Inside Track: On the Road

Danger! It's autumn out there...

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:24:16 GMT

Dan Trent writes:
‘FOG!’ bellowed the gantries on the M25 as I drove back from a bash on Saturday night in, er, thick fog. Really? Thank goodness the signs were there to tell me.

Another example of do-gooding stating the bleedin’ obvious comes this week from the Institute of Advanced Motorists, who warn of earth shattering facts like: “The sun is also lower in the sky at sunrise and sunset at this time of year and motorists should be aware this can have a dangerous blinding effect, particularly around the time motorists are commuting to and from work.”

Or how about:

“Darker mornings and early evenings also mean that it is harder to spot surface water.”

Lordy, it’s just as well we’ve got advice like this on hand or we’d all be crashing into each other all the time. Oh, hang on…

CJ has scolded me for my cynicism and, to be fair, he’s got a point. Evidence on the daily commute suggests people are perfectly capable of driving into the back of each other when the conditions are light and dry so chuck in darkness and slippery surfaces and there are bound to be a few more fender benders.

And the IAM release does include some genuinely useful pointers, such as: “Fallen leaves tend to accumulate near roadside gutters and, when combined with heavier seasonal rainfall, can block roadside drains causing localised deep water and wet leaves on the road surface increase the danger of skidding.” Reminders about inappropriate foglight usage can never come often enough either – any traffic enforcement types looking to bulk up their points tally for this month need only come down to my manor of south east London and spend an hour booking the hundreds of cars running round with the supposedly cool sidelights’n’fogs combo. Please – be my guest. I’ll bring out a cup of tea if you’re feeling the chill.

So there you go, I started off being sarcastic and have come full circle to finger wagging lecturing in the space of 300 words.

Stay safe out there, y’hear?

Dan

Links:
Institute of Advanced Motorists

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Eco MPG Marathon

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:24:35 GMT

Richard Aucock writes:

Today, I’ve been on a go-slow. What, and I’m admitting to it? Fear not. It’s because I’m taking part in the MPG Marathon. Britain’s annual test of fuel proficiency.

From 10am ‘till 6.30pm, there’s been an egg under my throttle, three miles of forward planning in my head – and, inevitably, a fleet driver nailed to my bumper.

I’m driving a Chevrolet Aveo. The plan is to compare my ‘eco’ results with an identical car (but different colour: Red Aveo, Yellow Aveo, etc...) on the event, being driven, well, ‘normally’. Not stupidly fast, just how our man drives day-to-day. What sort of a difference does applying full-on economy driving measures make? Tomorrow night, results crunched, we’ll find out.

But first, we need to cover 250 miles, in addition to today’s 160. I’m writing from Buxton, to which we’ve weaved from Bristol, via Ludlow. Viewers of BBC News probably saw us on TV earlier today. Tomorrow, we’re heading back to Bristol, via Wales – so, if you see us, do wave.

But don't worry about the Police car here. We haven't been collared. In something of a masterstroke, the organisers have ensured they're fully on board... by inviting them to take part in the event. Any tips on how to reduce Devon & Cornwall's multi-million point annual fuel bill are helpful, you see...

Thing is, we’ve all been talking tactics this evening. And the organiser’s reminded us there’s a 30mph average speed. Sounds a bit limp? Not when you throw in traffic, hills and a near-avoidance of motorways. The Marathon is proper back-road stuff. Count yourself lucky if you’re on a dual carriageway. Put simply, dawdling at 21mph is out. Proper marathon running, it is.

And I feel like I've run one. Intense concentration, that is for you – on throttle position, what’s happening ahead, what’s possibly occurring behind, whether that gap on the roundabout is big enough, whether the 1-Series behind is going to overtake on this blind be… ah, he is… as is the Mondeo... oh, and the Passat...

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Just so you know...

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:20:05 GMT

cj hubbard writes:

You get a better class of service station sandwich in France.

Check out the list of ingredients in this bad boy:

Yum.

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Links:

2008 Paris Motor Show @ MSN Cars

Motor Show @ Inside Track

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Fiesta 'as good as Porsche'

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:44:24 GMT

Dan Trent writes:
Motoring journalist hires car with own money shocker! Yes, I had to sort out a rental to get me, my brother and seven months’ worth of his kit back from Plymouth following deployment on one of her majesty’s warships. The opportunity to join him for the last few days of the trip explains why while the rest of the MSN Cars team was over at the Paris show I was bobbing about in the middle of the Bay of Biscay – an unsettling experience for a land lubber motoring hack in more ways than one!

Back ‘alongside’ (after six days at sea I’m well up on the naval jargon) I nipped over to the base entrance to pick up our hire car, which turned out to be a ratty diesel Vectra hatchback. Given my line of work I think my brother had expected something rather more … glamorous. still, it was big enough for our needs but what an uninspiring thing it was. I'd hazard a guess his ship has more steering feel too.

Let's hope the Insignia is better...

I was pretty glad to drop it off at the rental station that’s for sure. My dad had followed me there in his Fiesta so I could get a lift home and on impulse I asked if I could drive it back. What a revelation! The Vectra felt as if it had been designed and built with utter indifference. But the Fiesta – a no-frills 1.4 Flame – proved exactly why Fords are so widely admired. This was, let’s be clear, an everyday supermini with no pretence whatsoever at sportiness. But it was one of the most beautifully set up cars I think I’ve ever driven. Sure, the engine was a bit gruff and it wasn’t exactly rapid. But the gearshift – perfectly weighted and pleasingly positive – was a delight. The ride was as comfortable as it was composed too. And the steering! No kidding, nothing I’ve driven this side of a Porsche Boxster has had such a perfectly weighted wheel, the subtle feedback better than most supposedly driver focused performance cars I've driven of late. Yes, that means you BMW M3/Subaru Impreza STI/Audi TT S - I could go on...

Having spent the previous week compiling our story on the greatest ever Fords I now regret not putting this one at the top of the list! And in these times of economic gloom it’s nice to know affordable, no frills car ownership needn’t mean sacrificing fun at the wheel. I can’t wait to drive the new one now!

Dan

Links:
The greatest Fords ever
New Fiesta first drive
Porsche Boxster RS 60
Vauxhall Vectra roadtest

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SEAT meets real life Pat

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:58:39 GMT

Richard Aucock writes:

I cleaned the long-term SEAT over the weekend, as I wanted to get some spick, span 'n shiny shots of it. Out into the country, then, in the search for a quiet location. How ironic, I thought, for my peaceful stop-off to be disturbed by, of all things, this…

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Links:

Taking a SEAT for a service

Frugal fun from our Ibiza

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Demolition Derby on the M25

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:54:55 GMT

Dan Trent writes:
Did I miss the press release about it being national Demolition Derby week on the M25? Guys, we’re all travelling in the same direction – it really isn’t that hard to avoid driving into each other. You'd think.

As I sat stationary near junction 25 for the second time in three days I wondered what the hold up was this time. Inch by inch I crept towards one of those VMS (the new ‘visual message sign’ system), my excitement building as I looked forward to some useful information about what was causing the jam. But no. “Don’t Drink And Drive” it said. Thanks for that. It may as well have said “Look out for bears!” for all the use it was. No mention either of the closure further along at the M40 junction the radio had just told me about, which must have been utter chaos coming as it did at peak rush hour.

The Highways Agency gets a tough time from some quarters, not least Clarkson and his ‘traffic Wombles’ gibes. I happen to think they do a good job but whoever it is that programmes these VMS things needs to pull their finger out and start delivering useful info rather than patronising platitudes. Having said that, I’d love a go with it. Imagine the fun you could have messing with peoples’ heads as they sat there in jams. “You left the gas on” or “Your flies are undone” would send those with OCD into a frenzy, while some existential stuff like the old “Why do you do this every day?” graffiti on the M40 might be more appropriate than stating the bleeding obvious like “Caution – spray!” when it’s raining. Another classic from the archives that really gets my goat is “Slow – congestion” as if there was there was an alternative to creeping along at 10mph.

Dan

Postcript – A bit further along another VMS did actually have the info up about the closure at the M40 junction. But why let the facts get in the way of a good rant, eh?

Links:
Read all the UK's VMS signs live from your desktop!

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Should back lanes be limited to 40?

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:14:22 GMT

Dan Trent writes:
Should there be a blanket 40mph limit on all rural roads? Well, it’s an idea that’s been suggested by a few over the years and anecdotal evidence suggests a creeping spread of 40mph limits on roads previously capped at the ‘national speed limit’ of 60mph.

When I’m in the car I sometimes get seriously frustrated by stretches of well-sighted, quietly trafficked rural roads having these new limits slapped on them. But you know what? After riding a bike along them at the weekend I think I can see the other side of the argument.

I do a fair bit of cycling, most of it either off road where there are no cars or in London where there are lots. But if I’m going to ride on the road give me city streets any day. Sounds crazy? Not really. In the city the drivers may be aggressive and short tempered but they’re either stationary or going more or less the same speed. Even in free-flowing traffic the speed differential is only 10-15mph. Out in the country this could be double or even triple that. So although you see a fraction of the number of cars, they’re going a helluva lot faster.

So from the saddle of a bike or a horse I’d say a 40mph limit along lanes isn’t such a bad thing. But I do mean lanes. Keep bigger rural roads – perhaps those wide enough to have white lines down the middle - at 60mph and let those who want to meander take the slow road. And scrap all 50mph limits. There’s a daft idea if ever there was one. It’s not slow enough to make a difference to noise, perceived threat to slower road users or anything else and yet makes safe and legal overtaking of trucks (limited to 40mph, in case you didn’t already know) or Sunday bimblers pretty much impossible, bunching everyone up and reducing what should be a pleasant drive into a teeth grindingly frustrating crawl.

Oh, and while I’m at it if I was in charge I’d scrap all speed limits on rural roads for maybe an hour early in the morning at weekends. Say, between 6am and 7am. Call it happy hour. Cyclists, joggers and horse riders would know to keep clear and speed freaks not shy of an early alarm call could get it out of their system while the rest of the world was tucked up in bed.

Dan

Links:

Top 10 best driver's roads in Britain

Some high-brow Department for Transport musings on rural speed limits

Direct Line survey from 2006 calling for blanket 40mph limit

Brake calls for lower rural limits

Association of British Drivers disagrees with Direct Line

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A fiesta of Fiestas

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:09:49 GMT

Dan Trent writes:
Anyone else spotted the transporter loads of new Fiestas that seem to be everywhere at the moment? Officially the car doesn’t go on sale til the beginning of October but a quick phone call to Ford reveals dealers have been given a green light to sell cars as soon as they have them. And it looks like they’ll be getting plenty of stock too.

Stationary on the M25 this morning I had time to take a snap too. I should point out this was proper, engine off for half an hour stationary too I made a judgement that in-car photography probably wasn’t going to put anyone in peril. As I sat there the gantry above me was helpfully flashing up “Accident – slow down” rather than anything actually relevant like “Yes, you’re going to be very late for work”. But I digress…

So what of the ‘Hot Magenta’ paint Richard tipped as the new Fiesta’s signature colour? Well, it seems that and lime green are the favourite choices – the colours of the two cars on the Geneva stand when the Fiesta was unveiled earlier this year as it happens. Nice to see Fiesta buyers rejecting boring silver and dull black and instead trying to inject a bit of colour into our lives! All power to ’em.

Dan

Links:

Hot Magenta is the Fiesta colour

New Fiesta first drive

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Top 10 best driving roads in Britain

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 08:19:02 GMT

Dan Trent writes:
If you want to find the best driving roads in Britain asking a bunch of Caterham owners is probably a good place to start. Handy then that the lightweight sports car builder has done just that on your behalf, quizzing nearly 1700 of its ‘most travelled’ customers for the location of their favourite Sunday morning blasts.

So, where’s best? Well, the Peak District scores a surprise 1-2 victory with ‘Snake Pass’ and the ‘Cat and Fiddle’ near Macclesfield taking top honours. Llanberis Pass in Snowdonia, Loch Lomond and the Isle of Man’s TT course are also highly rated – though have-a-go-heroes should be aware many of these roads are also among the most heavily policed in the country.

Yorkshire driving at its best.

For the record though here is the official top 10, as voted by Caterham owners:

1: A57 Snake Pass, Derbyshire
2: A537 Cat & Fiddle, Derbyshire
3: A18 ‘Mountain Section’, Isle of Man
4: A4086 Llanberis Pass, Wales
5: A817 Loch Lomond, Scotland
6: A87 to Isle of Skye, Scotland
7: B3223 Dulverton to Lynton, Exmoor
8: B4100 Warwick to Banbury, Warwickshire
9: A35 Lyndhurst to Christchurch, Dorset
10: A686 Penrith, Cumbria

So what are your favourites? As a loyal Yorkshireman most of mine are back up north, the B1257 from my hometown of Stokesley to Helmsley being a particular favourite and the nearby moors hiding many other drivers’ delights. Further west the B6255 from Hawes – taking in fabulous Yorkshire place names such as Widdale Fell, Thack Pot Ridge and Far Gearstones (beaten only by nearby Yockenthwaite and Hubberholme) – is another gem.

Out on t'moors in North Yorkshire.

In the South Wales valleys the bleak and precipitous A4107 is just one of many fabulous roads, with a stop at the fabulously named ‘Fish Called Rhondda’ chippy worth the drive in itself.

Typical Welsh weather on the A4107 en route to Rhondda

Through gritted teeth I have to admit the south has its fair share of great roads too – take a crack of dawn blast along the A272 from Winchester or dive ‘off piste’ into the B-roads parallel to the A1 through Rutland if you don’t believe me.

I’ve shown you mine – let’s see yours!

Dan

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Van geekery here we come!

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:28:51 GMT

Dan Trent writes:
At the wheel of the bright red Mercedes Vito Sport X I felt fairly confident of my van superiority. After all, this has to be the coolest commercial vehicle on the road, right?

Wrong! A quick check of the van section of the Mercedes-Benz customer site - something of a guilty pleasure of mine of late - reveals 'my' Sport X is already obsolete and there's a new, even more blingtastic Vito on the block. The Sport X Blue, due for a production run of just 58 examples.

OK, the only real difference is the addition of a coat of Jasper Blue paint, a sunroof and pukka alarm system but it seems the fast-moving world of special edition vans takes no prisoners and my red Sport X is yesterday's news already. One other thing too - the Sport X Blue in the picture has been 'flipped' and is actually back to front. How do I know? Well it's obvious isn't it - in the photo the fuel filler cap is on the driver's side where in reality any van ~~expert~~ trainspotter will tell you it's actually on the nearside. I'm not proud I spotted this but we all have our crosses to bear...

Dan

Links:
Dan's Vito Sport X
Mercedes-Benz van page

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Vantage Roadster for the win

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:24:24 GMT

cj hubbard writes:

"So...can I have your number?"

"Ohh... Uh. I don't have a pen. Sorry."

"No problem. I do - it's in my car."

"Your car...? Oh! Ok - you can totally have my number! Hand it over!"

Aston Martin: ensuring its customers never struggle for a pick up line since 1914...

It is a horribly cheap pen, though.

And yeah, I'm fully aware that a better photographer probably wouldn't have been wearing a bright green t-shirt when taking these pictures.

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Links:

On the road: of Astons and Accord

Aston Martin

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Ta ra Tinsley towers!

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:21:48 GMT

Dan Trent writes:
As a displaced Yorkshireman living in (and occasionally still moaning about) the south I spend quite a bit of my time on the M1 trundling back and forth on visits to friends and family. And like any familiar journey there are certain landmarks along the way I recognise.

The pair of giant cooling towers looming over the M1 as you pass Sheffield certainly signify your arrival in what I consider The Proper North. But my drive past them on the way back home yesterday will have been my last sight of them, because on Sunday they're getting blown up. Or is it down? Anyway, the ghost of Fred Dibnah will be looking on approvingly as the two cooling towers - relics of a long demolished power station - are destroyed in controlled explosions in the small hours of Sunday night. So I couldn't resist grabbing a farewell photograph as we passed by for the last time.

The M1 will be closed from midnight on Sunday - and for much of the following day - as a result. And when it does reopen regular drivers will be greeted with a very different vista as they swoop down and past the Meadowhall shopping centre. Farewell then, Tinsley towers!

Dan

Yorkshire Post (Yorkshire's national newspaper!) on Tinsley Towers

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Let's off-road!

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:11:20 GMT

Pic: Mark Sims

Dan Trent writes:
By any rational measure the Land Rover Defender is a terrible car. It’s built with the mechanical sophistication of a Meccano kit, it’s slow, bumpy and the ergonomics are so bad you bang your elbow on the door every time you turn the steering wheel. But since when did rationality come into it? I think this is one of the coolest cars I’ve ever driven!

Pic: Mark Sims

And in celebration of the fact I headed out into the wilds for a spot of off-roading on the way home yesterday. And here I am, dust plume in my wake as I roar across the rugged plains of the ~~Serengeti~~ Hertfordshire. Now you might be surprised to hear there’s the potential to put a Landie through its paces in the gentile surroundings of our Harpenden base but snapper Mark Sims knows his way round the lanes and with the aid of his local knowledge and an OS map we found a few byways to play on. And then got stuck. Properly stuck. Embarrassingly stuck, especially given all the tarty off-road addenda this limited edition SVX 60th anniversary Defender has been blessed with.

A previous adventure in a Merc GL - pic: Mercedes Enthusiast magazine

This is more a reflection of my ham-fisted driving skills than the off-road ability of the Landie, I should point out. We got out in the end, thankfully. But I had to laugh at the fact my previous off-road escapades in various Mercedes ‘Chelsea Tractors’ had never seen me stranded in such a way before. But then these cars are blessed with all sorts of electronic trickery designed to flatter your (lack of) skill. And the Landie? Real Men only it would seem. Men who don’t go off-roading in office attire and whinge when they get their poncey shoes muddy.

Dan

60 years of Land Rover

Land Rover Defender first drive

Mercedes GL road test

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Men are from Mars, women are from Venus, part 101

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:24:03 GMT

Dan Trent writes:

You’re going to a summer wedding out in the countryside. You need to arrange a car. Being a bloke I prioritised the following: pose value, performance, an open top and sharp handling. Clearly I needed a Lotus Elise SC.

Feeling pretty pleased with myself I proudly brought the Lotus home the night before we were due to depart. “Where do I put my bags?” asked my long suffering other half. Ah. “And how am I going to get out of that when we get to the wedding?” Um, well it’s a lot easier when the roof is off. “Yes, but that will mess my hair up and I wanted to arrive looking glamorous” Hm.

I tried countering that arriving with (slightly) dishevelled hair in an open top sports car was considerably more glamorous but this was apparently the wrong answer. Honestly, I don’t know what all the fuss was about. There was worse to come though, the blushing bride requesting a ride in the Elise after the ceremony. I was only too happy to oblige but whisking somebody else’s new wife away from her own wedding reception in a flash sportscar appears not to be the done thing. Ditto returning a few minutes later with her ashen-faced, teetering about on her heels, reaching for a stiff drink and repeating ‘oh my god, oh my god…’

Oh dear, I’m guessing she expected something a little more sedate. Suffice to say the Elise is, quite frankly, rubbish as a wedding car. But it’s wonderful in pretty much every other respect!

Dan

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A new definition of jackass

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:44:46 GMT

cj hubbard writes:

Yes, that's right: this kindly member of society is parked over not one but two disabled parking spaces.

Forgive me if I failed to spot the blue badge, and admittedly, it is later in the evening and the supermarket carpark is hardly full to bursting. But if you're going to do that, why not do it further from the store, rather than occupy the two bays closest to the entrance.

Grief.

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Links:

Caught by the fuzz ... again!

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Camping in the car

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:34:55 GMT

Peter Burgess writes:

Just to prove that this job isn’t always five star hotels in exotic parts, I drove straight from the Abarth Grande Punto launch in Harrogate last Friday to the Silverstone Classic. Equipped with borrowed self-inflating air mattress, sleeping bag and pillows (not borrowed) I pitched up in the evening at the circuit, parked in a remote corner of the infield and set up my very own personal hotel room in the back of the Citroen C5. Very comfortable it was too, though a diagonal slant was necessary to stretch out fully.

I was woken at 7am by the hot air balloon fly-out, 24 of them in the light morning winds. Fabulous. Didn’t make the event? It was absolutely magnificent, full of historic F1 racers, Le Mans sports cars and so much more. Different to the Goodwood events but definitely right up there.

Peter

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Links:

First Drive: Fiat Grande Punto Abarth

First Drive Citroen C5

Harewood hillclimb in the new Grande Punto Abarth

In pictures: Goodwood Festival of Speed

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Excess all areas: the Audi TTS

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:19:53 GMT

cj hubbard writes:

All pictures by Dan.

It's taken all week, but I finally feel like I've 'got' this car. The Audi TTS is an undeniably accomplished piece of automotive machinery, but it can also prove to be strangely unsatisfying to drive quickly - not exactly what you'd expect of a lightweight four-wheel drive sportscar with a 268bhp 2.0-litre turbo under the bonnet.

The thing is it's really not that much like other TTs (small s); getting that much energy out of that little engine capacity lends this car a high performance feel that is less 'mainstream', more 'modified' in nature. The turbocharging is overt now, rather than subtle, to the point where you have to make your gearchanges just so - and quickly - or all forward momentum feels forced where you're expecting the ruthlessly relentless.

Perhaps the engine in our roadster TTS still had a little loosening up to do. But doubtless, much of the appeal of the S tronic twin-clutch semi auto gearbox option must be in the immediacy of its gear shifting - the manual six-speeder we tested had a firm mechanical action, but not an especially swift one. Get it right and the accelerative experience was genuinely immense, backing-tracked by the exhaust's bassy-blare and the turbo's high-frequency buzz - like elevened-up amplifier noise, vibrating on just the edge of hearing. Get it wrong, and you were left thinking: why isn't this thing faster?

No question of the quality of the upgrades, nor their endurance. But somehow it isn't very Audi. Not so much suave and sophisticated, more steroidal countered by iron-willed control (even amped up, little upsets this car's quattro chassis). It's rude in a way Audi simply isn't.

I guess this much ought to be obvious from its appearance, which sacrifices the purity of the second generation TT's lines on the altar of added sideskirts, deeper air dams, and quadruple exhausts. This profusion of additional detailing has a surprisingly profound impact on the car's visual character.

Add all this together, and the TTS gets an unexpected level of on-road respect. A guy driving a regular TT roadster will inevitably have to man-up and face facts - you must anticipate a certain level of, shall we say, flack...

In the TTS this simply does not happen - or at least, it didn't happen to me.* I don't know whether it is just the appearance, the noise, and the evident performance, or whether people actually recognise the TTS and know what it is and what that capital S means in the engine department. Or perhaps it's just that carheads have read and understood that the TT 2 is a genuinely decent driver's tool, and not the mobile sculpture and posing pouch the original represented. (Harsh? Only if you think so...)

Everywhere I went in this car I got nothing but compliments and approval - even if it has to be said most of this came from the yoof in their Clios and 3 Series. A TT that's down with the kids? Apparently so.

It's gone now - replaced by the RS6 we're videoing on Thursday. Look out for Dan's road test soon.

*Dan on the other hand... But maybe that's a reflection of the more competitive nature of his driving style. ;-)

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Links:

A very quick drive in the Audi TTS

Not so Zoom Zoom now...

First Drive: Audi TTS

First Drive: Audi RS6

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