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.
After having driven one diagonally across Wales in December 2017 as part of its launch, it was difficult not to develop an affinity for the then very-new Mercedes Benz X-Class pick-up. It was comfy, and not just by pick-up standards: it genuinely rode well. It was well appointed; leather, sat-nav, heated seats, DAB and more. And it was more than rugged enough to cope with whatever the Welsh...
I passed my test in 1990, in a MK3 Ford Fiesta. First time too, I hasten to add. But student budgets being what they were back then simply I couldn’t afford anything as advanced as a blue 1,100c, 3 door Fiesta Popular complete with its 4 speed gearbox and optional rear wash-wipe, like that of my instructor’s. Upon gaining my freedom, my first car was an orange Hillman Imp.
In...
Not so long ago certain, sensitive, types were chaining themselves to the production lines at Land Rover, demonstrating their disgust at just how un-environmentally friendly the World’s favourite 4x4 once was. Remember? The Chelsea Tractor: We’re all doomed!
So what if I was to tell you that, albeit for not an inconsiderable sum, it’s now possible to buy a Range Rover that will...
The premium mid-sized SUV is the current motoring must-have. Every manufacturer worth their salt makes one, and every middle manager worth their sales bonus (or not, perhaps?) wants one. Can you imagine what they’d say at the golf club if you didn’t?
As for me, I’ve never been quite so enamoured. SUVs, premium or not, are not exactly what you call exciting. Nevertheless,...
I’ve been incredibly lucky. Or should that say privileged? I’ve driven quite a number of new Aston Martins. The N420 Vantage was the first, I got hopelessly lost in that one. Then came a Rapide, closely followed-up by a DBS. Next a Virage – they don’t make them anymore – and then another Vantage, an S, I think. Yes, that‘s right. It was blue, with suspension so hard it literally...
Kuga, Kadjar, Karoq, Qashqai, Sportage, CR-V, Tiguan… And that’s to name but a few. The list of compact SUVs, soft-roaders and faux-by-fours – call –them-what-you-will - keeps growing. And yet strangely, Jeep, the brand that inspired them all (yes, even Land Rover) and the grand-daddy if-you-will of off-roaders, have been somewhat late to join this particular aspirational party. Until now...
It is inevitable that sooner or later you will ask. So, I will save you the trouble. A Rolls Royce Ghost EWB – that’s extended wheelbase incidentally – should you require or desire such a car, and in exactly the same specification as the one their rather lovely PR people loaned me recently, will set you back… £281,925. That’s excluding local taxes.
How you might ask, can any car...
You’re probably familiar with Jaguar’s F-Pace by now, their first foray into the premium SUV market is also their best seller. Like Porsche, Jaguar actually shift more 4x4s these days than they do sportscars. The purists may baulk at the idea, but clearly the faux-by-four is what makes the big money these days.
It’s no wonder then, that, keen to cash–in ever further, Jaguar have...
It’s the noise you remember most. Long after you’ve pressed the button that switches the F-Type R’s engine off, and long after the exhaust system has stopped pinging itself cool, the sound of Jaguar’s 5.0 litre supercharged V8 lingers long in the air.
It shatters the morning silence on start-up – four trumpet-like tailpipes playing a fanfare that signals your departure –...
It was not so long ago that SEAT, Volkswagen’s Spanish and sporty brand, didn’t have an SUV in their line-up. Now they’ve got two. First there was the Ateca. That’s their bigger one, based on the MQB platform that underpins a whole host of VW group regulars. And now there’s this: The Arona.
Well, I suppose, it’s a crossover really, rather than an SUV.
I say that because...
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