cj hubbard writes:
It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago – which I mention again not because I feel the need to advertise the fact, but because my girlfriend spent the weeks leading up to it asking me what I’d like to do, approximately every five minutes or so. Got a similar no-idea-what-to-buy problem for someone in your life? Now appears to be a good time to purchase one of those experience type things.
cj hubbard writes: Things have been quiet on the Mazda front recently, mostly because I’m freaking out worrying on all the corrosion it might be hiding.
Finding the red stuff meant removing the wheelarch liners, which aren’t so much liners as dirt traps on mk1 MX-5s, so out with my brand new jack and up on my brand new axle stands it went. Following an abortive attempt the week before where I discovered a) the jack doesn’t fit under the car (not an unusual MX-5 problem) and b) the scissor jack that’s usually standard fitment is missing from the boot (not an issue really since the spacesaver spare will soon be banished, too), I borrowed a second smaller jack from Dan and got cracking.
Dan Trent writes: As I boldly stated in my recent Top 10 best and worst cars for the snow (remember that stuff? Seems like an age ago already!)...
...big, luxury rear-drive saloons like Mercs and BMWs have proved themselves useless when the going gets slippery.
Perhaps aware of this Mercedes sent us this E220 CDI equipped with - ta-da! - winter tyres. All we needed was a bit of snow...
| Tags: | In the car park |
cj hubbard writes:
The must have accessory for all European Kia Vengas? Try this: A UK number plate.
Never mind the fact this car is actually parked outside a hotel in Spain (the same one SEAT used for the Ibiza Bocanegra launch, incidentally); I drove it alongside all-new UK spec Kia Sorentos earlier this week.
Richard Aucock writes: Toyota is going through a bit of a crisis in the US at the moment.
So, how’s this for a bit of opportunism? GM has unveiled a month-long incentive scheme, specifically for… yes, Toyota and Lexus owners. And what’s the reason GM is giving? Why, to compensate Toyota and Lexus owners whose trade-in values have dropped as a result of the news.
Dan Trent writes: How we snigger at the Americans and their simplistic tastes in cars.
Dan Trent writes: I may have alluded to the fact I've been known to spend time on the Porsche car configurator occasionally.
Yes, tragic, I realise. But a foray on there the other day revealed an interesting fact. It's literally impossible to spec a Porsche on there and not add at least £15K to the price. I tried three times. First, a 911 Carrera S to defend my view that all the true purist needs is a basic, entry level 911 and not some bells and whistles Turbo with PDK. So, I start with a silver C2S. Nothing fancy, just a silver 911 Carrera S, base price £69,793.
| Tags: | News |
Peter Burgess writes: It all seemed so tempting a couple of months ago.
Yet by the time we’d taken two gondolas up to 2,500m in the Alps and then waited for a Ski-Doo to take us two-by-two to Volvo’s ice camp, it was very cold indeed. -4 degrees at 5pm, shrinking to -12 degrees by mid evening. Nothing I’d brought could keep my feet warm at these temperatures.
Richard AucockSo committed to car journalism he is Guild Chairman 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.
