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 [...]
DriveTribe co-founders Richard Hammond and Ernesto Schmitt talk dating, driverless cars and excluding Jeremy Clarkson from music ventures February 13, 2017 How would you transition from celebrity to business magnate? If you’ve already done well in life, one option is to wind down. This is not, however, the option Richard Hammond and sidekicks James May and Jeremy Clarkson are going for. In case they didn’t have enough to do launching Amazon’s The Grand Tour, they’ve also [...]
Is the British motorist falling out of love with diesel cars? February 7, 2017 Ever since news of the VW emissions scandal broke in 2015, the automotive industry has been waiting for a sign that British motorists are falling out of love with diesel cars. The latest new car sales data published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) shows a definite swing away from diesel in [...]
BMW 740Le xDrive review: The latest BMW 7 Series is a City-friendly plug-in hybrid February 6, 2017 When he’s not running across sand or wooing Audrey Roberts, actor Nigel Havers likes nothing better than to walk around London tapping on the windows of chauffeurs sitting with their engine running, telling them to turn it off. The number of cars sat idling by the side of the road, doing nothing, is “extraordinary” he [...]
JLR has lovingly updated its original Range Rover Classic – and it can be yours, for £135,000 February 3, 2017 If you're a British car buff, here's one to get your engine revving: as part of its "Reborn" series, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has lovingly recreated the original Range Rover Classic – and it's absolutely gorgeous. The restored car, in Bahama Gold, features a V8 petrol engine and 132 brake horsepower. Want one of your own? [...]