The Renault 5 is a small car made by the French company Renault that was sold from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s. It's known for being easy to drive and park.
Car
Citroën 2CV
The Citroën 2CV is a small, simple car made in France that was very popular for many years. It's known for being inexpensive and easy to drive.
A wet-belt engine has a timing belt that runs in oil, which can cause it to wear out faster than regular timing belts. Some people think this makes the engine less reliable.
A catalytic converter helps clean up the exhaust gases from a car to make them less harmful. They are valuable because they contain precious metals, which is why they can be stolen.
The Bentley Flying Spur is a very fancy car that offers a lot of comfort and luxury features. It's designed for people who want a high-quality driving experience.
The Bentley T-Series is an older luxury car from 1965 that represents the classic style and quality of Bentley cars. It's known for being very well made and comfortable.
The Volkswagen Golf is a small car that many people like because it's easy to drive and has a lot of space inside. It has been updated several times over the years, with each new version having different features.
The Alpine A110 is a small, sporty car that focuses on being light and quick. It's talked about because it offers a different driving experience compared to bigger sports cars, making it special for enthusiasts.
Air suspension is a system in cars that uses air instead of metal springs to support the vehicle's weight. It helps make the ride smoother and can be adjusted for different driving conditions.
The Dacia Duster is a budget-friendly SUV that is designed to be practical and useful. It's talked about because it gives you a lot of space and features for a lower price compared to other SUVs.
The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car that many people recognize. It's known for being fast and stylish, and it's often seen as a luxury car that people aspire to own.
The Volkswagen Golf R is a sporty version of the Golf car, designed for better performance and handling. It's popular among car enthusiasts who want a fun driving experience.
The Aston Martin Cygnet is a small, luxury car that is based on another car called the Toyota iQ. It aims to provide a high-end feel in a compact size.
The Austin Maestro is a small car made by the Austin company in the 1980s. It was popular for its usefulness, especially as a delivery van for post offices.
Pre-war cars are cars made before World War II. They are special because they have different styles and technologies compared to modern cars, and many people collect them for their history.
MOT is a yearly check-up for cars in the UK to make sure they are safe to drive. If a car fails the MOT, it means it has problems that need to be fixed before it can be used on the road.
The BMW M3 is a fast and sporty car that's part of the 3 Series lineup from BMW. People talk about it because it's known for being really fun to drive and has a reputation for being one of the best sports sedans out there.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is a new electric car that looks modern and has lots of cool technology. People are excited about it because it's eco-friendly and can go a long way on a single charge.
The Porsche Cayman is a small sports car that is fun to drive and has a great design. It's popular because it combines speed with the ability to be used as a daily car, and there are plans for electric versions in the future.
The Ford Capri is a classic car that many people loved back in the day for its sporty look and fun driving experience. It's often talked about because it has a special place in car history and is still appreciated by car enthusiasts.
The Nissan Juke is a small SUV that stands out because of its unusual shape and fun driving style. People talk about it because it's a good option for those who want a car that's both practical and exciting.
The Holden Monaro is a classic car from Australia that is famous for being fast and powerful. It's talked about because it has a strong following among car lovers and represents a fun era of muscle cars.
The Audi A2 is a small, practical car that is designed to be very efficient with fuel. It's talked about because it has a unique design and can save you money on gas while still being comfortable to drive.
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and let their concierge service take care of the rest. Yeah, you can actually talk to a person.
Becomes a rarity that, doesn't it, talking to an actual nice person?
Oh, it does. Yes, I haven't personally, but people around me have had to call various customer
services, helplines and things recently, and it has been a, well, as you would imagine.
I've had Anderson call me. Is it all right? Is it okay?
Excellent. That is very good. I used to get a phone call from
my classic car insurer about three days before the policy was due to, they send a letter,
send a text, whatever, and I think, oh, it's all right. I won't do anything because Tim's
going to call in a few days. And then he'd phone up and go, do you want to renew the
Beetle and the Imp? And I'd say, how much is it? And he'd go, well, it's an extra five quid
more than it was last year. I'd say, oh, thanks very much. They don't do that anymore. And I'm
slightly disappointed. How hard, Charm? I was talking to our Charm, Mr. Richard Bramner,
who has bought another car. We probably should let him make his own announcement,
but a really interesting story. But he rang up his insurers. He's already got whatever it is,
10 cars insured. And he rang up and said, oh, guess what, I've got another one to add. And they
said, I've got some good news for you, sir. You've passed a certain threshold where you don't have
to pay any more for him. No. How many is that? Or should we not say? I don't think, I think it
might be value or something, but anyway, they said to him, good news, mate, don't worry about it.
Brilliant. Just tell us the car, tell us a reg and we'll stick it on the list.
I'm not quite in a position to say anything yet either way, but I might be adding another car
at home. And if I do, I might like the name of your insurance broker as well, because it's
it's just a lot of cars to keep on top of the paperwork for. And I sort of think if I can make
one phone call and somebody goes, yeah, we'll off you go. This is, this is what you should
pay for all of those combined. That might be a good, that might be a good thing. The one bills
great, especially when they're pretty disparate like yours are. Yeah. Yeah. Mind you, you might be,
I haven't got any classic cars. You see, you might be better off with classic car insurer.
Yes. The classic car insurer we were talking about was who I then also should go, well,
Haggerty. That's who I'm with. They're nice people to deal with apparently. Yeah.
They might be able to just bundle it for you. Yeah, they might do. Yeah, because I was going
to put my motorbike on it before and they said we can do it, but we'd have to limit the miles.
And by the way, you did 7,000 last year, which is too many. But that was, that was, that was kind of
post pandemic when we couldn't fly a lot. So I was doing a lot of motorcycle
miles because I wrote a, yeah, I wrote a Berlin and back to drive an AMG, which was great.
And they said, well, we can fly you. I said, I'm not really supposed to fly at the moment.
Can I, I'll meet you there. And they went, yeah, fine. It's great. It was a long, some long days,
but still good. Did you do it in a day? I went to, yeah, because the job was in,
the job was in an Eastern German, pretty much near Dresden. There was a, there's a racetrack out
there, isn't it? The, I can't remember the name of it. Something ring. Yeah. It's the,
but it's the big oval where Alessandro Zanardi had his awful track test for somebody years ago.
Yeah. So I read it was just about as far as Berlin on day one, finished off the journey the
next morning, drove the car, got back on the bike, rode back to pretty much Berlin that night and
then rode home the next day. So it was some long days, good trip. And it turns out, and it turns
out a Honda Africa twin tops out after nearly 20 years old tops out at the top speed it was
quoted as having when it was new. Fantastic. Or just about 108 miles an hour. Excellent story.
Pleased with myself. Listener reader, you can write to us auto car at haymarket.com as Roger
Williams has done to say I was interested to read the tie up between Ford and Renault about plans
for new small Ford EVs, which is in our 31st of December magazine issue. Renault has done a super
job of executing the Renault five and four models. Being of a certain age, I was launched the same
year as the Morris Minor and Citroen 2CB. Brand heritage is very important in my eyes. The Renault
models are the latest in a number of clever executions that to a greater or lesser degree have
styling cues from the back catalog of cars. While sharing the Renault AMPR platforms,
Ford says its new cars will have distinct executions with authentic Ford brand DNA,
including driving dynamics, if they can deliver than this. And I think they most likely can. We
should see some great cars that do justice to the names like Fiesta. However, exterior styling
execution that tastefully incorporates some Ford heritage will be a real challenge. I'd like to
see some styling features on the Ford models that recall the Mark 1 Fiesta, which was on sale alongside
the Renault five for a number of years and was very successful. It would be great if designers
could allude to the shape and angle of that. I'll leave it to them to get on with delivering what
must be a very interesting project for them. Thanks, Roger. It'd be interesting to see what Ford
will do with that, doesn't it? They don't do a lot of retro-y stuff, do they? No, I would suspect
that it'll be a wedgy little car like the one that we know and love, the Britain's most stolen car,
in fact. Which one was that? The Fiesta. Was it? The sort of recent Fiesta is swiped more often
than anything. Is it really? Yeah. Wow, I did not know that. Oh, it's just only some sort of volume
rather than proportion? Just volume, just more Fiesta. I mean, possibly because there are more
of them parked on the street. Yeah, and not a lot of, I suppose they don't have transponder keys,
a lot of them. Yeah, I suppose not many are fitted with trackers and stuff, are they? I guess because
they're just, and I guess once you get used to, I don't know what they're getting nicked for,
because some cars get nicked for. There was, I was looking, seeing some stuff the other day that
seemed to suggest that there were more cars now being stolen for to be knocked down as parts than,
than, or the proportion that were converted into second-hand parts was far greater than it was
even a year or two ago. Yeah, I think, I wonder if that wet-belt engine, which is not renowned for
having amazing longevity. I've seen a few videos of transits and other vans where people have just
come around in the evening and they've sort of cut the front of the van off so they can nick the
engines because those engines don't wear amazingly well. Wow. And, you know, if you can get a fresh
one, you'll have it. It's a bit of the sort of Toyota catalytic converter issue that they had a while
ago, you know, that they, that they're in demand so they have them. It's a shame, why can't we have
nice things? Yeah, indeed. That isn't amazing how there's even a market in things like that.
It's wild, isn't it? It is. Yeah. Don't want to know about it. I, it's some family, some family
friends. I mean, very unfortunate for them at the time. Their house was burgled, Nick Loader stuff,
but the guy was really so annoyed that they didn't take the video recorder. This is how long ago it
was. He decided it must be rubbish, so he bought a new one. He's like, well, it must be if they
didn't want that. What's wrong with it? So when he replaced everything, he also thought, well,
I better, I better upgrade the VCR player as well because, because they didn't even want it.
I think that is a problem with, with some housebreaking it, you know, unless you're a household
that's full of diamond TRs and things like that, you know, the, the TV's not worth anything and
the more, the more is it. No, I mean, people, if, I mean, God forbid, if my house was broken into it,
that there's not really, I haven't got a TV. There's not really much worth having. So just
leave the cat. That's all I, that's all I get. Just fine. You know, ruffle about it. You won't
find anything. Just leave. Don't make a mess. Yeah. Don't make a mess and shut the door after
you so the cat doesn't escape. That's all I'm asking. We talked a bit about, we're going to
talk this week, can't we, about our respective columns, but we talked a bit about the Bentley
Flying Spur last week. Yeah. The thing I failed to say was that it was an Azure. It was, it was
interesting car because it was decorated, specified to recall the first ever Bentley T-Series 1965.
Oh, interesting. And the year that's just ended was that car's 60th anniversary.
Oh, I didn't know. And that's why it had this lovely silver paint. It had Burr Walnut dashboard.
It had sort of double gray interior and it had very traditional leather seats.
And it was, you know, we, we've gone through a period where we said, well, wooden leather,
you know, it's all a bit passe, but actually in this car, it was damn nice. I'll tell you.
Yeah. The thing that got me is, as you said in your column, you mentioned to somebody how much
better that car has become over the years. And they were like, well, it's new. But why would it
not be? Yeah, I said, I said it was the best Bentley I'd ever been in. And he said, well,
what the hell? You know, you wouldn't expect to be the worst, would you?
I do find it. And people do sometimes write it in copy, not to talk shop too much. But I do see
sometimes somebody goes, wow, here's the new car. What's it like? It's much better than the last one.
You think they've spent a billion quid on it? Of course, if it wasn't better than the last one,
they'd have some questions. Yeah, a few people down the road, I would think. Yeah. That's perfectly
true. Although there are at least design wise, I think there are times when you can look
at the at this kind of original car, the original shape, and then it gets facelifted once twice
even. Yeah. And the original is often nicer. You know, I think there are some V dubs like that that
get get sort of homogenized, they get over complicated. But I mean, when we're talking about
performance, switch gear, behavior, blah, blah, blah. Well, are they always better? Because I
used to think that it was. But now I sometimes get in a car and think, was the last, did I prefer
the last one to this? The Volkswagen Golf, people talk about the Mark 7 being better than the
better than the later ones. And yeah, the eight became sort of weirdly hard to operate, didn't
it? Yeah. Yeah. And I just wonder with, especially with some ADAS driver assistance systems that are
too intrusive because they're not quite right yet. And yet they have to be there and they have to
switch on. Yeah. I wonder if peak car, such as it is, I still, I mean, I still think on balance,
things are probably better things, but also there are some high points of the past few years, you
go, that's the one, that's the one I'd have. Yes. The 2016, 2017 car is maybe better than the 2025
version. Yeah. I think certainly the complication is a, is a serious issue, for sure. But one of
the reasons I value my Alpine, which is a, it's a 2021 car, but it was just the same in 2017 when
it came out. That's, that's as far up the pole as I want to go with that car, because it got,
it became ornate and the price went up. And I like it like it is. Yeah. Did the price,
I should know this, but there are too many cars on the road. Is a new A110, or the later A110s,
were they quite a lot more expensive than the early ones? Yeah. Oh, really? Yeah. I mean,
I know the, the sort of special edition Altimae or whatever they've been, but the fancy ones were
a lot. Two, two price levels. And then they kept on thinking of ways to hike the price. I mean,
my car had a natural price of 50, and I think I paid 40. And, and now they're, you know, you can
pay 80 plus. Bit of money, isn't it? Doesn't it? Especially, I had a go in one of the recent ones,
and although it was faster, it was a very similar experience I found. Yeah. And I don't know if I
didn't presume, prefer my slightly more supple suspension more, but I have got a notoriously,
a notorious bias for, for suppleness. Let's talk suppleness and luxury in that case. Yeah. Because
the Bentley supple, isolated, refined, good body control? Very good. Because of the air suspension,
you know, it, because it, it seems to be able to separate the bump absorption or, or it can separate
primary ride from secondary ride. So primary ride is, is this body control, this sort of lovely
ability to, to sort of maintain a beautiful composed action while absorbing stuff off the road.
And I was talking this week about the, the sort of first bump experience, you know,
if you haven't driven the car even for an hour, get back in it, drive down the road. And I just
almost look forward to the first crater because, because it just goes over the, there's your
accumulated fee experiences that it's going to, there's going to be a thud, you know, there just
is in the duster or the mini or something like that. And this car does not do it. And you think,
God, isn't that good? Isn't it good? That's what I'm paying for. But also 5.4 meters long,
two meters wide, 2.X tons. Yeah. Would you fancy that experience in something not as big? Yeah.
Well, I really want to see this done. The car, I'm just trying to, I was speculating on this,
a car with air suspension, you know, self leveling, all the stuff that we know about and huge,
you know, much money and research spent on isolation, but a car somewhere between fiesta and
focus, I reckon. Just not, not too cramped, but not, you know, could, could be fairly
close coupled, as they say. Yeah. To seat four, presumably, or? Yeah.
With emphasis on two, in a way, two plus two and a half, you know, two plus whatever I mean,
you know. Yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah. I just love that. I think it, but I suppose nobody
can see the case for a car like that costing 120. Yeah. That's a problem. It is, I think.
But it is, it's a really nice idea. And it's, I don't believe it's ever been done.
No. As you said, a little mile ago, I think the closest might be the mini,
certain versions of, because minis tend to go towards, you know, fairly thumpy,
big tired, low profile. Yeah. Cars, don't they? But I'd love to see a really luxurious,
but composed car, whether, whether the isolation is greater than you expect and the
composure is better than you expect. I love that. Yeah, I do. And I, I suppose they do
the maths and think, no, but not enough people are going to buy one of these to make it worthwhile.
And you've got to sell them in a volume that will never be a thing. But I just,
I know enough people who's, who's, who have access to expensive cars. I met a reader once
in an airport lounge and he was chatting about cars and he said, I've got an Aston Vantage.
He said, but I spend all my time driving my daughter's mini. Yeah. And I know enough people
who have nice cars, but spend their time in small compact cars because they're so easy to use.
And wouldn't it be nice to have the luxury feel, but in something, and also a small car.
All right. It's not like you can filter through traffic in one, but if it's narrow,
and if it's short, you can park it in more places or more quickly. And then, or you can,
if somebody's waiting to turn right, you may be able to scoot around a gap
that you couldn't do in a larger car. So it saves you time. And what is more luxurious than time?
Yeah, that's a really good argument going where you want to go more quickly,
more discreetly as well. I mean, there's something about discretion for the people like as well.
So I think this was an argument for the, do you remember that there were lots of people in that
Ferrari, you know, Lambo Bracket who had Golf VR6s. Remember, they were, they always,
and they used to talk about, well, I could have got the Ferrari out. But, you know,
I had to do this really quick cross-country journey from sort of Leicester to Brighton
or somewhere. And I thought, ah, to hell with it, I'll take the VR6.
Yeah. And also, you know, you may turn up at a client meeting or whatever and you don't
even, you might not even want to get out of a Porsche 911 at somewhere like that. So actually
having a Golf R or something is the thing to have. I'd love to do something like that as a project,
which obviously I don't have the skills or the time or the space for. But I'd be really interested
to see somebody make a really luxurious. It'd be interesting to know if there's anybody listening
that sees the case for this, because I must say I do.
Closest is, but the platform isn't right for it, is it? So things like the Calum Mini
is a luxurious small car, but it'll never be isolated because it's a mini. So there's a limit
to how luxury-feeling it can be. But it is an expensive small product.
But the quality's there for sure. Yeah.
Aston's Signet. I never drove one, did you? How good was it?
It was very Toyota-IQ-ish, but that was quite an engaging little car because it had no overhangs.
And so it was very agile. I quite liked the IQ. It was quite flexible and
it raised me light and so on. But I think the steering might have been a bit old Toyota-ish,
not particularly responsive. But because the car was so tiny, you could do anything with it.
It's a good little car. I still see the case for it.
Yeah. I can see them becoming a bit of a classic.
The Signet sells for an amazing amount of money. I think I looked it up just a while ago.
I think you can buy the World's Finest Signet for $3,000.
Sorry, the World's Finest IQ for $3,000, but a Signet can cost $20,000.
Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, god.
If I remember rightly, there was not a press launch for that car.
There was a sort of a press launch. It was done in the city and there was a big party.
And I remember Ulrich Betz, the boss, then gave us all a little
sort of sponge rubber model of the car. I've still got mine. It's a really nice model.
But there was a bit of a drive around the city.
Oh, it was there. Okay.
But it wasn't... It was pretty unofficial.
Okay. Yeah. I sort of remember having, I might be misremembering,
but having trouble getting hold of one for a full road test, which sometimes tells you...
What do you need to know?
What do you need to know about it?
Yeah. Well, it wasn't... You know, under the skin, it was an IQ.
Shall we... Tell you what, tell me about... Before we go anywhere else,
tell me about an Austin Maestro van.
Oh, well, here we are sitting in the BMM, again, making a pod.
British Motor Museum.
I ran into a bloke here who has a Maestro red Maestro van,
which has always been a post office van. And in fact, I ran into two of them.
We were sitting at a Christmas lunch, I now remember.
Right.
And these blokes were both at Maestro post office vans.
And one of them was saying that his has turned into a kind of career in that
career. If you've got an authentic car from the 80s like that, and you make it clear to
people who make TV programs that you've got such a car, it can often be in films or TV,
you know, either parked, but quite often driven. And when it's driven, you get a fee for providing
the car. You also get a fee for driving the car. And it may be that you're also somebody
wearing the uniform has to get out of the car, walk across the road and empty a pillow box or
something like that. So he's, he built himself as a supporting actor. And this had become his
career. He retired a few years ago, and he's got this income from, from owning a Maestro post
office van. That is super. Were the two of them the Maestro van owners Club Christmas acting?
Or are there a few more than? I think these blokes were both
but I think one was a volunteer here and the other one was a was an employee and they
places like the British Motor Museum attract such folks. So I think you would find a
higher quotient of Maestro owners here than in most places. I wonder how many Maestro vans
there are still. Yeah, can't be the world, can it? No, I saw two old transit vans yesterday,
three early ones. Yeah, Bright Red in with the sun written on the side,
which have been used in TV and video and stuff like that. And a bloke who, yes, who rebuilds cars
and builds Derek Drinkwater, who is a mechanic, builds stuff for TV shows, builds American muscle
cars for his own fun and amusement as well. And I think, yes, I think does a bit of that
sort of stuff. And these were bound for some show? I think they had been used in some show,
yeah, but I'm not sure which one, but there's various films and stuff that he uses stuff on.
And also if it's Americana, he was saying, I think that the you can drive some American,
some police forces will let cars on the road if they're not road registered. But I think UK
registered, but he said that he's doing some filming in and around London and the Met will only allow
registered cars onto the road to do this filming. So even so, while they would like
some American cars, he's supplying ones that are UK registered for that reason. And it'd be quite a...
It's an industry. It is an industry, isn't it? Yeah, it is. Mind you, if you ever stood anywhere
near a film shoot, there's hundreds of people doing nothing, the money just oozes out of the,
can you just, that a motorsport, the amount of the amount that gets done for the amount that gets
spent are the two least productive. Productive, it looks like to me. Yeah, it does look extraordinary,
doesn't it? It goes on for days. Somebody knows what's supposed to be done, but
what's supposed to be going on, but a lot of folk just stand around. Yeah, every time, because our
office is near Twickenham Stadium, isn't it? Every time they're doing some filming there,
which seems to be a lot, doesn't it? They set up next to the, in the car parks next to the 316,
all of the trailers. I just think the amount of money that is spent doing that. Yeah, all that,
all those vehicles, but wonder what they do when they're not actually in action. We're on the earth
that they store. There must be a, you know, a Vulcan hangar somewhere. Because I suppose you're
just setting up a business park wherever you're filming, because there's hundreds of supporting
staff to do it. I guess you've just got to set up entire facilities, a small town for them
everywhere they go. AutoCars videos are not done with that level of inefficiency and expenditure,
listener. And if you visit the YouTube channel on AutoCars right now, you can find a video
from the Brussels Motor Show, which has been put together, or will be put together in two days time
from the recording of this podcast, but it will be live by the time this podcast goes out. The
Motor Show is having a bit of a renaissance in some ways, isn't it? It does seem to be, yeah.
Because as well as the Brussels show that we're about to have RetroMobile, which is admittedly
classic show, but highly regarded French classic car show, which is going from strength to strength,
we're told. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, that's over on the AutoCar YouTube channel. You can also find us
at autocar.co.uk. The commercial break has started today. And you can find more. If you go to the
magazineshop.com, if you just search AutoCar wherever you access the internet, you can find us,
but particularly recommend subscribing to the magazine, print or digital and or digital,
and also access to the entire 130 plus year AutoCar archive at themagazineshop.com.
I was telling you about the Maestro van owners. The archive plays well with those guys.
People like that are terribly interested in history and they, not just Maestro history,
but history, history, go. We were having a right chat about pre-war cars and so on. It was good.
They were informed by what they found on the AutoCar archive.
Interesting. I mean, we have been doing it weekly since 1895 and it is the machine that
changed the world and it documents it all the way through. And of the one place where you can,
given that there's so much, you know, your expression, slop on the net. Yeah, exactly.
This is the one place where you can find accurate stuff. Indeed. Yeah. Yeah. And if your interest
is a modern new electric car, this podcast is brought to you in association with our sponsors,
Anderson. And if you get an Anderson Quartz A3 or 7 kilowatt A2 charger this month, you can claim
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That's over 100 pounds worth of charging with Anderson and Intelligent Octopus Go. If you
search Anderson, they're on Anderson-ev.com or phone them up and their concierge service will
look after you. I was, because I remember I was running Renault 5 EV for six months, seven months.
Yeah. I did a bit of a count up of the number of times that I used public charging. And I think
it was never, it was certainly nothing like 20% of all the charging I did. Everything was either
at home or at work where we have some chargers, but mostly at home where I have a 7 kilowatt charger.
And it is the key to the rest of your life in EV terms at home charger. I know it's tough for
some people who can't have one, but if you can, it's essential. Yeah. Yeah. You can write to us
but I've got a different letter I want to read, Steve. It was sent, well, it was Jim Farley,
the boss of Ford, says, he thinks of Jim Moylan's invention every time I fill up my gas tank.
Jim Farley is the boss of Ford? Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, it's a letter from James N. Moylan,
who was a Ford engineer and it says, to PM Ross, subject product convenience suggestion.
I'd like to propose a small addition to future instrument panel cluster graphics in all passenger
car and truck lines. The indicator or symbol I have in mind would be located near the fuel gauge
and simply described to the driver on which side of the vehicle the fuel field door is located.
What a great... Based on personal experience when approaching the fuel pump island in company
pool cars, I feel this little indicator would remove the guesswork of which side I want to park,
even if all four product lines eventually locate on the same side. For the minor investment involved
on the company's part, I think it would be a worthwhile convenience, not only for two car
families but also pool car users and especially rental customers. And then Ford did exactly that.
Yeah. And the rest of the world did. Yeah. Yeah. This guy is recently demised, hasn't he? He died
recently. Am I right? Yes, I think so, yeah. I think so, yeah. And I mean, what a great thing
to leave the world with. Yes. And it's... Yeah, it's a great thing. And it's just... And it's good
of Farley too, to make an issue of it, isn't it? Good old Moiland, excellent work. Jim Moiland,
was it? Yeah, that's right, yeah. And that was in 1986. Fantastic. Great thing. And I mean, by the way,
he saved you and me a bit of trouble too. Oh my goodness, yeah. Because we're in all these different
cars. Yes, every time. Although I do take great pleasure in pulling into a petrol station and
knowing that most fuel cable, most fuel... What do you call them? Most fuel pump fill... Yeah,
but you know, the hoses, thank you, are long enough actually to reach the other side of the car.
Yeah, that's true. Which is fine. So it's not really a big deal. I've never... I've very seldom
come a cropper doing it. No. But they do... Yeah, but it is more convenient, especially if it's a
diesel pump and you don't want to get grubby hands. No. Manhandling a slippery hose from one side of
the car to the other. I tell you where you need to be right, and that's fueling up the Raptor,
because it's about eight feet tall. And you would never... You'd never stretch over. It just never
stretch. No, no. Well, on the subject of garages, mate, a neat segue into the fact... Part two has
started, by the way. Oh, good. A neat segue into the fact that you have taken the Dacia Duster,
the trusty Duster, in for servicing recently. Yeah, I enjoy it. The Duster has done 30,000 miles.
It's four years old. It needed an A service, which is the kind of cheap one. So I thought, well,
I'll make an appointment. It's about an hour and a half's work. Took it to the local Dacia dealer
in Swindon, nice people, place to watch, to wait. And I was sitting down there in conversation with
some other bloke who was waiting for his cars. And I was in mid-boast about how cheap this car
has been to run and how perfectly reliable. And up bounced the bloke who was doing the
work on it and said, your car has just failed the MOT, sir. Oh, no. And it turned out that the
front disc rotors were rusted. And he subsequently gave me one. And it was an absolutely horrible
scabrous thing. Oh, really? And you can sort of understand it. It's a lump of cast iron,
which is exposed to the worst of the elements every single day. And in our case, sometimes it
sits there doing nothing for quite a few days before it gets used again. So it's understandable
enough. But you fix my wagon, you know, there I was boasting to this bloke. And suddenly the guy
lobbed me with a 450-grid bill. Do they do as sometimes my local garage does, which is MOT the
car, and then say, by the way, it's failed on this and you could do with a new X or Y?
Yeah, well, that's what happened. The guys set out to MOT it, because that's what it needed. And
I try and time the annual with the MOT. And he said, I MOT'd it and it failed. Everything else
is good, but not this. Okay. Yeah. One, I need to mix up a couple of, because I think we've got
some MOTs due at the same time. I think the Audi's and the Land Rover's and my son's Mazda, which we
sort of still help out looking after the logistics of. They all come up within a few weeks of each
other, which actually is a bit suboptimal. I could do with spacing those out a bit, because you can
suddenly end up with three cars, two cars, not around. But also, I don't know, I just sort of
think actually, what I wouldn't mind is if they went through it first and fixed everything, and
then MOT'd it, rather than presenting me with a list of things it fails on, because it just then
looks bad on the MOT history, especially on the Land Rover, which needs, because it's got 245,000
miles on it, and is a 25 year, no, 20 year old. Well, it's an old car. I just wouldn't mind if
they'd go through and effectively do a bunch of checks and go, okay, we've now serviced it,
and this is what it needed. And now we're going to MOT it, and this is what it, and it's passed.
Congratulations. Yeah. That's true. Maybe they can't do that. I don't know. Well, I have got
a fail certificate and a pass certificate now. So that's true. You know, I could, I guess I could
do without the fail certificate. Yeah. I mean, not that it makes a lot of difference, because
it's not... Still a big car though. I think I was saying to you the other day, I get more,
I feel more and more affection for this car that the more it declines in value, because,
because, you know, I paid 19 or something for it, and it's 20 maybe. It's now worth about 10,
I would say 11. But it's still a car with, you know, perfect engine transmission
interior. You know, it's fit for another life. It's the brakes aside, front brakes aside.
It's perfect. Then it's diesel, 60 miles per gallon, four-wheel drive. Whenever you fill it up,
it says 600 miles range. Yeah. It's just such a good car. And I, you know,
Bentley or no Bentley, I still think it's terrific. Yeah. The Citroen Bollinger you had before it,
you had for 19 years. Do you reckon the Duster will be a similarly... You're not thinking about
shopping it in, okay. I mean, it'll be interesting to see if I last that long myself. But I wouldn't...
I can't see a case for selling it. And we all drive it, you see. The Mrs drives it. If it's snowy,
everybody reaches for it. Oh, about they do. If one of the sun's cars explodes, you know, it
gets pressed into service, you lend it to your mates, it's just great. Yeah. And actually,
there's, I know 20,000 pounds, it is a lot of money, isn't it? But when you work out how long
you've had it for, how many miles you've done in it, and if you then calculate what you might have
spent getting around in a different way. Yeah. I mean, it turns into be quite, you know, quite
a good value thing. Yeah. And it's going to get more so because it'll take quite a long time to
have again in value. So, you know, I think it gets spectacularly more
better value for money from now on, really, from here to about 60 or 70,000. It should be cheap.
Yeah. As we speak, the embargo on some details of the next electric
high performance BMW, which will actually be an electric M car for the first time,
the BMW M3, they've released a few more details of that yesterday, actually, technically.
Have you spotted this car? I haven't seen the finished car, but I have spoken to some engineers
about it. And it's based on the Neue Glasser platform, which is the new electric car platform.
IX3, we've already driven the I3, which is the saloon version of that car, much lower. It's
three series. It's a three series. It will be a three. Effectively, it'll be, I think,
in the three series range alongside a facelifted variant of the current three, so that I don't
know how similar they'll look, but you'll get combustion or hybrid based on the current three
series and full electric based on the new platform, and they will be sold alongside each other as
three series. But then they will presume they will be a fast M3 with an engine, but there will
also be, I don't know that for sure, but I think that's the case, there will also be an M3 electric
car. Some of the new details say there's going to be 100 kilowatt hour battery at least. It will
be able to recuperate energy up to the levels of grip on the tire, so you could be under maximum
braking effort. It will regenerate all of that electricity. Oh gosh, that's interesting. It will
have, because I always wonder that, you know, how much when you're under brakes, there's a point where
you see the regen meter, but it maxes out before you've got, you've stopped as fast as you can
Yeah, and this will, yes, this will do it at effectively ABS activation point. It'll still
regen at that point. Is this a four wheel drive engine? Yes, and it's got four electric motors
rather than two, so it doesn't just have one at each axle. It's got an electric motor and a reduction
gear at each wheel, so it'll have a rear wheel drive mode for track driving or drifting, and it
will have a rear wheel drive economy mode for long range, and then it will have four wheel drive
the rest of the time for, and they're not talking power output yet, and what else? It will have
noises and it will have gear shifts, synthesized gear shifts, which I think is probably,
they've probably tried the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and 6N and gone, yeah, that's good. We like that.
Well, I suppose if they're in a position to see how that has been accepted by the buyer,
and it's gone down okay, hasn't it? Yeah, seems to have. Yeah, seems to have. I don't know how
that car's doing, but I'd like to, I mean, we like it. Yeah, Jonathan Palmer uses them at Palmer
Sport now, don't know if he's using them as a demo, but you don't see loads, do you? But then how many
actually, we should bring up the N3 and N4, do I see? How it's going.
Yeah, we should, because last I heard pretty well that he liked them, and also that the customers
at Palmer Sports Drive Days also liked it, they enjoyed it, and they were proving pretty robust,
I thought too. Anyway, I think it's out 27 or 28. We've got slightly conflicting,
we've said in the past, we've reported that this car is due in 2028,
engineer I spoke to just at the end of last year was talking about 2027, so we'll see, but
that might be German date, as opposed to New Yorkers. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, and also it might
just be when he finishes. Oh, yeah. He's signed off, but customers haven't gone yet, but I'm intrigued.
Yeah, I don't know how, I don't know how loved electric driver's cars are yet,
but because I mean, Porsche is going to introduce an electric
Boxster and Cayman, but they've said they're going to retain petrol versions too, but I think I wrote
towards the end of last year, somewhere that I'm actually quite excited about the idea of some
electric performance cars, because I've driven some recently, they've been really good fun.
It's that precision, isn't it, the quite predictable engine braking and so on.
Also, to me, it sort of depends on what you value in a driver's car. I've got the Ford Capri
outside, where I'm 60 miles from home down the Fosway. I know I'm going to enjoy driving at home.
Because I will enjoy the precision of the power and the smoothness and so on.
So, to me, that's not a driver's car in the old fashioned sense.
In the old fashioned sense, but I'll enjoy driving it.
Yeah, I've got the Defender outside today.
Yeah, I saw it, yeah. Oh, did you? Yeah, it's looking good too.
Oh, blimey mate, honestly, it's so full of stuff. I saw a picture online the other day.
Do you mean just junk?
Horse feed, mostly. It's a barn, basically.
It's a feed barn at the moment. I saw a picture online the other day,
and it was posted, I think, a crikey. I want to say it was on LinkedIn by some dealer who just said,
I can't believe this customer's brought this car in and my mechanic has refused to service it,
because it's in such a state inside. And these comments underneath are like,
absolutely right, that's disgusting, that's horrific. All that rubbish in there,
terrible. And it was a hatchback that did look a bit of a state inside.
And I looked at this picture and I thought, my ladder is full.
That's not so bad at all. It's horrific inside.
But somehow, because we did a job with it, we did a photo shoot with it once, I think,
of staff's cars. And I remember one of our contributors looking in the back,
and it was full of hay and everything, so I went, oh, tremendous, that was great,
that looks fantastic. And I just thought, yeah, but if that, imagine this was a
Nissan Juke, you'd look in the back and go, that's disgusting, how can you possibly?
Yet somehow, because it's a different car, it's all right.
Well, it's old landy, it's okay.
Yeah, it's all right. Of course, it's all right. And I take it in for servicing and
everything like that. And it doesn't occur to me, I should empty the back out.
Well, the thing is, I suppose it looks like it's halfway through a chore, doesn't it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, which it kind of is, it's, it's perennially do it, you know,
most of its use is that sort of, is that sort of stuff. But it doesn't occur to me that I should.
Clear it out.
I should, maybe, I don't know, maybe it's wrong with me not to clean it out before
taking it for servicing and MOTing, because they can't, it's got four seats in the back.
And imagine somebody trying to check the seat belts, which is part of the
gear, isn't it? They've got to, they're supposed to check the seat belts, but
I don't know, you get the vibe, they might just open the back and go,
LF fine.
Yeah, I hope he's got good eyesight.
Yeah, I should give it a clean. I should give it a clean.
Well, not a priority, I'd say.
It's not a priority, but it's the, I'm having another key cut for the A2, as we speak.
So, which is why I'm not in that. Because it's having, because it only came with one key.
Yeah, I've only had one key.
It doesn't make you feel very secure.
No, it does make you feel a bit, yeah, just a constant sort of nagging on the back,
in the back of the mind that this is the only key I have for it.
And also it started doing a slightly weird thing when you turn the ignition on,
the doors seem to go through a lock and unlock cycle, which is new.
So I wonder if the key in the battery in the existing key is just a bit
iffy or something.
Yeah, it can happen, can't it?
Yeah, I wonder, and it sort of refused to start the other day for a couple of times as well.
Which is a bit of a concern, so.
That one key business, I've become really sort of nervous about that,
since I, do you remember the tale of taking the duster to the car wash,
and they sent the key away and then somebody else,
the lady that departed just before my car.
If I'd only had one key, I would have been well tucked up.
Yeah, I did, we had a scare the other week, and somebody's offer to come out and sort it out
with no key was 400 pounds.
And then anyway, it turned out the key turned up and 400 pounds were saved,
but still having a new one sorted is about 80 quid, I think.
So it's not free, but that's okay.
Yeah, for the, it's also just useful to have two keys to a car,
because then more than one person can access the car,
if you leave it at the station or whatever, somebody else can go and get it.
There's not a lot else in our columns to tell you, listener,
that you've used for a Mercury estate somewhere, Steve, didn't you?
Oh yeah, I went to the Brooklyn's classic car day, which I used to go to occasionally,
but it's become a fixture because there's just so much going on.
It was another bumper day.
I think they said something like 7,000 people, which must mean, I don't know,
2,000 or 3,000 cars anyway, and Brooklyn's itself,
the clubhouse and environs was so full that they'd had to start parking cars down the
main straight of the MB world circuit next door.
Goodness.
And everybody at, you know, they were all cockahoo because obviously the more, the merrier.
Yeah.
And, but there was this Mercury, which was about a sort of 20-foot American estate car,
two-door estate, would you believe, called a Mercury commuter.
And I could just, I saw myself driving up Piccadilly in this thing, not.
Could you?
I don't think in my time of knowing you, you've had an American
muscle cart or anything, have you?
It's a gap in my, I've never even had a V8.
I was brought up in V8s, but first road test car I ever drove was a V8,
5-liter Holden Monaro GTS, 5-liter V8.
First day at work, got sent home that night in a Monaro.
Oh, that's pretty good, isn't it?
That's not a bad start, is it?
With black patches on the bonnet, yellow in colour.
Oh, really?
It was good.
It looked like a taxi, actually.
That's a pretty good start to things, I would say.
But yeah, I've never...
No, no, bad scene, should have fixed it.
I would like one.
It's on my list of cars I should own, I must say, but...
Occasionally, I thought about one day that the day will come when the duster needs to move on,
not the duster, the raptor needs to move on.
Oh, okay.
And I was thinking must-dang thoughts, but the trouble is,
I just like the raptor so much, I think I'd miss it so much.
And even more, the steering committee would miss it.
If we go somewhere in the country where there's no particular pressure on parking where we're going,
she always says the same thing, let's take the Ford.
Really?
And it's because it's comfortable, and it's got a lovely B&O Hi-Fi, as you know, and it's great.
Yeah.
Also, people know you're coming.
They do, they don't miss you.
When I was reading about this BMW M3 earlier, there was a BMW concept that had
a sort of glow in the dark fluorescent bodywork,
which I think requires some kind of power, and it will glow all the time.
I thought to myself, I know this Hive is, you can wear Hive is clothing,
and you can put a load of lights all over a motorcycle,
but what if you could just make the bodywork actually glow itself at night?
I wonder if you would see it if it would be well, the shape would be well enough to find
as a car, or it would look like something a bit weird.
Yeah, it might just look a bit blobby, potato-ish, but I wonder, on a motorcycle,
if the sort of fairing and the tank and the tail boom were actually had a glow to them,
so that they look, you know, those sports tennis tents that they light them up at night,
and they sort of emit a gentle glow from the inside.
That's it, that's the answer, a glow, not a shine.
Yeah, a glow, not to shine, just a gentle thing, so that if you looked left,
you know, if you were at a junction looking, or if you saw a motorbike and it's only defined
by two lights in your mirror, and you think, is that a car a long way away, or is that a bike
quite close? Actually, if it just had a little gentle glow, could I have just invented something?
You could, you could, you probably have, mate, if somebody else is going to get rich on this.
Well, that's fine, mate, that's fine, because I haven't got the energy to think about it,
so that would be okay, if that is a thing, that would be all right.
As long as you get the kudos, like the man that put the arrow beside the fuel gauge.
Yeah, exactly, I've sent the memo, somebody else can now do the effort, that would be perfect.
That brings us pretty much to the end of this week's My Week in Cars.
Steve and I will be back this time next week in the interim.
There's a video going live on the AutoCars YouTube and AutoCars website, which will be me
getting 100.9 miles to the gallon out of an Audi A2.
Oh, I want to see this. I haven't seen that yet.
I think the feature's in the mag.
It might be in the mag now, either that or next week, but I'll look that up.
It's, I saw it on Slack, our office thing the other day, and it's either in the mag
that's published this week or next week, but if you go to themagazineshop.com
and subscribe, you won't miss it either way.
You're definitely, excuse me, you're definitely driving the prices of A2s
into the stratosphere, mate.
Yes, generous offers I will accept.
As we said last week, somebody wants £12,000 for one.
Oh.
I mean, I know it was a low mileage one and mine is anything but, but still.
Is an A2 worth £12,000?
I would say not.
It's not, is it?
Is it?
It's really not.
Well, not unless it was perfect.
And as, you know, the personal card and Ferdinand P.H.
should be included on every panel by you.
Did I tell you about a really clever bit inside it, which may not translate very well to radio,
but there's an aluminium cross beam behind the dashboard,
which runs across the middle of the car.
I presume it's structural and like the steering column is mounted to it and stuff like that.
Have I told you this?
Maybe I haven't.
The fan blower motor broke the other week on mine.
So I needed to take it out.
So you take the glove box out and there is the fan housing behind it.
And to remove that, you need to take a load of screws out, obviously, and then it unbolts.
One of the screws is behind, well, technically in front,
but it's the other side of this dashboard aluminium panel.
This sort of extruded tube, I suppose.
And you think, how am I going to get a socket set onto that screwdriver?
And you're going to do it because when they designed it,
they drilled a hole through the middle of that aluminium panel
and then inserted a tube into it as well and welded it all up around the outside
so that you can get a socket and an extension, run it all the way through that tube
and get to the screw and remove the fan.
And I just thought that is just so unfiddly and so thoughtful.
And actually what I thought would be a job that could skin my knuckles and take me all day
and teach the nearby wildlife all sorts of new words, took me about half an hour to do.
It was amazing.
Fantastic.
It was amazing.
And a new fan motor, I needed, for complicated reasons, I needed it really, really quickly.
And you go online and you can order them from about 100 different places
and they cost 35 quid and it just turned up the next morning.
The ownership of this vehicle has become an important part of your life, hasn't it?
Yeah, it really has.
It sort of contributes to the pleasure of your days.
It really does.
Yeah, and it's nice to have a car which is new enough and simple enough.
But actually when I want to remove a bolt, it's not seized up.
And it's not, oh blimey, what size is that?
And blimey, I don't have a tool for that.
It's just, I needed to do a wheel bearing.
Great.
There's a jacking point underneath the car which doesn't,
you know, doesn't break any of the plastic around it or anything.
Jack up the car, get the wheel off.
The nut comes off because it's new enough.
And it's a Polo wheel bearing which costs 35 quid.
I think we need to start to bring back the A2 tendency.
Yeah.
Try and get the 50,000 signatures.
There's probably a column or two in welcoming back simple cars.
Yeah, definitely.
Because if they, you could never work out the maths properly of what was the most efficient.
Is it better to have a complicated car that is a little bit cleaner?
Or is it actually better for the planet to have a car that is a little bit simpler
but lasts longer?
I bet it's arguable.
The first is arguable.
Yeah.
Anyway, yes, I was, at some point I'll do that, write a column about or a feature about that
and the right to repair as well, which is an issue in all kinds of domestic products from computers through to.
And you can launch the, bring back the A2 campaign at that point.
Yes, the survey people can sign.
And if they launched it tomorrow, would now be the time?
Is that car's time arriving or not?
Or is it still, or would still people go a bit small, bit weird?
I'll have an SUV instead.
Thanks very much.
Well, gee, interesting, isn't it?
It does so much.
I think you'd probably still, I don't know.
I don't know.
Anyway, we've probably banged on about it enough.
Or I have, because I'll never stop talking about it.
Well, it's good though.
Listen, thanks for joining us.
Steve and I will be back this time next week.
Loads more over at AutoCar.
In the meantime, and also our thanks to our sponsors, Anderson.
Steve has an Anderson charger at home, is very happy with it.
They come with a market leading seven year warranty.
We're about to go home and plug the Ford into it.
Oh, excellent.
And if you sign up for one before the end of January,
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Steve, see you next week.
See you later.
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About this episode
Discussions in this episode revolve around the evolving landscape of automotive technology, including the implications of peak car ownership, the allure of V8 engines, and the upcoming electric BMW M3. The hosts share personal anecdotes about car ownership, insurance experiences, and the joys of classic vehicles. They also delve into the practicality of electric vehicles and the importance of simplicity in car design, while highlighting the unique features of various models. The episode features engaging debates and insights into the future of driving.
In the latest episode of the Autocar podcast My Week In Cars Steve Cropley and Matt Prior talk BMW's plans for an electrified M car, the fact that neither of them has owned a V8, whether cars really are still getting better, and much more besides, including your correspondence.
Make sure you don't miss an Autocar podcast by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts, and if you'd be willing to rate and review and share this pod, we'd appreciate it more than you know. too.
