Top 20 car brands: how would you grade them?
Jez Spinks Drive’s awarded its marks to Australia’s 20 most popular brands in a mid-term report, but which car makers would get an A, B, C, D or even F – for fail – from you?
What's with little luxuries?
Tony Davis It seems there's a new one every week, tied to a posh brand: the Fiat 500 ''Tributo Ferrari'', the MiTo for Maserati, the $80,000 ''Inspired by Goodwood'' Mini with its Rolls-Royce pretensions.
Did they really say that?
Tony Davis 'Aerodynamics,'' scoffed Enzo Ferrari, ''are for people who can't build engines.''
Why are Swiss cars nothing to yodel about?
Tony Davis Yes, indeed. Why don't those cheese-puncturing central Europeans build a decent car?
What was so important about 150?
Tony Davis Half a century ago - give or take a week or three - the brand-new Jaguar E-Type was confirmed as a 150mph (241km/h) car by the most incontrovertible source.
Read test: Ferrari's $35,000 book
Tony Davis You may have heard that a rather large new Ferrari book was officially launched this week.
Japan's top 11 cars?
Tony Davis March has been the worst month in generations up north. Most of the happenings fall outside the scope of a motoring publication but we can at least pay gentle homage to the country and people who...
What should you tell a learner?
Tony Davis The standard rule of defensive driving, young reader, is to assume every person on the road is trying to kill you.
Who talks the most twaddle?
Tony Davis That's a tough one. In the automotive world, there's business twaddle, marketing twaddle, legal twaddle and much more besides.
How did we get the MX-5?
Tony Davis The MX-5 recently sold its 900,000th example, an event celebrated in the only way marketers know: by putting tinsel on a batch of them and calling each one a "Special".
Who's turning 50?
Tony Davis Devrim is. That's the famous Devrim car, of course.
The longest-running car ever?
Tony Davis This column recently discussed the Renault R4. Bet you're sorry you missed that one.
What is it with green sports cars?
Tony Davis Good question. Well worth un-asking. The evidence is all around us: Porsche and Ferrari hybrids, diesel Audi TTs and Peugeot RCZs, even fully electric roadsters such as the Tesla.
What do old blokes tell you?
Tony Davis You like it, mate? Did it up myself. Bare metal, stripped down to the last nut and bolt. It's a rare one, of course. They only ever built 12 examples with the five-speed and four-barrel and only ...
What are our motoring shrines?
Tony Davis Let the nominations begin.
What's the third-best-selling car
Tony Davis Well, obviously there's the VW Beetle in first position. It sold more than 21 million units between 1938 and 2003.
From the editor: Motoring industry gathers pace
Toby Hagon One thing for which you have to credit the motoring industry is its ability to gather pace year after year.
What just happened
Tony Davis It’s been a busy year. With no attempt to be all-inclusive – that costs extra – here are some highlights, some lowlights and some middlelights.
Love for Lotus took time to blossom
Jay Leno My love affair with Lotus probably came more from maturity than anything else because when I was a teenager in the 1960s, a Corvette had a V8 with 365 horsepower (272kW) and fuel injection and it was...
Is there anyone who hasn't talked on a mobile phone while driving?
Barry Park Hand on heart who can say they have never used a mobile phone while driving a car? My guess is that very few of us can make this claim.
