Porsche 964 Carrera RS review: Tim Pitt lets Porsche’s road racer off its leash, but is this the ultimate 911? March 20, 2017 The Porsche 911 is the greatest sports car ever made. There, I’ve said it. This Darwinian survivor has evolved over five decades, transcending humble VW Beetle origins and shrugging off attempts to replace it. From air-cooled originals to today’s turbocharged Carrera, every 911 is iconic, idiosyncratic and unfailingly brilliant to drive. But which is the [...]
UK motor industry shifts down a gear as inflationary sentiments creep in March 14, 2017 Britons are expected to put the brakes on their spending for new cars in 2017 as inflation bites, new data by consumer research company GfK finds. In research out today, it forecasts that car sales will slide by 5 per cent this year, following last year’s record. Joe Staton, head of market dynamics at GfK, [...]
Bentley Mulsanne Speed review: This rolling fortress is like a luxury flat on wheels March 13, 2017 There’s an old saying that Bentleys were made to be driven and Rolls-Royces were made to be driven in. That hasn’t really been the case since Bentley was taken over by Volkswagen Group and Rolls-Royce by BMW – you can now buy wafty Bentleys and sporting Rolls-Royces – but even so, you’d expect a Bentley [...]
Land Rover Discovery review: The king of SUVs is back and it’s better than ever March 6, 2017 Land Rover started the current SUV craze. Back in 1989, it launched a model that was more road-oriented than the Sherpa-like Defender, and more affordable than the old-money Range Rover. The Discovery was born and the world was stopped in its muddy tracks. Typically, Land Rover then rested on its laurels. Since that original, there’s [...]
Britons are expected to splash out £108bn on cars during 2017 February 28, 2017 Britons will spend £108bn on cars this year, according to research by American Express. The poll found that 19 per cent of adults will spend an average of £11,094 buying a brand new or second hand car. Londoners spend the most on cars at £14,557 each, followed by the East Midlands (£13,831) and Scotland (£13,191). [...]
We revisit the brilliant BMW M3 CSL, the lightweight 2003 classic that’s rocketing in value February 27, 2017 Imagine for a moment you’re in an upmarket restaurant and the conversation is flowing as readily as the red wine. You finish your starter and main, then summon the willpower to skip dessert. But you’re presented with a bill for the full three courses, plus a hefty service charge. That was BMW’s sales pitch for [...]
Range Rover has teased its mysterious new Velar – the luxury SUV for the “avant garde” February 22, 2017 Range Rover has unveiled its latest luxury SUV with a single, mysterious photograph – dubbing it the "avant garde Range Rover". The Velar is designed to fill the "white space" between the Range Rover Evoque and the Range Rover Sport, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), which owns the brand, said today. It added the new addition [...]
We drive an updated model of the classic 90s roadster to see if its new retractable roof is as reliable as it is ravishing February 20, 2017 F or such a lightweight, the original Mazda MX-5 packed a mighty punch. In 1990, when the original MX-5 finally arrived in the UK, this feather-light and affordable roadster upset the establishment. It was the closest thing to a great British sports car since the death of the MGB in 1980. Sure, Lotus beat Mazda [...]
Reach stunning landscapes, luxury hotels and the national speed limit driving in the Scottish Highlands February 20, 2017 The soul-crushing experience of driving in London can be enough to grind down even the most dedicated fan of cars. No matter how many horses are hiding under the bonnet, they’re not much use if you’re crawling along at 4.8 miles per hour. That’s why Scotland’s North Coast 500 is such a tantalising prospect – [...]
Golf GTI 2017 review: The grand daddy of hot hatches is back, baby February 13, 2017 Manual gearbox. Tartan seats. Bright red paint. It could be the summer of ’76, with me at the wheel of Volkswagen’s brand new Golf GTI. Instead, it’s 2017 and I’m driving a revised version of the seventh-generation Golf GTI. While the GTI was once the hot hatch of choice for yuppies, fashionable mums and even [...]