The days of the friendly mass-market car might have gone in the US, but here in Europe we have things like the VW Up!

The one thing I’ll give Porsche is that it looks a hell of a lot better than the BMW X6 or the Merc GLC.

It’s that steering wheel. Looks like it’s off a rental car from about 2000. Awful. 

There could be an RFID/Bluetooth/whatever ‘handshake’ before the charging pad is activated. Kind of how the existing chargers communicate with the car to confirm charging speeds etc, just wireless.

The Tiguan has an ‘eco’ tune operating on something called the Budack cycle. There was an article on here a while back.

It’s a shame Audi ditched the ‘Sportback’ (aka, 5-door hatchback) version of the A3 with the current generation other than for the e-Tron in the North American market. Because the RS3 Sportback is badass. 

What I don’t understand is why they don’t offer a proper STI version of the Levorg here in Europe, where fast wagons sell. Although the Levorg has disappeared completely from the UK now. 

That may be my British point of view- someone with HIV (or any other long-term condition) will pay an annual prescription of £104 (unless young, old, diabetic, low income etc) and that’s it.

Wow. Way to be a dick about things. Also, I personally don’t consider a disease that has killed and continues to kill millions of people something very funny.

My aunt and uncle had a ~2004 TT roadster, in metallic blue, Quattro, 6-speed 1.8T. My aunt absolutely loved that car, but they sold it because it wasn’t getting enough use (they live in wet, windy, North Wales). And immediately regretted it. To the extent that a few year ago my uncle bought her a bright yellow Mk.2 TT…

I know you’re just making a point, but this is a bit of a bugbear for me.

This. Few mass-market cars are exported out of the US to global markets. The vast majority are for domestic consumption. Big markets like Europe, China, whatever, predominantly have locally-produced vehicles. The exceptions are high-end vehicles, which are generally produced in fewer locations, and more likely to be…

This can lead to some confusion however. For example, if you are travelling from New York to London, with a Delta ticket, you might be on a Virgin Atlantic operated flight. And as such, are eligible for compensation. Conversely, you could be flying on a Virgin ticket on a Delta operated flight, and not be eligible.

Isn't this the plot to a James Bond film?

Ah that’s a point. I’m yet to see a decent system for that! I use Android Auto so just tell Google to play things.

I have a Skoda Fabia, which has the ‘Bolero’ system which is broadly equivalent to the ‘Composition Media’ system that most Mk7s without navigation have (all of them in the UK). My car has the slightly newer ‘MIB2' system which has a 6.5" screen, which came to the Mk.7 in about 2016, but the older MIB1 systems were…

Yup- but I was trying to say that it’s not really an EV thing, more just a ‘modern car’ thing.

The Jetta has shared platforms with Audi A3s since the late ‘90s, but that’s more that the A3 is based on the Golf than anything else. The Mk.6 Jetta though had much more changed to cheapen it compared to the equivalent Golf.

The current Opel/Vauxhall Corsa dates back to 2006. Which for a mass-market car is crazy. The next gen car will be arriving in the next couple of years apparently, based on the new Peugeot 208.

That’s just the current VAG infotainment systems. The Seat Tarraco SUV has a similar screen setup.