After all that anticipation the GT 86 left us a little cold – time to try and understand why...
About half an hour or so into my drive of the new GT 86, I’m starting to worry that Toyota has really screwed this up. It’s supposed to be one of the most exciting performance cars to launch in years, but the test route is choked with traffic. Worse still, in these conditions, the GT 86 feels sluggish, sounds dirgy and seems to be missing the promised sweet-shifting gearbox. Could it all be some kind of terrible mistake?
Road safety can be bought for less than the price of a fancy paint job. So why aren't we - and why are car makers not standardising it?
Toyota issued an interesting clarification last week: it is reinstating the option of VSC stability control on the Aygo, after deleting it for the facelifted 2012 model.
When big petrol engines can be this fuel-efficient, who needs small ones?
The BMW 335i is not a headline new 3 Series, despite having almost as much power as a Mitsubishi Evo X. Packing 306hp into a regular-looking junior executive makes for a delicious package – but, tempting as it is, the economic reality means diesel F30 BMWs will inevitably sell best.
The BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe is exactly that - a 6 Series. Not a 5 Series with a fancy new name...
When BMW explains that the ‘four-door coupe’ 6 Series Gran Coupe shares modular platform components with the 5 Series and 7 Series as well as the 6 Series Coupe and Convertible, and that it’s based on a longer wheelbase whose extra space is realised entirely at the rear end, you could make an assumption.
"Anticipation" isn't the word...
Just a quick blog to say I'm at a Heathrow Airport hotel ahead of flying to Spain to drive the Toyota GT 86 for the first time tomorrow. To say I can't wait would be understatement in the extreme – right now I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve.With Top Gear taking a break until 2013, we wonder if it's past its sell-by date
By Ginny Weeks
Many fans will be gutted to hear that there will be no more Top Gear this year.
Whilst talking to a South African radio station about Top Gear Live, Jeremy Clarkson said, "It is going to be, it better be absolutely fantastic, it's also about the only time the three of us are working together this year." Apart from a one-off Christmas special, there will be no new TG episodes until January 2013.
On his Twitter account, Clarkson explained the break further, pointing the blame at talent shows and their dominance on TV. He also lambasted Simon Cowell and Sunday night schedules that are ‘full of fat people singing’. If we are talking about a ratings war, let's not forget the small matter of the Olympics, which has got to be a contender too.
So, poor old TG is being ‘pushed’ off the air. But is this actually the point? Could it be the case that viewers are losing interest - after all TG has sat unthreatened in its Sunday evening slot for several years now.
While Richard Hammond is busy talking about lions in Kenya, and horse-mad May is delving into furlongs and tweed jackets, it seems like the presenters want to do different things. Apart from Clarkson, that is, who will no doubt be throwing his car and life related opinions about until his last breath.
Top Gear is a brilliant programme, but it needs a new lease of life. For the last few years the stunts have got progressively sillier and drifted further away from the original point of the car itself. Some of them are hilariously funny, but others are just like watching three middle-aged blokes messing about with roadkill and pick-ups. This set up can only appeal for so long.
A female presenter would really shake things up a bit. It would restore the balance and move the programme away from the dominance of Clarkson’s opinions.
I would love to see more of the stylish, creative film of the old episodes that made Top Gear so innovative and different. This has been lost in the world of stunts and record breaking.
Go on TG, be brave and do something different for 2013…
Clarkson's greatest ever moments
Clarkson: a life in pictures
Clarkson's cars
MSN Cars is driving the BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe this week - and not before time...
BMW’s long-awaited Mercedes CLS rival, the 6 Series Gran Coupe, finally arrives in June. Mercedes has had the four-door coupe sector sewn up since introducing the beautiful first-generation CLS back in 2004, and the entire model range benefitted from the halo effect of that near-perfect car.
The portly MINI has strayed so far from the original concept, it’s now time for a rethink
The classic version was a revolutionary concept. It doesn’t sound or look like much now, but to turn the engine through 90 degrees – mounting it transversely and therefore making space for more people and stuff in the cabin – was a big deal back in the late 50’s and early ‘60s.
The design concept of Sir Alec Issigonis’ family car (yes, it was astonishingly considered a family hatch) was to maximise space for passengers and luggage, and thanks to its small 875cc engine and ridiculously low 617kg kerb weight, it was an economical way to get around.
Richard AucockSo committed to car journalism he is Chairman-elect of the Guild of Motoring Writers. He has been writing about cars since he was 15 and is living the dream.
CJ HubbardCJ is thoroughly enjoying fulfilling the ambition he's always had to become a motoring writer. Don't ask him about working in retail, though, or he may start to twitch...
Ian DicksonIan is the senior editor on MSN Cars, a job that involves planning, writing and editing content and generally keeping the site ticking over day-to-day.
