Car of the year 2009 after Jeremy Clarkson

That may be so. But there’s another, bigger reason. It is by far the best of all the school-run-mobiles because there really is room for seven people, 14 legs and two dogs in the boot as well. No other car maker — and this is strange — has managed to pull off a similar trick without ending up with a bus.

Range Rover TDV8 Vogue SE

Without wishing to sound pompous, my heart swells with pride that humankind can make such a wonderful, graceful, dignified and beautiful thing. And while patriotism may be the last refuge of a scoundrel, I’m proud too that this car was conceived by the Germans, who are basically British but with a bit less humour.

Alfa Romeo MiTo

Of course, I loved it. I found myself ignoring the defects and concentrating on the way there’s a choice of what material you’d like to surround the headlights. I loved the crackly, almost flat-four exhaust note, I loved the 155bhp turbocharged engine (from a Fiat), I loved the interior, which feels like it belongs in a much more expensive car. But the thing I love most of all about this car is that, at parties, when people ask what you’re driving, you can say: An Alfa.

Jaguar XKR convertible

So, the conclusion then. Honestly. Absolutely honestly. Hand-on-heart honestly. The XKR is not perfect. It’s not even close.

The light switch is wrong. The back seats are stupid. Some of the new jewellery is awfully Cheshire and that ride is way, way too firm. But when I look at the opposition — the chintzy SL, the overly complicated M6, the vomitously ugly Maserati Coupé and the expensive Aston V8 — I know for sure, and for the first time, that if I were in the market for a car of this type, I would have the Jag.

BMW Z4 sDrive35i

I’ve thought quite hard about this and can confidently say that the Z4, with its folding metal roof and softer feel, is now the best of the medium-sized sports cars. Certainly, I prefer it to the Boxster and the Mercedes SLK.

Jaguar XF 3.0 Diesel S Portfolio

The rest of the car is brilliant. I wasn’t sold on the XF when it came out. It simply didn’t look as sharp as the concept we’d been shown earlier. But with memories of that concept fading, we are left with a genuine looker that manages to be practical and spacious as well. Plus, you can get one of these cars, albeit not the variant I drove, for £2,500 less than the cheapest BMW 535d.

Mazda MX-5 2.0i Sport Tech

The fact is that if you want a sports car, the MX-5 is perfect. Nothing on the road will give you better value. Nothing will give you so much fun. The only reason I’m giving it five stars is because I can’t give it 14.
Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again here. I don’t really want a Lamborghini Gallardo. But I don’t want to live in a world where it doesn’t exist.

Ferrari California

The California feels like a Ferrari. It feels digital rather than analogue. It feel dizzyingly light and agile. It feels like no other car made today. Comparing it to a Lambo or an Audi R8 is like comparing lightning to soil.

Audi TT RS Coupé

It has a 2.5-litre turbo engine, which, because it has five cylinders, harks back to the glory days of the original quattro. It’s a corker of an engine. Muscular and zingy in equal measure, it endows the car with a grown-up turn of speed while sipping the fuel. And on top of all this, there’s that marvellously offbeat, though surprisingly muted, five-cylinder backdrop. The rest of the car is either just as good or a bit better. The seats are wonderful, the ride is much more supple than you might imagine, the grip from the four-wheel-drive system is magnificent, the handling is a delight, the stereo is a joy and the boot is huge.

Skoda Octavia Scout 1.8 TSI

There is no feature of the Octavia Scout that makes your heart melt with desire and lust. You will never fall in love with it and you will, of course, be subjected to much derision from badge snobs who still think Berlin is split in two. But if you apply the cold steel of logic to your choice of car, it is absolutely impossible to come up with anything better.





Author: AL
Source: Autolatest & Times & Top Speed