The growth of the oil temperature gauge: why carmakers want us to love their...
When the man from Williams Advanced Engineering started the engine of the Jaguar C-X75 from cold, he was strict with himself and stared at only one readout: the oil temperature panel. The 1.6-litre...
View ArticleETA: why in Germany it is dynamic
ETA racing made the headlines in the UK a few months ago. There was a spate of crashes blamed on people trying to beat the sat nav’s estimated time of arrival (ETA). They should have come to Germany....
View ArticleMercedes-Benz reinvents the fuel gauge
BAN THE ELECTRONIC FUEL GAUGE NOW. A campaign I started in 2011 but which surprisingly has failed to take off. Today, ever-more cars are replacing an accurate, easily assimilable analogue dial with a...
View ArticleThe day I met David Gandy in a Jaguar
Hi, I’m David. What a nice chap, I thought. Very sharp suit he was sporting, too. I wished I’d worn my shirt with cufflinks. Nevermind. I didn’t know David but soon got chatting. Turns out he’s a bit...
View ArticleWhy the Jaguar F-type windscreen washer bottle is so smart
The windscreen washer bottle department within JLR is bringing some impressive work to market at the moment. We’ve already seen the extra-large washer bottle option on the Range Rover Sport: just the...
View ArticleMotor industry news: September 2013
29 September God love Ferdinand Piech. He wants an 1199c Ducati Superquadro V-twin version of the EV hybrid VW XL1, to be dubbed XL Sport? He gets it. 195hp at 10,750rpm and a redline of 11,500rpm...
View ArticlePorsche 911 50th Anniversary: GREEN dials!
I’m a car dial geek. So it was with relish that, sidetracked from 918 Spyder fever for a moment, I stuck my head inside the Porsche 911 50th Anniversary edition at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Behold!...
View ArticleNew MINI launch code Easter Egg
The all-new 2014 MINI has been revealed today – and here’s one detail you may not have spotted: the registration numbers. OX4 6NL? SN3 4PE? What’s that all about? Well, rather brilliantly, they relate...
View ArticleRover: the rise of the terrible teens (but should we save the temper tantrums?)
How many teenage Rovers are on the roads? More than you may think, thanks to an eye-opening quirk caused by the drama of the BMW bailout. Back in 2000, Rover sales had been flatlining at under 6 per...
View ArticleJaguar performance cars: the story behind the badge
How well do you know your Jaguar badges? This one above – what does the colours and shape signify? If, like me, you’re not sure, it’s Jaguar studio director Wayne Burgess to the rescue. The badge is...
View ArticleRolex 24 Hours: a guide to the car classes
The Rolex 24 Hour race at Daytona is underway as I type, with a field of 67 cars wowing those tuning into sports car racing for the first time. Thus race is itself a first, too: the inaugural Tudor...
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Rover: the rise of the terrible teens (but should we save the temper tantrums?)
How many teenage Rovers are on the roads? More than you may think, thanks to an eye-opening quirk caused by the drama of the BMW bailout. Back in 2000, Rover sales had been flatlining at under 6 per...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jaguar performance cars: the story behind the badge
How well do you know your Jaguar badges? This one above – what does the colours and shape signify? If, like me, you’re not sure, it’s Jaguar studio director Wayne Burgess to the rescue. The badge is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rolex 24 Hours: a guide to the car classes
The Rolex 24 Hour race at Daytona is underway as I type, with a field of 67 cars wowing those tuning into sports car racing for the first time. Thus race is itself a first, too: the inaugural Tudor...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How a BMW launch car mis-spec lost it a review star
The pre-facelift BMW F30 3 Series was a class-leading five-star car whose crown was only recently usurped by the surprisingly excellent new Jaguar XE. No problem, we all thought: BMW was preparing a...
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Japan politely reminds us why it’s a powerhouse at Tokyo 2015
Carlos Ghosn commands a presence as mesmerising as you’d expect from one of the automotive industry’s most powerful players. His round table (rather, big and packed square room) was a 45-minute...
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Volkswagen Group’s 600,000 employees can tear up the Strategy 2018 memo:...
Crisis-hit Volkswagen Group appears to have torn up its Strategy 2018 masterplan that committed it to becoming the largest car manufacturer in the world – shredding it so quickly, it hasn’t even had...
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Autonomous cars are already crash-free: can people now stop driving into them?
A preliminary study of autonomous cars has found that they are already impossible to crash – but are still involved in proportionally more crashes per million miles than conventional cars. Because...
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Switched on: 3 in 4 Nissan LEAF owners would buy another
75% of Nissan LEAF owners intend to repurchase another one in the future, Nissan revealed at the Tokyo Motor Show. Which, for those anxious about range anxiety, is significant. It indicates the...
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Audi Exit Warning: cleverly overcoming a frightening motoring danger
Exiting a car parked streetside is a danger that should be avoidable but hasn’t been until now. Sat in the back, it can be hard to spot that car looming a bit too close as you open the door right in...
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