Last year comprised a series of exclamation marks that punctured an otherwise uneventful twelve months. In times of recession industry hunkers down to protect what it has, and in a double-dip recession the temptation becomes even stronger; financial meltdown is an ever-present threat for the meek and bold alike with mass-market manufacturers feeling the pinch especially keenly; the squeezed middle is a very unhealthy place to be at the moment and…

The invitation to drive the Audi RS4 in Germany was welcome, not least because no-one does a car launch like Audi. From the dried flower display discreetly stenciled with the Audi logo to the peerless organisation, nothing is left to chance. Few manufacturers, if any, pamper, flatter, and bolster an ageing hack’s ego like Audi, and the chance to spend a couple of days with them is not to be…

The Audi S5 Cabriolet is a beautiful car, yet it is, in the final reckoning, an annoying and unsettling one too. Strong words of course, but true. The beauty of the thing is obvious in every sensuous curve and subtle nuance. But annoying? Unsettling? Let me explain. It is a truism in motoring journalism that we like our cars rear-wheel-drive and enclosed with a solid roof. We sneer at anything…

The ‘Squeezed Middle’ is a much abused term, most frequently applied to the law-abiding middle classes who don’t have the wherewithal to dodge taxes through off-shore film investment schemes and are too morally-grounded (or too far in hock…) to give up work and suck from society’s withered but ever obliging teat. It applies to manufacturing too; luxury consumer goods and bargain-basement imports are both thriving while the middle ground struggles…

The wisdom-of-the-crowd – the aggregation of collective knowledge, experience, and wisdom to become better informed – has few serious critics. Idiosyncratic noise will inevitably distort the opinion of an individual and lead to a degradation of interpretation; after all, a solitary view can also be expressed as a skewed survey with a sample size of one. So the received wisdom that the BMW 3 Series is a great car is…

The ability to travel off the beaten track is important to an awful lot of drivers, even if most refuse to acknowledge that they’ll never do anything more adventurous than exploring a muddy field now and then. The result is an explosion of SUVs, off-roaders, and crossovers all of which are heavier, taller, thirstier, and less stable than they need be. This is a Bad Thing for the driver, the…

Thirty years ago FISA, rallying’s governing body, relaxed the regulations that governed the development of rally cars – and the world exploded in an orgy of madness, death and unburnt hydrocarbons. It started with a single, noble aim; to encourage a greater variety of car manufacturers to enter rallying. To do so the technical restrictions on what was allowed were relaxed; if just 200 road-going examples of a model were…

The three-door A1 has been a success story for Audi in the UK and they export more there than anywhere else. The A1 is important globally too, because 70 percent of those who buy one come to the brand from one of their rivals, giving Audi a chance to get their hooks into a customer at the start of their car-buying career; impress ‘em early and they might just stay…

The Jaguar XFR has been low and stealthy for the past three years, not registering the slightest blip on my radar. Which is odd, because I like fast saloons more than any other type of car. Show me an XJ Supersport or an Insignia VXR and I’m (usually) smitten. I’m too old for hot hatchbacks (except for the glorious Clio Renaultsport 200, which makes me giddy and foolish and leads…

The premium car market is flourishing, even in these straitened times. Dominated by the three German makers, who between them account for over 93 percent of UK sales in the premium sector, it is Audi who sell the most cars in the UK – and the A4 is a crucial part of that, fighting tooth and nail with the BMW 3 Series and Mercedes C Class for the all-important business…