I Want That Car

The second episode of I Want That Car was broadcast on ITV4 last night. 

 

It is ITV's new "Daisybeck Productions give you a male motoring journo & female racer presenting a show giving punters a choice of 3 cars to buy and after test-driving 2 of them they have to select one to purchase while telling you a bit about them and trying to get a good deal off the unseen seller while the car's number plate is covered with the initials of the programme" show.

 

I watched the first one last week and found it irritating but decided to give it another go.

 

This week, I still found it irritating.

 

It could be the music.

 

It could be the fact they go to a racing circuit to do the show while racing is going on but just show little clips of the same racing cars over and over again in the middle of the main element of the show.

 

But I think it's probably the presenters. 

Rebecca Jackson makes big deal of how she is a used car expert (a saleswoman perhaps? - after I suggested they may not exist - no, an "expert" - although judging by her own website, she's only sold one car) and how she races Porsche Boxsters - but she only looks 15 - and she and the cameraman refuse to stand still when she is doing her pieces to camera.  And she's overly enthusiastic.

Mat Watson, meanwhile, works for Auto Express.

He comes over as too chummy and his Brummie accent keeps slipping in and out.  He likes the punters to "floor it" on the test drives and then states that they didn't go over the speed limits.  I wonder if the producer was involved in making that statement.

 

At this point, I suppose, I'd have to admit that I'd be crap at presenting a motoring show, especially if I was an unknown - I'd feel awkward pretending that everyone should just accept me straight off and at least these two do have the right professional backgrounds.

 

But I'm not presenting a motoring show and they are.

 

The show doesn't even have its own Website.  The nearest is this which is really looking for people to take part in it.  They do have a Facebook page which doesn't have many contributions apart from themselves looking for people to take part.  The couple of people who have commented are mixed on the show but one person thinks it is better than Top Gear - idiot!

 

They also have a Twitter feed which doesn't have many contributions apart from themselves looking for people to take part. The couple of people who have commented are a bit pro the show but one person thinks it is better than Top Gear - idiot!

 

The first show consisted of a bloke who used to own a Lotus (we don't know what happened to it) looking for a suitable sporty replacement - he is offered a TT, an Abarth (sporty Fiat 500) and a Porsche Boxster - he chooses the Porsche.

 

The second show consisted of a bloke after a classic.  He is offered a Mini, an MGB and a Porsche 911 Carrera Targa - he chooses the Porsche.

 

Actually, I think I've worked out what irritates me the most, and why I probably won't bother watching the rest of the series - it is because it isn't Used Car Roadshow.  If you aren't sure what Used Car Roadshow was, it was ITV's "Daisybeck Productions give you a male motoring journo & female racer presenting a show giving punters a choice of 3 cars to buy and after test-driving 2 of them they have to select one to purchase while telling you a bit about them and trying to get a good deal off the unseen seller while the car's number plate is covered with the initials of the programme" show.

Uncle Buick

I was going to call this post "Would you Adam & Eve it!?" but since it is about Vauxhall's posh, American uncle and since the largest group of people who read my posts are American and don't speak Cockney, I went with "Uncle Buick."

Autoguide reported this story yesterday about how GM CEO Dan Akerson expressed his desire to add the Vauxhall/Opel Adam and Cascada to the Buick model lineup.

Buick is not a brand I know too much about - my only real memories of a Buick involve the brown Buick Century that Kojak used to drive in the 1970s:

I don't believe that Buicks were ever sold here in the UK but I do know that it is meant to be the upmarket badge for GM in The States.

Which surprises me a bit that they would want to re-badge the Adam as a Buick.  I can sort of understand the Cascada - it was seriously mooted in my earlier story on the Cascada, but the Adam is meant to be a Mini/Fiat 500 worrier.  In fact, why not sell it to the Americans as a small, funky, European car and give it a Vauxhall or Opel badge there too?

This story did prompt me to look up Buick on Wikipedia (yes, I know other, more reliable, websites are available) where I learned that Buick himself was Scottish and the cars gained "Ventiports" in 1949 which are ventilation holes in the front wings representing the engine cylinders that have little flashing lights in them to indicate the sparks - I'd like to see that on a modern car - don't know what they would do for a diesel though.


Now, if they do insist on calling a small Buick the Buick Adam, here's a tip for the marketing people:

Get a clip of Telly Savalas saying,

"Who Loves Ya, Baby?"

The Prime Minister is a Liar

I do like a good, controversial post title.

I object to David Cameron on many fronts - mostly his politics and partly the fact that he is about a month younger than me - it's not nice being older than the Prime Minister.

Anyway, he tells his lie at the McLaren factory in the video attached to this brief news item. He says that apart from a golf-buggy and an electric Range-Rover, he has not "sat behind the wheel of a car" in the last 18 months. These pictures beg to differ...That was a Mini Cooper in June this year. This is a similarly decorated Qashqai in the same month......and this is another Mini from August...
I'll let him off with this one though......on three counts:

+It was in 2005 so well before 18 months ago.
+He isn't actually behind the wheel.
+You can't actually call a G-Wiz a car.

I've decided I actually feel a bit sorry for old (make that "young") Dave though - HE ISN'T ALLOWED TO DRIVE!

Enough to make you not want to be Prime Minister.

Automatic for the (American) People

No, not an REM story in the week they announced their retirement.

While browsing through my favourite Aussie site today I found this story about a couple of would-be hi-jackers in Maryland who could not steal the target car because it was a manual and they could only drive automatics.

However, being somewhat dubious of the authenticity of some caradvice.com.au stories, I checked on their source and found it backed up on a CBS subsidiary site here. Although that article was dated July 19th so it happened over two months ago. CBS, in turn, mentioned Associated Press so I did a quick Google-Search and found this story. This was about a similar incident in Utah in August.

I guess the American underclass don't bother learning to drive stick-shifts. But then again, automatics appear to be the norm for most Americans - not just the crims.

Certainly every hire-car I've had state-side has been an auto. It used to be true (and probably still is) that if an American passes the driving test in an auto, he (or she) can then go out and drive a manual.

This probably works OK if the vast majority of cars are autos - unless you want to steal a stick-shift.

I enjoyed one of the comments added by an Aussie reader of my first link: "Manual cars are generally safer because the owners know how to drive properly."

I certainly prefer a manual - it feels like you have more control and also gives you a sympathy for the way the engine and transmission and wheels are interacting. I've only ever owned one auto, a Mercedes C-Class which had the typical Mercedes divvy parking-brake system whereby you engage it with a pedal and release it with a lever near the steering wheel - I'd never have been able to do a hill-start if it was a manual.

Looks like MINI are doing their bit to make America less automatic, check out the great video.

Everyone's Ignoring Jordan

God, I wish that were true. She's an extremely irritating freak. I can't be the only person who genuinely doesn't give a toss what Katie does next.

But, as ever in my Blog, she isn't what this post is about.




No way baby. I'm referring to the fourth round of the World Rally Championship which hits the country of Jordan on Thursday. Did everyone follow the first three rounds?

Of course not. Even The Dave Channel has given up on it this year. That may or may not have to do with a deal with ESPN but what, for all I know, may be a very exciting championship is getting zero mainstream coverage in the UK. And this is the year that was supposed to be more exciting with new rules, regulations and cars and even a third manufacturer team. This team has provided the only mention I've heard this year, when they press-launched the new car:(it's the one on right)

I complained last November and things have not improved - if anything they are worse - the sport has lost a golden opportunity to gain some popularity here in the UK - ESPN money is probably false economy and if people are not that interested, ESPN will also then lose interest.

Anyway, it's about time I did a motorsport review given that we've already had two Grand Prix and one round of the BTCC.

The first Grand Prix, in Australia, was the usual dull opener - mostly processional but, like last year, the second race was much better. The highlights were off-track though, with Vitaly Petrov getting his Lotus-Renault-Lada-JPS-Racing airborne:and Eddie Jordan wearing an even worse shirt than this one from last year:

At least there is one Jordan I don't change channel to avoid.

The use of the new flaps helped and there was some skillful overtaking but still not as much as in...

...the BTCC. The end of the first day of 2011 BTCC saw a similar situation to F1 with the reigning champion comfortably ahead but all evidence is that the BTCC will be as tight as ever and it is still my favourite competition.

Even if one of the cars does look like the sort of thing Jordan would drive.

Mini Me

I got a book about Minis for Christmas - I found it very interesting - there were even a few mentions of the Metro. I used to drive a Mini back in my student days at the end of the Eighties. It was a 1-litre Mayfair and it was an automatic so you could beat anything away from the lights.

In those days, a Mini Clubman looked like this...

It was basically a standard Mini with a square front and a better dash.

So when MINI (note the capital letters - it's how you're supposed to distinguish the new BMW-Owned version) announced their Clubman you could be forgiven for thinking there would be a similar revision but no - this was to be an estate variant. Now Mini-traditionalists would expect this to be called a Traveller or Countryman like this example here...

Doesn't that look good? Any road up, the MINI Clubman (capital letters!) was a pretty good car except for the doors. They went with the split side-opening rear doors which irritated some drivers due to rear view issues. But I quite like the retro look so that's not my beef. My beef is the suicide-side door behind the driver's door - BMW refused to put this on the left-hand side for right-hand-drive cars so anyone getting out of the back using this door has to do so into the road rather than onto the pavement. This was well-documented when this car was launched in 2008 but I do think that the design of a British-built car based on a British icon should cater for British roads.

The latest incarnation of MINI, due to go on sale in the Autumn, does now use the Countryman name. I spotted this short film on the Fifth Gear site a couple of weeks back and Top Gear Magazine have done a brief review of it. It seems to be bigger than most MINIs - in fact it is Golf-sized (don't you just hate those "it's like a Golf but not a Golf" ads? - maybe I'll do a post about car ads - after all I did do car insurance ads) It has two separate fully-adjustable rear seats (with the option of a bench instead but how often do Mini (or MINI) drivers have three people in the back of their cars?) It also has the option of four-wheel drive which makes you feel a bit safer in the current weather but stuffs your fuel economy. Most importantly, it has conventional, non-controversial rear doors. It does seem, though, to be getting even further away from the true Mini ethos but why not?

For the Mini-traditionalist who likes the MINI, there is the entry-level MINI First and for the Mini-traditionalist who doesn't like the MINI, there are plenty of good, nippy, reliable and cheap small (even Mini-sized) cars from Japan, Korea and Malaysia. And for the real Mini-traditionalist, there are still plenty of real Minis built in the '80s and '90s on the market - I regularly see one on a 51-plate as well.