It's a fact of life that if you use your car regularly, you're at risk of its paintwork getting damaged in some way. Whether it's a minor car park ding, a brush against some bushes, petty vandalism or simple carelessness, you can quickly turn sparkling bodywork into something more unsightly as the top layers of lacquer paint get grazed away.
A puncture is an inconvenience at best, and a potential danger at worst. But perhaps a more annoying inconvenience is when a car tyre suffers a slow puncture. The slow deflation of a tyre can go undetected for a long time if you're not tuned in to how your car is behaving or you don’t have a tyre pressure monitoring system fitted.
The president of Toyota has said a no-deal Brexit will push up car prices, and cause factories to suspend production.
The concept was first presented at this year’s Geneva Motor Show and previews a shooting brake version of Porsche’s first electric vehicle, the Taycan saloon. Prototypes have already been spotted testing on public roads; it’s likely the Cross Turismo will roll into showrooms in 2020. Porsche has promised a range of 310 miles and upwards of 600bhp.
As a dyslexic agnostic insomniac, I often stay up half the night wondering if there really is a dog. Talk radio channels also help me get through the hours of darkness. By 7am I’m hooked on Radio 4. My lunch breaks wouldn’t be the same without the 1pm news bulletin on BBC1. Then afternoons and early evenings consist of driving cars, sitting at a desk, or both... usually with LBC on in the background.
Vauxhall launched its first SUV way back in 1991. But while the Frontera was reasonably capable off road, it was unsophisticated and was never sought after by new or used buyers.
The Skoda Fabia’s recent updates have kept the Czech supermini respectable, without turning it into a world-beater. But the prospects could be better for the estate, which is pretty much in a class of one, now that SEAT and Renault no longer sell wagon versions of their Ibiza and Clio models.
Road tax is a necessity of owning a car, but it seems like the rules change on an annual basis these days, as the Government tries to squeeze more cash from motorists when they buy a new car. On 1 April 2018, the latest set of changes to road tax for new cars, sometimes known as showroom tax, came into force. This sees the introduction of new, higher rates for the most polluting diesel cars on sale. Auto Express has looked at the numbers, and here you can check exactly how much you'll pay in road tax for your next new car.
In October 2017, new insurance write-off categories were introduced. These Cat N and Cat S classifications were introduced to replace the existing Cat C and Cat D designations.
Sales of new cars with any kind of petrol or diesel engine should be banned by 2032, according to a cross-party group of MPs – a move the automotive industry has called “nigh on impossible” to achieve.
