Automobile

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Sunday – Fabulous 2 x 5

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Jeremy – Vauxhall Corsa, Ford Ka, Citroen Saxo – there’s not a huge amount of choice if you are a bright young thing searching for your first cheap car. With average insurance bill exceeding £1500, the paperwork costs more than the vehicle in most cases.

Shame really because the Mazda2 would make a great first car. Cute, well-built and not too expensive to run, it’s the sort of ‘sensible’ runabout any parent would want their little darling driving to and from uni.

That’s especially true when you consider the 2 has a five-star NCAP safety rating for adult occupants in a crash. Instead, young drivers are priced out of the market for the latest, safest cars and forced into ten or 15-year-old hacks that just don’t meet the same standards.

The Mazda comes equipped with up to six airbags, front, side and curtain, plus ABS and Electronic Brakeforce Distribution as standard, helping to reduce the risk of a skid. A steel bodyshell with a special system that absorbs the impact of a collision is impressive on such a modestly price car too.

The best parents can hope for is a secondhand Mazda2, which shouldn’t be too hard to find as this model first appeared back in 2007.

 

 

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Wednesday – Safest Car Ever?

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Jeremy It’s our last day with the V40 – 24 hours after Volvo picked up a major safety award for the five-door hatchback. The V40 was praised for its exceptional NCAP rating and won the Auto Express Safety Award for 2013 at a ceremony in London last night.

As Car Couture has said all week, it’s hard to write about the V40 without majoring on safety. That has been confirmed with NCAP giving the car the highest ever safety rating.

Among the V40 safety features highlighted at the ceremony were Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection, Collision Warning with Full Auto Brake, Distance Alert Control, Lane Keeping Aid, Blind Spot Information System and Cross Traffic Alert.

All of these compliment the standard features fitted such as front and side airbags, side impact protection and whiplash protection system.

If you want safe, this is definitely the hatchback to buy. For the best drive however, look at a Golf, A3 or BMW 1 Series. It’s as simple as that.

 

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Monday – Am I About To Crash?

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Jeremy Collision Warning – a system that you would imagine should be fitted to every new car by law. Just like ABS brakes, which has been around for decades but was once a very novel idea, Volvo‘s Collision Warning may well be a standard fit in the future.

It’s quite simple. Sensors on the front of the V40 detect, alert and automatically brake the car if it risks colliding with a vehicle in front. However, before that happens, the driver gets an loud audible warning and a red light flashes at the bottom of the windscreen – so he can brake or avoid the problem first.

It all sounds brilliant and very sensible. Except it isn’t foolproof. The problem I discovered today while driving in to Gloucester was this. If you are approaching a bend with a car parked on the corner, the alert system detects that vehicle and triggers the audible alarm and flashing red light.

I can totally understand the benefits of the system but the fact it is triggered unnecessarily is very distracting for the driver. As safe as the Volvo is (and the list of safety features is way too long to print here!), this is one that could do with a little tweaking.

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Thursday – Super-Safe Hatch

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Jeremy Our V40 is going to require some serious understanding if we are going to get the maximum out of it over the next seven days. Why? Well, underneath that long, lean profile is a car packed with the very latest in safety equipment.

I’ve just spent half an hour in the car swotting up on everything – and I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface. However, the key feature I can’t wait to try is Park Assist Pilot, which will parallel park the car for me without any need to touch the steering wheel! I’m sure every car will have this feature in the future but I still can’t believe it will park better, or more safely than me.

One standard feature on V40 I hope I don’t get to try is the under bonnet pedestrian airbag. As part of the Driver Support Pack, there’s also full-speed collision warning, which alerts the driver to a potential impact,  plus blind spot monitoring, road sign information and much more!

This has to be the safest car I’ve ever driven. I’m sure it’s going to shout something nasty if I spill my coffee or listen to crap music on the radio. It’s that sophisticated I’m just wondering where the next warning signal is going to come from…

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Monday – My Daily Commute

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Jeremy – The great part of being a freelance journalist is that you get to work from home. I left my last full-time post in 1997 and never miss the daily commute in and out of Bristol – no matter what test car I was driving back then.

The bad part of the job is that sometimes you do have to be somewhere early, joining the millions of other drivers making their daily drive to the office. This morning I had a two-hour drive to Gloucester, which was 76 miles of hell on A and B-roads.

You learn a lot about a car in that situation. Minor niggles become major gripes and you can fall out of love with even the most alluring supercar. Today’s 150 miles in the A3 were pretty sweet all things considered. I felt as fresh getting out of the car at my destination as I did when I first stepped in.

The Audi has excellent, supportive seats that seem to fit every type of driving. They grip you firmly in place on a tight bend and meet your back in all the right places on the motorway.

I found the driving position first class, with height adjustable steering column and telescopic adjustment too. No electric seats though, which seems like an oversight in a car cost this much. There is a neat fold down centre armrest that can be adjusted forwards and back as well.

It’s the same in the rear. I’m 5ft 10ins and had masses of knee room in all three seats. There are plenty of cubbyholes and spaces for driving paraphenalia, with a large boot included.

I’ve no desire to do a daily commute ever again but if I did, the Sportback would be on my list of options.

 

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Tuesday – Quietly Confident

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Jessica This is a car with a quiet reputation and clearly there are those in the know.  We all know they are out there but take little notice.  Actually stopping and looking at it (even in white) the lines are effective, the shape although small is in good proportion from front to back and I like the hard top version for those times when living through an English summer there is no hope of driving California style in sunglasses and bikini.

Once I got into the car and got over just how little it is particularly for my long limbed frame, I began to enjoy myself.

The dash and console have minimum equipment without missing the basics, the screen sensibly reverts to simply telling the time when not in use, which I much prefer.  Many cars have so much going on that one glance down and you may as well be talking on a phone it is so distracting.

Not so here, there are no distractions from the business of driving,  with a gear stick in a classic sports position and easy to reach, handling that is sharp and authentic, gears that allow you to really drive, road holding is impressive this car is fun and attractive.

Clearly big dogs, large amounts of luggage or children are out of the equation here, which makes it even better as it is  purely a car for the self, an individualistic driving experience without breaking the bank.

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Thursday – Don’t Call Me A Hairdresser

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Jeremy Why is it some people still think the MX-5 is a hairdresser’s car? I just told a male friend on the telephone that I was taking delivery of the Mazda today and his first response was ‘hairdresser’s car’. Just because he drives a butch 5 Series BMW – he’s probably never been in an MX-5 in his life.

The MX-5 is probably useless for hairstylists anyway. Drop the folding hard-top and all that coiffure is going to be blown away in an instant. I would imagine that hairdressers would much prefer a Fiat 500 cabriolet, or a Audi TT Roadster…

For me, the MX-5 is something of a legend. I owned one back in the 1990s and it just had that rare ability to always put a smile on my face. It loved being driven hard, especially around corners and along twisty backroads. It just set the benchmark for other convertibles to follow. Although nobody ever made anything quite so good for the same sort of money.

Our Roadster Coupe offers the best of both worlds. You can still buy an MX-5 with a soft top but the hard-top makes for quieter high-speed motoring and safer overnight parking.

Just what Mazda will do to improve the car when it is updated in 2014 remains to be seen. Let’s hope they don’t ruin a winning formula because this current version is still as good as it gets. More words tomorrow when I have had a proper drive…

 

 

 

 

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Friday – Conflict of Interest

593863_P90102781_highResJessica There are a range of contrasting emotions evoked by the Mini GP ….

On one hand, it sits there looking the epitome of a boy racer toy, something that a young lad would aspire to which, as a parent, would fill me with cold dread. On the other hand, it is a Mini and it does look rather dashing with its sporty flashes of red and matching mini spoiler with gimmicky wheels (move over Herbie).

Does that make me a secret boy racer? Or have Mini managed to make a ridiculous car appealing to a wide range of speed merchant tpyes?

Once inside, I feel a little mutton dressed as lamb. Especially as I strap myself in with the racing red seat belt and see the vast Mini centre display with red stitch detail around every part of the dashboard, presumably to make me feel it is worth spending £29,000 on a little car.

It certainly takes me back to friends of my youth, who had old Minis as first cars. I seem to remember then that everything seemed fast and they certainly did not have anything like the power of this little monster.

I must say though that driving it does bring a smile to the face. It is remarkably like driving a go-kart (in a great deal more comfort) with super responsive steering and handling. Yes it is fun, I could not keep the grin off my face … The great thing is it feels like you are going fast without breaking the law, so there is little need to test the impressive speed available.

Ultimately, I feel I should be a disapproving parent but the GP is fun. I should also be a little over the hill to be enjoying the frivolity of it all but ridiculous though the car may seem on first viewing, it is a little gem. I’m rather sad I did not have my enough time for own Mini GP adventure with it this week, a missed opportunity…