Have young relative who is looking for a car to learn in and keep after passing test. His hobbies are outdoor based camping, canoeing and biking so the usual first cars such as Toyota Yaris etc will not do.

They are thinking of a small estate with low insurance costs budget max £1,000.... Read more

Re: Future proof. Yes – it’s only fair to measure the equivalent CO2 created by the electricity generation needed to power electric cars. However, this is almost always quoted in isolation – where’s the like for like comparison for petrol/diesel cars? The oil for these has to be extracted from an oil well, transported to a refinery, petrol produced, shipped to a petrol station, etc. So, how much CO2 per gallon is produced just by getting the oil from under the ground to the petrol station? Best figures I can find are based on a Stanford University study which indicates that the most efficient petrol production produces something like an extra 30g/km (based on a 50mpg car and production emissions of 1500g CO2 per gallon). For some oil production it can actually be 3x as much as this! And this also doesn’t include the CO2 created by shipping the final fuel by lorry or the CO2 generated by operating the petrol station. Hence, you need to add this on to the official C02 figures for each car to get a fair comparison – which has the effect of making EVs even more attractive than you’re suggesting. Read more

Hello everyone,

I recently brought a new Mercedes A class and I've noticed that randomly on some journeys the climate control makes the car unbearably hot not matter what temperature is set. For example, the climate control is set to 17c at the beginning of a journey and the car interior is roasting way above 17c about 15+ minutes later. The only way to make the car cooler is to set it to LOW. ... Read more

"It still can't match Range Rover for outright luxury, but it'll leave it for dust when it comes to the 4x4 stuff that really matters"

Where's the evidence for the above statement? Have you done a back-to-back off road test on the same tyres? There are many situations where the fully independent air suspension of the Range Rover will provide better traction than the live rear axle on the G. If you catch the diff on something - you're stuck, the Range Rover A. doesn't have that issue and B. will lift the suspension into emergency height when body grounding is detected, as it has done right back to the P38.. Read more

I was backing the car in and out of our drive and at a pinch point managed to catch the nearside on a bracket screwed to the wall. I had been meaning to remove it for a long time and have now paid the price for my apathy.

The rear door has a couple of small dents and a horizontal indentation about 40 cms long just below the window by the horizontal body line, the front door has just been caught on the trailing edge. Having dropped off the load I called by a friend in the village when I saw his workshop light on, he is a classic car restorer and body specialist. he reckoned about £550-750 but it would take some skill to sort out the damage. Many shops would just put a new door or skin on and that could up the cost quite a bit. I also sent photos to another chum who reckoned the best bet was a new door as unless it was perfect a slight ripple would always be evident. He suggested about £600 plus another door from the scrapper in the right colour. ... Read more