It isn’t an exaggeration to say that the Skoda Yeti has taken the motoring world by storm. There hasn’t been a car as versatile, so adaptable, and so damned easy to live with since the launch of the original Range Rover back in 1970. I last drove the Yeti in 2011, when it was pitched against the Subaru Forester – and I preferred the Japanese car’s laid-back, old-school feel. But…

When Tom, my seven-year-old son, heard the audio recording of my two fast laps in a Metro 6R4 Group B rally car his face creased into a wide grin: “cool”, he said, “can you put it on a CD for me?” It is, I have to admit, an impressive noise. But then everything about Group B rally cars is impressive; in the 1980s greed was good and bigger was better…

Peugeot’s 5008 seven-seat compact MPV has the reputation as the enthusiast’s choice for those who need a family uber-wagon, with the motoring press being especially fulsome about it’s chassis and fine handling – so we borrowed one for a week to see what all the fuss is about. The first surprise is that it looks much smaller in the flesh than I was expecting; it’s marketed as a ‘compact MPV’,…

Conventional wisdom has it that electric vehicles are impractical, their limited range precluding their use as a ‘proper’ family car. This is, it has to be said, an argument that is hard to refute. The Renault Fluence Z.E. that I drove recently is a terrific family car within its own (somewhat limited) environment – but you couldn’t take it on holiday with you. Enter, stage left, the Chevrolet Volt, already…

The classic car car business is a funny old game; residual values can be affected by the most arcane factors and are subject to the vagaries of whim and whimsey. Take the Ford Consul GT, which wasn’t a good car when it was new and hasn’t been improved by age. You can pick up a very nice example for around a grand, which is about right for a car that…

We like toy cars that are pretending to be real cars; there is something about the scale and proportions that can turn an otherwise nondescript video into something special. There is, however, nothing nondescript about this video of a Mk1 Escort rally car storming through the forest. It has everything: oversteer, spraying gravel, soulful engine and exhaust noise, yomping, and even the odd Scandinavian-flick – and it’s all done with…

We covered the basics of car photography in a Motoring Journo How To a while ago, pointing out that composition and the management of light was far more important than the equipment that you use. On that theme, we were delighted to stumble across this video of uber-talented photographer Mark Urbano shooting a Porsche 911 Carrera GTS in the Colorado Rockies. We love his work and were especially pleased to…

Every car enthusiast has a library. It might be small, it might be diverse, and it might only comprise magazines, but everyone has one. They provide solace, wisdom, inspiration, and an excuse to spend money. However, you don’t need to spend a fortune and to prove it here is the Motoring Journo Guide to building the perfect, ten-volume motoring library. LJK Setright’s Drive On! is as close as you’ll ever…

‘Imperious’ was the face that Rowan Atkinson pulled on Top Gear when asked to express the feeling that you get from driving a Range Rover. And you know what? He got it absolutely right; nailed it completely. That is exactly how I feel driving a £90,000 Range Rover Autobiography. It’s partly the height; partly the V8 engine; but mainly it’s because of the insulation that it gives you. You are…

The Nissan Vanette is a real-life unsung hero, used throughout the Third World as an all-purpose, go-anywhere, tough little son-of-a-bitch that is always overloaded, often driven flat-out, and generally thrashed to within an inch of its life on a daily basis. I spent a few days in one recently; my western-centric assumption was that our safari vehicle would be a Land Rover, a Toyota SUV, or even a four-wheel-drive minibus….