Long-term tests

Good design never goes out of fashion. Apple's iPod has reached must-have status for mobile music lovers, and it's down to its beautiful, tactile look…

Think of an ideal car for zipping around a traffic-packed city centre, and the Toyota Prius probably wouldn't be top of your list. But that's the role…

American culture. There are aspects of it to both love and hate. While I detest multi-channel TV showing nothing but adverts, theatrical politicians a…

With Halloween just past, you're probably sick to death of spooks and ghouls turning up at your door demanding cash or goodies - or else! It seems tha…

Given the chance of an extended holiday, most people would jet off to some exotic location. Not me. Instead I chose to drive 3,500 miles around Europe…

Someone must be smiling on me. As Auto Express's newest staff member, I had expected to be making lots of cups of tea. But instead, I've been given th…

Each weekend, I play golf. And as soon as I started looking after our long-term Vauxhall VX220 Turbo, I became something of a novelty at the club. Not…

While the Auto Express road test team gets to sample a number of luxury saloons and exotic roadsters from time to time, real-world motoring is where o…

Six months. That's crunch time for most relationships. During the early stages of a new romance, everything seems perfect. But as the novelty wears of…

I'm a sucker for a wild-looking car. There's none of this understated 'good taste' design for me - my motors have to stand out from the crowd. If the …

"I'm moving house at the weekend, is there any chance I can borrow the Accord Tourer?" It's a phrase that's been heard often in the offices of Auto E…

I suppose you have to expect it when you're pushing on towards 40 - a bit of creakiness and general wear and tear, that is. With humans it's the onset…

Who said our long-term cars have it easy? The Volkswagen Touran is certainly being made to earn its living, particularly after it was pressed into ser…

No doubt about it, the Volvo XC90 was one of our best-ever long-termers - the giant SUV never put a foot wrong. Of course, this made it harder to say …

We've got a bubble car on our long-term fleet. Well, not really, but that seems to be most people's reaction to our latest acquisition. I can see what…

How much trouble can it be to get hold of four new tyres? Quite a lot if you're the owner of a Volvo XC90. The trouble is that the 235/60 R18 items ar…

For my fifth birthday, I got every boy's dream present - a pedal car. I used it every day for the next three years, before the front wheel gave way mi…

We've struggled to see the bright side of life with our VX220 Turbo over the past few weeks. Nothing to do with the car itself, you understand - more …

Ah, the sound of silence! That's what we have got used to with our long-term Prius. The petrol-electric hybrid has become a firm fleet favourite over …

I'm leaving Auto Express, and besides the camaraderie and thrill of working on a weekly car magazine, the thing I am going to miss most is our long-te…

Given that one of the main selling points for the Chrysler Crossfire is its retro hot-rod styling, our recent Greatest Drives shoot (issue 812) probab…

The trouble with growing up is that life gets serious on you. As a kid, you could spend all day playing in the garden with your Tonka truck, pretendin…

I've got a new nickname that I'm not entirely happy about. The rest of the Auto Express team has started calling me Noddy. Why? Well, I'm driving the …

Auction website eBay has a lot to answer for. Apart from spelling the end for junk shops across the UK, it recently sent me on a five-hour, 250-mile r…

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. And here at Auto Express there's plenty of opportunity to slap on the Ambre Solaire and do just that…

New race season - new paddock bus. But while the Uniroyal Team Challenge race series is expanding, our circuit HQ is getting smaller. In successive ca…

There are certain things you can't escape if you live in a town - not least of which are regular trips to the local dump with bags of rubbish. It has …

All it took was one stone. Flicked up from the wheel of a truck I was overtaking on the M25, this little pebble became an airborne missile, smashing i…

When you spend most of your motoring life in London, it's all too easy to become disillusioned with driving in the UK. That's the mindset I found myse…

Owners' views on the quality of Audi dealerships were blunt: "Still in the top half of the chart, but should we be expecting more? After all, BMW is 1…

Never underestimate how much clobber a baby needs. That was the advice my wife Penny and I received from friends with little ones of their own. From b…

What does £25 get you these days? A slap-up curry at your local tandoori? A half-decent seat at a football match? Whatever makes you tick, the chances…

You have to hand it to Mazda. Many people doubted whether the company would have the bottle to press ahead with the RX-EVOLV concept

When snow brought most of the country to a freezing halt earlier this year, we couldn't help feeling a little smug. We had decided to practise what we…

Ask someone what they think of the latest addition to our long-term fleet and one thing's for sure - they will have a strong view, one way or the othe…

Getting the sun on your back has never been easier. More of us than ever are buying holiday homes in warmer climes and commuting to them courtesy of …