Kia proves that its 1.0-litre Stonic is more than up to a daily motoring grind
IAIN ROBERTSON With engine sizes seemingly in freefall, partly to meet ever-tightening emissions legislation, partly to increase frugality, Iain Robertson puts the ‘brand of the moment’s’ compact family model...
BUMPER BUNDLE OF BOOK REVIEWS
IAIN ROBERTSON The new book scene is vibrant at the moment with a diverse range of titles and subject matters, writes Iain Robertson, that are certain to engage with...
Gareth Butterfield spends a wild week in the Lexus RC-F
DAY ONE A BRAND new Lexus has just been delivered. It has 477bhp, a carbon-fibre bonnet and a full tank of petrol. I’ve had worse days. This is the...
Trevor’s Week for 5th April 2018
Easter sees wildlife rescue organisations up and down the country starting to get busier and busier. Hundreds of thousands of casualties will occur this Spring and Summer and be...
Range Rover pre-launches P400e hybrid model with Chinese stunt
IAIN ROBERTSON Prior to the public introduction of the all new Range Rover P400e hybrid at Geneva, reports Iain Robertson, the luxury car manufacturer headed to China to tackle...
Gareth Butterfield wonders if Volvo has found the sweet spot with its new XC60
WHEN I first drove the Volvo XC90, the first car to herald an entirely new design ethos for the Swedish manufacturer, it instantly became one of my all-time favourites....
Trevor’s Week for 29th March 2018
You can tell Easter is almost here as WRAS welcomes in its first orphan badger and fox cubs. Last week we were called to a badger cub found in...
Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross makes positive ‘next-gen’ impression
IAIN ROBERTSON Change for change’s sake has never been a Mitsubishi Motors’ precept, as evolution is closer to its heart, states Iain Robertson, however the company was in desperate...
Motoring Life with a Suzuki Baleno – Report 16 of 42
IAIN ROBERTSON ‘Abused’, ‘neglected’ and (largely) ‘ignored’, his Suzuki Baleno is typical of the 99% of modern family cars, reports Iain Robertson, that are acquired by people that seldom...
Unexpected luxury in prescient Picanto bolsters Kia’s range
IAIN ROBERTSON Believing that, if he wishes for things hard enough, they will appear, Iain Robertson considers that proof-positive has arrived in the form of the Kia Picanto X-Line,...
Daft, uninspired and sometimes downright rude! Car names and why?
IAIN ROBERTSON Wondrously entertaining, frequently invigorating and nominally frustrating, the motor industry spends a fortune on naming its new cars (and protecting copyrights), states Iain Robertson, who’s almost come...
Gareth Butterfield is impressed with the new Suzuki Swift
THIS is the new Suzuki Swift. And hopes are high that it’s going to be as good as, or better than the old Suzuki Swift, which surprised the motoring...
MOTORING BOOK REVIEWS
IAIN ROBERTSON A genuine mixed bag of reminiscences, photo-journalism, historical and futuristic books have hit the review desk in the past few weeks and Iain Robertson has managed to...
Subaru cries out for another chance with thoroughly revised XV
IAIN ROBERTSON Having wondered for many years, whether, or not, Subaru would be in a better place, were it marketed in the UK by the factory, rather than a...
Gareth Butterfield takes a trip down Memory Lane in the Peugeot 308 GTi
I CAN remember an occasion, back in my secondary school days, I was bowled over with excitement, to the point of almost soiling myself, when a sports teacher arrived...
Sipes, squish and safety – changing a mindset is the problem
IAIN ROBERTSON If you are interested in technology, writes Iain Robertson, the prospect of wet and dry performance, a reliance on temperature and the relationship between carcass and tread...
Making an impact is vital for transitioning DS and its 4 Crossback
IAIN ROBERTSON Rest assured, trying to create a new brand as an offshoot of an existing one demands a capacity for juggling, with which Citroen is clearly struggling, states...
Lexus employs origami to create its high-end RX450h
IAIN ROBERTSON It is easy to comprehend the viability of hybrid technology to the business vehicle market, explains Iain Robertson, even though the ultimate advantages of zero road tax...
Gareth Butterfield finds out why the Kia Rio is the brand’s best seller
IF someone asked you to name a Kia, you might come out with “Sportage”, picturing its memorable and hugely successful small SUV. You might even think back to the...
Sex appeal in abundance with the latest eco-pretentious Lexus RC300h
IAIN ROBERTSON The luxury arm of Toyota has benefited from the wave of enthusiasm coursing through it of late, reports Iain Robertson, as its latest Lexus models just glow...
Gareth Butterfield thinks the Renault Scenic proves there’s life in the MPV sector yet
IT’S been 20 years since the first Renault Scenic burst onto the scene. In those days the world had gone people-carrier mad. SUVs were the tools used by farmers...
Seat Arona bolsters ‘SUV’ line-up for Spanish arm of VW
IAIN ROBERTSON The growth of the compact SUV sector has been four-fold in the past two years and Seat wants its slice of the segment, suggests Iain Robertson, with...
Gareth Butterfield likes an estate car, but does the Peugeot 308SW push his buttons?
PEUGEOT is a fairly accomplished brand when it comes to turning its hatchbacks into compact estate cars. And this, the 308 SW is its latest offering. The 308 is...
While Citroen C3 was a dullard, the Aircross variant is on-the-money!
IAIN ROBERTSON Vehicle packaging and presentation is immensely important, states Iain Robertson, as can be proven by a spec’d-up midfielder from Citroen that is immensely alluring but, when it’s...
VW Tiguan grows a pair to become Allspace
IAIN ROBERTSON Never a real fan of the SUV, Iain Robertson is intrigued when some manufacturers decide to factor-in additional seating capacity, to replicate fast-disappearing MPV-type seating arrangements but,...
DEATH VALLEY UNDERGROUND CITY? ARCHAEOLOGY NEWSFLASH NO.533d
Several years ago, two men – Jack and Bill (surnames unknown) – were exploring in Death Valley, near Wingate Pass, when one of them fell through the bottom of...
Gareth Butterfield tests the Vauxhall Crossland X
VAUXHALL is no stranger to success in all kinds of sectors, and a classic example of this is the Mokka X. I tested it a while back and liked...
New flavour Polo adds class to VW’s compact contender
IAIN ROBERTSON Battered by a constant barrage of ‘SUVs’, it can be tough to appreciate that the compact category is also contested hectically and Iain Robertson has now sampled...
Living with a Suzuki Baleno – Report 15 of 42
IAIN ROBERTSON The long-term Suzuki was put to good use on Christmas Day recently, reports Iain Robertson, as he used his car for a very testing drive to and...
Gareth Butterfield finds the Honda HRV surprisingly entertaining
IF you’re in the market for a crossover then there are three important boxes you’ll probably want to tick. Firstly, it needs to look pretty good. There’s no point...
Semi-conventionality gives Volvo ‘XC’ a niche viability
IAIN ROBERTSON Not all estate car owners want an SUV in their driveways, states Iain Robertson, who understands the craze but much prefers the subtlety (by comparison) of an...
The Joy of Pregnancy Number Four
I was never the broody type. Indeed in my twenties some of my friends started longing to settle down and have children, but this was never my plan, instead...
VW tries to button back convention with all-new T-Roc…but fails
IAIN ROBERTSON In creating a rival to the Audi Q2, Skoda Karoq and Seat Ateca, from within its own competitive stable, suggests Iain Robertson, Volkswagen felt compelled to stick...
An ultimate car, at an ultimate price, carrying the ultimate moniker
IAIN ROBERTSON “You commit yourself to such a level where there is no compromise. You give everything you have; everything, absolutely everything.”, so stated Ayrton Senna and British success...
Living with a Suzuki Baleno – Report 14 of 42
IAIN ROBERTSON With innumerable other motoring tasks on his plate, Iain Robertson has simply not had sufficient time to put many miles on Baleno in the past month but...
The sad story of the disappointed wee boy and the Jaguar he wanted to see
IAIN ROBERTSON It is that time of the year, when the nights draw in and Santa Claus is on his way, that Iain Robertson remembers the youngster, whose levels...
The incredible case of the Citroen C3 Aircross
IAIN ROBERTSON Some new cars get slipped into the market with minimal fanfare, highlights Iain Robertson, their manufacturers believing that those models can achieve what they need to, without...
Trevor’s Week for 25th January 2018
There is a lot in the media at the moment about deer and the need for a cull. Despite the number of road casualty deer on the Ashdown Forest...
Peugeot transforms 5008 from MPV to SUV most succinctly
IAIN ROBERTSON Admitting that he ‘finally gets it’, Iain Robertson has gained a proper marketing perspective on what defines the archetypal ‘family car’ in the modern era, albeit one...
Welsh Witterings: What is Veganuary all about?
With the task of New Years Resolutions out of the way, and mumblings about going dry (going alcohol-free ) for January you may well have missed Veganuary. Veganuary is...