Long term tests

Standing on the hard shoulder of the M25, looking at the white rump of the Caterham parked 50 yards up the road, it's rather a sad ending to our time …

Last month's report, you may recall, ended on something of a cliff-hanger. The Jag had developed a number of intermittent faults, starting with the ce…

How would the Megane fair over a weekend break to the Yorkshire moors?

Picture the scene. You've been part of the evo team for a few months, the familiar names from reading the magazine are rapidly becoming the familiar f…

As I watch the 550 being strapped down onto WRC's terrific new rolling road facility at Silverstone it occurs to me that this could all end in tears. …

It's always good to have a 350Z knocking about the place, especially if it's the Anniversary GT4 variety with the extra 20bhp. Unlike the fairly subdu…

The Jaguar has a comedian's sense of timing. We'd promised the kids three days at Disneyland Paris in the last week of the school holidays and, becaus…

After a whole year and over 15,000 miles with the Evo VIII MR FQ-340, two memories in particular stand out as defining moments. The first was just thr…

Aren't modern diesels wonderful? I relish long trips in the Mondeo, taking delight in the amount of fuel I'm not using. Recently the average consumpti…

Lots of miles covered by a number of drivers this month, with Brett Fraser, Andy Morgan and Harry Metcalfe all sampling the big-hearted Ford. All say …

Hyundai isn't a name that often crops up in the pages of this magazine, but we're no badge snobs and the Coupe shouldn't be overlooked. We gave it fou…

It was one of those surprise phone calls that sounds too good to be true: 'Hi Harry, do you want us to give your car a special treatment that'll mean …

There was always an air of slight surreality surrounding the MG SV-R, and now that it's gone we almost have to pinch ourselves to believe it was ever …

It was service time this month and, to make matters worse, it was the big one, the one that demands a tick in every box on the job card (new gearbox o…

How many of the gadgets on your car do you actually need? How many do you actually use? Give me air-conditioning and a good CD player and I'm happy; w…

Why don't they sell them over here? That's all I could think as I handed back the keys to my Forester's more glamourous sibling. I know the STi is sti…

Is the Citroën C4 VTS a proper hot hatchback? Tricky one. The genes are surely there, with souped-up Saxos seen on every Saturday-night high street an…

We had a bit of a surprise when 'Bubba' went back to Litchfield Imports and Powerstation in Tewksbury for its 5000-mile service.

If an arcade game designer were to engineer a roadgoing sports car, the result would be very much like the Honda S2000. A screaming, 9000rpm-rev-the-n…

When a long-term 645 was first mooted last spring there was a buzz of excitement in the Metcalfe household

I've really clicked with the Monaro now, two months in. Sustained exclusive use and a trip to Donington Park for the first evoactive trackday of the s…

We took our Megane R.S 225 Trophy to Monte Carlo for the iconic Monaco Gran Prix

The Fast Fleet has rarely entertained a car as divisive as the Smart Roadster Brabus. Like Marmite, some people loved it, others found it made them go…

Decisions, decisions. Do I run another full-on superbike or go for something a little less focused, a little more life-styley perhaps?

Just as I'm sure many of you have planned expeditions to the Nürburgring Nordschleife, we've wanted to make our own Eifel pilgrimage for years. Someth…

While it's very comforting having a gold-plated Ferrari warranty nestling in the leather documents folder, the flip-side is the requirement to get any…

I think I may be turning into my father, which is slightly unsettling, though not as unsettling as turning into my mother. I started thinking about th…

We've bought a few silly cars in our time, but our new Mustang GT surely has to take the biscuit. Or should I say the flame-grilled whopper with chees…

As I mentioned in the End of Term report on my Digi-Tec Smart Roadster Coupe (issue 079), I have replaced it with a car boasting precisely three times…

My ride has been pimped! The new 17in Prodrive wheels have finally been fitted, and along with the extra 'bling factor' there's the promise of loads m…

In quieter moments I wonder if it was such a good idea to order the new Monaro VXR in black.

It's a measure of the FQ-340's head-spinning grunt that everyone who drives it barely mentions the grip or the lightning turn-in. As they hand back th…

I know I'm preaching to the converted here, but power oversteer is a wonderful thing. I mean truly beautiful. You know that happy feeling of satisfact…

By the end of this year the Smart Roadster will be dead, a victim of DaimlerChrysler's hard-nosed plan to make its baby-car brand earn some profit for…

Another month spent commuting by air to the Isle of Man with, to be honest, only spasmodic use of the MG that's been billeted there. Unfortunately, wh…