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Thinking of getting an electric car? Many are but before you get too excited the institute of Engineering and Technology has calculated that you would need a battery weighing 1.5 tonnes and costing £100,000 fitted to a Ford Focus sized car to match the range of an equivalent diesel version (370 miles). This means that you would need a pack of lithium-ion batteries the weight of a mid sized hatchback to power – well – a mid sized hatchback for this distance. What do you think of electric cars? By Graham Hill

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This week Graham Hill’s famed car review is on the Aston Martin DBS special edition, known as Carbon Black. Surprisingly it is black, which I think is gorgeous, even though I think that black makes any car look smaller than it is! And of course the purist Aston fans that like to listen to Elton John and the Beatles in the rather expensive stereo sound system will kick up a fuss over the fact that Aston have dared to fit loads Read more »

I attended the Buckingham Automotive Forum on Thursday at the University of Buckingham, the quarterly meeting at which the good and the great of the industry give us an indication as to what is likely to happen in the future and if the future is looking good or bad for the industry. In fact I was a guest speaker at the event, speaking alongside Professor Peter Cooke, Professor at the University and government Read more »

One leasing company has finally taken the initiative and decided to make inspections of vehicles at the end of a lease a little more comfortable for the drivers by arranging for a joint inspection in order to alleviate refurbishment costs. A joint inspection is carried out by a qualified and independent vehicle inspector along with the driver. Will it improve the situation? We will see. If you have had a nightmare experience why not share it with me? We can only address the problem if we know how bad it is. By Graham Hill

If you see a car you like, now is not a good time to wait to see if the rate improves. With some Audi’s now having a delivery lead time quoted at 26 weeks there is far from an over supply out there. It now seems that the ‘bible’ used by leasing companies to predict future car values, CAP, may be as much as 10% adrift in its valuations which is likely to lead to some re-alignment of rates quoted by the leasing companies. Read more »

How much is a jar of marmalade? This is a serious question, do you know? Very few of us know the answer, mainly because there isn’t just one answer. I carried out a little experiment and found that I could buy a jar of marmalade for 69 pence. The most expensive jar I could find was £4.99, that’s a difference equating to 723%. Now not being expert on marmalade, although I do like a bit of thinly cut on a slice of brown Read more »

The 2010 What Car and J D Power Ownership Satisfaction Survey is out now and available in the July issue of What Car. The survey arrives at its findings after analysing returns from 17,200 motorists travelling a total of 300 million miles in their cars. 104 models from 27 manufacturers have been rated with every aspect of owning scrutinised. The satisfaction percentage score is made up of four sections. Read more »

One of the biggest confusions over end of lease charges is that of scuffed alloy wheels with bills for repairs being as high as £120 per wheel. Many drivers cannot understand why scuffs to alloy wheels are chargeable as damage. As one woman that wrote to me explained ‘We all scrape wheels on the pavement when parking, surely it is no different to worn carpets, and stone chips?’ The fact is that if you are driving Read more »

The importance of using a good car finance broker has been once again highlighted by press reports confirming a lack of money available to lend, as the effects of the credit crunch continue. In a recent article, John Lewis, chief executive of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association, pointed out that funding is still in limited supply and ‘the days of easy credit are long gone.’ He went on to confirm what I have been saying Read more »

Bonkers Boris is charging ahead with plans to build 25,000 recharging points for electric cars. This will attract 100,000 battery vehicles into the city. Now correct me if I’m wrong but I understood that there was a ‘Congestion’ charge, aimed at keeping cars out of London. It isn’t a ‘Stop London from getting smelly’ charge or a ‘Let’s reduce the emissions’ charge, it’s aim was to try to get everyone onto public transport Read more »