EDITORS' BLOG

WANT a frank and honest opinion on a new car from a bunch of car hacks? Stick a mic inside and record the drive.

This week the Car Dealer team were invited to take part in Alex Goy’s Gas Station Podisode – a weekly car podcast – to discuss the new Mini Countryman.

The new crossover is the latest car to join the Mini range and although it’s very well built and enjoyable to drive – we’re still not quite sure about it.

You can read our full thoughts in our road test soon, but if you want to listen to what deputy editor Richard Aucock, Podisode king Alex Goy and myself thought of the car after a few hours behind the wheel click on the link below.

But be warned, we didn’t hold back…

Listen to the Gas Station Drives: MINI Countryman Cooper S

WE’VE found it. Not the answer to why buyers expect to pay £1k less than the sticker price – no one knows that!

No, we’ve found the car that’ll get us to Monaco and back for our Bangers4BEN adventure in just over a week’s time.

Well, at least we hope it will.

It was sourced from our very good friends at Auction4Cars.com – the online trade-only auction arm of car supermarket Motorpoint.

After a tense few weeks of hunting on their part and negotiation on ours, we’ve managed to secure this – a P-reg Honda Civic.

Finished in the worse colour ever invented, hippy turquoise, it’s mechanically sound (we think) with tax and MOT until next year.

Unfortunately insurance companies seem to think that instead of the 1.4-litre wheezebag it’s got under the bonnet that someone’s replaced it with a supercharged V8 because they want a frankly ridiculous amount of money for cover.

We're not sure what this is

It’s also got a very strange contraption inserted into the dash – I think it’s called a T.A.P.E player. We’re not sure what that stands for but despite our best attempts it won’t play a CD.

We’re hoping our friends at Halfords can solve the mystery – we’ve already sent the high street giants a ‘pimping’ wish list and are just waiting to hear from them. Fingers crossed the big blue lights get the nod.

THEME

Which brings me on to our theme – as part of Bangers4BEN, which will see 30-odd teams drive from Blighty to Monaco and back in similar scrapheap dodgers, we need to dress the car up.

The first day has a fancy dress theme so we need the car to sort of match the outfits. We asked for suggestions on Twitter and here are some of the best:

Via @CimaRacing: ‘Strap a zimmer frame to it? Perhaps some slippers and a pipe, too. And a box of tissues on the parcel shelf, obviously.’

Via @JonBradbury: ‘Make it infinitely faster – rip off the Honda badges, paint it white and stick a small Brawn badge on.’

Via @motormorph: ‘Massive wrap which just says “VTEC just kicked in yo!”’

And rather more ambitious from @sam_burnett: ‘I think you should paint on a classic sporting livery by hand with a paintbrush. JPS black and gold, Gulf orange and blue, etc.’

Although these suggestions were good, we may have a plan which, if it comes off, could actually make a turquoise P-reg Honda Civic actually look cool. It’s all thanks to David @TrackandRoadMag who’s been negotiating on our behalf.

We won’t reveal all until it’s a definite, but we’re hoping to get the nod today.

We love Motorpoint because they found us a car

CASH

So how much did we pay for this Honda? Well, it started out at £500, but after chatting to the Auction4Cars.com team we got them down to £400.

Then commerical manager Dunc went up to Derby to get it and came away with the car after paying just £250! He twisted the Motorpoint team’s arm and, as it was for BEN, they caved in. Good lads!

Hopefully it’ll now make some decent cash for BEN at the charity auction after the event (that’s if we get back) because that is what Bangers4BEN is all about!

Bangers4BEN III starts on September 12 – stay tuned to our Twitter feed and Bangers4Ben.com for the latest news.

James

A FEW weeks ago the Car Dealer team spent a rather enjoyable five days in Wales with some incredible cars.

The reason? Well, it was for our Road Test of the Year special which will be featuring in the next issue of Car Dealer, out in the middle of September.

This year we brought together some incredible metal including an Audi R8 V10 Spyder, Aston Martin Rapide, Porsche Boxster Spyder, Renault Megane 250 Cup and a Peugeot RCZ.

Unfortunately we didn’t get the chance to shoot a video of the whole lot, but concentrated instead on this – the Audi vs Porsche on stunning Welsh roads.

To find out which of these stunning cars takes top honours in our RTOTY, make sure you’ve subscribed – only £17.25 per year.

James

Road Test of the Year: The Blogs

WHEN car makers lend new models to the press they hope the coverage they receive will result in sales.

But can they ever actually directly link lending a car to a motoring hack with a signed order form? Well, Kia can now…

Our Sportage – on long term loan from the manufacturer since July – has been on a little holiday this week.

Our local Kia dealership, Fine Cars, of Gosport, asked to borrow the techno orange First Edition model for a few days as they haven’t been able to get their hands on a demonstrator.

Apparently, there were problems with supply of dealer demos meaning sites up and down the country had customers desperate to drive the Sportage before placing an order – but no cars to put them in.

It hasn’t helpd that the new Sportage features heavily in the marque’s national advertising campaigns.

Fine Cars’ dealer principal Dave Brown got in touch with Car Dealer after spotting our test model.

At first the salesman would come and take long looks at it, before one asked if they could borrow it to show a potential punter. Twice before this week, the Sportage has been off on test drives with customers from Fine Cars.

But this week, salesman Ben Harris got in touch asking if they could borrow it again, this time for an extended period. He said Fine Cars had several very serious customers all of which had been scheduled in slots in the Sportage.

‘We sold them all,’ Ben said, when he dropped the car off earlier today. ‘Our entire allocation of four cars has been sold, all this week. It wouldn’t have happened without the test drives – we can’t thank you enough.’

So did Ben sell one? ‘Unfortunately not. I had one customer who said yes and was ready to sign but I called our sister site and they’d just sold it.’

SPORTS MODEL

That might be bad news for Ben, but it certainly bodes well for the Sportage in the future. The dealers are only selling the First Edition launch model at the moment but can take orders for the 1.6-litre petrol and 1.7-litre diesel from September 10.

Ben has only been selling Kias for six months and told me he’s loving the job – he’s particularly excited about the new models expected next year, like the Magentis.

We got chatting about the brand in general and Ben said: ‘What Kia really needs now is a sporty model, something like the proc’eed would work well, a car with some real go.’

I can’t help but be inclined to agree. The Sportage is such a cracking car – in fact it’s the first Kia I can say I’d buy (and most other people who’ve driven it have said the same), but the brand is still lacking a stand out sports model. Let’s hope the marque’s listening and adds some potent powerplants to its range soon…

By James Baggott

Guest Blog: Our Kia’s cool?

Road Test: Our view of the Kia Sportage

IT WAS going to happen all along. Like the £10 gallon is looming and excessive CO2 taxation is in full swing, city cars are about to become even more offensively eco-friendly and therefore derided.

Honda has announced details of a new hybrid Jazz. All we really need to know is that it’s got most of an Insight… inside it.

It probably won’t breach the 100g/km barrier, so it won’t be Congestion Charge free. But it will get more than 65mpg. The sentiment is there – Honda wants to make a small, hyper economical car for people who want them. There’s no shame in that. In fact it’s almost honourable. Almost.

But they’re making two mistakes.

Firstly, it will be easily identifiable as the ‘eco model’. Why does that need to happen? Eco cars don’t need leaves painted on each wing. One of the things that people dislike so vehemently about other mpg-conscious cars is that they’re visually different from the rest of the range.

The eco-Jazz will apparently come with blue highlights around the rear lights, different bumpers, special badging – the list goes on (not much further though). We’ll all know it’s an eco car. It’s the same with the Prius – you know it’s an eco car.

The eco car image still has a certain stigma attached to it. Put it like this: You know the kid at school who used to boast about being best at everything?  You know the one; you hated him/her/it. Because they made it clear that they were ‘special’. It’s the same reason people have irrational dislike towards people who drive supercars. The public are indifferent to the average. Think about it, no one hates a Volvo DRIVe.

Secondly, they’ve gone hybrid. I’ll bet the engineers weren’t happy about it, either. Hybrid tech is heavy and complicated. While that’s fine in a family car, a hatch shouldn’t really weigh more than a bag of Quavers. So it’ll be heavy, therefore slower than its nearest rival: the VW Polo Bluemotion.

It may have a saving grace – it’ll be cheap. Well, it better be to beat the Polo. To get your bum in a Bluemotion car for the people you’ll need at least £14,445. If middle-of-the-road Honda is going to take on posh-ish VW it’ll have to be cheap.

It’s a shame that, much like celebrities, car manufacturers want us to know they love trees more than they love themselves. People will by the hybrid Jazz. They’ll be proud of themselves too. They’ll tell you about how great it is. And how brilliant they are for singlehandedly saving the planet.

You’ll roll your eyes and finger the key to your DRIVe, wishing they’d go away.

by ALEX GOY

If you like this, check out Goy’s podisode podcasts. They’re his, Cameraman’s Phil and Jon Quirk’s irreverent take on the motor industry. And they’re rather good. Find them by clicking here or searching iTunes for ‘Gas Station Podisode’

Related: Did they have to call it the LEAF?

OUR trio of Mazda MX-5s bought as part of our 911 for 2011 bid have got a celebrity connection!

You may remember the Hyundai i10 World Cup car we sold as part of our charity challenge was formerly driven by Jeremy Clarkson, Tiff Needell and The Stig as part of their Duel video.

Well, now I’ve discovered these Mazdas – 20 of which were bought by the manufacturer to celebrate the roadster’s 20th anniversary – were sourced by none other than Mr Wheeler Dealer Mike Brewer!

How do I know? Well, he got in touch at the weekend via the medium that is Twitter to tell me! What’s more his Tweet confirmed the £500 we’ve paid for them is a bargain – and if anyone knows a thing or two about bargains it’s Mr Brewer!

This week Mazda got in touch too letting us know which cars we’re buying. The good news is they’re all copper red – a popular colour – and they’re all original 1.6-litre MX-5s, not Eunos Roadsters, which makes them more desirable.

Now the bad news. The first – G799 OCW – has failed its MOT on a bit of corrosion, faulty windscreen washers, front suspension play, a missing mount and a ‘major exhaust leak’.

The second – H109 XGH – has similar corrosion issues on the body and suspension, but the worrying failure was this: ‘N/side vehicle structure has an inadequate repair, seriously affecting strength of the body mountings (6.1.3).’

Sounds expensive. Apparently not according to our spanner man Matt Kendell of White’s Motors in Portsmouth. Matt is a good friend of the mag’s and has said he’s confident he can get two of them back on the road.

He’ll be using our third car – PJI 180 – as a donor. That one’s been written off after a lamppost tried to hump the back end whilst it was in the possession of a national, monthly car magazine.

The plan is to strip off all the spares we don’t use and flog them (somewhere) then weigh it in for scrap. We’re hoping we’ll get at least a few hundred for it.

ON A PLATE

We’ve even looked into removing the donor car’s plate and flogging that, but after advice from Rob Steel at Regfinder.net we decided against it.

For a start the car has to have a valid MOT (stupid rule) to move the plate, then we’d have the hassle of retention fees and would have to find a buyer – all for a very small return.

‘I’ve looked into it for you,’ said Rob. ‘It’s really not worth it. It’s an Irish plate and there’s loads of them around. You could spend out to get it on retention and then be lumbered with it for years until you find a buyer.’

So that was that. Now we’re just waiting for our trio to be delivered to Matt and his team which is scheduled for next Friday. Hopefully after that we’ll get them on the road asap.

I’ve got a feeling, though, this step on the 911 for 2011 ladder might take some time …

But I’ll end on a positive note. I drove past a used car site near me this week that had a red H-plate MX-5 with similar mileage to ours up for £2,295! That certainly gave me some hope for the future!

James

PS. Still waiting on some proper pictures of our cars which I can’t take until next week so apologies for these borrowed from the web…

More 911 for 2011 blogs can be found here

WHEN you think of product placement successes in the automotive world most people think of Bond and his Astons.

But by far and away one of the best in recent times was BMW’s decision to support Jedi Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman on their trip around the world.

The pair rode the ‘Long Way Round’ the globe on BMW R1150 GS Adventure bikes as part of a hugely successful Sky One documentary. Their trip captured the imagination of millions and resulted in sales of BMW’s GS rocketing.

Today, I’ve been writing an article about the most successful product placements in the automotive world and was lucky enough to chat to the man that said yes to the Long Way Round team – Tony Jakeman, BMW Motorrad’s marketing manager.

He told me far more than I needed for the 75 word article I was planning so thought I’d share his tale here instead.

‘I’d say it’s by far and away the most successful product placement BMW has ever done,’ said Tony.

‘And the best bit was it sort of fell into our laps. We didn’t go hunting for it (originally the pair wanted KTMs but they pulled out at the last minute) – they came to us and for the relatively small sponsorship we got a huge return.’

SPONSORSHIP

BMW was asked to supply three bikes, support, logistical help and technical assistance when needed – and in return got huge exposure for their bikes.

And the real success was the show demonstrated how reliable the BMWs were in the face of extreme adversity as the team rode around the globe.

The bikes shook off countless tumbles, dirt, dust and water crossings to make the incredible journey, making a soggy commute into London look like child’s play in comparison.

‘Research was carried out which put a figure of £1m on the amount of publicity it generated for BMW,’ explained Tony.

‘For the figure we put in that was incredible. It wasn’t really a gamble for us either – we knew our bikes could take it so agreeing was easy.

‘It was me that said yes to the team and you’re right I certainly basked in the glory of it for some time! When the team came back to us and said they wanted to do it again with the Long Way Down the price of the sponsorship had rocketed somewhat.

‘But it showed how successful product placement can be – sales rose hugely off the back of it. I can’t put a figure on how many extra bikes were sold – even though the producers would love me to – but I can say it was considerable.’

Well, there was at least one, Tony – I am quite happy to admit the only reason I bought my BMW GS Adventure was because of the show, and five years later I still love it!

James

James Batchelor was on work experience the week our cars were delivered for this year’s Road Test of the Year. Here he explains just what it was like to experience three of them (from the passenger seat).

THE Porsche Boxster Spyder, the Audi R8 V10 Spyder, and Aston Martin’s Rapide – three of the most exciting babies to have been born into 2010 – and all cars I’ve had the pleasure of sampling in the last week.

The Porsche purports to be a roughtie-toughtie Boxster but, in the dash to 60mph, only gets there 0.2 seconds quicker than the £4,000 cheaper Boxster S. But it’s still intoxicating.

The only problem is it seems to have a Millets tent for a roof. Taking nearly 20 minutes to remove the Porsche’s roof only added to the excitement though, for the Boxster Spyder is one of the prettiest Porsches ever.

Not only does its rear end have an uncanny similarity with the Carerra GT, but the Boxster seems to have more of the look of the ‘50s-classic 550 Spyder about it.

However, there was nothing 1950s-ish about the performance of the Boxster Spyder. It may only be a smidgen faster than the ordinary S, but the Spyder has a 20mm ride height drop over the S, and has harder suspension, firmer dampers and new anti-roll bars all round. The result of those improvements was very apparent; the Spyder furnishes you with a very satisfying feeling of confidence.

The only criticism of the Porsche was that is was a little quiet. Push on towards 60mph and only then does the noise begin.

AUDI

The thing that really hits you about the R8 Spyder is how comfortable it is. Not only did our car have sat-nav, a parking camera, climate control and a pair of fabulously comfy seats but, dare I say it, at town speeds the R8 felt like an A4 convertible.

The 5.2-litre Lamborghini-derived V10 can easily cruise along at 30mph in sixth gear, muting the 10 cylinder motor to a respectable-sounding mumbling noise.

Although, slither the glorious aluminum gear knob into second, boot the throttle and show the R8 a corner, and the car reminds you of its racing origins.

Even in ‘Normal’ mode the R8 has so much grip that internal organs begin to move, and then your ears melt as that mellifluous, yet angry Lambo-howl gets louder.

ASTON

While the Audi blends composure with fury, strangely the Rapide resides with the latter temperament. The flowing bodywork and opulent interior hide what is a very traditional, brutish Aston Martin.

After slotting in the ‘emotional control unit’ and pressing the Start/Stop button, for a few seconds the only noise that is emitted is that of the ignition turning over. Akin to the sound of God’s espresso machine, the mechanical whirring of the ignition is boisterously replaced by a growl of those 12 cylinders firing; a growl so provocative it resembles God’s realization he’s ground Brazilian instead of Columbian coffee beans.

In contrast to the Spyder-y pair, the Aston’s V12 needs time to warm-up. Which is no bad thing as it gives you a moment to enjoy the calm before the 184 miles-an-hour storm.

In ‘Normal’ mode the suspension is very compliant (although the seats were very hard – perhaps it was the effect of the new leather) but, once warmed-up, prod the ‘Sport’ mode and the Rapide ditches serenity for a cackling, whaling, snarling-infused ride of Biblical eminence. You can’t help but emit inane squeals of sheer delight.

And it’s that feeling of ruthless power, ridiculous impracticality, and irresistible passion that makes sports and supercars a pleasure that should be compulsory for all to enjoy.

By James Batchelor

Oh dear. Oh very dear. What with our 911 for 2011 campaign and the Road Test of the Year, I seem to have overlooked the fact our Bangers4BEN MKIII event is looming.

In under a month the Car Dealer Magazine crew – plus 30 other teams from across the motor trade – will be setting off for Monaco in a bunch of £500 bangers.

On Sept 12 we’ll be leaving on a boat from Dover for a four-day round trip to Monte Carlo and back – if the cars make it!

Problem is, as always, we’ve left finding the car a bit late… That means this week we’re at full Auto Trader and eBay alert, hunting around for a motor that will be reliable and comfortable for the 1,600-mile trip.

If you’ve spotted anything that you think would be suitable we’d really appreciate a head’s up. Or if you’ve got something in ‘poo corner’ (as Big Mike would put it) we’d be happy to take it off your hands.

Bangers4BEN raises money for the charity by auctioning off the cars at a special BCA sale with all the proceeds being handed over. Last year the event raised in excess of £15,000 and this year we want to raise even more!

And as of this morning we have just two places left on the event so if you fancy coming along log on to ben.org.uk/bangers4BEN where you can sign up.

Right, back to the greatest car supermarket otherwise known as the world wide web…

James

For more on Bangers4BEN click here

AFTER the incredible highs of selling our Hyundai i10 World Cup car for £3,005 more than we paid for it…

… you’ll have to forgive the lack of an update on our 911 for 2011 campaign.

But just because we’ve been celebrating for the last week doesn’t mean our attempt to turn £0 into a Porsche 911 for automotive industry charity BEN has gone cold.

Far from it… In fact we think we may have a deal that could possibly be as good, or perhaps even better, than the last one.

Hyundai PR chief Tom Barnard, and lynchpin in the i10 World Cup car sale, was again key in our latest deal which has seen us buy not one, not two, but THREE cars!

So what have we bought? Well, unless you’ve missed the picture above right (it’s quite a big clue) you’ll have worked out by now that we’ve managed to secure three Mazda MX-5s to sell for BEN.

Of course, it’s not as simple as it sounds – there are a few of those famous 911 for 2011 ‘issues’ to overcome first.

Let me explain. Barnard put us in touch with his equal at Mazda, PR supremo Graeme Fudge, who bought 20 original MX-5s to celebrate the roadster’s 20th anniversary this year.

The cars have been doing the rounds on the press fleet to show just how far the new versions have come on, but at the same time showing how they’re kept that original light and entertaining philosophy MX-5s are famous for.

Well, now that PR campaign is winding down, Barnard explained that he heard Mr Fudge didn’t need them all so, hearing that, we pounced.

A quick call and some Car Dealer ‘charm’ later and we had a deal on the table.

THE DEAL

‘Right, you have two choices,’ said Fudge. ‘You can have three without MOTs – two of which shouldn’t need too much work to get them roadworthy. The third has been reversed into a lamppost at high speed by another magazine, so is only good for spare of repairs, but you could use it as a donor car for the other two.

‘Or we can build you one good car out of them all and you can buy that.’

Both options sounded good – but then we saw what Mazda wanted for them…

‘For the complete car it’ll be £1,500,’ read the email. ‘Or for the three without MOTs it’s £500.’

What?! Excuse me? £500 each surely? I rang to check…

‘Nope, I mean £500 for the three and we’ll deliver them,’ added Fudge.

Woah! Now if that isn’t the deal of the century I don’t know what is. So that’s the plan. On Monday, Mazda are ringing me with details of specifications, work needed and colours and then we need to find a friendly Mazda specialist to help us get two roadworthy and ready for sale.

With a bit of luck we could add considerably to our current total of £5,364.75 for BEN - the Auto Trader listing I pinched the picture for this blog from was listing a G-reg car, similar to what we’ll be buying, for £1,500!

More next week…

James

Read more about our attempt to turn £0 into a Porsche 911 by 2011 here