Month: January 2016

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Heavy frost – the Range Rover Autobiography has turned a whiter shade of pale

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In about an hour’s time I’m going to press a button on the keyfob of the Range Rover from inside my office. Ten minutes later I will step outside, wrapped up against the sub zero temperature, and slip into a leather driving seat than is already warm.

All the windows of the Autobiography will have de-iced. A second blip of the fob will open both parts of the tailgate and my hound will launch himself into the boot, ready to head off for our morning run.

The DAB system will click to Radio 4 and the heated steering wheel will come on within a minute. I don’t need gloves and it will be too warm to wear my woolly hat.

Meanwhile, my similarly priced Porsche 911 Cabriolet will still be frozen to the driveway. I’d like to drive it but the thought of battling with an ice scraper, waiting for the windscreen to defrost then having a cold arse isn’t appealing.

Still wondering why people drive Range Rovers?

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The original Range Rover swapped carpet for rubber mats so you could carry a pig to market

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My father used to crank start his Hillman Husky estate – he didn’t want to drain the battery. There was no rear window demister and the heating system was an option.

The original Range Rover was luxury by comparison, back then in the early 1970s. It swapped carpet for rubber mats so that you could hose off the floor after carrying a pig to market.

Now the TDV8 parked outside is fitted with a heavy duty battery capable of firing up the space shuttle. It has to be to power the amount of electrical madness on board.

Among the most demanding is the park heater – designed to switch on the heating system via a keyfob up to 30 minutes before you step into the car. Lovely in this weather.

Then there’s the heated steering wheel, the downlights under the door mirrors that flash an image of a Range Rover onto the tarmac, and the double opening electric tailgate.

If it wasn’t for that 4.4-litre 340bhp engine under the bonnet this would be the ultimate electric car…

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Strap four leather armchairs to a chassis and add every known luxury to man – voila! A Range Rover

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The corner of my sitting room is taken up with a large, leather armchair. I’ve owned it for years. It’s sunk to my shape and lures me in with the promise of comfort and familiarity.

If I could strap four of them onto a chassis and surround myself with every gizmo known to modern motoring man, I would probably have the Range Rover Autobiography.

As much as I love blatting around England in low-sprung supercars, I can also be seduced by the promise of supreme comfort – oh and a heated steering wheel.

I’m really not sure you will find better seats in a luxury car. Combine that with the high seating position and the world is a wonderful place. Even on a cold, January morning in the Shires…

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Can the range beat off new SUV rivals from Bentley and others in 2016? read our review

1059382_Range_Rover_MY16_003Just like bandits on the horizon, a host of well-armed machines will be gunning for the Range Rover in 2016. Bentley, Maserati, Jaguar, Rolls-Royce – hell, even Tesla is launching an SUV.

So what does Land Rover have to do to battle its way through and win in the muddy playground of sports utility vehicles? Probably not much, judging by the latest model Rangey.

Little has changed since last year. It’s mostly more technical stuff in the cabin, like a better surround camera system for parking, a remote tailgate is now standard and the air suspension automatically drops to low access height when the car is parked. Smashing.

The connectivity of the infotainment system is also improved and you can now check the status of the Range Rover’s systems remotely using a special App. Cool.

And guess what? It still would have been the best 4x4xfar even without those changes. More tomorrow…

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The Infiniti Q70 has a boot big enough to swallow a couple of dead bodies in The Sopranos

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I’m still wondering how a car with a heated steering wheel doesn’t have DAB radio? Perhaps I should just stop whinging and appreciate warm hands.

Today I took a moment to try out the back seats of the Q70. Kind of oddly, there is plenty of knee room – but the front seats lean back low and steeply, like an armchair in one of those 1970s American cars.

I also discovered an enormous cubbybox between the front seats. A two-layer affair that will swallow up all your David Bowie CDs and some.

And the boot? Well, it’s big enough to carry several bodies in an episode of the Sopranos – although the auto boot release from the keyfob only opens the trunk an inch. It doesn’t spring fully open like other executive cars… Baffled again.

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Can’t think of a link between Bowie and an Infiniti – an average Japanese saloon car…

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If I could think of a tenuous link between David Bowie and a Japanese saloon car I’d be scribbling about that today. DB went through an ‘Eastern’ stage but other than a mention of the VW Beetle in his song Lady Grinning Soul, he didn’t really do much on cars. Shame.

Sadly, I have to write about the Infiniti then. So, I can report that the Q70 does have a decent entertainment system, to listen to David Bowie. The doors vibrate in harmony with the speakers when I switch to Radio 2 – excellent.

But that fact I can’t turn to Radio 6 highlights a fundamental problem. The Infiniti does not have DAB. Now, I struggle with this because I can buy a humble Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Corsa or even a Skoda with this option. Why not a £33,000+ luxury saloon?

The Infiniti is no Heroes car. RIP Bowie.

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The Infiniti Q70 is light years behind the BMW 520d and the Jaguar XF

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Look, I’m trying to like the Infiniti. It’s just that every time I get comfortable in the driving seat, something makes me feel like I’m helming a budget 1990s saloon – not a £34,000+ executive car built in 2016.

I’ve been trying to ignore the refinement over poor road surfaces, the clatter from the four-cylinder diesel engine that penetrates the cabin and the serious lack of performance when you press metal to the floor.

But there’s very little to like about this sluggish four-door which is light years away from the best cars in this sector – the BMW 520d and the Jaguar XF.

The Q70 is a disappointing car whatever way you look at it. Oh the seats are comfortable and I like the colour. That’s it.

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I’m going to throw a street party if I see another Infiniti Q70 – they’re that rare

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There’s going to be a massive street party in The Mall this summer to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday. If I spot another Q70 on British roads during the next seven days, I’m going to throw an impromptu party of my own.

While this saloon is easily Infiniti’s best model, truth is they don’t sell that many in Blighty. That could be because the BMW 5 Series is better in all departments – apart from the price and said rarity value that is.

I’ve seen the Q70 described as stylish. Well, the exterior is certainly passable but inside, that dashboard is a bit of a Corgi’s dinner. Ergonomically enjoyable it is not.

Then there’s the ride. The suspension set up is soft and while that aids comfort, it means corners and uneven surfaces easily trip up the Infiniti. It could be a long week…

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You want to be different – but would you drive an Infiniti instead of a German luxury saloon?

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I drove past the BMW garage in Oxford yesterday. It was the start of a new year yet not even a long line of 50 benchmark cars from Munich could entice me to make a second glance.

The reason? Well, it could have been 200 BMWs but the problem with branding these days is every model from BMW, Audi or Mercedes looks quite similar from the front end. How dull.

And what does that say about the people who drive these cars? Unimaginative, crowd-following motorists who don’t have enough imagination to look elsewhere?

Enter this week’s test car. Is the Infiniti Q70 saloon enough of a good car to warrant attention? It’s looking at me on the driveway now. The Q70 certainly looks different but I’m already starting to have my doubts…

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As SUVs grow fatter by the day, the Volvo XC70 becomes svelter by the minute

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Back to work then – a Monday morning in January is always a bleak start to the New Year. And today we’re saying ‘hej da’ – that’s Swedish for goodbye’ to our seasonal Volvo that is the XC70.

At a time when SUVs are growing fatter by the day, the great thing about the XC70 is that it now looks trim by comparison. No longer is a Volvo estate a huge car – indeed it looks positively svelte next to a Land Rover Discovery or a Hyundai Tucson.

It’s only on the inside that the XC70 becomes roomy and spacious. Big boot for three large dogs, masses of rear legroom and storage boxes and cubbyholes for all your stuff.

Add to this the quality feel of the cabin, the safety features, decent fuel economy and the permanent all-wheel drive and you start to see why the XC70 still makes very good sense.

There will be prettier SUVs launched in 2016, cars with more mass appeal but the Volvo XC70 remains a very good family mover indeed.