Author: admin
There are many products we test that are quickly filed under ‘gimmick’, but the Sealey WheelEazy Wheel Fitting & Alignment Tool is genuinely one we wish had been invented years ago. If you need to take off car wheels often, it saves a lot of time, effort and frustration. Advertisement – Article continues belowThe 555mm-long bar resembles a huge screwdriver, but is actually a lever that helps mount wheels back on hubs accurately. With the wheel off the car, you pull one of four CNC-machined stainless steel adaptor pegs from the dedicated rubber storage holder affixed to the top of…
2019 VauxhallAstra61,775 milesManualDiesel1.6LCash £7,390View Astra2021 VauxhallAstra22,558 milesManualPetrol1.2LCash £12,199View Astra2019 VauxhallAstra41,625 milesAutomaticPetrol1.4LCash £9,899View Astra2019 VauxhallAstra48,800 milesManualDiesel1.6LCash £8,099View AstraThat car was so good that when Vauxhall replaced it in 2015, it was with a model that didn’t look a lot different, arguably because it didn’t have to. But how does the seventh-generation iteration stack up on its own, and should you buy a used one? HistoryThe Mk7 Astra, or Astra K, arrived in UK showrooms in October 2015, priced from £15,295. The range consisted of 99bhp 1.4, 104bhp 1.0T, 124bhp and 148bhp 1.4T, and 197bhp 1.6T petrol engines; all of these were…
If your caravan or trailer is particularly bulky, though, you may wish to look towards the Audi Q3 instead, because this can handle up to 2,100kg. “The X1 is meant to fit right into your life with surprising ease and, for me, it achieves precisely that. How come? Because it does all the practical stuff far better than I ever imagined it might. It’s also roomier in all directions than I thought it was going to be.” – Steve Sutcliffe, Auto Express special contributor. The X1 is a safe car to drive, and BMW boasts a rather good Driver Power…
Twist the dial to GT, and the Maserati retracts its claws. The exhaust valves close, the adaptive suspension softens and the steering lightens. In this guise, the MCPura is a genuine cruiser. You can drive it with two fingers on the wheel, with the bucket seats proving surprisingly comfortable over long distances. Despite the 20-inch wheels and supercar stiffness, it manages to iron out washboard surfaces with a compliance that would shame some sports saloons. Switch to Sport or Corsa and the beast wakes up. The suspension stiffens, turning the chassis rock-solid, while the steering becomes sensitive and telepathic. The…
It can be configured to show nav and media info, too, but we’d like to see another update to make life easier. At the moment, when you use the indicators, green arrows flash up on either side of the main display, but they’re difficult to see. If these were repeated in the head-up display, then it would be clearer when they were in use. Latest MINI Cooper S deals Head-to-headOn the roadThe Fabia 130 has similar performance to the vRS that was discontinued a decade ago, but while it feels quick, there isn’t much drama. Side-by-side it’s obvious that the…
2021 AudiA638,397 milesAutomaticDiesel2.0LCash £17,697View A62022 KiaNiro23,807 milesAutomaticPetrol1.6LCash £16,997View NiroIn March 1992 the 1.8-litre engine was replaced by a 136bhp 2.0-litre, with a catalytic converter and anti-lock brakes becoming standard. The front track was widened, along with the wheelarches, to accommodate improved Golf Mk3-derived suspension. In September 1992 the 190bhp Corrado VR6 replaced the G60, and this new engine brought an automatic gearbox option. Within a month there was a revised dash layout and new switchgear. A new entry-level eight-valve Corrado 2.0 arrived in April 1994, with 115bhp and an auto gearbox option. Time was called in May 1995 when the run-out…
My mission is to avoid using petrol almost as much as I did in my previous long-termer, the all-electric Volkswagen ID.7, and our 64.8mpg average is a good start. One long journey was a weekday cruise to Gaydon’s British Motor Museum. The M Sport suspension has an underlying tautness but comfortably shrugs off potholes and crests, and the car is pretty quiet at motorway speeds. Setting off fully charged, the 30e returned 76.3mpg but drained the battery on the outward leg, leading to 47.8mpg over the 182-mile round trip. The standard, figure-hugging M sports seats are plumper than November turkeys…
Price: around £217.99 (including 128GB SD card) Contact: amazon.co.uk We’re big fans of Miofive’s dash cams, and the company’s range has now been bolstered by a mirror-mounted product. Cameras that fit over a car’s rear-view mirror take up less space on smaller windscreens and are always within reach to save footage after an incident. Advertisement – Article continues belowThe Miofive Mirror Dash Cam has the added advantage of a waterproof rear camera, allowing it to be mounted on the outside of a vehicle. This means it can be used on convertibles with no fixed rear window, or vans and campers. In…
All of us will have used a torch at some time for working on a car, perhaps to look for a lost bolt in the depths of an engine bay, or to help you see while dealing with a breakdown in the dark. While the lights on our phones mean we always have easy illumination at our fingertips, an LED torch is a superior tool for most jobs in and around your car. LED Lenser’s newly revamped range of torches is of top quality – but this comes at a price. The P7R Pro is the most interesting of the…
The all-wheel-drive Touring also gets an X-Mode off-road setting (another inherited trait from its Subaru co-parentage), but the UK market won’t be getting the no-cost all-terrain tyre option that’s offered in the US. No loss there, unless you intend to head well off the beaten track. The standard, front-wheel-drive bZ4X Touring obviously forgoes the rear motor, which slashes output to 221bhp. Toyota hasn’t published a 0-60mph time, but considering the standard bZ4X completes the sprint in 7.4 seconds, it’s safe to say the heavier Touring will be slower still while also missing out on the handling-enhancing benefits of the AWD…