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? [...]
How to buy a classic car: The Ferrari 328 GTS is a sound investment and a surprisingly sensible classic January 30, 2017 Welcome to the first in an occasional series of classic car reviews. We’ll highlight some of London’s most desirable used cars, classics that are great to drive and likely to offer a healthy return on investment. And where better to start than with one of motoring’s blue-chip brands? Ferraris make up seven out of the [...]
Now Ford has spoken out against Donald Trump’s travel ban January 30, 2017 The two top executives at the US' largest carmaker have waded into the row over Donald Trump's decision to ban citizens of seven Middle Eastern and North African countries from travelling to the US, saying it "goes against our values as a company". Reuters reported Ford's executive chairman Bill Ford Jr and chief exec Mark [...]
Car manufacturing hits its highest level in 17 years – as auto makers slash investment January 26, 2017 UK car manufacturing hit a record high in 2016, new figures have shown – just as car manufacturers slashed the amount they invested in the UK. Figures published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed the UK made 1.7m vehicles in 2016, up 8.5 per cent on the year before and [...]
US giant Ford criticised after Mustang sports car scores just two stars in crash tests January 25, 2017 US car giant Ford has been criticised by industry body Thatcham Research after its Mustang sports car achieved just two stars in official European crash tests. The Euro New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) puts all new cars through thorough crash tests and awards them a star rating out of five. Recent changes have made it [...]
Audi R8 Spyder review: The soft-top supercar threatening Lamborghini’s supremacy January 23, 2017 When did Audi become the ultimate ‘cool’ car manufacturer? It could have been around the end of the last decade, when the original TT was launched, along with the futuristic A2 compact MPV. But all this paved the way for 2006, when Audi launched its R8 supercar, along with bold claims about it being a [...]