WAR ON WEIGHT + GREAT BRITISH TRACKS + DEFENDER BACKLASH
Gone but not forgotten
Sad to read of the demise of Mitsubishi in the UK and Europe (Insider, September 2020 issue).
For me the story began in the mid-’70s when my dad got a bright yellow Colt Galant two-door coupe. It was achingly cool for a man who had previously owned a Rover 90 and two Marinas (one in baby poo greenybrown). It matched up well with his cricket pal’s Toyota Celica of the time. So, a long way from being one of the classic Mitsubishis, but the one I will always remember fondly.
Andy Newton
Rug ratz
I so hope that the electric VW Ruggedzz you speculate about in the September issue’s Future Scoop page becomes reality. Wouldn’t that be fantastic?
All those people who got over-excited about the Suzuki Jimny, until they realised it was really slow, really small and not clean enough to stay on sale for long – this is what they should be getting excited about, don’t you think? Although some of my enthusiasm might be an over-reaction to seeing a half-decent-looking electric car, after the formidable dullness of the ID.3 Wes Tyler
I don’t get much right but I did manage to resist Jimny fever, for all the reasons you describe. And as you point out, the ID.3 isn’t a device to induce much of a fever. BM
Greatness on our doorstep
In the September issue Ben Miller lauds Spa and the ’Ring as great trackday venues, reserving special praise for Mugello and his experiences there as a prelude to F1’s imminent visit. Chapeau to Ben if he rode to any of those on a sportsbike, especially Mugello.
Surely Ben is aware that trackday thrills are available in the UK, which must have the greatest density of high-quality, challenging, thrilling and historic circuits in the world? The likes of Spa and the ’Ring are undoubtedly special, but I give you Oulton Park, Donington, Cadwell Park, Thruxton, Goodwood, the old GP Silverstone layout, old Snetterton, Castle Combe and Brands Hatch GP circuit. All these circuits have memorable, challenging sections and corners, some are really heavy on brakes, others so fast in a road car that most of the laps you’re cornering on the limit of adhesion.
Other circuits such as Pembrey, Knockhill, Mallory Park, Croft, Bedford and Rockingham have their merits too, but the first group were more enjoyable to me.
My personal favourite is the Brands GP layout. The circuit flows beautifully, with no quick breather anywhere as the next challenge is upon you and the armco is close enough to remind you
that rash mistakes will be costly. Last tank of gas? I reckon I’d get 10 laps in. Bryn Owen Absolutely, Bryn – our entirely disproportionate (given the size of the UK) number of fantastic circuits is one of many great things about being a car and motorcycle enthusiast in the UK. The longer Brands Hatch GP layout would be top of my list, too. I once convinced Bike magazine I need to spend the whole day at Brands on BMW’s then-new HP2 sportsbike, and that they should pay for it, as well as my time… BM
Horizons broadened
Regarding David J McCarthy’s letter in the August issue, complaining about your F-Type 300-Mile Test, I must say love reading about the journey as well as the car.
I have been reading some older issues, too. Isn’t this what CAR does best?
Ian Williams We hope so. BM
Time is the real test
I’ve been reading CAR for many years but one thing constantly surprises me: Land Rover products win nearly every test they enter. As an ownership proposition they are a mixture of lunacy and horror to make even the most deep of wallet and small of intellect shudder. It’s not that Mercedes, Audi or Jeep are especially reliable. However at no point in the last 40 years has any Land Rover product been as well thrown together as a budget French supermini.
Land Rover dealers’ servicing/parts are massively over-priced compared to key rivals, and almost entirely unhelpful in my experience.
Great design also needs great implementation. When the Toyota Land Cruiser was introduced into Australia, Land Rover sales fell over 90 per cent in one year. Reliability should surely be a key factor in any test.
Greg Brown
Judge a car on its merits
I really enjoyed the September of CAR, especially the drive of Aston Martin’s DBX, which focused on the vehicle for a change and no comments regarding its alleged social status or the character of the owners – how refreshing. Mark Walton in his Our Cars piece on the G-Class couldn’t resist the cliched Premier League footballers jibe while expressing his concern about what other people may think of the G-Class. Who gives a monkey’s what other people think? Life is too short. Finally, the T.50 from Gordon Murray is a lesson in weight saving par excellence, even down to the three pedals, a lattice design that saved a few grams.
Phil Taylor Couldn’t agree more. It’s hardly the car’s fault who buys it. BM
What you rally rally want
Your Aston Martin DBX 300-Mile Test was a fine read, and was the first review that’s made me fancy trying it out. Your phrase ‘cross-country Peak District B-road that makes you wish the World Rally Championship came here’ was highly evocative.
Gavin Wise Thank you Gavin. When you’re trying to come up with evocative words, cars as good as the DBX – and locations as wildly beautiful as the Peak District – are worth their weight in gold. BM
In what world is this good?
I know that CAR nowadays feels the need to lavish praise on anything without an engine, but the first drive of the Mazda MX-30 (September issue) is a new nadir. A painfully slow £27.5k car that weighs 1645kg, is cramped inside and can do less than 100 miles in the real world is a joke, not a car to enthuse about. What is it going to be like in winter (when batteries are less e¢cient) with the lights, heater and demister on? And what’s the point of a family car when you have to open the front doors before you can exit the rear?
Please return to the old days when CAR journalists had standards and rightly slated poor cars.
Gerry Allen Or, to come at it another way, a good looking EV that has all the range a lot of people need, costs half as much as an iPace or EQC, drives keenly and dares to do something interesting with its design. BM
You can all stay indoors
Your Insider update on the CO2 fines situation (‘A timebomb defused – ⊲