Monday March 10
What better way to start off your week than by sampling an all-new small crossover from Mercedes-Benz? The GLA is the third addition to the compact A-Class family and possibly the one that will be the most popular - the initial impressions are good anyway. As for the rest of the usual Monday car-swapping logistics, I say hello to the Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion and Mazda3, the latter of which I'd not driven since my trans-Siberian adventure in one of the very first examples made last year.
Tuesday March 11
It's an early start this morning as I fly out to Barcelona to experience the new Leon Cupra. You may have noticed that I did this a few weeks ago, but this time I'll be visiting SEAT's Design Centre and will hopefully get some insights into what lays in store for the future of the Spanish firm.
Wednesday March 12
Thankfully I got home from Barcelona at a reasonable hour so crack on with some of the work for this week. After the madness of Geneva things are settling down a bit now, though there's still huge momentum from many of the manufacturers. Great to see. Plenty of time in front of the screen means I've still not had much of an opportunity to get out and drive my test cars for this week, but that'll be remedied soon.
Thursday March 13
A couple of meetings today allow me to give the Mazda3 a good run around town. It's quite nippy thanks to that 2.2-litre diesel engine, though I still think Mazda really needs a smaller unit to prevent people being potentially put off by the larger engine size. Once all the work stuff is taken care of I head home and do some of the household chores with my long-term test Volkswagen Tiguan. The handy boot size makes the recycling run an easy one. They're not all mine by the way!
Friday March 14
Much like yesterday, there's lots on today and so I swap out the Mazda3 for the Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion. Even at speed on the motorway it struggles to use diesel at any great speed - impressive for a car that seems to have no lack of performance either. After a very positive meeting with a certain manufacturer I head back into the city to pay a visit to the blood donation clinic. It's quick and easy and doesn't hurt, so if you've never done it before give it a go. You even get a free drink and biscuits afterwards.
Saturday March 15
Who said we don't work hard? Six-day weeks are nothing new to us, although today isn't really work. First port of call is into Joe Duffy BMW whose Motorrad division is launching its 2014 range. Yes, I'm just as bad when it comes to two wheels. Just looking today though. After a quick coffee and chat I'm back in the car and off to Mondello Park where I've been invited to test a Formula Sheane car courtesy of the guys in Micks Garage. I'll tell you how I got on in an upcoming blog post...