Jeremy

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Wednesday – Fun Guaranteed

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Jeremy  It’s the last day with our MX-5 – so we need an excuse to get another one quick! Problems have been few and far between and I can even imagine living with the Roadster Coupe during the wicked weather of the winter months.

On the negative side, the 2.0-litre engine isn’t the most powerful around, it’s not that economical and the cabin can be a little noisy at high speed. However, you can overlook these niggles when the drive and handling agility are so good.

So while the MX-5 isn’t as cheap to run as some rival convertibles, the trade off is that is it relatively cheap to buy. Build quality is excellent, the interior is an ergonomic joy for the driver and there’s a decent size boot even when the tin top is folded down.

There’s a new model coming out in 2014 but let’s hope Mazda doesn’t change the MX-5 too much – I suspect they won’t. How can they make a great car even better? Well, a rear screen wiper on the Coupe would be useful, as would rear parking sensors and telescopic adjustment on the steering column.

Otherwise don’t mess with a great little sports car Mazda!

 

 

 

 

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Saturday – Metal Fatigue

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Jeremy I thought having the hard-top option of the MX-5 Roadster Coupe wouldn’t present any disadvantages – especially as the folded steel of the Mazda doesn’t eat into the boot space of the car, unlike so many other convertibles.

However, after a fantastic day of driving the two-seater in the sunshine, what I have found is that the MX-5 looks so much better with the fabric roof fitted than the metal one. Not only that, it’s a much prettier and dynamic car with either roof down and stowed away.

I’m looking at the Roadster Coupe parked outside now with the top down, as the sun starts to disappear over the Cotswolds. It’s far and away the best-looking two-seater you can buy for £23,000 – and that’s the top spec model we’re testing. Investigate further down the range and you can snap up a bargain model that looks equally as good.

The revised front end is especially neat, with latest Mazda ‘nose’ and a lower air spoiler in black. Low, purposeful and shapely – just as any sports car should be. I’m enjoying every moment in this great little sportster.

 

 

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Tuesday – Cute But Flawed

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Jeremy – It’s been an interesting week behind the wheel of the Adam – the upmarket city car that Vauxhall hopes will compete against the Fiat 500 and Ford Ka.

On the one hand, I really like the styling, the funky interior and the range of options available but the Adam is let down by lifeless engines and mediocre handing. Get those right and this really could be a great little car.

As it is, the Adam doesn’t match the expectations I had when it first turned up at Car Couture. So much work has gone into getting the image right that the actual driving experience has become secondary.

I’m really hoping that the next time I drive an Adam, it will have a range of new engines, a sportier gearbox and, perhaps, a ‘hot’ version that brings it to life. For now, it is going to struggle against the established opposition which have style and drivability in abundance….

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Sunday – The Life of Adam

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Jeremy Motor manufacturers spend a fortune on choosing a name for their new cars but still manage to get it wrong. Who can forget the Ford Probe, Nissan Cedric or Mitsubishi Carisma…

So, perhaps we can forgive Vauxhall for giving their tiny city car a name of Biblical proportions. The Adam was, apparently, going to be called the Junior. Thankfully they didn’t – I owned an Alfa Romeo GT Junior in the 1970s and the two cars couldn’t be more different.

Whether Vauxhall will go the whole hog and bring out a ‘female friendly’ version of the Adam called Eve remains to be seen. Maybe they should have just called it the Adam & Eve and be done with it.

Munching over breakfast this morning, I spent a good 30 minutes looking at the Adam parked outside, trying to think up a better name. I quite liked Bob, or Bert.

Maybe Vauxhall should simply follow Audi and go for a letter and number – the V1? Perfect.

 

 

 

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Saturday – Badminton in the Wind

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Jeremy There’s a crazy wind blowing across the Cotswolds today. The Sorento is a seriously large vehicle but it has coped well at high speeds in a crosswind and there’s limited tyres noise in the cabin.

The roads around Tetbury are packed with 4x4s because of Badminton Horse Trials – if you wanted to go off-road vehicle spotting, today is the day! I’ve just seen a Fiat Panda Sisley, a special edition AWD Panda that dates back to the 1980s and was legendary for its off-road ability.

The Sorento will be joining the pack tomorrow, when 120,000 spectators are expected at the event for the cross country section of the three-day event.

And we have one accessory in the Kia that many other more expensive four-wheel drives don’t have – a car parking pass.

 

 

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Friday – Style At A Price

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Jeremy Anyone who thinks the Evoque is just a squashed Range Rover should consider this – despite the low roofline, I’ve discovered that there is enough room inside for five adults to sit comfortably.

Admittedly, the glass, full-length glass roof (a £1300 option) helps reduce the feeling of claustrophia if your rear-seat passengers are over 6ft tall and don’t like the narrow side windows. But overall, the leather-clad cabin in the SD4 is a very relaxing place to be.

If you are wondering how Land Rover designers managed that, well, it’s probably at the expense of a decent-sized boot. It’s best described as adequate – but as Malin the Viszla will tell you, it’s nowhere near as big as a Freelander either.

And then there is rear visibility. The small back window really does hinder vision, not helped by the sloping roofline at the back. (a standard issue Labrador will have his head pressed hard against the roof).

Loving the Evoque but all this style does have to come at a price…

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Thursday – A Range Rover For The New Generation

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Jeremy My late friend Tom Love was one of the first people in the country to own a Range Rover. He began a lifelong obsession with the 4×4 in 1970, when the original Rangey was only offered with three-doors and vinyl matting on the floor to make it easier to wash clean with a hose pipe!

Back then, Tom would be invited down from his home in Scotland to collect his new Range Rover from the factory. He would stay for lunch with one of the directors and then drive back home. The top brass would often ask how Tom thought they could improve the Rangey – to which Tom told them ‘add two more doors and an automatic gearbox‘. Strangely, enough, it wasn’t long before Land Rover did just that…

I’m not sure what Tom would have made of the Evoque. He certainly wouldn’t have fitted in it, being a large man who liked red wine and only ate steak, just steak – without potato or salad. I’m pretty sure he would have disapproved of the bling wheels and red seats but he would also fully understand how a brand like Range Rover needed to evolve to survive.

With starting prices at around £30,000, the Evoque has truly brought Range Rover ownership to a whole new market. It is beautifully put together too – with a first class interior, quality fittings and doors that shut with a reassuring clunk. Tom would have liked that, if he could have squeezed in…

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Saturday – Toys For Boys

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Jeremy It’s cold, wet and almost halfway through April. The only good news is that Lewis Hamilton is on pole for the Chinese Grand Prix. Ever wondered what a Formula 1 racing driver does when they are sat in on the grid for endless minutes before the start?

I asked ex-driver Martin Brundle the same question a few months back – he told me it was all about focus and concentration. At least when I’m stuck in a traffic jam, the 6 Series has plenty to keep me entertained.

This morning, I discovered the iDrive infotainment system can log on to the internet when the car is stationary. You can then use Google Earth information to request photographs of any destination you have keyed into the satellite navigation system. How clever is that?

The sat nav screen can be split to show a route on one side, and other information on the other – or you can have one giant screen showing the route instead.

Of all the information on tap, my favourite has to be the car status page, which uses a picture of the BMW and numbered areas around the bodywork. Select a number and you can clock through to everything from tyre pressures to the windscreen washer bottle level.

Sadly, there is nothing to adjust the miserable British weather, so the Convertible   may be collected before we can really enjoy the power hood and sunshine and report back.

 

 

 

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Thursday – 6 Series Motoring Masterclass

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Jeremy After 25 years of driving cars for a living, a milestone has been reached with the BMW 640d. A brief calculation suggests I’ve tested some 1200 new models and owned at least 30 – few of which have lasted longer than six months in the garage (2012 started with a 5 Series Touring, which morphed in to a Boxster, then a new style Beetle and finally became a 630d Coupe).

Apart from a Porsche 993 Targa in 1997 and a Caterham 7 in 2001, only the 630d has come close. So, as CarCouture waits on the seafront at Caen for the ferry home, the new 640d we have on test is going straight to the top of the pile – it’s one machine I don’t want to part with.

Why? Well, I thought my own 630d was one of the most competent, well-built and equipped cars I have ever driven. Sure, a 911 goes faster, a Caterham is more fun and a Ferrari turns heads but as a package, the 6 Series takes some beating.

Compared to the old 630d, the 640d feels very similar. The technology has advanced, with head up display, keyless entry and even more seat adjustment but otherwise, I wouldn’t say there is an awful lot of difference between them. And I loved the 630d – so the 640d is just that little bit better.

It’s a very grown up, sophisticated and stylish convertible that wants for little, apart from easier access to the rear seats and better rear view visibility. I still have the weekend to fall out of love with the BMW but it just isn’t going to happen….

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Sunday – Le Mans. Twinned With Bolton

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Jeremy After a day at sea yesterday, CarCouture has swept in to Normandy, home of the greatest motoring endurance race in the world. The Le Mans 24 Hours will celebrate its 90 anniversary this June and we’ve brought the BMW 6 Series Convertible to any petrolhead’s favourite French city.

To be truthful, the outskirts of Le Mans has little to recommend it. The 6 Series stood out like a diamond necklace at a fairground. With British number plates, it wasn’t always a welcoming smile either. However, the centre itself is incredibly beautiful. A walled Plantagenet city on the side of a hill, the BMW squeezed through narrow streets originally designed for horse and cart with surreal grace.

Jessica has a sore back after being bundled over by a runner on a pavement in London last week, so we’ve travelled down from Cherbourg with the 6 Series suspension on ‘Comfort’ mode. I’m itching to slip into ‘Sport’ because the 640d obviously packs a mighty punch for a large car. It is such a sophisticated touring machine, I could have quite easily carried on driving across Europe until we reached the Med.

Favourite features so far? Head up display on the windscreen, which can be usefully programmed to project our speed in KPH, rather than MPH, auto-dip headlights and the shape of the convertible roof. It has flying buttresses, like Le Mans Cathedral itself.

BMW hasn’t won at Le Mans since 1999 but tomorrow we are going out with a pro driver around the Bugatti Circuit in something interesting. More when I’m managed to settle my stomach afterwards.

And yes, Le Mans is twinned with Bolton. Not even the tourism office here knows why…