Monday October 28
It's going to be a full week this week, with two electric cars and some work to be done on the family motor, but I'm kicking things off with a bit more style by taking out the Audi S3 for a spin. And when I say spin, well, let's just say that I know a road, a quiet, twisty, bumpy road that is just perfect for unleashing a car like this on. Wow, what a machine. So many fast Audis have left me cold down through the years, but the way the S3 goes is just very special indeed. I love the noise it makes in Dynamic mode, and while it will understeer a tad on slippery corners, the confidence you get from the quattro system's traction is just immense. Plus it's gorgeous inside and out and is it just me or is €44k something of a bargain for a car as good as this? It certainly fills the hole in my life that the demise of the old Subaru Impreza Turbo left, at any rate.
Tuesday October 29
Doubling up on car bookings in a week is not unusual, and indeed it's sometimes essential when you're trying to work your way down the list of new metal. This week though, the extra car is a touch unusual - it's a Renault Twizy. I still can't quite get my head around this. Clearly, it's staggeringly ill-suited to Irish conditions as the gaps around the edge of the (optional €800) doors let in the rain and wind and I just didn't have the guts to try and take it on the motorway. But for zipping around my home village, dropping the eldest to school and generally not emitting any hydrocarbons on those frequent, short hops we all have to make, it kind of makes sense. Plus it gets more stares than any Lamborghini or Ferrari, albeit some of those stares come with sniggers and occasional outright belly-laughs. And the €10k price is too high for something that's this limited in its scope.
Wednesday & Thursday October 30 & 31
An electric-car double bill this week as I'm off to Amsterdam to drive the remarkable BMW i3. As a car, it's pretty compelling, although I still don't like the styling. The smooth, easy rush of power is very easy to get used to though, and I utterly adore the cabin - it's the best interior that BMW has ever made, I reckon. More fascinating still is the way BMW will sell it, or more accurately not sell it. The i3 is the first step on the road for BMW (and other car makers too) as it moves away from just building and selling cars and into the realm of being a 'mobility provider.' In the future, we probably won't buy the i3 or its rivals; we'll lease them as part of a package just as we do with our mobile phones. We'll upgrade them in a few years' time and instead of simply buying a car, we'll be leasing a whole range of services from charging deals to solar car ports (yes, really) to petrol or diesel car rentals when we need to do a longer journey. It's fascinating stuff.
Friday November 1
Right, time to give the family wheels a bit of attention. The tyres on our very own MINI Clubman have been looking a bit worn for a while, and with winter coming, it's time to put some new boots on. Thanks to the nice folks at Goodyear, there's a new set of run-flat tyres (essential on a car with such a tiny boot) on now, and both myself and the car's good lady owner (my wife) agree that the handling and braking have been massively improved. The ride quality seems a touch better too, as tyre makers seem to make improvements to the flexing qualities of run flats with every generation. The original ones, way back in 2002, were simply terrible, but now it seems they're riding as smoothly as any conventional tyre.