Category: News

If you suffer from illnesses that could affect your ability to drive, you’re required by the DVLA to inform them.

However, while some might be quite obvious, the DVLA has a list of health conditions that you might be surprised to learn put you at risk of a £1,000 fine if you don’t declare them.

Car hire comparison site StressFreeCarRental has scoured the full list of conditions to find the less obvious ones you should know about…

Diabetes

If you have diabetes that is treated by insulin, and the insulin treatments last more than three months, you must inform the DVLA. This also applies to gestational diabetes, or if you are at risk of low blood sugar, known as hypoglycaemia.

Vertigo

While most people associate vertigo with being at height, this is specifically known as ‘height vertigo’. Regular vertigo sufferers can get attacks anywhere, making it feel like the world around them is spinning. If you suffer from sudden, disabling, or recurrent vertigo you must tell the DVLA.

Déjà vu

This is something mostly written off as an odd feeling that you’ve been somewhere before, but it can be much more serious. The DVLA must be informed if you suffer from seizures or epilepsy that cause déjà vu.

Sleep apnoea

Obstructive sleep apnoea is a condition that causes the throat to relax and narrow during sleep, which can cause difficulty breathing. It’s one of a number of sleeping disorders that the DVLA must be told about, including narcolepsy and cataplexy.

Labyrinthitis

Labyrinthitis has nothing to do with mazes, it’s actually an inner ear condition that causes dizziness, nausea and loss of hearing. Since all of these things could affect your ability to drive, you must inform the DVLA if you have it.

Heart palpitations

This condition results in the sufferer becoming more aware of their heartbeat, which may feel like it’s pounding or fluttering, or perhaps beating irregularly. While the NHS says they are usually not a sign of something serious, the DVLA requires you to declare if you regularly suffer from them.

Formula 1 is back. After months of no racing because of the coronavirus pandemic, the pinnacle of motorsport is heading to Austria for the first of two races at the Red Bull Ring.

With this being the first race of a new season, and new rules and regulations designed to keep everyone involved safe, here’s a roundup of everything you need to know.

The ‘new normal’

One of the key conditions for professional sport to return has been safety protocol designed to keep everyone involved as possible safe from catching and transmitting coronavirus.

Like all sports, there will be no fans attending races. However, specific to Formula 1 is the fact that teams can bring a maximum of 80 personnel, while no media will be allowed in the paddock or pits. All team members must receive a negative test before being allowed to travel, and must be tested every five days while working and wear PPE.

Finally, there will be no podium for the drivers, who will instead be interviewed and receive trophies on the grid after the race.

Double- and triple-headers

F1 is used to double-headers, which involves racing at two tracks in two consecutive weeks. It has even done a triple-header before, but teams hated it, with personnel working flat-out for three weeks to prepare cars and move everything between circuits.

However, this will be a common theme in 2020 as F1 tries to cram as many races in as possible. For the first time, F1 will race at the same circuit twice in one season, with the opening round at the Red Bull Ring in Austria followed the next week by another race at the circuit, then a race in Hungary for the first triple-header.

After a week off, F1 will return for two British grands prix at Silverstone followed by a race at Catalunya in Spain for the second double-header. So far, the rest of the confirmed calendar only includes Spa in Belgium and Monza in Italy, but a second Italian race at Mugello is one of a variety of new European venues under consideration.

Races in the Americas and Asia will be confirmed later in the year if possible, with Bahrain rumoured to be considering different layouts to make a double-header more interesting.

Fighting for equality

During the coronavirus crisis, the Black Lives Matter movement also gained a lot of attention worldwide. F1 champion Lewis Hamilton was the leading voice in the paddock, calling for equality and for his fellow drivers to speak up.

Formula 1 launched its We Race As One campaign, making a public pledge in “the fight against Covid-19 and the condemnation of racism and inequality”. Teams and drivers will be racing with rainbow symbols, with some of the most prominent placing the images on the halo devices above the drivers’ heads.

Mercedes-AMG F1 has made a powerful statement in support of Hamilton, as it has ditched its traditional silver paint scheme in favour of a black livery. It said the move was a ‘signal of the team’s commitment to fighting racism and discrimination in all its forms’. Both Hamilton and team-mate Valtteri Bottas will also wear black race suits.

Battles at the front

All the talking will soon be over and it will be down to the drivers on the track. With very little development time and teams struggling for budget in the wake of the pandemic, changes to the cars might not be as widespread as we’ve come to expect from F1.

Mercedes is expected to dominate, as it has done for many years now. However, Red Bull Racing has been closing the gap and looks strong, so 2020 could be the year it fights Hamilton and co. for the title. Ferrari makes up ‘The Big Three’, but it has revealed that it has ditched its early car design after finding serious flaws, so expect the red cars to be off the pace in Austria.

And that’s before we get into the drama of Sebastian Vettel, who will leave Ferrari at the end of the year. Can he prove a point and beat his young team-mate Charles Leclerc this season? Time will tell.

Best of the rest

In recent years, the midfield battles tend to be where the action is. For 2020, it’s likely that the battle for best of the rest will be between Racing Point and McLaren.

The former has drawn criticism because opponents say the team, which uses a Mercedes engine, has copied the championship-winning team’s design from last year. It says motorsport’s governing body the FIA is happy with its design, but if it is successful expect these complaints to rumble on.

The Formula 1 season begins this weekend at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, with qualifying starting at 2pm on Saturday and the race starting at 2.10pm on Sunday.

A high-performance BMW M4 Convertible has ended up submerged in a marina after rolling into the water near Portsmouth.

The car – which can retail for around £80,000 – is reported to have rolled into the marina after its driver parked up in a car park and left the vehicle in drive.

A berth holder at Port Solent Marina who saw the vehicle after the initial incident said that the car, which first crashed into the water at around 10 am today (July 2) was parked in the berth holder’s car park prior to its accident.

“It appears that the driver pulled up in a disabled bay right at the front,” they told the PA news agency. “Apparently as he got out the car was in drive so it took off and went down the embankment, through the railings and went straight into the marina.

“It’s a real first,” they added. “I’ve never seen a car in a marina.”

It is believed that no one was injured during the incident.

Staff at the marina site quickly put anti-pollution measures into place around the car to stop fuel from leaking further afield.

At the time of writing, it is believed that the car is being craned from the water, according to the berth holder – who does not wish to be named.

PA has contacted Port Solent Marina for comment.

The BMW M4 Convertible uses a turbocharged 3.0-litre six-cylinder with 444bhp and 550Nm of torque and is capable of going from 0-60mph in just 4.3 seconds before reaching a top speed of 155mph.

The Cannonball Run is a 1981 comedy film that saw teams race across the United States. Actors included Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore and Jackie Chan, with their characters all hoping to win a $25m prize.

It might have been a goofy comedy, but it sparked a craze that would last decades. Cannonball Runners, taking inspiration from the film’s premise, have been competing in unofficial – and highly illegal – timed runs from New York to Los Angeles.

The traditional starting point is the Red Ball Garage on East 31st Street in Manhattan, and the finish line is the Portofino Hotel in Redondo Beach, California. It’s approximately 2,800 miles, depending on your route.

There’s a small but dedicated community of people who not only attempt to break records, but also oversee the legitimacy of claims by those who take part. Most use GPS to verify their trip, or record the full journey.

One of the best-known record attempts was American journalist Alex Roy, who spearheaded a drive into the record books. His team’s time of 31 hours and four minutes beat the previous record by more than an hour, and because they had filmed it, ushered in a new generation of Cannonball Run fans through the internet.

The record stood until 2013, when a team consisting of Ed Bolian, Dave Black and Dan Huang hit a time of 28 hours and 50 minutes, then six years later, Arne Toman, Doug Tabbutt and Berkeley Chadwick achieved a time of 27 hours and 25 minutes.

These attempts are far from a bunch of people jumping in a car and driving fast. There’s some serious planning, money, and a big support network to make it happen. In 2007, Roy used a spotter plane to follow his car and see potential dangers ahead. Bolian and crew had someone in the back seat using stabilised binoculars to watch out for police or obstructions. Most teams have cars festooned with technology, from military-grade navigation software to police speed gun jammers. Many rely on a network of cars driving ahead to spot police.

Unsurprisingly, traffic tends to be the biggest issue. While weather can come and go, traffic is everywhere, and often the fastest runs are simply those that picked the right time to leave and got a bit of luck.

So it’s perhaps no surprise to learn that some Cannonballers saw the coronavirus pandemic as an ideal opportunity to break some records. Former record holder Ed Bolian now runs a YouTube channel called VinWiki, and is widely considered the go-to voice for Cannonball Runs.

He recently exclaimed: “Consider that it took six years and dozens of extremely well-prepared attempts for anyone to beat [his record of] 28 hours and 50 minutes, in the span of five weeks it was just beaten seven times.”

In fact, with no traffic on the road, times have been tumbling so quickly it can be tough to keep up. Bolian told The Smoking Tire podcast that there have been other times that would have been records a week or so previously, but don’t even register now.

In April, anonymous drivers achieved a time of 26 hours and 38 minutes, smashing the previous record set in November 2019. They had planned to keep it a secret, but a friend gave the game away.

Most record attempts are achieved using high-performance vehicles, but this attempt was in an unmodified Audi A8 L that hadn’t even had its 130mph speed limiter removed. Considering most records are achieved with drivers hitting top speeds well in excess of 150mph, this seemingly encouraged others to have a go.

As it stands, the “official” record – or as official as this wholly unofficial competition can be – is held by Fred Ashmore with a time of 25 hours and 55 minutes. That’s an average of 108mph. His story is particularly fascinating because he completed the run in a rented Ford Mustang GT, all alone.

He ripped out the interior and fitted large fuel tanks that meant he could complete the trip on one stop. A friend had an industrial fuel pump on a pickup truck and met him at the side of the road.

Breaking the 26-hour barrier must have seemed impossible even a few months ago. With police otherwise occupied, Ashmore said his only law enforcement encounter was just outside LA, where he was spotted but immediately lost the officers chasing him when his sat nav redirected him.

However, according to Bolian, there’s another record, and it’s beaten the 26-hour mark ‘by a considerable margin’. The team has decided to remain anonymous for now because they’re making a documentary about their exploits, but it’s not inconceivable that they would have averaged 130mph-plus through some States.

The Cannonball Run community appears to have had a crisis of conscience over these coronavirus runs. Bolian himself admits that he tried to discourage others from taking part by hinting that these runs will always have an asterisk next to them, because they were achieved during exceptional circumstances.

He also acknowledges that, despite the fact ‘there have never been any crashes involving other cars or any serious injuries’ during these attempts, these runs are even less ethical than usual because no one wants to divert the emergency services during a pandemic.

However, there are those that point to the fact that this is the very spirit of the Cannonball Run, and that it is there to show the government that they can’t tell them what to do.

While few outside this secretive pasttime could find many reasons to justify triple-digit speeds on public roads, Bolian appears to be more concerned about the future of this community.

In another of his videos discussing the recent records, he says: “The only reason I was able to pursue the record was that, given the availability of existing technologies, I thought I could beat Alex Roy and Dave Maher’s time of 31 hours and four minutes. I don’t know if people can go out, after the full record story is announced, and think they can do that.”

Could this be the end of the Cannonball Run as we know it? As traffic levels begin to return to normal, to the disappointment of very few, this particular chapter appears to be over. What remains to be seen is whether it adapts and lives on.

Driving lessons will be allowed to resume in England from July 4, it has been announced today by House of Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) will, according to Rees-Mogg, be writing to all approved driving instructors today (June 25) to set out plans on how to recommence driver testing and to ‘help them return to a life that is as close to normal as possible.’

“From 4 July, I am happy to say that people will be able to take driving lessons on a motorcycle, or in a car, lorry or bus,” said Mogg. “And there will be a phased approach to resuming practical testing, so learners have the opportunity to practice before taking a test.”

Rees-Mogg also stated that lessons would recommence ‘as quickly and as fairly as possible, in a way that avoids a second peak in infections’ as he spoke during Business Questions in the Commons today.

The move was welcomed by driving instructors, with Peter Brabin, head of training at Bill Plant Driving School, saying: “This is fantastic news for the industry. Not only have many Britons been unable to start or complete their driving lessons and take their tests, thousands of driving instructors have been left without an income for the past three months, with the industry coming to a halt – except for key workers who have been able to continue.

“Bill Plant Driving School will be recommencing driving lessons as of Monday 6th July, with regional differences expected but to be announced. Ahead of this, given the expected increase in demand, we as a national driving school have also launched the Queue Jump initiative for Britons to get access to lessons ahead of others for just £10 – which is to be redeemed against their first driving lesson in July.

“All driving instructors have been given guidance on how to go about resuming lessons in terms of health and safety and risk assessments, and this will be published on www.billplant.co.uk shortly.”

The weather in the UK is cranking up and even though it’s set to drop away, it’s more than likely that it’ll begin to climb again once we enter summer proper. With more drivers on the road as lockdown measures ease, more people will find themselves getting hot in the car too.

So what are the features inside a car to help keep the heat at bay? And is there anything you can do to keep your car cool if you don’t have them? Let’s take a look.

Park in the shade

It’s a bit of a no-brainer, but parking your car out of direct sunlight is a sure-fire way of keeping it cooler as the mercury rises. Underneath a tree, overhanging branches block sunlight and stop it from cranking up the heat in your car’s interior.

Use a windscreen sunshield

If that must-have shady parking space has been taken, then a sunshield is the next best thing. Usually lined with a reflective material, it can help block a lot of the sun’s rays from entering into the cabin and warming it up.

Windows or air conditioning

If your car hasn’t got air conditioning then there’s not much debate about how to stay cool when moving – drop the windows. However, what if you do have AC? At lower speeds, lowering the windows might be the best bet, but when travelling on the motorway it’s far more effective to use air-conditioning – it uses less fuel, too.

Cover the steering wheel

Ever gone back to a parked-up car after it’s been sat in the sun and jumped at the temperature of both the steering wheel and gearstick? Avoid this unpleasantness by putting a tea towel or other piece of fabric over each – it’ll keep them far cooler than if they were left exposed.

Cooling in-car features

If you’re looking at a new car, however, there are some features that you might want to have fitted – or see if they’re included in the case of a used car – for when things do get hot. Here are some of the best.

Climate control

Climate control builds on standard air conditioning by actively monitoring the car’s temperature and adjusting the system accordingly. Some cars even have multi-zone climate control, which allows individual passengers to tailor the temperature to their liking. The system works just as well in winter when you want to warm things up too, making it doubly useful.

Ventilated seats

If the party-piece of any car in winter is heated seats, then in summer it has to be ventilated versions. These gently waft cool air through the seat base and back, ensuring that you stay as chilled as possible while on the move.

In-car fridge

An in-car fridge gives you the ability to chill water, snacks or other drinks while you’re moving. It’s a common feature on many high-end models, though we’ll add a caveat; many of the plug-in fridges available from automotive retailers are just as good.

Convertible roof

If you’re after the breeziest car experience possible, then you’ll want a convertible. With the wind in your hair, even the hottest of days don’t seem quite as bad. Just make sure you’re wearing a hat and have topped up with sun cream – a ride in a convertible can be quite deceptive, with the sun feeling not quite as strong as it actually is thanks to that wind.

It’s 6am, I’ve hardly slept, and the car behind me is not taking it easy. What’s worse, his car is ‘blinking’ because he has a bad connection, which is terrifying because you’re never totally sure where he’ll reappear.

It’s at this point I start to question the sanity of using up my whole weekend competing in the virtual version of the world’s most famous endurance race. So how did I end up here?

What is sim racing?

There’s much debate about the correct terminology within the community, but ‘sim racing’ is essentially a video game that tries to create the most realistic feeling of racing cars possible, hence being a ‘simulation’ rather than a ‘game’.

Whatever you call it, there’s no denying it’s a booming business that has seen a huge increase in participation during the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s been driven by real-life drivers turning to the virtual world to get their competitive fix, and real-world racing series such as Formula 1 creating virtual versions of their events.

As a long-time gaming fan, particularly racing games, I’ve long wanted to try iRacing, which is widely considered to be the most competitive sim racing software on the market. I signed up at the start of the pandemic and updated my gaming rig – a steering wheel and pedals that works in games for extra realism and control. I wasn’t alone, as iRacing saw its signup numbers shoot into the stratosphere.

Chaos at the start

Each year, iRacing holds various special one-off events, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Given the huge increase in interest in iRacing, this year’s event drew massive signups – and the game’s servers simply couldn’t handle the thousands of teams and drivers logging in when registrations opened 30 minutes before the race started.

The result was hundreds of teams, including us, unable to join. Fortunately, the organisers hosted another race to start an hour later than planned to allow people to still compete. This didn’t make much difference to us, because we’re new and have a low rating, so we would only be put against other low ranking drivers. However, long-standing, higher ranked members were left angry, as it meant the ‘top split’ of drivers was broken up, meaning their ability to race against the best drivers in the game, including many famous real-world drivers, was taken away.

The actual competition

After the initial stress of trying to sign up, we joined the later race, due to start at 3pm BST. Usually, 24-hour races involve teams of four drivers taking about six hours each, but because we’re pretty new to this we only knew three people who could take part.

The first team member was me, a long-time gamer who hasn’t played much in the past few years so is still getting back to grips with it all and hoping I don’t let down my two more experienced colleagues. The second member was my good friend Jayson Fong, a leading automotive photographer from Australia who I’ve worked with ever since he moved to the UK about six years ago. And finally we had Joao Beato, another automotive photographer, though living and sim racing in Portugal.

While in the real world, the 24 Hours of Le Mans would take over drivers’ lives for the weeks leading up to it and they’d have no distractions on the weekend of the race, we had to work our scheduling around the fact I had to run errands on the Saturday afternoon and Joao had a real-life track day on the Sunday.

Joao took a steady pace during qualifying, putting us 30th of 54 entries, and after completing his first ‘double stint’, he’d managed to stay out of trouble to get us up to 15th. A stint is the time it takes to use a full tank of fuel, with drivers swapping during the pit stop.

Jayson and Joao shared driving duties all evening, and I put in a single stint at about 9.30pm before going to bed for a few hours. When my alarm went off at 3.30am, I was groggy. I had a shower to wake myself up and actually felt more tired afterwards. Coffee wasn’t helping either.

When I took over the wheel from a bleary-eyed Jayson, who’d volunteered to do the tough 1am to 4am slot, I was nervous. The guys had been lapping consistently and got us to 10th place, and a top 10 finish was looking on the cards – astonishing given our inexperience and lack of preparation.

And that’s when it happened. Just over two hours into my four-hour stint in the pitch black, with the car full of fuel, a car that had completed fewer laps than us was catching me. Our tactic had been to go slow and steady and avoid crashing, because the worst thing you can do in these races is get stuck in the pits doing repairs.

He was ‘blinking’ because his connection was bad and the game couldn’t always tell me where he was on the track. I had decided that when he got close enough to pass I would just move over, because it wasn’t worth the risk.

However, heading into the difficult right-hand kink heading into the Indianapolis corner, he disappeared behind me. His headlights that had been filling my mirror vanished, then as I turned in at high speed he appeared again – alongside me. I moved the wheel to avoid a collision and lost control, spinning into the tyre wall.

I was gutted, but with just 15 minutes of repairs it looked like we’d only lose three or four places. Our ninth position turned into 12th, so I headed back out onto the track to continue our slow and steady pace in the hope of regaining a top 10.

But just two laps later, it all went wrong. Coming out of the Tertre Rouge S early in the lap, the right hander goes over a small crest. It’s enough to unsettle the car as the rear goes light, but it’s not usually enough to cause a crash. We’d been lifting the throttle slightly during the race just to make sure.

Inexplicably, whether due to residual damage, a touch too much throttle, or simply driver fatigue, the car span as I crested the corner. It was a crash I’d never done before, not in testing or practice races. I couldn’t keep it out of the wall and caused damage that would require about 30 minutes of repairs.

Not only was our shot at the top 10 gone, but we found ourselves in the high 20s. Jayson and I would battle on with a lightly damaged car for the remaining eight or nine hours, eventually finishing 25th after a splash and dash fuel strategy call that paid off and gained us two positions on the last lap. Our battered and bruised Porsche 911 RSR finished less than two seconds behind 24th after 24 hours of racing.

The verdict

It’s safe to say that the ending was bittersweet. This might be a virtual race with nothing on the line, but the sense of achievement was fantastic. We had fewer drivers than most teams, no experience, and two of us had never met. Yet we worked together, came up with strategy, supported each other when it went wrong, and got to the finish.

On a personal level I spent most of Sunday absolutely gutted. The first incident wasn’t my fault, but the second, more damaging one was. I watched the replay multiple times and I’m still not totally sure what I did differently to every other time, so we’ll just put it down as a learning experience.

What it did leave me with was an appreciation for the real thing. It’s a tiring, emotional rollercoaster, even when there’s no prize at the end of it. How those guys deal with the pressure and physical exertion of the real thing is admirable.

The next 24-hour race on iRacing is in July at Spa-Francorchamps. We’ll be there – hopefully this time we’ll have a fourth team member, a little more practice, and a little more luck!

Footballers are well-known for having expensive taste when it comes to cars. It’s no surprise that these athletes own some of the most desirable cars on the planet, given most Premier League players take home the UK’s average annual income every week.

And with so much cash to burn, footballers also tend to update their cars fairly regularly, meaning there are plenty of desirable cars on the used market with a famous name in the logbook.

Online marketplace Auto Trader has scoured the classified adverts on its site to find the most expensive cars for sale that used to be owned by some of the country’s top footballers.

Rolls-Royce Wraith, owned by Alex Song. £119,950

Any Rolls-Royce is desirable but the Wraith might be the coolest of the lot, being smaller and more driver-focused than others in the range. This particular example was owned by Cameroonian footballer Alex Song, who sold it in 2018 when he moved to Switzerland from Arsenal.

The dealer describes it as having a ‘huge spec’ from the factory – it looks like Song ticked every optional extra including starlight headlining, night vision and massage seats.

Ferrari 512, owned by Mark Hateley. £174,900

Fifty-eight-year-old Hateley had a long and successful football career. He made his breakthrough at Portsmouth before moving to Milan and Monaco ahead of a long spell at Rangers in Scotland.

Hateley was the first owner of this 512, which was purchased during his time at Rangers. It’s a manual model painted in Rosso Corsa red with a crema leather interior.

Range Rover Overfinch, owned by Wayne Rooney. £50,000

Legendary England international Rooney owned the ultimate stereotypical footballer’s car in the form of this modified Range Rover, though it is rumoured to have been his wife Coleen’s runaround, according to Auto Trader.

It has a body kit and alloy wheels by aftermarket tuner Overfinch, a black and red interior package – and even a television with Freeview built in.

Range Rover, owned by Michael Keane. £49,990

Another footballer, another blackout Range Rover with aftermarket modifications. This time it’s the turn of England and Everton player Michael Keane, who took his SUV to Urban Automotive for upgrades.

It has an expensive specification inside as well as 23-inch alloy wheels, upgraded body panels, and the classy ‘Y7 XXX’ personalised plate.

Land Rover Defender 90, owned by Christian Fuchs. £49,950

Going slightly against the footballer JLR trend is this Defender 90 owned by Austrian Leicester player Christian Fuchs.

It’s a 2016 model from when Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri bought each of his defenders a Defender as a present for winning the league title. Puns are slightly different when you’re a multi-millionaire, aren’t they?

Naturally, Fuchs took his Defender to be modified by Overfinch, and then proceeded to drive it just 500 miles before putting it up for sale.

Ford Mustang, owned by Vincent Kompany. £49,499

Man City’s Belgian legend Vincent Kompany has gone against the grain with this purchase – a Ford Mustang Shelby GT-California. You didn’t expect it to be a normal one, did you?

This yellow and grey model has a 4.6-litre supercharged V8 engine, manual gearbox and a Ford Racing Power Upgrade Package.

Porsche Cayenne, owned by George Boateng. £39,900

If you’re thinking a Porsche Cayenne is finally proof that some footballers can own understated cars, think again. This example, owned by now-retired Dutchman George Boateng, is a one-off example.

It was modified exclusively for the footballer and painted in ice white metal flake, lavished in chrome and given 22-inch alloy wheels.

Porsche 911, owned by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. £37,500

Dutch Chelsea icon Hasselbaink owned this 911 back in 2003 while he was playing for the London club, but it has since had four more owners.

The current owner says they bought it as a damaged vehicle and repaired it. It comes with 19-inch Techart wheels and a few other Techart modifications, as well as a custom Alcantara interior.

What is it?

Following a slow start, the Kuga SUV has been one of Ford’s best-selling models for a while now, with the industry’s love of big, practical SUVs mixing with the brand’s blue-collar appeal to make it a definite sales hit.

The latest generation is bigger than before with a whole new styling direction, and perhaps most importantly, a commitment to electrified powertrains from a brand that has lagged somewhat behind rivals in this department. The plug-in hybrid variant we’re testing here is a pretty big deal, then, thanks to lower running costs from a car that buyers already seem to love.

What’s new?

The big news is the plug-in hybrid powertrain, but we’ll go into more detail on that in the next segment. Instead, we’ll first look at the fact that the new Kuga has gone down a completely different styling direction than its predecessor, taking cues from the Focus – in fact from some angles it’s easy to mistake it for Ford’s hatchback model.

Elsewhere, the interior has been brought up a notch, and there are new technologies both in the cabin and under the skin to improve the driving experience such as driver safety and assistance systems.

It sits on Ford’s new C2 vehicle architecture, which the company says has resulted in the new Kuga being lighter than its predecessor, more aerodynamic for better fuel economy, and with better crash safety.

What’s under the bonnet?

The hybrid powertrain uses a 2.5-litre petrol engine combined with an electric motor and generator that are powered by a 14.4kWh battery. This provides a decent, usable electric-only range of 35 miles, which means you could get away with rarely even using the petrol engine.

It makes a total of 222bhp with a top speed of 125mph. Fuel economy figures are pretty wild at 202mpg, but only if you’re regularly topping up the batteries and only taking short trips is that a possibility, though we saw economy figures in the 60s during mixed driving. CO2 emissions are low, at just 32g/km.

It’s a rather hit and miss powertrain to use. At lower speeds where the electric motor is doing most of the work it’s brilliant, providing smooth but punchy response and silent operation. At motorway speeds with the engine on it’s still quiet enough, and even when the engine kicks in around town it’s not too intrusive. However, the CVT gearbox means that accelerating harder using the petrol engine is unrewarding with an unappealing soundtrack to boot.

What’s it like to drive?

There’s a lot to like about the Kuga, but the way it drives is its weak point. First, the positives. As we’ve come to expect from Ford products, it handles well, doing a good job of restraining its heft in corners, while also not being intimidating to drive around town thanks to the smooth and responsive electric motor.

However, there are quite a few negative aspects to the driving experience, such as the bizarre, rubbery self-centring of the steering wheel as you turn – something common to Fords but most prominent in the Kuga. Meanwhile, the brake pedal gives little feedback but is very sensitive, which makes slowing down smoothly difficult. We’re also not convinced by the ride, with it feeling very heavy over bumps.

How does it look?

While previous generations of the Kuga wore chunky “I’m an SUV” styling, the latest model ditches this in favour of a sleeker appearance. From a distance it looks like a family hatchback rather than an SUV, meaning it stands out less than rivals on the road but still offers the high driving position and practicality that has made this segment so popular.

Aside from the softer styling, some of this non-SUV look is achieved by having a more reclined windscreen and lower roof angle, which hides its height. Despite this appearance, it’s actually bigger than the outgoing model…

What’s it like inside?

The cabin is one of the Kuga’s trump cards, because it feels exceptionally well made. Our top-spec Vignale model also comes incredibly well-specified, with high-quality materials used throughout and luxury extras such as a heated steering wheel and leather-wrapped instrument panel helping to improve the overall feel.

It’s very spacious too, making it ideal for families. Rear seat passengers, big and small, will have plenty of leg room, while boot space is decent at 411 litres, even if it is less spacious than non-hybrid versions.

If you’re not looking to stretch to the price of a top-spec model – or just don’t fancy putting premium leather at the mercy of the kids – the Kuga’s interior has all the practicality and build quality you could need in a family car, regardless of trim level.

What’s the spec like?

There are five trim levels available for the Kuga: Zetec, Titanium, ST-Line, ST-Line X and Vignale. However, if it’s this plug-in hybrid powertrain you’re after, that excludes Zetec.

Prices start at £33,085 for the Titanium PHEV, and rise through the sporty-looking ST-Line models to the luxury-focused Vignale we’ve been testing. For this, prices start at £37,785 and equipment includes 19-inch alloy wheels, full LED headlights with automatic anti-glare full beam, premium leather seat trim with heated front seats and heated steering wheel, Vignale body kit, metallic paint, a fully digital 12.3-inch instrument cluster, automated park assist and a head-up display.

Traditionally, Ford’s Vignale trim levels have felt like an unnecessary expense over less expensive but still generously equipped trims. However, commanding only a few grand more than the ST-Line trims, the Vignale PHEV feels like good value for money, especially if you’re more focused on comfort than sporty looks.

Verdict

The Ford Kuga PHEV is so close to being great. Its styling is sleek and unimposing, the interior is well made and spacious, and the electrified portion of its powertrain makes for a relaxing, effortless driving experience. What’s more, keep the batteries topped up and that useful electric range means running costs should be very low indeed.

However, it’s hard to get away from the fact it’s a bit of a letdown from behind the wheel. The inconsistent control weights make smooth driving a chore and detract from what should be a brilliant family SUV. A test drive is highly recommended, because if you can live with those negatives you’ve got yourself a handsome, practical SUV.

Ask most car enthusiasts for their propulsion method of choice and they’ll probably say petrol. This fossil fuel has powered some of the greatest engines known to man, and has fuelled engines with the power to catapult tonnes of metal to inconceivable speeds in a matter of seconds – sounding great while doing it.

However, with climate change now at the forefront of people’s minds, the role of heavily polluting fossil fuels is quickly dying out. That means we need an alternative, and it appears electric will be the future.

Porsche is at the forefront of both old- and new-school technology, epitomised by the 911 Turbo S and Taycan Turbo S. While they might not seem like natural competitors – a two-plus-two, petrol-powered sports car and an electrically powered four-door saloon respectively – on paper they make for an intriguing comparison.

Last week we were given the chance to test drive both back-to-back, and it made for a fascinating and thought-provoking day. Here’s what we found…

The facts and figures

Let’s start with the 911 Turbo S. The Porsche 911 has long been one of the best sports cars on the market, and this newly released Turbo S version sits at the very top of the range of this latest generation.

Its 3.8-litre, six-cylinder, twin-turbocharged petrol engine makes 641bhp and 800Nm of torque, with a top speed of 205mph and a 0-60mph time of 2.6 seconds. It also emits 257g/km and achieves fuel economy of 25mpg. Prices for the coupe start at about £155k, or £165k for the convertible we tested.

The Taycan uses twin electric motors (one on each axle to provide all-wheel drive) that produce a combined 616bhp and 1,050Nm. With launch control engaged, that figure goes up to a scarcely believable 750bhp, contributing to an identical 0-60mph time of 2.6 seconds and a lower top speed of 161mph. It emits no CO2 and has a range of about 250 miles between charges. The Turbo S starts at £138,826, but the one we tried had been specced up to £151,210.

Which feels faster?

Both are fast enough to scramble your brains. Put your foot down in the 911 and there’s a moment’s lag as the turbos spool up and fuel is dumped into the cylinders to get the pistons firing – but once you’re away you’re really away.

There’s a perceptible shift of the car’s weight to the rear and you’re catapulted towards the horizon. What’s incredible is that the higher your speeds and the further round the tachometer the needle spins, the harder the car accelerates. The first time you’ll be shocked into silence before laughing hysterically once you regain your composure.

The Taycan, on the other hand, scrambles your brain in a completely different, if similarly effective manner. Electric motors are different to petrol and diesel engines because while the latter builds power with revs before tailing off, electric motors have 100 per cent of torque available from ‘zero’ RPM. They then consistently lose power as speeds get higher, hence the lower top speed. (This also has to do with the fact electric motors work over a broader rev range than traditional engines so don’t need multiple gears… but that’s a story for another 10,000-word article.)

The result? The Taycan and its 750bhp hit you like a freight train. The 0-60mph times might be identical, but the 0-30mph is surely heavily in favour of the EV. Even with this jaded journalist’s experience of fast cars, that first couple of seconds of acceleration in a Taycan takes the breath away.

The difference between petrol and electric is like the famous quote from The Interview: “Same, same; but different.” Both cars do a great job of accelerating faster than the human body could ever be prepared for, they just do it in different ways. The result in both cases is fantastically addictive.

What are they like to drive?

Where the difference lies is more in the corners. The 911 Turbo S feels like a big old brute that’s heavy in the corners. It’s capable of cornering hard, but you’d need to be driving at silly speeds to get the most out of it on the road. We tested the Cabriolet – models that are almost always going to be less sharp than an equivalent coupe for reasons of weight and weight distribution – but it just felt a bit ‘too much’ for the road. Especially narrow, unsighted British roads.

The Taycan, on the other hand, felt more nimble and compact. It had more immediate turn-in and felt less like it was filling a full lane on the road, even if the odd brush with an overreaching hedge told a different story. With the batteries in the floor, all the weight is down low, and the Taycan actually has the lowest centre of gravity of any Porsche road car, which helps in the handling department. The 911 convertible has a roof and roof mechanism up around the rear seats. That’s not light.

What’s particularly interesting here, though, is that the Taycan is actually wider than the 911 Turbo S. I was shocked to see that when I got back and dived deeper into the numbers, but the 911 is 1,880mm wide and the Taycan is 1,966mm. It’s amazing how the ‘feel’ of a car alters your perception behind the wheel.

Which one’s better?

Now that’s an impossible question – but one that I’m going to try to answer. For me, it’s the Taycan, because it offers all the performance of the 911 but feels more nimble on a fun road. That said, it’s also spacious inside, has four doors and decent leg room for rear passengers. I also adore the looks to the point where it could be awful to drive and I’d still want one.

The 911 Turbo S couldn’t be closer behind, though. Being a 911, the average person probably won’t recognise that it’s ‘the fast one’, so if flying under the radar is your thing, the 911 is just about common enough that you won’t turn too many heads. (Though if nimble performance is what you’re after a 911 GT model will leave both in its dust on a twisty road.)

It’s also got utterly addictive performance and epitomises everything we’ve loved about petrol engines over the decades. Porsche’s boxer engines are iconic, and this being one of the last wouldn’t be a bad way to go out.

However, the good thing for car enthusiasts in particular is that owning an electric vehicle doesn’t mean saying goodbye to fast fun. It just means you can go fast with a clearer conscience and lower running costs.