Lotus should keep it simple to succeed

WHO wants to be a millionaire? I do, but only, obviously, so I can answer one of the motoring world's great unsolved mysteries. Would you, given the money, blow it on a brand new Lotus?

One man, former Ferrari chief Danny Bahar, was ballsy enough to try and answer this question, and came up with an ambitious plan to turn the Norfolk sports car specialists into Britain's premier league supercar makers (presumably, premier league refers to the intended customers). His plan was so brave that, as of last weekend, he's been dismissed from his job as the company's CEO.

To recap, Danny's plan; launch not one model, but five, take Lotus back to Formula One and make the company much, much more upmarket. The industry pundits sneered. Lotus' existing owners - trackday bores with tuned Elises and Exiges - wrote in to the letters pages of Evo and Autocar, demanding to know why cars created with the phase “just add lightness” in mind were going to be made bigger and heavier. Even I had a pop, poking fun in a piece last year because Lotus somehow ended up with two teams on the F1 grid with the same name. How funny was that?

Then I was actually invited to go down to the factory, out in the flatlands of Norfolk, and to drive the Evora S, which at the time of writing is still the fastest, flashiest car they make. I left Hethel thinking it was a bit of a mixed bag; I loved the care with which the cars were put together, the way the company's boffins used their expertise to fine tune all sorts of cars on their test track, and the way the company cherishes its heritage - the Esprit Sport 300 next to the main reception desk and the old F1 cars were sights to behold. But then I got shown a mock up of a shop selling Lotus-branded polo shirts and overpriced coats. The Lotus experience Danny had in mind for the more minted end of the market, to be honest, was a bit confusing.

Yet there was nothing confusing at all about the car I left Norfolk in - yes, it had useless back seats and the immobiliser didn't work, but it was simply sublime to drive. This, I reckoned, is what Lotus is all about - good looks and great handling in a lightweight package. Something the company does best in the Elise, which costs not Ferrari money but a very reasonable thirty grand.

So back to the original question. Yeah, I'd blow my hard-earned on a Lotus - but only if it's small and fun rather than bloated and overpriced. Keep it fun, chaps. Keep it simple. Above all, keep it cheap.

Classics aplenty at the Hilldale MotorFest and Hundred End Festival of Transport

IT wasn't all bunting and Union flags during the Diamond Jubilee bank holiday weekend - West Lancashire residents were also given the chance to check out cars and bikes from a bygone era.

The Hilldale MotorFest saw enthusiasts bring a selection of classic cars and motorcycles to the Farmers Arms pub, in Bispham to show them off last Tuesday (June 5), including everything from Morris cars made in the 1930s to Triumph sports cars from the 1970s.

Organiser Ian Smith told Life On Cars: "Although I think the weather forecast for the day might have put a few people off I'm really pleased with how the event went, and I think those who brought their cars and bikes along thought it was very well received.

"Even though the show was only intended as a one-off, and was a chance for enthusiasts to have a look at each other's machines, it went so well that I'm looking into making it an annual event. There's no reason why we can't do one that's even bigger and better for next year."

Meanwhile, fans of mighty machines from years gone by are being urged to check out a showcase of classic transport being held at a charity show near Hesketh Bank this weekend. The Hundred End Festival of Transport will take place at Elim, on Hundred End Lane this Saturday and Sunday (June 16 and 17), and members of the public are being invited to support Help For Heroes by offering a donation to the charity at the event.

The show takes place from 11am on both days, with a donation to the charity being accepted instead an entry fee for visitors. Owners of cars, motorcycles, trucks and tractors made before 1985 are also being encouraged to bring their machines to the event, with all exhibitors asked to bring their displays along before 10.30am.

The show can be found by following the signposts from the A565, or by following satnav directions to PR4 6XL. For more information about the event call Brian Moorcroft on 01772 811430.

Life On Cars: The Champion motoring roadtest directory

THOSE of you who have been following Life On Cars for the past few years will probably have worked out it's about motoring by now.

Driving cars - and more importantly, writing about them - is what this blog's always been about, and it's always heartening to see from the number of hits that people do read it and enjoy it. Which is why, in a tradition started way back in 2010, I've always liked to give something back by creating special, online-only magazines packed with features, reviews and test drives.

This isn't one of them.

There will be no tenth issue of the imaginatively-titled Life On Cars magazine but what I've got instead is something I use to show the car makers, the PR people and the SMMT that all my test drives do actually make it into print - what I call the Champion motoring roadtest directory.

Readers familiar with the motoring pages of The Champion will be familiar with its pages but for those of you who don't live in Sefton and West Lancashire - which I know is a lot of you - it's possibly the first time you'll get to see a range of test drives and Life On Cars pieces as they've appeared in print. Covering everything from the Alfa Giulietta to the Volkswagen Polo GTI, it's an exhaustive look at almost all the cars I've driven over the past year.

Of course, Life On Cars is about more than just test drives and there's all sorts of stories and reviews on the way, including I hope, for the first time ever, coverage of the simply colossal Cholmondeley Pageant of Power later this month. If it's got horsepower and at least three wheels involved, it ticks all the right boxes in my book!

Until then however, feel free to see how a whole raft of cars fared when they got The Champion roadtest treatment...

Open publication - Free publishing - More cars

It's official. Car insurance is a rip off

AN MP and Life On Cars reader described excessive industry charges for car insurance as ‘dispicable and absolutely criminal'.

Southport MP John Pugh said he was calling for residents who'd been hit hard by excessively quotes and premiums to get in touch with him after he was shocked by the findings of a survey by the Office of Fair Trading found that insurers and garages were working to drive up prices and that the cost of getting cover had gone up in some cases by as much as 40%.

Mr Pugh said this week: “This sort of behaviour is despicable at the best of times, but in a recession when people are struggling to make ends meet, it’s absolutely criminal. "I've heard tales of courtesy cars being provided for a man who broke both legs in an accident and people who have been out of the country on holiday because it pays insurers to do a deal on with hire firms. There is clearly something rotten in the state of the car insurance market. The ordinary motorist is picking up the tab and it is about time action was taken.

"I would therefore like to ask Southport residents to send me their car insurance ”horror stories“ to submit as evidence to the Competition Commission. This is a great opportunity to clean up the car insurance market, and the more damning the weight of evidence the better."

Mr Pugh also cited the example of one of his constituents being charged £26,000 to insure a secondhand Citroen Saxo, despite the car itself being worth £1,000. The commission, led by Merseyside MP Louise Ellman, said that following the results of the OFT investigation that she was now looking forward to the Competition Commission working to reform the car insurance industry, and said evidence suggested that insurers, claims management firms, solicitors were exploiting motorists and inflating premiums.

"We found evidence to support the view that various features of the private motor insurance market prevent, restrict or distort adequate competition in ways that do not deliver a fair deal to motorists. The OFT’s provisional decision to refer the highly dysfunctional UK market in private motor insurance and related goods or services to the Competition Commission for full investigation is a major step forward.

"Like the OFT, we found evidence to support the view that various features of the private motor insurance market prevent, restrict or distort adequate competition in ways that do not deliver a fair deal to motorists. I will propose to the Transport Committee that we participate in the consultation announced today to make the strongest possible case for the referral. I now expect car insurers and the other firms involved to co-operate fully with all stages of this process."

If you live in the Southport area, MP John Pugh would like to hear your car insurance horror stories. Share them with us by sending an email to david.simister@champnews.com or leave a comment below, and we'll pass on any correspondence to John Pugh MP. Please include your contact details.

A FEW tips on how to avoid getting stung by excessive car insurance quotes:

 • Shop around and don't go for the first quote you find. With plenty of price comparision websites offering quotes from a wide variety of insurers, you can avoid paying over the odds.

 • Sharpen up your skills. Motoring organisations like the Institute of Advanced Motorists often offer their own insurance schemes for those who pass safer driving courses, meaning you'll not only be less likely to have an accident but quids in too.

 • Swallow your pride and avoid sporty, high-powered cars if you're keen to save on insurance costs. In the 1980s there was a long-running joke that GTI stood for Guaranteed Theft Item, but it had its basis in truth. Lots of people like hot hatches, sports cars and off-roaders... including car thieves.

 • Consider whether you really need to claim. If your car's only lightly damaged, there's a chance the rise in your premium if you claim will actually be more than the cost of getting it repaired at your expense.

 • Tell your insurer too much rather than too little - they're often able to offer you discounts on things by offering you specialised policies, such as if you own more than one car. Oh, and don't lie - insurers will often refuse to stump up if they find any discrepancies.

 • If you're smitten with an older model consider a classic car policy, which have more stringent limits on mileage but can save you money compared to more conventional insurance.

 • Don't insure it in your sister's or your girlfriend's name. Not only is this technically fraud but the savings women have been getting over men are set to outlawed later this year anyway, after an EU judge argued that female quotes being cheaper than male ones was a form of gender discrimination.

 • Don't pay monthly unless you have to. It might seem more manageable but in most cases it'll actually cost you more, so you might as well stump up and pay it off it one go.

 • Be alarmed - not with the cost of car insurance, but in terms of how secure your motor is. Fitting a device like a Tracker or beefing up your car security might be pricey, but often insurers will offer you cheaper insurance as a result.

 • Don't be a journalist. Reporters, and other professions like estate agents, sales reps, and entertainers are all considered more likely to claim, and have to pay more as a result.

Fire up the... new Suzuki Swift Sport

AT THE bottom of my garden lives a particularly persistent spider.

Each and every morning, without fail, it spins a web right above my back gate, and every other morning I'll forget it's there and get a faceful of silk and flies.

It's annoying, but I wouldn't exactly move house out of arachnid-induced frustration. It was much the same story with the outgoing version of Suzuki's Swift Sport, which had a couple of annoying niggles. In particular, the boot lip's always been a bit too high, which meant lifting bags or suitcases into the back was harder than it should've been. Yet I could forgive it that - and just about everything else - because of the way it went.

The old Swift Sport is still one of the best handling hatchbacks I've ever got my hands on. All of which makes this new version the difficult second album from Suzuki Swift - given how brilliant the original was, surely the larger, lardier replacement can only be a bit worse?

The Swift Sport's not a numbers sort of car but given that's where most of the improvements have been made I'll hit you with some anyway; the 1.6 engine now knocks out 136bhp, making it punchier than its predecessor's, but with carbon emissions now at 147g/km it's cleaner too, and you'll get 44mpg on a good run, 10% more than before. It's also a little larger inside and out, a little quicker and - naturally - a fraction pricer than the old one. It's also something you can't stack up with statistics - to my mind, it's better looking too.

So has it strayed from the winning formula? It's not the reassuring story the minor irritations tell you; that rev-happy engine's still a tiny bit thrashy around town, the interior's still a bit gloomy on longer trips and yes, the boot lip's still too high. It's probably not the best supermini if you're 117 years old, but if you're 17 and value thrills over frills here's the good news.

The new Swift Sport is brilliant.

Because it's a smoother drive the steering doesn't talk to quite as animatedly any more but in every other respect the new one's a belter - if you value handling over grip and power which is better being used on the road than bragged about at the bar, then you'll love the Sport.

It isn't perfect and it's a car of few superlatives, but only because there's no accurate way to measure how much fun it is.

Buses galore at Merseyside Transport Trust open day

THERE'S an old proverb that says "Never turn down a chance to get your MG in front of some old buses". Probably.

Joking aside, if you're into your old buses as much as your automotive antiques then this event would probably have been up your street. The Merseyside Transport Trust keep a selection of buses going back decades at their hangars in Burscough, and although they're usually kept under wraps just once in a while they venture out into the public eye, giving passengers rides around the country lanes of West Lancashire.

 

Not only did visitors get the chance to check out gems like the Leyland Olympian, but the trust's members managed to incorporate another of my passions - beer - into the day, by coming up with the ingenious idea of offering rides out to several of the nearby pubs using their exhibits!

If you're a fan of buses - and there are plenty of petrolheads who are - you might like to check out their website or send an email to enquiries@mttrust.co.uk

P.S: I was also approached, as I was taking pictures of my MGB GT, by a man from the North West Museum of Road Transport. The St Helens museum is holding a Classic Car Spectacular on Sunday, August 12 at their base in the town's former bus depot, between 10am and 4pm. For more infomation or to enter your classic send an email to matt@nwmort.co.uk or call 01744 451681.

Tatton Park Classic & Performance Car Spectacular 2012

DAMP weather hasn't done anything to dampen the spirits of the hundreds of classic car fans who've been visiting Tatton Park this weekend, to visit one of the biggest shows and autojumbles in the north of England.

Tatton Park has long been a petrolhead favourite but this year showgoers are being treated to three days rather than the usual two, on account of the show being held on the Diamond Jubilee weekend. Street party or the chance to check out millions of pounds worth of stunning old cars - which would you rather take up?

Because journalists still have to work on the Bank Holiday Monday, Life On Cars went up earlier today to check out some of the best automotive attractions, and took these pictures:

 

The Classic & Performance Car Spectacular is also on tomorrow and Monday at the Tatton Park estate, near Knutsford, and is open between 10am and 4pm. Tickets cost £7.50 for adults, and car parking costs £5. For more information click here.

Life On Cars has had a whopping 4,000 online visits over the past month and to celebrate has something a little special on the way. Keep an eye on here over the next few days...