Auto Trader Blog

See you at the crossroads

Dom Sacco — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:57:39 +0000

A new “X-crossing” has just opened in Oxford Circus, London. Road traffic stops in all directions to allow pedestrians to cross in eight directions – straight ahead and diagonally. It’s already Britain’s busiest diagonal crossing and cost the taxpayer a hot cross £5 million to setup. And London Mayor Boris Johnson yesterday opened the Tokyo-influenced crossing by striking [...]

What’s your favourite car of the year?

Dom Sacco — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:52:33 +0000

The judges have whittled down the Car of the Year nominees to a shortlist of just seven. Much like the X Factor, there was been a lot of talent on display and no doubt those that have been sent home will be disappointed not to still be in the competition. Nerves will be tested right up until [...]

Coolest film cars – your vote

vijaypattni — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:02:54 +0000

We’ve just run video of a 101-year old driver who decided that his life had a large V8-powered Chevrolet-shaped hole in it… So said centenarian popped into his local Chevy dealer and laid down the readies to drive out in a brand new Transformers spec Chevrolet Camaro – complete with a 400bhp V8 engine. Now, we’re all [...]

VW Scirocco R or Ford Focus RS?

adrianhearn — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:37:45 +0000

Volkswagen has just announced prices for its range-topping Scirocco R model with the hot hatch costing from £26,945. This makes it £50 cheaper than the Ford Focus RS. I’m yet to drive the Scirocco R but I have driven the Focus and it’s one hell of a car; it’s rapid and handles superbly despite sending 300bhp through [...]

Help me Honda

stuartmilne — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:30:34 +0000

You don’t have to be a fan of Strictly Come Dancing to know it takes two to tango and when it comes to Green motoring the driver is at least as important as the car. I liked the Honda Insight a lot after driving the cheapest hybrid on the market at its launch in Valencia, Spain. [...]

Auto Trader galleries…what do you want to see?

stuartmilne — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:39:33 +0000

Girls on cars, animals in cars, matt black cars – they’re all galleries that we’ve featured on Auto Trader over the past few weeks. We love putting them together, and you love looking at ‘em. So what you you want to see? The world’s craziest modified cars, celebrity driving scrapes or just more girls. Let us know and [...]

Would you spend £616,000 on a rare Mercedes?

vijaypattni — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:50:41 +0000

We’ve just been to the annual Automobiles of London auction in Battersea’s cool Evolution Centre. And quite frankly, came back astonished. Sure, this year’s auction was a more sombre affair, which didn’t feature a £2.5 million McLaren or an F1 puppet-masters’ ‘garage sale’ – but the metal on display did not disappoint. Like the super-rare Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR [...]

Volvo XC60: the vampire’s car of choice

adrianhearn — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:05:50 +0000

To all the teenage girls out there – it’s time you persuaded your parents to buy a Volvo XC60. Because the Swedish SUV is the car of choice for Robert ‘bloody’ Pattinson’s Twilight character Edward. In New Moon, the sequel to Twilight, the romance between humans and vampire soars to a new level as Bella Swan [...]

What do you want to see on Top Gear?

adrianhearn — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:03:24 +0000

Last week we reported on the Ultima GTR which unofficially broke the Top Gear lap record when it managed a time of 1 minute 9.9 seconds. What’s more amazing about the car’s blistering time is that it costs just £70,000 – a fraction of the cost of your more ‘traditional’ supercar. Ultima says ‘it wasn’t a test [...]

Where’s the strangest place you’ve seen an animal?

vijaypattni — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:18:29 +0000

This week, we brought you the bird which nested in the most dangerous place…in the safest place, if that makes sense. Rather than defecating all over your pristinely maintained motor, or flying headfirst into a tree, these birds decided to hole up in the wheelarch of a police car. Strange, but true. But is this the weirdest place [...]

V8 Renault Twingo: stupid but I want one

adrianhearn — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:38:33 +0000

French tuner Lazareth has shoehorned a 3.5-litre V8 engine into a previous generation Renault Twingo. And then giving it the one of the most outrageous bodykits known to man – it’s unashamedly fantastic and pointless in equal proportions. The ancient Rover V8 engine, which weighs the same as a small planet, develops just 180bhp – the [...]

Seb Loeb: the world’s greatest rally driver?

stuartmilne — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:25:58 +0000

Citroen WRC charger, Sébastien Loeb has notched up his sixth straight WRC title in style at the Rally of Great Britain. He went into the rally behind Ford pilot Mikko Hirvonen in the drivers’ standings, but another Loeb masterclass put pay to the Finnish driver’s hope of ending Loeb’s domination. He’s taken six world championships, knocking Juha [...]

Cars that drive themselves to go on test in 2011

kcautotrader — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:37:51 +0000

The first real-world test of cars that drive themselves will take place in 2011. Volvo and half-a-dozen other companies are behind the trial. They hope ‘road trains’ will mean fewer accidents, lower emissions and shorter journey times. But will drivers be happy to sacrifice their motoring freedom? The Safe Road Trains for the Environment project – SARTRE [...]

Lexus LFA: what recession?

andrewgoodwin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:20:44 +0000

Lexus has just announced its LFA supercar will cost £336,000. You don’t need me to point out this is a huge sum of money. In fact, we can’t think of any Japanese sports car which has cost more to buy new, can you? For your money you will undoubtedly be driving one of the most exciting and [...]

Are estates back in fashion?

kcautotrader — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:48:13 +0000

Last week I had the pleasure of test driving the new Skoda Superb Estate. ‘Pleasure’ is the right word, because as well as being sumptuously well-equipped it was a pretty good steer too given its size. Hats off to Skoda for choosing the word ‘estate’ to describe the car, and not one of the euphemisms preferred [...]

A great time to buy

andrewgoodwin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:17:30 +0000

This week we’ve published a number of reports publicising the fact it’s a great time to buy a car. Firstly, the scrappage scheme has been extended by another 100,000 cars, so those of you who qualify can still get £2,000 for your old car. We also highlighted the VAT rise which is set for January, and will [...]

Class wars: Ireland VS Diouf

vijaypattni — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:01:44 +0000

And the guys doing battle are Manchester City’s Stephen Ireland Blackburn Rovers’ El Hadji Diouf. Ireland drives a blue and white Audi R8 and has just splashed out £260,000 on a unique Bentley Continental GTC for his missus’ birthday. He’s also owned an Overfinch with pink alloys and a pink grille. Diouf is well know for driving a [...]

How the F1 Championship can be decided this weekend

stuartmilne — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:19:18 +0000

The Brazilian grand prix could be shaping up as the championship decider for the second year running. It was the scene of Lewis Hamilton’s last gasp ‘has he, hasn’t he’ championship win in 2008, and Jenson Button will be hoping for a similar Brazilian success this weekend. Last time out, Vettel was the outsider of the three [...]

Tories to axe speed cameras

Dom Sacco — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:09:15 +0000

The Conservative Party has promised to cut spending on speed cameras, if they win the next general election. Do you think this is a good idea? Will it encourage speeding? The Tories plan to axe funding for new speed camera schemes if they get voted in at the next general election, which is due on or before [...]

BTCC: Back to the future at Brands Hatch

stuartmilne — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:23:38 +0000

Last weekend’s British Touring Car finale at Brands Hatch was memorable in many ways. Colin Turkington took the 2009 BTCC title, Jason Plato became only the second driver in the history of the sport to win all three rounds, beating Tom Chilton in the first race by just 0.015s – the closest ever in the championship. But [...]