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This week the Graham Hill in depth review is a dribble over the Mercedes SLS AMG Gullwing. It looks amazing! I could probably stop there as that’s probably all you need to know but for those that enjoy my in depth review here goes. It is a retro looking car but without seeming dated and is the current F1 safety car. With the doors open you think it looks as though it could fly if the driver took it up to 150 mph plus! Read more »

Cars are getting wider and the question is being asked why? Are the manufacturers on a mission to increase replacement door mirrors after they are pretty much smashed to pieces after being clipped by an oncoming car, in ever tighter roads carrying bus lanes and cycle lanes? It certainly seems that way. Or is there another reason? No one seems to know, it is either a bit of subterfuge as I’ve suggested or are they all 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 »

If you think you are having a bad day at work, consider the young mechanic working in a garage in New Malden. He had a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti in for an MOT after which he took it out for a road test. This lad in his early 20’s crashed the car into a lamp-post, flew over a 2 foot wall and landed in the middle of a roundabout. Severely shocked but otherwise unhurt the lad was heard to utter that his bosses would kill him. The value of the car? £218,000! Have a nice day. By Graham Hill

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 »

We have a bit of an exclusive from GHA Finance this week. I am often fighting with dealers and my quoting systems to get the keenest rates for my clients. But whilst we try to get the rates as low as possible customers see this as the only area where they can make cost savings when changing their cars. In fact this shouldn’t be the end of the journey, it should be the start. There are many things you can do to minimise your transport costs which we have discussed in the past such as:  Read more »

Guess which is the most expensive toll road in the world? I’ll give you a little clue – it’s the M6. Correct, the M6 relief road which charges drivers £5 each way is indeed the most expensive in the world. Now I must say I have been on it and for the cost of a fiver it’s a dream to drive on especially as you just know that cars are moving at about 2 miles per hour on the main M6 whilst I’m cruising at, um, 70mph. The Read more »

This week in my car review I thought I would find something that I could get excited about, something I could wax lyrically about, and then someone sent me some pictures of an estate on show at the Geneva Motor Show. Now I have to say that I’ve never really understood estates but I can just about understand why a salesman or engineer might want a big car to stick his samples or tools in the back of. Volvo estates Read more »

The key is – well, in the key, according to some road safety experts. We already have keys that chat away to the car’s engine management systems and record service information then transmit it to your local dealer. We now have an Alco-Lock which requires the driver to blow into the key and if they are over the limit the key won’t allow them to drive by locking up the immobiliser. Until the reading drops below the Read more »

The Department for Transport has released figures that show a decrease in the number of vehicles on the road during the first quarter of this year. Car traffic decreased by 3% while traffic on motorways fell by 2%. However light van traffic increased by 2%, most of whom were on their mobiles if my experiences are anything to go by! Congestion times also decreased with the inter-urban journey delays dropping from 3.9 minutes to 3.65 minutes per 10 miles. Journey times remained the same for urban trips at 3.34 minutes per mile. See, I’m an absolute mine of information! By Graham Hill