I haven’t updated this site for a while. I apologise profusely for any avid reader (if this site has any? Maybe? Maybe not…) for the lack of updates.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I bought a new (ish) car. A very rare 1987 Mazda RX-7 FC. It’s quite fast and handles brilliantly. Being an older car, the handling has a lot of feel. There’s no traction control or any electronic moderation from the ECU. The car does what you tell it to do, end of story. And being rear wheel drive, lightweight, low slung and with a fair amount of power, you can ask quite a lot from it and it’ll happily respond.

However, as with all classic sports cars, there are one or two issues. Firstly, it’s 22 years old. It’s more than capable of delivering the goods it has always been capable of, but at the cost of some TLC and maintenance. Something will break every now and then. It drinks quite a lot of oil. You have to keep it in top condition, else it’s age will catch up with it. A bit like humans really. You can either age like Mr Miyagi or Hulk Hogan, or you can age by going senile and unable to move without a zimmer frame.

The second problem is the lack of creature comforts, and this is where my blog’s topic comes in. Modern VS Classic. Modern sports cars have had to respond to ever-increasing consumer demands. In the past if a car had full leather interior, or a CD player, it was something special. Now we want those as standard, and will happily pay extra for things like Climate Control, a premium sound system with a 6 disk CD changer, Sat Nav, Cruise Control, automatic headlights, automatic wipers, and even heated sports seats for the winter. Porsche’s 911 sports car for example went from having sports car essentials only to becoming something of a Gin Palace. In fact, modern day Porsche has a reputation for quality built mostly by all the things their cars come with these days, more so than for their exceptional performance.

My car on the other hand is a typical 1980’s sports car. The seats are somewhere between cloth and suede. There’s no air con, let alone climate control. There’s not even power steering. It does have a CD player and sat nav, but only because the previous owner and I had them installed as aftermarket premium products. As a result this car ONLY does fast.

However, both generations are a compromise. My car will hit 60mph in 6 seconds (albeit thanks to some minor enhancements). That’s quick by today’s standards, let alone for the 1980’s. In fact in the 70’s that was what you’d expect from cars like the Lamborghini Miura, and today any car faster than that is considered to be a high performance car. Even some powerful Mercs fail to reach that. And it’s all because of weight. In the 1980’s 200bhp was quite a lot of power. You had a fast car if you had 200bhp. Nowadays you’ll see that in a decent car like a BMW. In fact there are Mercs that have more power than that but are slower cars than my RX-7 thanks to being built like a portable lounge.

So which is best? Well if it’s performance you want, buy classic. Even the mid-range cars back then (Porsche 944, Mazda RX-7, Nissan 300zx etc) are fast cars, let alone if you pick up an old 911, BMW M5, Jaguar XJS etc. However the best all-rounders are the new ones. New technology means that cars are better off with the same amount of power. They have better fuel economy for starters. You usually get six gears instead of a maximum of five. You get more luxuries as standard. But as for performance, you either have the same as a 1980’s sports car, or you pay a lot more money for something a bit quicker.

And when you consider you can get a good 1980’s sports car for no more than a few grand these days, it really is swings and roundabouts.

It all started with my stepdad Adrian, proclaiming that he has found a really nice Porsche 911 Carrera S complete with the Tiptronic semi-auto gearbox, for £10,000. I was really impressed and began a hunt for bargains for myself. Nowadays i’m actually addicted to doing so because i’ve found a number of highly desirable cars for not much money at all.

For example, want an expensive, top-end sports coupe? Then you can get a Jaguar XKR for around £8k onwards. High mileage being the only issues, which isn’t really an issue so long as you maintain the car regularly and look after it. Another example - one for the fans of the winding backroads - is the Mitsubishi Evo. On winding welsh B roads there’s simply nothing faster than an Evo. With the Evo X being £30,000 and the IX model still relatively new, the trick is to go for the Evo VIII. It’s better looking than the IX and has the same horsepower. Want one? Pick one up for £8k. In black too, if you fancy.

If the Evo’s not quite your thing but still want to blitz the backroads, there’s always the legendary Skyline R34 GTR. I found one in black with only 60k miles on the clock for £6000. And you can pick up an R33 model for half that.

Still want something with a bit of class and not something very Boy Racer-ish? How about a 2002 BMW M5 for around £8k-£9k, complete with that lovely 5.0L V8 and all that high tech luxury equipment? With speed that will tear your face off and yet a comfortable GT cruising mode that will soothe your fevered brow, you’re going to struggle to find a nicer car for the same money.

I’m probably shooting myself in the foot by telling you all about this because if you’re anything like me you’ll be phoning your bank manager tomorrow morning and will probably beat me to the best deals, but it really does show why the bottom is falling out of the car trade in dealerships. The case in the UK used to be that for a cheap deal you usually looked at old cars that were usually rusty old bangers. The best deals were usually nice cars that needed a bit of work on them. Nowadays though the cars aren’t that old and some of them are really nice cars, whilst dealerships are selling new cars for - lets be honest - a hell of a lot of money. A decent hatchback will cost more than £18,000. And a sports car for less than £20,000? Forget it. But the biggest problem is their roster of used cars. Because each car is checked, valeted and serviced by their in-house service teams they feel it warrants the ability to charge around twice as much for a used car compared to the price you’d pay if you bought one from a bloke in a private trade.

The problem with buying these bargains is you have to be really careful and know your stuff. You have to know what to look for when you go to visit the car. The big secret is this - it’s not hard to do so, even if you don’t know much about cars. You can usually find guides on the internet that will tell you exactly what to look for on specific models of cars, and more commonly a list of general things you should check on any used car you buy. If necessary bring a print-out of the guide with you, and if the owner refuses to give you permission to carry out said checks, walk away. Even if you really want the car, it’s not worth any amount of money if it’s just going to die on you.

Also, the best thing about private trades? It’s really easy to barter and haggle on the price, especially now the country is in a recession and every penny counts.

I’ve glanced at my traffic figures for the first time today. It’s the first time since the site launch because the site is still new and - if we’re honest - sorely underdeveloped. However, this didn’t stop quite a lot of you from visiting, did it? I mean, 31 RSS feeds? Why do you like me so much?

Either way, i’m overjoyed about this surprising good news, and it’s inspired confidence in me to do a lot more and become a lot more dedicated with this site. I’d like to thank you all for your attention to this website as it means quite a lot to me, perhaps more than it should. To show my appreciation i’ve decided to go ahead and fully develop the site into something that will truly merit a lot of attention, and have already drafted a list of changes that you can expect to see in place very soon. In fact, i’ll set a deadline. Let’s call it February 25th. It gives me a month or so.

The changes themselves? Well here’s what i’ve got in mind so far:

• First issue with the site is the appearance. I’m scouting for talented designers to design an original and visually pleasing website design. This means that the crappy red and black corvette design will be ditched. Any offers to help with this will be welcomed.
• A ‘classifieds’ section will be implemented so that users can advertise their cars on this site for a small fee. I already have a decent number of people interested in advertising here so this will be up very soon. Not only will the small fee get you your advertising space but I can help design and structure your advert, providing you give me at least one photo of your car and some information about it.
• Road tests. Oh yes. See, many of you are coming here after searching for cars like the VW Scirocco and the Jaguar XFR, and whilst I can talk to you about them all day long, I can’t yet tell you what they’re like to drive. Incidentally, i’ve had some suggestions about videoing the road tests and presenting them like you would a TV motoring show. I really want to do that but doing so requires at least two people, and if the result is going to look like the work of a blair-witch handicam then there’s no point. I can’t be proud of third-rate work. Again, any camera buffs willing to help will be greatly appreciated.
• Message boards. I’ve already got a couple of people interested in helping me develop one. This will allow us to sign up and air our thoughts and opinions about cars, motoring life and this website. Once it’s up i’ll also make it a base for which suggestions for the website can be offered.

Speaking of which, at this stage i’m still brainstorming. Got a helpful suggestion or want to volunteer or even become a part of the team? Leave a comment below and we’ll talk.

Again, many thanks for your interest. It’s inspiring.

I was thinking more about that VW Scirocco and it inevitably made me think about the car industry in general. I think manufacturers have got their ideas confused. Instead of going with the ‘green’ and ‘eco’ trend, making cheap cars with only 3-cylinder engines that do 0-60 but only just, they should do something that would appeal to every single person with a driving license and even a modicum of pride: They should make cars with a luxurious, expensive and special feel, and sell them fairly cheaply.

Think about it - That VW Scirocco meets the criteria. The top-range GT model is pretty fast and just sitting in it is a nice treat, let alone driving it and owning it. And with the basic model at £18k and the GT model at £20k, it’s actually not that expensive as far as new cars go. A Golf GTi is slightly more expensive at £21k, and that’s considered to be an affordable hot hatch. Also it’s fairly economical - the diesel variants will manage an average of 40mpg (unless you rev the nuts off it of course) and the petrol ones will average around 30-35mpg too. It’s not going to save the planet, but it’s not going to lay waste to your wallet either. So really, it’s got something for everyone, and that’s exactly what car makers should be aiming for.

Let’s put it this way - in the past I would have never, ever considered getting a brand new car from a dealership. I’m easily the type of person who would get a second hand car in a private trade and save tons and tons and tons of cash in doing so. For example, you can pick up a good Mazda RX8 for about £8k onwards in a private trade, whereas a new one at a dealership will set you back about £22k. However, here I am, playing around with the ‘build your own Scirocco‘ part of Volkswagon’s website and generally planning a realistic time when i’ll be able to afford a new one with all the toys I want with it on finance (and with an estimated finance quote of £240 a month, it’s not like i’ll need to win the lottery either!). And it’s not just me - this car is quite a hit. Sales aren’t doing badly considering the economic recession, and general interest in this car is staggeringly high.

So why don’t other manufacturers pick up on this and do the same? Well the problem is, manufacturers have tried doing this for a while now and have failed. Peugeot for example made a terrible ‘GT’ model of their Peugeot 307. The main problem here is that it wasn’t very luxurious, wasn’t fast, and definitely, definitely didn’t have an expensive feel to it. As a result, not many people have bought it. You might think that’s because of the stigma attached to the ‘Peugeot’ name; a reputation for generally being a cheap and cheerful brand. But VW makes semi-expensive cars and they failed miserably with the Golf GT. It was better than the basic Golf, but inferior to the GTi model in every way. And the GTi model is only bought by petrolheads and boy racers (yes, there is a difference between the two groups) because, well, everyone knows that it’s a bit of a boy racer’s dream hatchback. Anything with ‘GTi’ in the name tends to be driven by chavs.

But this time, VW has cracked it. The new Scirocco drives really well, it’s not hugely expensive but feels like it is, and the GT model in particular is very comfortable and luxurious. My stepdad is very fussy when it comes to cars - you could only show off rare or expensive cars to him. His mate Cozzie has an Impreza and my stepdad scoffs at it, calling it a plastic toy. But i’m pretty sure if I showed him the Scirocco, he wouldn’t just like it - he’d want one too. Then i’d have to hate him for eventually buying a car I want!

Probably wouldn’t part-ex his Porsche for one though. Definitely not. =P

I doubt many of you will have noticed (because you’re not all obsessive freaks like me) but i’ve noticed that whenever a car company make a new car, and you go to their main website to look it up and read up on it, their website gives you lots of wishy-washy poetry which if nothing else serves only to describe how the car was made, in a philosophical kind of way.

Take the new Porsche Panamera. I’m very excited about this car because not only is it Porsche’s first properly new car (and not just another 911 or Boxster variant) but it’s also the best of pretty much every world you could want. I’m serious - it’s a roomy four-seater with a big GT-sized boot, it’s got very high quality (and very nice) interior for those of you who drive an S-Class Mercedes or something, and then you have a choice - you can have a basic engine with 350bhp, a 500bhp ‘Turbo’ version that delivers face-bending acceleration, or you can have a nice, eco-friendly hybrid engine that Greenpeace wants everyone to have. No word on performance for the hybrid yet, but I’m guessing it’s still going to be stupidly fast though - Porsche say they’ve opted for a hybrid engine rather than a diesel engine because the extra weight of a diesel engine would ruin the performance of the car. If they’re putting an engine normally seen in a feeble Toyota Prius in and they’re still worrying about how fast it is, that means that chances are, it’s still going to drive like a Porsche.

And what does it look like? Well it’s not ugly but not pretty, but here it is:

The Panamera Turbo

I’ve deliberately given a frontal view of the car because the back end and the roof line is somewhat er… controversial. Many people hate the look. I quite like it though, because unlike every other car Porsche builds, it doesn’t look like a 911 or a Boxster. In fact the back end takes styling cues from the old 928-S of yesteryear. And I should know - my dad owns one of those. And the roofline may look a bit mishapen but you have to remember that Porsche is trying to combine a roomy, comfortable luxury car with a low, wide, taut supercar that’ll leave everything standing. No car in current existence has been able to do that - the closest you get is an S-Class Mercedes, which despite having a huge, shouty engine is more thunder than lightning. And even though the Panamera’s interior isn’t quite S-Class standard, it’s not far off - it’s the right colour, it has all the luxuries you might want, it’s roomy and it looks very comfortable.

I’ve managed to give you the details of the car (no word on cost yet, as far as I know) in this blog thus far. But what about Porsche themselves? What do they tell you when you visit their site? Well, you get this: Click Here.

And it’s not Porsche being particularly annoying either - all manufacturers do this, whether it’s to promote the new Lamborghini Estoque or the new Volkswagon Scirocco. All of them tend to shove fancy design philosophy in people’s faces and then make it difficult for you to find out anything of interest about the car. Yes, Porsche do tell you the details about the car - tucked away in fancy online magazines for which you have to subscribe to. This says to people ‘yes, we can tell you about our new car, but we want you to work for that privilege. Subscribe to us and show you are genuinely interested, and we’ll give you some figures.’

Whilst that might sound fair to the discerning enthusiast, what about the rest of the world? I’m sort of interested in, say, the VW Scirocco - it’s a gorgeous car, economical and apparently quite fast too. But i’m not going to subscribe to their mailing lists just to find out whether it’s front wheel drive, four wheel drive or rear wheel drive. This means journalists who want to pass on this information to petrolheads (and basically give free advertisment for said car companies) are personally hindered by agreeing to have their inboxes spammed with newsletters. And given the publicity they’re providing, you’d think that there’d be some sort of special bonus or reward for journalists. But nope - you’d be lucky if you even get a free test-drive for a day unless you’re a big name like Top Gear.

That said, I’m personally a Porsche enthusiast, I’m very excited about this Panamera, I want one already, so I don’t mind subscribing. But only Porsche would get away with this in my book. The rest are just annoying. Also not everyone loves Porsches, and none more so than I do, so this really doesn’t work for everyone. Just the select few.

Hi, and welcome to Driven Magazine UK!

All the introductory blurb can be found in the About page. What you’re reading is a blog entry. These blogs will serve as the sort of ‘Notes from the editor’ that you get in most printed magazines.

But on this occassion, I can’t really avoid talking about this magazine - what it’s about, what our aims are, etc. To summarise, we aim to convey a plethora of information about various things from news and reviews (such as Lambo’s ‘Estoque’ plans or Aston’s new million-quid supercar) to recommendations on second-hand buys and information about national car-related events (like the MPH show that the three unholy presenters of Top Gear are performing at), and we aim to deliver all this through a medium of banter, light humour and bad jokes. Just as if we were meeting up down the pub or something, only without having to baby that one person who always throws up, or being bottled for accidentally spilling someone’s drink.

As mentioned in the About page, this site will be changing radically and rapidly, so check back frequently to see what else we’ve done to defile this perfectly good webspace.

-Ash Horne