Petrol

Here in the UK, there's now a variety of Unleaded available:

Unleaded 95 (Standard
Unleaded Plus 97
Super Unleaded 99
Super Unleaded 102

The numbers relate to the octane rating of the fuel, or rather how resistant the petrol is to early detonation or ignition if you prefer. The higher the rating, the more clean the 'shot' if you will. More powerful cars will perform better with higher octane fuel; even a normal car could well benefit.

The average UK car is rumoured to have a 1.6 litre engine. I'm guessing this is a median rather than a mean figure. Regardless, I have a reasonably nippy 1.8l Vauxhall Astra pumping out 125bhp. I like to keep it in reasonably good form under the hood, even if it is muddy on the outside from my last hiking trip.

As such, I tend to use Unleaded Plus 97. I'm not sure I noticed a massive increase in anything, though I'm fairly convinced the fuel consumption was lower. Maybe I got a few more miles out of it. However, 97 is noticeably more expensive. As such, I've decided to mix octanes (not sure if this is recommended though). I'll let you know how it goes. I might even go crazy and go up to 99, but then I doubt a 1.8l would benefit much from that sort of fuel...

Great Coupes

I thought I'd give you all a list of some great coupes after a somewhat long absence:

Nissan 350Z
BMW M Coupe
Jaguar XKR
Lotus Exige S
Maserati Coupe
Audi TT
Toyota Celica GT
Mazda RX-8 (Five door I know)
Peugeot 407 Coupe V6

Subaru Impreza vs Mitsubishi Evo

MSN has a fantastic new article on the two cars - both of which the latest versions. Apparently the Evo is the more hardcore of the two but I bet you'd still be hard pressed to get either of these car types (even older models) in less than insurance group 17.

On Missing Driving

I've missed driving my car. Call me crazy given that I was in a massively hot country enjoying such delights as lazing around on a beach, but I genuinely missed driving my car.

Now that I'm back, I'm driving it if not every day then probably 6/7 days a week. It has helped me move house, kept me warm when it's cold outside and of course made sure I got to work quickly and safely. As such, please salute my car, Black.

Named after it's colour. Original or what...

Scary Mopeds

Whilst on holiday I had the (mis)fortune of bombing down a road at about 8 in the morning on the back of a moped driven by a rather nice person who gave me a lift. I'll say right now that it is probably one of the seemingly fastest rides I've ever had, but it was scary nonetheless.

Comparatively, a car feels invincible. This is a feeling that is quickly changed when in a crash, but still, I'd bet it feels a lot more safe than being thrown tens of feet from a glorified rollerskate on wheels. Nonetheless, bikes aren't my thing. I'm not quite sure I'd want to repeat it either. It sure was an experience though.

Estate Cars

I was passed by a couple of estate cars today - they were going pretty fast. One of them was an Audi, maybe an S4 variant. I know that estate cars as a rule aren't the prettiest or the most cool looking but this was a case in point - they can have appeal. Of course, the power helped...

Well, here's Clarkson banging on about the Dodge Viper SRT-10. I couldn't not feature it after seeing a Dodge pass me in real life... Absolutely fantastic.