I'm Liam Bird, a freelance Motoring Writer based in the South Shropshire Marches. I currently write car reviews and road tests for a number of regional lifestyle magazines and newspapers which are distributed throughout Cheshire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, most of Wales and beyond.
As a member of the Welsh Group of Motoring Writers I'm as happy behind the wheel of a super-mini as I am in the latest super-car. I have press accreditation with most of the major motor manufacturers, meaning that as well as always being on the look out for further commissions, I always have a number of cars arriving each month ready to review.
Inevitably, it’ll go down in history as one of those days when you remember exactly where you were. Some were working; nurses, airport staff, the emergency services, motorway service station personnel, no doubt many more. It was a bank holiday, so thousands probably chose to watch the television. Others chose to travel.
Me? On the day of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II...
So far, the (albeit) small selection of electric cars I’ve sampled over the past few years have failed to impress. There have been exceptions of course.
Porsche’s Taycan Turbo S for example, is beautifully built, astonishingly quick, and above all, feels like a Porsche should – but at £136,830 before options, one could argue so it damn-well should. The Taycan Turbo S’s...
First, an apology. The car you see in the pictures before you is not quite the same as the car I drove recently. However, I can explain.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Porsche Boxster, and Porsche have built a special edition – the car you see in the pictures – to celebrate the occasion. Well, they haven’t built just one, they’ve built a limited run of 1,250...
Here’s a question for you: Which car brand do you think, this year to date, is the UK’s best-selling? Ford perhaps? What about Vauxhall? Hang on! Surely, it’s Volkswagen. Or is it Toyota?
The answer is Kia.
Without going too “Financial Times” on you. The first quarter of 2022 began with Kia’s rather successful January, in which they sold 10,504 cars; sales...
It’s hard to believe that twelve years have passed since I tentatively approached Volkswagen’s press office to see if they’d consider lending me a car. Whatever it was I wrote in my email must’ve worked: a few weeks later I found myself the custodian of what was then a brand-new 1.2 litre, Polo Moda; all £13,250 of it. With a whopping 69bhp, the capability to go from 0-62mph in 14.2...
How many times have you heard someone tell you that when they next buy a car “It’ll definitely be either Japanese or German”? I’ve even said it myself. Both countries are considered by those in-the-know (or those supposedly in the know, perhaps) to be the masters of motor manufacturing; their near-legendary reputations for engineering excellence and uncompromising quality come well-...
I have it on very good authority – from an inside man, one might say – that Suzuki plan to introduce an all-electric vehicle in 2025. Quite what that vehicle will be however he wouldn’t, or couldn’t, say.
That’s not to say, that Suzuki aren’t currently doing their bit to help reduce fuel costs and CO2 emissions. All of Suzuki’s current passenger car range (note: The...
Legend has it it was Enzo Ferrari, that on upon seeing one for the first time, declared the Jaguar E-type “The most beautiful car in the world”. Praise indeed, and especially so when you consider Ferrari’s own back catalogue wasn’t exactly short of seriously attractive looking machinery; you could hardly call a 250 GT California or a 250 Berlinetta ugly. However, did the E-type’s...
My cousin Jayne called: “I’m getting married. The invitation is in the post”.
Great news! And I mean it when say it genuinely couldn’t happen to a nicer couple. But while she and soon-to-be husband Stuart busied themselves with the minor details: venue, rings, dress, cake etc, I was left pondering how I was going to get six people, and no doubt copious amounts of their...
It’s not often that you get the chance the really test a vehicle. A McLaren 720S for instance: I know it’ll do 0-62mph in little more than the blink of an eye, and on occasion I’ve been able to reaffirm such things. However the 720S’s claimed 212mph top speed is something I’ll probably never have either the space – in the correct facility of course - or perhaps the nerve, to prove....
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