Collected couches in my little hatches. Taken broken washing machines to the recycling centre. Collected new ones. Put dogs* in the back. Moved house. Transported my brother’s drum kit.

You know what’s also insane? You can go into a dealership in Germany and buy a brand-new Golf Mk.8 with a 90PS 1.0 3-cyl. It’s a great engine, but not in something as heavy as a Golf. I have the 115PS version in my Seat Ibiza and it goes quite nicely, but you definitely want more than that in a Golf. 

I am firmly of the belief that VW heavily penny pinched on the quality of the US market cars built in Puebla. I know a few people with Mk.4s here in the UK that have done crazy mileages with few issues. 

The Mk.4 Golf has aged like a fine wine too. It’s crazy that this car was launched in 2007. It’s no longer looking modern, per se, but it does not look like a 23 year old design. Remove the rubbing strips, give it some slightly more wrap around lights, and black out the B-pillar, and it would look pretty up-to-date.

It’s literally just the bumper moulding that would need to change. The rest of the car is handsome. I’d like more Hoffmeister on a BMW but this interpretation is fine. The lights are nice. The back end looks good. It’s purely the oversized kidney grills and how they simply don’t fit with the rest of the design that…

This. Vauxhall have been running an entire ad campaign recently on being a British brand.

It’s awesome. Looks like a cartoon!

If they’re platform sharing with PSA, it’s going to be a Jeep version of the Peugeot e-2008, I can almost guarantee it. By all accounts- this is not a bad thing. The e-208 and e-2008 have been very well received. The 208 is Peugeot’s answer to the Fiesta, and the 2008 is their equivalent of the Ecosport.

I applaud Tesla for some spectacular achievements- but they really do make some really shitty cars at times. The wiper controls on every other car are basically the same. You shouldn’t need voice or touch controls for something as simple as adjusting the wiper speed. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a moron. Just add a…

Having driven both LHD and RHD (I’m a Brit too) I honestly don’t get the fuss about the ‘correct’ side being left or right. Perhaps it’s just me, but I can’t say I’ve had any issues with gear changes when switching sides after about 10 minutes. You fumble with the door card a couple of times, and then it’s second…

Not only can you already get a pickup Transit, but the bed can tip up!

And even with cars, which do still require a lot of labour, the levels of automation today mean it’s a mere fraction of the labour it used to involve. And the hours of actual human labour involved is being pushed down as automation improves. 

Not sure. The new Seat Leon has a cursive script for the badge, I’d remove it if I had one. I think cursive works for certain time periods, but not right now.

The 1st gen CLA was basically just a sedan version of the 3rd gen A-Class hatchback. Then for some unknown reason they decided that they need a sedan A-Class and a CLA. Seems batshit to me. The regular A-Class hatchback is a big seller in Europe, so that’s not going anywhere, but why develop a whole new model when you…

Plenty of other cars make the same mistake. Same when cars have indicators on the front down with the fog lights. It’s now where you expect them to be, and therefore you don’t immediately notice them.

A lot of other manufacturers also do a ‘driver only’ setting on the climate control. Not sure if the Mach-E has that too, but it makes a lot of sense. No point heating the passenger side if there’s nobody sitting there! 

Won’t hub motors massively increase the unsprung mass?

My parents had to fit locks to their windows for the insurance, and their insurance wouldn’t cover stuff if the house was left unlocked. They live in rural England- the crime level is very low. But the insurance required locks. Who the fuck knows why- I’ve broken into the house on more than one occasion when I’ve got…

I’m guessing something to do with the door mechanism? 

I think a lot of it is down to people really not giving a shit. I don’t think many people think much about it- they’re aware of the GM/Ford/Chrysler brands being ‘American’*, that reliable family cars are often Japanese and that expensive luxury cars are often German, but that’s probably about it. Hyundai as a name…