First Drives
Peugeot RCZ
May 30th
A beautiful, sports car that has a practical side? Now that’s just being silly. And quite frankly when I actually first set eyes on the extraordinary Peugeot RCZ, any thoughts of a practical nature went straight out of the window. Except that is, what could I do to own one!
Often photos can give a false impression, so that you end up being slightly disappointed and let down when you see the real thing. But although the RCZ looks stunning in the press photos it doesn’t flatter to deceive: it’s even better looking in the flesh, trust me.
Ford Ranger
May 24th
Just an hour before clambering into Ford’s strongest vehicle, the Ranger, we had been pottering around the Cambridgeshire countryside in a Ford Anglia. Chalk and cheese, although both shared a noisy drive! I reminisced about my childhood (not that we ever had a Ford Anglia) with memories of tense holiday journeys, three kids squashed in the back and home made sandwiches and cakes in a carefully prepared picnic basket – again possibly imagined rather than real - but you get the general idea.
So back to clambering into a Ford Ranger and my first thoughts being, who would buy such a monster, and my finishing thoughts were…rather nice if you have the matching lifestyle – and off my mind went yet again into fairy tale world of living another life. Or maybe I’m just fickle. Show me a bit of nice paint work and a pleasant car to drive and I can convince myself it’s what my life is missing. Mind you, husband would love it, not for any adventurous activities that he takes part in (because he doesn’t), but for the maleness of it all.
Once you’ve banished thoughts of those dusty trucks so prevalent in the Mid-West, with supped up wheels and men in cow boy hats, and actually driven one, I can understand the need for such a vehicle for certain businesses and lifestyles. And what makes it all the more appealing, setting it worlds apart from other 4 x 4s, is the fact that you can’t label this car as having kerb appeal or as a status symbol.
This is a true work horse, a dressed up truck with no illusions of grandeur, yet with a fair amount of comfort and one that’s easy to drive and manoeuvre, to the point where I kept forgetting I was driving a truck apart from when glimpsed in the huge wing mirrors!
Fiat Doblo – love the sliding doors
May 5th
One of my neighbours has an old Fiat Doblo van. He’s an occasional painter and decorator but seems to spend most of his time titillating his own home rather that driving around painting other people’s. Very neat and tidy though. So this was my mental image of the Doblo – a working vehicle for messy things, like pots of paint. And once such an image has planted itself inside your head, it’s very hard to shift.
But step inside the passenger version of the new Fiat Doblo, and the image changes to family outings and adventures done in comfort and a certain amount of style. With no worries about the car being ruined with muddy wellies and bikes, due to it’s van-like utilitarian interior, children can be returned home filthy after a secret seven-type of adventure.
Fiat describe it as an honest, credible car with great driving characteristics. Despite the name, this is a brand new car. No up-gardes, no facelift and no collaboration – it’s all Fiat. It has a new Chassis, engine, suspension and transmission and while five seats come as standard, for those adventures, seven seats are available.
Peugeot 5008 Out-takes
Feb 20th
Just to prove that the Women and Wheels cameraman has a tough job after all. Our full Peugeot 5008 First Drive Story coming later this week…
Vauxhall Corsa Ecoflex
Feb 6th
A change is often good, and certainly exchanging my husband John’s battered old Micra for my parent’s redundant Vauxhall Corsa a year ago was a very welcome one.
It had spent most of its life in the garage, had very low milage, was always spotlessly clean both inside and out and was serviced with alarming regularity. It came at a great time, just when John’s car, which he used every day, came to a standstill.
Now the poor thing has to cope with all weathers, its mileage has doubled within a year, it’s filthy outside and the inside is a health hazard, but worst of all I have to drive it. The cars of today are just such a joy to drive (with the odd exception), whereas this is just awkward by comparison.
Even my mum commented that it must be a shock having to drive it. I protested with rather too much vigour – she saw right through my white lie. I always feel as if I’m driving with my bum inches from the ground and while I’m fighting with gravity and increasing my sessions at the gym I’m only just winning…