Mercedes in exciting estate shocker

WHO said estates can't be exciting? Not Mercedes, if this latest effort at a load lugger is anything to go by.

The German firm might be harking back to the 1960s by calling its new concept car the Shooting Break but it isn't hard to see it for what it is; it's the CLS coupe reimagined for those who spend their weekends at IKEA instead of the golf club.

The original CLS, a coupe with the novel addition of rear doors, was a huge success for Mercedes from the moment it hit the showrooms in 2004, but since then it's spawned a succession of imitators. Bringing in buyers still forced to go with the strait-laced E Class Estate to carry bigger loads, the company reckons, is the answer to the Jaguar XJ and Audi's A7 arriving on CLS territory.

“The proportions are clearly those of a coup: the long bonnet, narrow-look windows with frameless side windows, and dynamic roof sloping back towards the rear create a basic stance with which it looks ready for the off. It is only when taking a second look that it becomes clear that the Shooting Break concept car actually has four doors and an estate rear,” a Mercedes spokesperson told The Champion.

“As such, this study in design reveals its philosophical links with the four-door CLS Coupe, a car which has established a new market segment since 2004 and today is already seen as a design icon which is likely to occupy a very special place in the history of the motor car.”

It's unlikely the Shooting Break will beat the load-carrying capacity of the more conventional E-Class Estate, but then the E-Class doesn't have a nose quietly borrowed from the forthcoming SLS supercar or its snazzy headlights, which ditch bulbs altogether in favour of an armarda of 71 LEDs.

It isn't clear yet whether one of the first coupe estates since the Reliant Scimitar really will hit Britain's roads, but watch this space. Alternatively, buy a secondhand Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon for the same sort of thing.

Forget the Financial Times, Caterham will let you know when the recovery comes

NICK, Gordon and Dave might be tearing out their hair at the thought of a hung Parliament knackering Britain's economic recovery but I know it's already started - Caterham sales have gone up!

You could use what the three party leaders tell you to work out where Britain's beleagured bankers are headed but despite the success of our Champion twitter feed I still prefer to use the petrolhead method for working out all things monetary. I understand entirely if you'd rather stick to the FT but I promise, the sales figures of small sports car makers are perfect for predicting which way the country's heading. It's good news.

Take TVR. Anyone who reads Autocar too much might have blamed bad Russian management, slightly suspect reliability records or just the ongoing reputation for a Chimaera to kill you mid-corner for the Blackpool company going under, but it went under in 2007, just as the credit bubble burst. I reckon the economy did it.

You might have already read about the quandry the rest of the car industry's in but we'll leave Ford and GM out of this one - they were losing money before the credit crunch, so the world's economy collapsing since then just made a bad problem worse. VW and Toyota are equally enormous as companies go, but conversely they're on a roll right now.

Small sports car companies are far better arbiters of the economy because a Caterham, Morgan or Lotus aren't things you buy because you need them; they're fun things you buy because you got a bonus at work and fancy the wind in your hair on the way into work. So you won't buy them if things are tough.

But Caterham says its rise in sales, mainly on the back of madcap motors like the R500, pictured, is so overwhelming that it's actually had to ramp up production at its Surrey plant to cope, and it's the same story over at Lotus, Morgan and most of the other plucky car firms whose entire budgets wouldn't keep GM in business for a week.

After being bored solid with stories of petrol costing £1.22 a litre, depressed with electric cars which look apologetic in their anonymous styling and frustrated with Honda's refusal to let me test drive the new CR-Z, it's great to see some sunny optimism in the motoring world.

Gordon/Nick/Dave (delete as appropriate) please don't ruin it...

Radio Gaga

Life On Cars has hit the airwaves again!

This time it's the Mini's fun-loving nature that's taken the spotlight, along with a spot of go-karting, which (hopefully) makes for a slightly offbeat few minutes.

I've also took the liberty of uploading this latest episode both directly onto Blogger (below) and on Facebook (above), after a reader said they had problems listening last time. Let me know which one works better, and I can easily change them.

Either way, enjoy!

Yes, you can still buy a Volkswagen Phaeton

ANYONE looking for a truly exclusive set of wheels is in for some great news this week - the Volkswagen Phaeton still exists!

The largest and most expensive People's Car is a sort of Loch Ness monster of motoring, at least in the UK, because so few of the things are out there. VW might - through its Skoda brand - actually offer you a car called the Yeti, but when it comes to being truly elusive the Phaeton has it licked. I know motoring journos have been asking this since its launch in 2003 but I'll ask it again; who pays £40,000 for a Volkswagen?

I'm not rich enough to really know the answer but VW's decision to revamp its most luxurious motor means all my ramblings last month about how to spend a lottery win are wrong, because paying that much for a VW gives you something BMW, Jaguar, Audi and even Aston Martin can't. Exclusivity.

The problem with prestige motors, even in these recession-ridden times, is that too many of them are just too common. It's been the case for years now that you're more likely to come across a new BMW 3 Series than you are an equivalant Mondeo, and it's easy to explain why. Given the choice, which would you honestly rather have?

Which is exactly why you can no longer go for the Porsche 911, BMW 7 Series or even the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, which all attract more buyers in the UK than the 400 VW is expecting for the Phaeton. So if it's exclusivity you want the forgotten Phaeton is your best bet.

It's not as though it's badly engineered either; the Phaeton had to pass seven unbelievably hard tests surely set by the Simon Cowells of the car industry, including the requirment for the range-topping W12 to be able to maintain a steady interior temperature of 22 degrees while the vehicle is at a constant speed of 186 mph in an ambient temperature of 50 degrees. This despite the car being restricted to 155mph.

I haven't driven the Phaeton so I honestly can't say whether you should buy one over Jaguar's exciting new XJ, but I know already which one's the more exclusive. In the wild, you're far more likely to see a big cat than the Loch Ness monster.

Swapping four wheels for two

YOU'VE probably spotted something strange about the car featured above; it isn't actually a car at all!

With petrol prices steadily heading towards £1.20 a litre in some parts of Sefton and West Lancashire it's no surprise that scooters are enjoying a bit of a revival right now, and you don't have to be a fan of Quadrophenia for tiny two-wheelers to enjoy the benefits at the pumps.

Yamaha are the latest company to compete for the attention of car drivers fed up with traffic congestion and fuel prices with this, the BWs 125, which goes on sale at the end of the month.

“New for 2010, the BWs 125 is agile and responsive, powered by a 125cc, 4-stroke, fuel injected air-cooled engine, giving the rider the power and punch necessary to negotiate the trickiest of traffic and in these days of crazy fuel prices, the Electronic Fuel Injection reduces emissions and also makes the engine incredibly efficient, so its easier on your pocket, too,” a Yamaha spokesperson told Life On Cars.

“Great levels of balance, grip and rider comfort mean the machine can easily handle any commute with ease, and make it fun too. As a major plus, the off-road grade, dual rear shock absorbers smoothes any potholes the rural or city roads serve up.”

If you're new to scootering and passed your driving test after 1997 you'll need to take the Compulsory Basis Training (CBT) before you'll be allowed to take this 125cc commuter scooter out onto the roads, but as someone who's done it and enjoyed scootering I can reveal it's not only a huge help in the safety stakes, but a lot of fun too.

The Yamaha BW's 125 costs £2,499 and although you do have to pay for it to be registered and taxed, chances are you'll get it back when you stop to fill up.

The Mini is back...until it breaks again

DEATH, taxes and the car you see me crouched next to at the top of this page breaking down - those are the few things in life you can guarantee will happen!

Last time you saw the Life On Cars Mini - quite possibly the least reliable motor I've ever known - it was 2009, the ground was covered in snow and the thing had stopped working altogether, after a never-ending series of mechanical maladies left it confined to the garage and me glad I didn't have the chance to crash it on the ungritted roads. But now it's back!

Going for a spin in the Mini is like going for a pint with an old mate; they might well have fobbed you off or left you with the bar tab before, but you don't care because you haven't seen them in ages! I might drive lots of different cars and many of them are fantastic, but in my eyes they'll never beat my Mini because it's MY Mini. A car that's literally corroded around me.

Since I bought the car nearly 18 months ago the brakes, the steering, the distributor, the tyres, the fuses, the wiring, the lights, the starter motor, the sills, the floorpan and the body have all broken, and for weeks at a time it's been off the road, stubbornly refusing to start and asking me why I didn't buy a Nissan Micra instead. The 26-year-old motor is so unreliable it's actually a running joke at The Champion, but it doesn't stop me loving it.

After months of hiding from the winter I finally got the chance to get reacquainted with it, and on the roads around Churchtown the sublimely communicative steering and point 'n' squirt handling were an absolute revelation. The tiny drum brakes are still as hopeless as ever, but you shouldn't have this much fun in something this small and cheap.

In fact I was so pleased with it that I took it across town to see one of my colleagues and proudly boast that a brilliant car was now a reliable one. At which point it immediately broke down. Again.

Say what you like, but I adore the little Mini. Until the next time it stops working, anyway.

Fire up the... Peugeot 308 CC

WITH its series of flashing LEDs, strobe lights and blinking indicators, you'll like the way the Peugeot 308 CC unlocks itself.

A fellow passenger reckoned the gloriously extravagant lighting on this £26,000 motor makes it Blackpool Illuminations on wheels but when you combine it with its overwhelmingly white paintwork, club-class rear legroom and the open-air experience it warrants a much better nickname. It's the Airbus!

The reason why there's another Peugeot with a folding metal roof on Life On Cars just a fortnight after I drove the smaller 207 CC was to see whether the French firm's other open-top suffered from its sister's drawbacks of having extremely limited rear legroom. Predictably, it's far less Ryanair in the back than the smaller car, so it's definitely the Pug for the family man and any rear seat passengers who happen to have legs.

It's a far nicer machine to be in than the 207 for everyone involved, with an airier feel and more space to stretch out on longer journeys. When you've got the metal origami stowed in the boot on sunnier days, it may as well be in a different county.

But you'll soon notice the tradeoff is the sheer size of the thing; it's not in any way difficult to drive, but that feeling of it always being a little wider than you'd want means you just can't coax it through the narrower country roads with the same confidence you can other cars. But it is superbly smooth on faster roads, with the diesel powerplant and sixth gear going a long way to cutting fuel costs.

I also like the way the Airbus looks like a pint-sized Mercedes CL when parked against the stunning backdrop of Meols Hall, in Southport, and the space you get in its bulbous boot, but as a machine your passengers will enjoy it far more than you will.

I'd take the smaller car instead because I don't have kids or luggage, but if you do and you like your motoring al fresco the 308's definitely a bright idea.

As published in The Champion on April 14, 2010

Details of the Mini display and showing of The Italian Job on May 16

Display of classic Minis and showing of The Italian Job at the Picture House, Parbold, Sunday, May 16 from 6pm.

Thank you for offering to bring your classic Mini along to a fun-filled evening for film fanatics and classic car fans alike after the staff at Parbold Picture House offered to show the classic 1969 film The Italian Job at 7pm on Sunday, May 16.

We have been invited to put on a display of classic Minis outside the cinema, on The Green, from 6pm, and would be delighted if you joined us and brought your own Mini along for what should be a wonderful evening for everyone involved.

The fun begins at 5pm at The Scotch Piper on Southport Road in Lydiate, meeting place of Mini Southport and Ormskirk District, where Mini owners will drive in convoy to Parbold to arrive at the cinema for 6pm.

The film will be shown at the Picture House from 7pm, with tickets costing £3 per person. See you there!

For more information contact David Simister on 07858 606936 or by email at david.simister@hotmail.co.uk.

It's all in a name, especially if it leads to people laughing at you

DO you have a problem with your Wind?

That's the question you're inevitably going to get asked if you buy Renault's really rather pretty new roadster and it breaks down. I know it's meant to signify Wind in your hair, but the hard shoulder's hardly the place for a chirpy recovery driver to start making flatulence jokes.

Naming cars after winds is nothing new - the Passat and Scirocco are actually gusts rather than Volkswagens - but it still amazes how many models are launched with unfortunate names. I like the look of the Wind already, but it's still a Wind rather than a Cheetah or a Speedster or a Stealth Bomber. So flatulence jokes it is.

If I'd been on Renault's board my own suggestion would have been Fuego, which is an old name the company used on one of its coupes back in the '80s and would have suitably the new arrival perfectly. Saying you drive a Renault Fuego would make you sound advantgarde and interesting at dinner parties, even if no one will be able to remember what the original looked like.

Lots of people got in touch after I suggested calling a car Leaf makes people think of salad not long ago, but that's hardly the worst offender, because history is littered with awful badges I'd hate to have on any car, no matter how good it is.

Remember the Ford Probe? It looked great with its pop-up headlights and sports car styling but the moniker suggested something you'd stick up someone's bottom, a criminal investigation or at best a slightly stodgy spacecraft. The Capri might have been in the image doldrums back then, but naming a car after a balmy Italian island is always better than...well, a probe.

The Allegro and Marina are about as fondly remembered as each other but the one named after the musical tempo sounds quizzical and interesting, whereas I can't help thinking about outboard motors on fishing boats with the word 'Marina'. Probably appropriate given the car it ended up on.

There's still plenty of great words and names going spare which haven't been used yet; Rattlesnake, Avalon and Albatross for starters, and none of those would lend themselves to the RAC making fun of you.

Toys, pram, etc

I’VE been spoilt rotten.

The Peugeot 207 CC I’ve had on test since the epic race between Settle and Carlisle is going back today, and while I’m going to miss the turbo rush and the delicate steering, for now I’m going to miss the joy of driving a car altogether.

Due to a series of admin cock-ups, the Life On Cars Mini is now raring to go and blessed with an MOT and insurance, but due to the inevitable postal slowdown over the Easter break I haven’t received the details I need to tax it. So it’s sat in a garage in the suburbs of Southport with a freshly-fettled A Series engine ready to blast me off on a summer of adventures….but I can’t drive it legally yet.

Nor is The £100 Car to hand; my other half needed a motor to get to Berkshire on a work placement she’s landed, so that’s currently sat in a car park in Beaconsfield and therefore useless to a Northern motoring hack.

Now, where did I put that Raleigh Chopper?

UPDATE: The man from Peugeot has just taken the 207 CC away from me…and left me with a 308 CC instead!

This is an unexpected surprise but I’m not complaining because a) it’ll give me a chance to discover whether a bigger cabrio gets around the 207’s problem of seriously cramped rear accommodation and b) it means I can still get about while the Renault’s down south and the Mini’s evading tax laws.

I’ll still be objective, I promise, but grateful doesn’t cover it.