Car Articles

I’ve made no bones about my passion - and that tends to be fast cars.  You may have even gotten a little sick of hearing Lamborghini this or Aston Martin that.  You’ll no doubt be shouting at the screen - much as many do with Top Gear - and saying ‘where are the normal car reviews?’

Well, I’m not about to review the new Kia Picanto for you (even if it is a good car).  Well, I will if I get an invite to test-drive it.  In the meantime though, what I’d like to do is recommend five cars that you’ll love.  You’ll love them because not only are they on the whole very decent at what they do, but also they’ll save you a fortune in insurance.

Whether you’re a new driver or an older person looking to save money, any of these cars will be suitable for you.  Even if you’re the motorist looking to save a few bob, then you won’t go wrong with these.  This is not least because not only are these cars cheap to insure, but they all have relatively small (and economical) engines.  So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the five.

Skoda Fabia
Don’t listen to those who are still telling the same old badge jokes.  In fact, poke them in the eye and tell them they are about ten years behind the times.  Since VW took over Skoda way back in 1991, things have got better and better.  The Fabia is based on the V Polo and is extremely reliable, hardwearing and very safe.  The 1.2 litre Classic is insurance group one - that fact will certainly make your wallet fatter.

Renault Clio
The third generation of the supermini is a modern classic in many ways and the quality certainly goes some way to explaining why you see them just about everywhere.  The way in which the internal space is handled is very clever, meaning that there’s actually quite a bit of room inside.  Going for the 1.2 litre will see you getting almost 50mpg, something that you won’t see from many other engines.

Nissan Micra
Granted, this car will probably be the least popular in this review.  Why is that?  Well, the perky little car is what a huge number of people learn to drive in every year.  Given this fact, I know that I for sure was desperate to distance myself from the Micra - even if my ideal car is a Nissan (a 350Z for the record).  However, the modern Micra is actually a damn good car.  You’ll get keyless entry, parking sensors, air con and many other perks you wouldn’t necessarily expect.  Overall, it’s a really good car and it won’t cost the Earth to run.

Fiat Punto
There is a large number of this particular Italian supermini on the road and for good reason.  It enjoys being revved.  It really is that simple.  Much like James May said in his review of the Fiat 500, these Italian cars are made to be lit up by pushing the revometer until the valves have “jumped up and are dancing on the bonnet”.  I couldn’t agree more - and it is one of the more involving cars here.  Not only that, but even the 1.3 litre sporting will see you managing to get very reasonable insurance quotes.

Ford Fiesta
This is a car that has been around for about 30 years now - which must tell you something.  Granted, there are so many superminis out there now that the Fiesta can look a bit of an oldie (not least because the design has never really been altered that much) but it is a testament to the quality that so many are still going.  The newer and younger models however are really geared for the modern generation and feature such additions as Bluetooth and new-design alloys.  Why get it?  Well the 1.25 litre version is a group two and will give you about 45mpg.  You can chuck it in corners and it’ll give you a smile.  With that in mind, what’s not to love?

Conclusion
You’ll have seen that there’s a trend in these ‘cheap to insure’ cars - and that is the fact that they are pretty much exclusively superminis with small engines.  There’s nothing wrong with that, in fact they can offer a great drive along with frugal performance.  So, for a change, let’s all hail these little metal marvels of money saving.  Make mine a Fabia (VRS edition diesel mind you).

Despite what we maybe seeing on TV, it seems for those people who are old enough the Porsche 911 is the iconic cars of the eighties and the Audi Quattro which has had a nice bit of publicity on the hit TV show Ashes to Ashes came in a close second.

Out of all the cars on the list, I am amazed that at least one of these Fords made it onto the list, the RS 2000, Capri 30s and the Capri 2.8 Injection these cars were true eighties machines and really reflected the times.

The Results of the HPI survey:

What would be your dream 80’s car?

Porsche 911 29%

Audi Quattro 28%

Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 15%

BMW M5 12%

Peugeot 205 GTI 3%

Sinclair C5 1%

Which 80’s car do you most remember?

Ford Capri SLE 71R (Terry McCann - Minder) 30%

Ferrari Testarossa (Sonny Crockett in Miami Vice) 26%

De Lorean DMC12 (Back to the Future) 23%

Ferrari 308 (Magnum) 21%

Reliant Regal (Only Fools and Horses) 19%

Jaguar Mark II (Inspector Morse) 18%

KITT (Pontiac Firebird Trans Am) (Knight Rider) 17%

British Leyland Mini (Mr Bean) 11%

Jaguar XJ6 (Arthur Daly - Minder) 11%

Golf GTI (Paula Hamilton commercial) 10%

What are some people thinking about?

Source [Auto Trader]

It is of course now confirmed that the Indian conglomerate Tata is the proud owner of two traditionally British marques, Land Rover and Jaguar.  Apparently this all came to conclusion over months of painstaking negotiations, along with several new cars from the various marques such as Tata’s Nano (shown, the ultra small, ultra cheap new Indian transport) and the Jaguar XF.

Ford (the owner of Land Rover and Jaguar previously) hadn’t commented on the financial performance of the two companies, but it’s probably fair to say that Jaguar was losing money whilst Land Rover was on the making money side of things after clocking up record sales in the last three years.

For those interested in the finance side of things, the overall cost came to a staggering £1.15 billion.  Quite, quite incredible money.  More of a pressing concern is the fact that both Jaguar and Land Rover employ staff to the tune of about 16,000 at UK plants in the West Midlands and Merseyside.  What will become of their jobs?  Of course, it will be cheaper to manufacture abroad.  Will Jaguar, as a luxury marque, survive this sort of change?

As is the current relationship, Ford will continue to supply Jaguar and Land Rover with engines, stampings and car components along with various technologies.  This is important for continuity as well as of course reliability - do you want a Tata engine?  Probably not.

So what should Tata be doing with their new IP’s then?  Well, a few things.  First, we’ve seen the F-Type appearing here and there as an interesting concept.  Porsche is currently selling the Boxster on the original 50’s styling.  Tata should capitalise on this and take advantage of the ‘new/retro’ vibe that’s going on.

Diesel power is a requirement these days - whether we like it or not.  Tata’s range of Land Rover and Jaguar needs to encompass mid and top range diesels in order to appeal to the modern day market.  I’m not going to ask for an electric Jaguar XJ mind you, but some versatility is required in what they supply.

So, what has Tata bought, and should they be pleased with it?  Well, I’m not about to say it’s a bargain purchase, but I will say that they are two of the best-known marques in the automotive industry.  Okay, so Jaguar might have a bit of an ‘old man’ reputation and Land Rover must, and I mean MUST shrug off the ‘it’ll break down on you all the time’ reputation.  I mean that’s gone beyond a joke; some have said they’re worse than Alfa Romeo.

Nonetheless, you have two British car brands that are arguably the best known in the world with an amazing heritage.  We know Tata is flexible and the Nano is sure to bring in significant revenue.  Will they be able to handle these new car ranges though?  Well, that remains to be seen.  What I will say though is they’re a strange fit.  Odd bedfellows if you will.  I also have reservations on how the Nano will impact our global environment.

Regardless, for Land Rover and Jaguar the future’s bright.  The future is Indian.

It does not seem to be that long ago when it was announced that Ford had finally relented and decided to build the 2008 Focus RS, but nobody would have guessed that all of this would have happened so fast, for with just a few months the new RS has been spotted out and about in Germany, and although the car would appear to be encased in an ST type body styling is a mere disguise for keep prying eyes away.

There is a few signs that the car has a larger than normal engine, probably something in the region of the 2.5 litre five cylinder model with turbo charger, which is said will be in the RS, the shaping of the bonnet is for cooling this beast down.

In fact that car could be a bit of a few cars like off of the RS Cosworth too, whether this is going to be the actual desired finished or maybe there will be some subtle changes that will move this car into something special and eye catching like it should be for, considering that when this car eventually goes on sale later on in the year it will have a price tag of around £25,000!

Source [Auto Express]

If there was ever a reason to say that something has been over done, then this must be the case. Galpin who are the USA’s largest Jaguar dealer have come up with their own version of how the XF would have looked if they were designing it.

To be honest it looks ok from one angle, but when you look again it looks terrible, so it is hard to decide whether this car is good looking are completely awful. It’s just too hard to decide, you know that the car is fantastic, but this version is strange, maybe it is the colour!

The Galpin Jaguar XF is finished in a two tone red and black paint job, with colour coded red 22 inch alloy wheels, which incidentally look really cool! To finish off the rear tail lights have been smoked out, there is tinted glass all round and yes the red and theme continues into the passenger compartment, with the leather seats being finished in colour coded tones. No doubt there will be some one who likes this car, but it does remind you of the early eighties when people used to do this sort of thing to their Mark IV Cortina’s.

Source [Car Scoop]

With the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover about to be announced, it would seem that the favourite bidder would be the TATA Group, best known for the rugged trucks, but soon to known as the company that makes some of the UK’s most desired cars, or so the chairman Ratan Tata will tell you.

But if you are worried that some of the UK’s automotive heritage is going to moved lock, stock and barrel over to India. Yet as what will happen with the companies is unknown, yet we cannot see the whole production being taken over to India nor can we? Labour and everything else is so much cheaper over there.

But to put things into perspective, the Ratan Tata has confirmed that if his company gets the deal then he is very interested in the proposed “F” type Jaguar which is a sort of retro looking Jaguar that will take many people back to the sixties in style but will in fact be a highly technical machine that could be a possible rival to Porsche.

But at the moment we can only wait and see what Ford announces and only them we get a clearer picture on the way that the two makes and new models are going in the future.

Source [The Motor Report]