimflam, the L > read more
VW Up and friends gain doors but keep their charm
Published on 2012-01-31 08:14:00
Pictures haven’t been released yet, but it won’t take a creative genius to imagine what the upcoming Seat Mii five-door will look like, now that we’ve seen its two litter-mates showing off their extra entry points. Pictures of the new five-door versions of the Skoda Citigo and VW Up have been released ahead of the Geneva Motor Show in March, where presumably a more accessible Mii will make up the > read more
Renault Megane cleans up its act for 2012
Published on 2012-01-27 09:53:00
By the time 2012 draws to a close, Renault will have launched a full line-up of electric vehicles in the UK, comprising a van, saloon, hatchback, and whatever it is that the Twizy is. While Renault’s electric range is expanding, its conventional car roster is doing the opposite. The company has ceased to offer some of its niche vehicles in the UK, including the Espace people carrier, the Modus > read more
2012 Chevrolet Aveo review - Eco edition
Published on 2012-01-25 16:33:00
I’ve lost count of the times I’ve attended a car launch and found the most fuel efficient version was also the most disappointing car in the range. Power is typically down, responses muffled and trim chosen from the sackcloth end of the options book. So it was refreshing and surprising to realise, at the launch of the 2012 Chevrolet Aveo this week, that the Eco model was the peach in this > read more
Test drive: Volvo S60 DRIVe
Published on 2011-06-28 13:07:00
There’s a hefty, paperback-sized slab of black plastic lurking behind the rear-view mirror, as viewed from the driver’s seat of this Volvo S60. Climb out and peer back in at the crest of the windscreen and you can see the slab holds an impressive > read more
Trying to test drive the Tesla Roadster Sport
Published on 2011-06-23 07:30:00
One of the nicest aspects of the recent Canary Wharf Motor Expo was the chance to drive some of the cars, as opposed to just staring, photographing or poking at them. Or indeed kicking them, as I witness two small boys doing to one of the Land Rover > read more
Test drive: Vauxhall Ampera, first impressions
Published on 2011-06-12 06:02:00
We engage mountain mode in our Vauxhall Ampera as we exit the roundabout, even though the only peaks in sight are the steel and glass cathedrals of London’s Docklands. I want to learn what the engine sounds and feels like and, left to its own devic > read more
Test drive: Liberty E-Range, the electric Range Rover
Published on 2011-05-28 19:33:00
According to Rolls-Royce, the gargantuan 71kWh battery nestling under the lengthy bonnet of its Phantom 102EX is the largest ever fitted to an electric car. If it was the biggest, it isn’t any more. Because the electric Range Rover I’m gently gui > read more
Tested: how does the Mini Countryman Cooper SD stack up?
Published on 2011-05-18 08:10:00
I’ve seen quite a few Mini Coutrymans (Countrymen?) pootling about in London over the last few weeks, now that deliveries from the Austrian factory have begun in earnest. The cars will become a common sight, as the Countryman has quickly become Min > read more
How much will a Renault Twizy cost?
Published on 2011-05-13 11:42:00
Renault has finally announced UK prices for its innovative Twizy electric runabout thing, due to go on sale early in 2012. Two trim levels will be available initially – called Urban and Technic – and both are powered by the same 17bhp motor and 7 > read more
Why green car fans should applaud Jaguar’s C-X75 supercar
Published on 2011-05-08 04:01:00
It will be fascinating to see how Jaguar’s C-X75 supercar progresses from show-car fantasy to roadgoing reality, now that the firm has said it will build the thing in collaboration with the Williams F1 team. Jaguar has said relatively little about > read more
Test drive: Mini Cooper SD Convertible
Published on 2011-04-22 04:28:00
This is the first open-topped car I’ve tested for GreenMotor.co.uk and I have to say it feels pretty good. The sun is shining, it’s not too hot, I’m bowling along a dipping and twisting Somerset B-road, and the wind is tousling my hair in a ple > read more
Is the Ampera any more than a Volt with a nose job?
Published on 2011-04-17 05:14:00
I recently grabbed a quick chat with Enno Fuchs, the man charged with launching the Vauxhall/Opel Ampera range-extended electric car onto the market in Europe. He’s a very likeable chap with an earthy turn of phrase that I doubt his PR people are t > read more
Test drive: Nissan Leaf, UK edition
Published on 2011-04-04 00:54:00
As if to underscore its suitability for popping to the shops, Nissan chose a sprawling shopping mall in Milton Keynes to launch its Leaf electric car in the UK. As a result I can attest that Nissan’s baby is eerily quiet while making 4mph progress > read more
The UK census, car ownership and electric cars
Published on 2011-03-27 16:42:00
Today is census day in the UK, and anyone who has filled in the form will have noticed a question about cars, specifically asking about how many cars your household has access to. I neglected to mention the various press fleet cars I might get tempor > read more
From the Mini E to the BMW i3, via Apple
Published on 2011-03-18 04:00:00
This morning, 40 long-faced electric car pioneers handed back their keys, as the final phase of the Mini E public trial came to a close. It seems like only a few months since I wrote about the recruitment drive, bemoaning the fact that my house sat a > read more
Renault Twizy is almost ready to roll
Published on 2011-03-10 01:45:00
Renault is showing off a couple of examples of its innovative Twizy electric mobility pod at the Geneva Motor Show. Changes since the production version was first unveiled in Paris last year are minor: it has sprouted sleeker door mirrors, for exampl > read more
Nissan electric vehicle plans: from Twizy to Infiniti (and beyond)
Published on 2011-03-03 11:56:00
Hideaki Watanabe is clearly a busy chap. As we shake hands in a small but cheerful little meeting room, tucked away inside Nissan’s Geneva motor show stand, he hands me two separate business cards. One bears Nissan and Infiniti logos and says, “C > read more
The Vauxhall-Opel view on the future for EVs
Published on 2011-03-02 13:09:00
At the Geneva Motor Show yesterday I met Dr Christian Kunstmann, who is the Assistant Chief Engineer for Electric Vehicles at General Motors Europe. Kunstmann has been deeply involved in the development of the Ampera, GM’s range-extended EV (which > read more
Rocketman and the real mini Mini
Published on 2011-02-28 16:15:00
I’m off to the 2011 Geneva Motor Show rather early tomorrow morning. There’ll be lots of new metal to admire but the car I’m keenest to have a close peer and poke at is the Mini Rocketman.Yes it’s a daft name – no doubt meant to echo Clubma > read more
Volvo unveils plans for a beefy V60 Plug-in Hybrid
Published on 2011-02-21 02:01:00
At the Geneva motor show next month, Volvo will unveil a pair of V60 Plug-in Hybrid show cars. They will be beautifully finished in satin white paint with slate-blue highlights, and will boast a blue and blonde leather interior with contrasting white > read more
Test drive: Volvo C30 DRIVe Electric
Published on 2011-02-09 18:14:00
Every second car on the roads around Gothenburg seems to be a Volvo – perhaps not surprising given that the iconically Swedish company is based here. The little silver Volvo I’m gingerly piloting around the ice-crusted roundabouts is out of the o > read more
Test drive: Kia Venga EcoDynamics
Published on 2011-02-01 11:36:00
I do like to make my test drives as thorough as possible, but I hadn’t planned on making the slow-speed, congested-roads section of my Kia Venga EcoDynamics review quite so exhaustive.I set off an hour behind schedule, which meant I got snarled in > read more
Gordon Murray T27 crash test success
Published on 2011-01-24 03:45:00
Some good news but also questions arose last week as Gordon Murray Design published crash test results for its micro city car design.The good news is that Murray’s new baby passed the statutory impact test – a 56km/h (35mph) run into a deformable > read more
Volvo's electric C30 and the One Tonne Life project
Published on 2011-01-20 11:02:00
How low can you go? When it comes to carbon emissions, one brave family in Sweden is about to find out. The willing victims in the One Tonne Life experiment are the Lindell family from Hässelby near Stockholm in Sweden. Nils Lindell, his wife Alicja > read more
Which is the best car to beat the Congestion Charge?
Published on 2011-01-16 06:06:00
There are something like 60 major options to choose from if you’re looking for a conventional new car that avoids the London Congestion Charge. That’s counting UK models of car and their significant trim levels, and not counting electric cars lik > read more
Congestion Charge exempt cars - hybrids out, diesels in
Published on 2011-01-05 11:53:00
There’s a surprisingly large selection of cars that are now exempt from the London Congestion Charge, assuming owners are willing to register and pay £10 to appear on the guest list.At least one model of all of the following cars will qualify:Audi > read more
Think City EV: four seats but you can’t sit in them yet
Published on 2010-12-21 09:34:00
Norwegian electric car maker Think has confirmed that its two-seat City EV will be available with optional 2+2 seating, although it seems we may have to wait still longer to see the car on sale in the UK with seats of any description. The new rear se > read more
UK Plug-in Car grants: who’s in and who’s out
Published on 2010-12-17 13:41:00
The government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles this week announced a list of nine green cars that will be eligible for its £5,000 grant from January next year.As I’ve noted before, the terms of the Plug-in Vehicle grant programme exclude smal > read more
Mio Navman Spirit 470 satnav review
Published on 2010-11-30 08:02:00
I’ve used a Mio satellite navigation unit before – albeit briefly – back in April. While I was impressed with the Mio Spirit 500, particularly with what it offered for the money, there were some areas that felt ripe for improvement.Even a quick > read more
Nissan Leaf scoops 2011 Car of the Year gong
Published on 2010-11-29 07:37:00
In a significant vote of confidence in electric cars, the Nissan Leaf has today been named the 2011 European Car of the Year.The battery-powered Leaf beat off close competition from the sporty Alfa Romeo Giulietta and practical Vauxhall Meriva to win > read more
Future Car Challenge - Brighton to London 2010
Published on 2010-11-06 17:01:00
I went along to the Future Car Challenge on Saturday morning, to watch the cars cross the finish line outside the Anthanaeum Club, just off London’s Pall Mall. The cars had driven from Brighton to London, following the same route as the Veteran Car > read more