Car Review: Rolls-Royce Phantom – as big, luxurious and iconic as ever August 12, 2014 Alan Sugar drives one. So does Simon Cowell. But, by and large, owners of the Rolls-Royce Phantom prefer discretion. For every ostentatious celeb with a Roller there will be 10 discreet owners who hide behind the tinted, double-glazed windows. Yet it’s impossible to avoid people stopping and staring when you drive one. It may have [...]
Car review: Ferrari’s California T model – now with cutting-edge Formula One technology August 4, 2014 If you listen to the “purists”, the Ferrari California is a bit of a wet blanket. For some reason this 490 horsepower V8 hairdryer never quite set the experts alight. Too soft, they crowed, and – possibly – too ugly. Ferrari was never going to stand for that, so now there’s a new version [...]
Review: The new Aston Martin Vanquish Volante July 28, 2014 There’s a certain inevitability about Aston Martin; it’s impossible to discuss it without referencing James Bond. Even when BMW was the brand supplying 007’s cars, he was thought of as an Aston driver. The British sports car firm delights in the association, as you perhaps would if you could call upon the power of the [...]
Car review: The BMW i8 July 21, 2014 We'd stopped the BMW i8 alongside Loch a’ Chroisg to swap drivers and stretch our legs. A bunch of us had flown up from Farnborough that morning to Inverness, and we were heading around the top of Scotland in a crazy five-hour drive, before flying south again mid-afternoon. Minutes later, the Land Rover Discovery that [...]
Review: the new Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake July 15, 2014 According to the Jaguar ads, half the country is queuing up to test drive the new F-Type. It probably won’t disappoint either, given how attractive it is and what a delight it is to drive. But there’s a deal-breaker: practicality. The F-Type only has two seats and it has a tiny boot, making it great [...]
Review: The astonishing new Tesla Model S July 8, 2014 Some have already judged the first bespoke effort from cutting-edge American electric carmaker Tesla as the second coming of the automobile. But can the Tesla Model S possibly justify the hype? It’s certainly a lot of pressure to heap on a premium executive saloon. Yet Tesla chief executive Elon Musk appears to be one of [...]
Big Benz: a no frills Mercedes crossover July 1, 2014 It took some time to convince my wife that she should be driving something a bit more “off-road”. She didn’t buy into the whole mums-in-their-Range-Rovers thing, and would have been happier with a posh saloon. Now she’s one of the legions to have bought into the crossover genre and swears by her Kia Sportage. Everyone [...]
Motoring review: Porsche 911 Targa 4S June 10, 2014 The dream of convertible motoring rarely matches reality. Dream: bathing in the sun. Reality: baking in the sun. Dream: breath of fresh air. Reality: a breath of noxious toxins and cow poo. As a result, you tend to leave the roof up most of the time and suffer, irony of ironies, a darker and more [...]
Car review: Volvo v60 Polestar June 2, 2014 You know the Volvo you’re driving is something special when all of Sweden turns to stare as you go by. Sweden is Volvo’s home – almost every house has at least one parked outside – so you’d think people would be sick of the sight of them. But this is the V60 Polestar, and it [...]
The M3 is back and in rude health May 26, 2014 After killing off one of its most iconic models, BMW has found an ingenious way to bring the M3 back to life BMW’s marketing department accidentally killed the M3. For four generations it epitomised everyday Porsche-humbling performance, and had been a hit in the City ever since the original 1980s M3 became a stockbroker pinup. [...]