Lifestyle
18 Nov 2022
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, I was on my way...
24 Nov 2019
Perhaps it was Volkswagen who started it, with their Amarok. Or was it Mercedes Benz with the X-Class? Then again, the Americans have been doing it for far, far longer. But they would, wouldn’t they? It’s just so typical of them.
I’m talking of course about the plush pick-up truck. Surely you remember The Fall Guy’s GMC wideside?
Dubious early ‘80s TV nostalgia aside, there’s now no...
05 Feb 2019
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, one should always...
10 Jul 2018
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 the Arona is...
20 Jun 2018
You may perhaps not even have seen one yet, but already Volvo’s new XC40, has been winning awards. Not only did it recently win both the Car of the Year and Best Medium SUV titles in the recent DieselCar and EcoCar Top 50 awards 2018, it also scooped the coveted European Car of the Year award prior to its unveiling at this year’s Geneva Motorshow in March. What Car? Named it their Car of the...
10 Dec 2017
Figures were never really my strong-point, so let’s get them out of the way first shall we?
Ferrari’s GTC4Lusso is a 680bhp, 12 cylinder, 4 seater, 4 wheel-drive, 4 wheel-steer, 0-62 in 3.4 seconds, 0-125 mph in 10.5 seconds, 208 mph all-out super-coupe. It weighs 1,920kg, has a 7 speed dual-clutch gearbox (in fact it has 2 gearboxes, we’ll get to that later), and is nearly 5 metres...
19 Nov 2017
From January onwards you’ll no longer be able to walk into your local Volkswagen dealer and order a 3-door Polo, they’re not going to make them anymore. You can’t buy a 3-door version of the new SEAT Ibiza either, or the Skoda Fabia for that matter either. As people downsize (and ironically cars get bigger) the people in (the predominately German) suits have declared that there’s no longer a...
17 Oct 2017
Quite where the line is drawn between what makes an SUV an SUV, and what constitutes a crossover these days is hard to determine, but what can’t be argued is the fact that we car-buyers love ‘em – and especially so if they’re considered “premium”.
At the time a writing, and just a couple of weeks after their glitzy unveilings at The Frankfurt Motorshow, I can name at least another half-...
16 Jul 2017
A friend of mine, we’ll call him Tim, often asks me if I can come up with a one word review for the car I’m currently driving. Over the years I’ve used words such as imperious, luxurious, capable, charming, swift, brilliant, stunning, dreadful, awful, excellent, challenging, and many more besides to succinctly describe my feelings for everything from Adams to Audis, Fiesta to Ferraris,...
16 Jul 2017
The owner of a new interior and lifestyle store in Shrewsbury has turned detective after uncovering a message dating back nearly 200 years in her premises.
Michelle Gilchrist, who recently opened White Lotus Living on Wyle Cop, made the historic discovery while renovating the building for her new venture.
The message, written on a wall next to a fireplace on the second floor of the building, read...
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