Car Lifestyle

Vauxhall raised a few eyebrows today when it announced its brand new city car would be called the Adam. The name is inspired by the 150th year anniversary of the manufacturer, which was founded by a guy called Adam Opel. The news got us thinking and we started to ponder what other cars might be in the offing if car manufacturers decided to name new models after their founders. The notion is not without some sort of precedent of course. There's the Ferrari Enzo and Ford Edsel. And Aston Martin's DB series is named after owner Dave Brown. And while the Renault...

Seatbelts, airbags, side-impact bars. Once a madman's dream - now the reality in any car you care to buy, in the UK at least. But while these inventions may seem mundane in this day and age there are other safety aids so bizarre that they could cause you to, well, lose control of your vehicle. Some of these new safety ideas may seem revolutionary and some may seem a little ridiculous with each safety feature aimed at either protecting someone in an accident, or preventing an accident from happening. Below is a countdown of the top five most fascinating, brilliant - or,...

BMW is rather proud of its in-house environmental test centre. Located in Munich, it holds five different test 'cells' - each designed with a different purpose in mind. Three thermal wind tunnels - 'climactic', 'thermal' and 'environmental' - can replicate wind, precipitation and temperature conditions from the most extreme environments on earth, while two other chambers - 'altitude' and 'cold test' - can simulate the sort of conditions only mountain climbers would be able to experience. This all comes in very useful, as I'm sure you can imagine - after all, BMW sells cars all over the planet, and it's...

Cars are getting quicker - make no mistake, they are. Renault, for example, are forever adding more power to their hot hatches. First came the Megane 225, with - appropriately enough - 225ps (that's 222bhp, if you're interested). Then the Megane 230, with 230ps; the Megane 250, with 250ps; and finally the Megane 265, with - well, take a wild guess. That's a model set up purely for performance, though, and with cars in general becoming increasingly economy-focussed we thought now would be a great time to play around with our new Top Ten calculator and see just who's lagging behind...

When working on Folly Friday we come across a wide range of ridiculous antics and strange events from the motoring world.Normally it’s an unsuspecting civilian or a dodgy piece of PR but this week the mistakes have come from local councils who should in all honesty know better.Unfortunately that’s not always true as this little case study proves.Council stopped by carWe’ll start off this week in Wrexham where the local council decided to resurface a road.In the current climate of ‘third world roads’ and the pothole endemic which is sweeping the UK, Wrexham council should be commended for being on...

Volvo wishes all Labour politicians were like a Volvo If one thing comes out of the latest news on Project Volvo, it should be that the Swedish car maker is capable of extremely funny and entertaining responses.The Project Volvo name splashed across the media today was the name given by senior labour politicians to describe plans in 2006 to replace then Prime Minister Tony Blair with Gordon Brown,The name was chosen because Volvo, along with failed car maker British Rover, were the two car brands voters most associated with Gordon Brown.After the 'dependable, robust but ultimately dour' Gordon Brown was...

Folly Friday: Birds, Poo, speed limits and Vladimir PutinYouth breaks speed limit on eight-wheelsMotor Torque revealed proposals from a number of MPs to raise the motorway speed limit to 80mph in March, and the speed limit debate has rumbled on since.As well as boosting motorway speeds by 10mph, MPs – led by Transport Secretary Philip Hammond - are also discussing slashing speed limits in rural areas.After ‘Oxfordshire-speed-camera-gate’, it’s difficult to predict what will happen but we reckon there’ll be a spate of ‘unlikely things to set off a speed camera’ stories doing the round.Like a grandma on a mobility scooter...

This week in Folly Friday: VW knows truckers, Ford tries hypnosis, F1 baffles and a golden marketing ploy.But first...Perodua gets slammed on Twitter:Volkswagen marketing hits a new levelVolkswagen has made plain its target market at the Commercial Vehicle Show by offering the chance to play darts with pros Mark Webster and James Wade.A VW spokesperson may have said: “Van drivers are usually blue collar men, so they love darts, drinking and women.”Rumours are circulating that the German brand has also brokered a deal with Stella Artois, Oliver Reed and Kelly Brook.Ford teams up with Lib Dems in dirty sales campaignFord...

This week in Folly Friday, the Japanese embarrass the UK with their work ethic, a bicycle beer carrier is invented and naked women distract male driver.Somebody’s not taking any chancesEarthquake struck road fixed in six daysThe 9.0-magnitidude earthquake and ensuing tsunami that struck Japan on the 11 March obviously caused much destruction in the country. The unparallel power of the natural disaster turned many of the roads in the affected area were crushed and turned into huge craters.The road in the picture below is of a stretch of the Great Kanto Highway on 11 March. The devastation left a 150...

This week on Folly Friday, broken down Lamborghini leads to smashing protest in the epitomy of cutting off your nose despite your face; squirrels sabotage motor and 4x4 finds potholes a bit tricky.Lambo breakdown leads to customer breakdownEver received bad customer service before? A Lamborghini owner in China did and decided to take action. The man in question took his Gallardo L140 luxury sports car to an official Lamborghini service station where it failed to function after the service was taken. The man allegedly disputed with the company on maintenance and engine issues.Rather then respond with an official complaint however,...