Motoring: The Mazda MX-5 RF in Cumbria

I haven't driven a two-seater sportscar for any extended period since my twenties, so I leapt at the chance to try the new Mazda MX-5 RF for a few days while on holiday in The Lake District. Would the Mazda revive memories of blasting around country lanes in the seventies and eighties in an MG Midget and a Mk1 Austin Healey Sprite?

The MX-5 RF features a retractable hard-top giving you the best of hard and soft-top motoring. I tried the RF with a 2.0 litre petrol engine and manual six speed gearbox. With 160ps power on hand this is no blistering supercar, but to expect that would be to miss the point. The RF offers simple fun, responsive handling and more than adequate acceleration in a reasonably priced package. 

I drove it on the challenging roads of Cumbria; steep climbs, loose and potholed surfaces and winding roads between vision-restricting stone walls. Despite the conditions the ride is excellent and I enjoyed the way the car responded as it tackled the rolling roads with great agility. The Mazda philosophy is of "Jinba Ittai"; car and driver in harmony like a horse and rider, and this approach shows in the way it drives.

I've been driving an automatic car for a year and I thought I'd find the transition to manual a problem. I needn't have worried, the MX-5 RF is so easy to drive and the gear changes so natural and switch-like that I had no difficulty.

Inside the car was comfortable and, in the model I drove, leather heated seats, satnav, parking sensors and the usual modern driving aids, were a far cry from the basic sportscar motoring of my youth. 

Priced at around £24,000 the MX-5 RF offers value and fun. Mrs Grey Fox wanted to keep the car, as did I, but sadly it wouldn't fit Harry our labrador retriever. I relived the joys of open-top two-seater motoring; this is an MG Midget for the twenty-first century. The Mazda is a car to consider when you no longer need the SUV to carry family, luggage and shopping and you want to rediscover the real and simple pleasures of motoring. See Mazda UK.

The Range Rover Velar in Norway

I'm just back from Norway where I was a guest of Jaguar Land Rover to drive the new Range Rover Velar. We had a wonderful time driving not only the Velar but the Jaguar F-Type and also experiencing some of the best of Norway's scenery, food and hospitality.

Range Rover Velar in Norway

4WD SUVs

This was a timely trip for me as I've been considering possible replacements for the 4WD SUV I use regularly on the challenging mountain roads of Cumbria. Cars of this type offer high driving position (to see over stone walls and ahead on narrow lanes), robustness (on poor roads), off-road ability (finding spots for parking for mountain walks and farm tracks) and grip (4WD has helped me on wintery Cumbrian roads on more than one occasion). But it's no shame if your car never leaves town; the best 4WD SUVs are roomy, comfortable and safe whether you're on Regent Street or grinding (as I often do) up the Hardknott Pass in Cumbria.

With the Range Rover Velar at the beautiful Storfjord Hotel

The Velar

How does the Velar fit into the Range Rover lineup? A casual observer may have seen increasingly similar looking cars coming out of the Solihull factory over the last few years. The obvious styling differences of the Defender, Freelander, Discovery and Range Rover of a few years ago are now gone and a more generic look now unites the range, possibly causing confusion to those not following developments closely.

The Velar comes between the Evoque and the Range Rover Sport in terms of size and function, placing it on the larger end of the mid-size SUV market: and this is the luxury end of that market. The Velar starts at £45,000 and you will need to budget for at least £10,000 more to access the more desirable features and looks of a true luxury performance SUV. Having seen and driven the car I've no doubt that this beautiful and capable car will be a huge success for Jaguar Land Rover. Why do I think that?

Lunch stop

Offroad at The Storfjord Hotel

Firstly, the Velar looks very handsome. We all prefer our cars to look good and the Velar has had much thought given to exterior and interior design. The philosophy has been one of what Land Rover calls 'reductionism' or "taking away the visual noise" as the design team explained it to us on our trip. And this approach to design has worked. There are a few cars that, for me, stand out as design milestones. These include the Audi TT, the Land Rover Series 2, Ferrari Dino. The Velar is a car to add to that list. Its clean lines build on the Range Rover DNA but take it to another level. I have slight reservations about shape of the rear end, but in some ways (as with a beautiful woman) the very slight disproportion adds to the attraction.

The Velar in Norway

The Interior

The interior continues the reductionist theme. With the aid of modern technology there are few buttons or switches and I love the clean and simple look this gives as you climb into the car. In practical terms I wonder if it can be better to have a switch to hand rather than having to scroll through the options on a screen to find how to switch something on (or off); but then I'm a bit old school and a few hours play would no doubt get me used to the functions.

Modern materials (including a high tech and sustainable alternative to leather), very comfortable seats, pin sharp screens for nav, in-car entertainment and other off and on-road controls make this a great toy for the driver who admires excellent design, technology and the concept of the perfect do-almost-anything car. Space, as you'd expect, is generous for passengers and luggage.

Driving the Velar

On road it's quiet, comfortable and our V6 petrol gave a sporty growl when required with excellent acceleration and massive torque. Off-road the various traction and off-road technologies allow the car to be driven up and down steep and loose slopes and sideways (as I discovered, heart in mouth) along steep contours safely and skilfully. Long gone are the low and high range levers and diff locks of early all-terrain Land Rovers; these features are now safely controlled by computer accessible through the digital instruments on screen.

Driving across the slope - one of our experiences at Salmon Wharf

Buying the Velar

The Velar would be ideal for my type of driving; long five to six hour motorway journeys to Cumbria which end with challenging driving on steep, poor roads surrounded by high banks and stone walls, occasionally with snow and ice to contend with in winter. I own a VW Tiguan and I find its robustness, high driving position, off-road ability and grip invaluable. To access these properties in the higher-end luxury package available in the Range Rover Velar would be perfection. 

However, when I come to choose, the Velar will have to compete with beauties like the Porsche Macan and Audi Q5 which can be available for less. I'd prefer to buy a British product as Jaguar Land Rover employs thousands directly and pays indirectly for thousands more employed by its suppliers in the UK. In reality budget might make the decision for me in relation to the Velar, but there's always its more affordable stablemates, the Jaguar F-Pace or the Discovery which also offer much of what I need in a car. 

For much more information on the beautiful and capable Range Rover Velar, see Jaguar Land Rover.

Afterword - The Land Rover heritage

I love the Land Rover heritage. I've owned a Freelander in the past and am the proud owner of a fifty year old Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon. That car (which is being restored; another story for the future) is a direct linear ancestor of the Velar as the Station Wagon was designed to carry passengers and not just bales of hay or sheep or sacks of animal feed. Another link is that the original Land Rover used an aluminium body, as does the Velar. From the early Station Wagons sprang the first Range Rover (called in code the 'Velar', Latin for 'hidden', as it was being developed. 

Note

I was a guest of Jaguar Land Rover on a two day trip to Norway where we drove the Velar and had a taste of the Jaguar F-Type, about which I will tell you more later. We stayed at the Storfjord Hotel, whose large rooms are made of traditional pine logs with grass roofs overlooking the mountains and fjord. This feature is not sponsored and all views are mine alone.

Aston Martin DB11: Grey Fox Drives a Grand Tourer of Style

Car reviews tend to be written by experts. They talk knowledgeably about torque, track width and turbo-lag, then film smoking doughnuts before returning the cars, tyres ruined, to the PR people. And that's how it should be; possibly. It certainly makes good TV and videos, but does it really tell a man what he wants from a car? I recently had the pleasure of driving an Aston Martin DB11 and I now know what I want.

Grey Fox and his Aston Martin DB11 - for the day

There is the dream, of course. The pleasure of owning something rare and precious. In reality a man knows what he likes, reads the occasional motoring magazine or blog and laughs with Clarkson as he drifts around airfields in impossibly powerful cars. Otherwise a car buyer like me probably doesn't really know how a modern car works or what makes it good. He just knows that he loves the pride of ownership, the urge as a car accelerates, the growl and thunder as he guns the engine and the insistent nudge of gravity as he corners hard. He also loves the sinuous lines of a beautiful motor car almost (of course) as much as he admires the body of his lover.

Nowadays, in terms of performance, the distinction between a pure sportscar and a grand tourer is blurred. The sportscar is still a stripped-out machine, saving weight by sacrificing comfort. But, unless you drive your car on a track, when will you really want to drive a car like that at its screaming limit? Far better to go for the grown-up option: the grand tourer.

The name GT is still redolent of idle saunters along the Corniche to Monaco, the scent of luxurious leather mingling with that of the roadside pines, the engine thrumming gently as a counterpoint to the sound of the cicadas. And British car manufacturers know best how to make GTs, as the glorious role of names such as Bentley, Bristol, Jaguar, Aston Martin and many others testify. Driven by gentlemen (cads drive sportscars) the GT hides its power under a cloak of elegance and luxury.

I recently drove an Aston Martin DB11 through the golden leaves of a Cotswold autumn. I don't think (well, I'm not totally sure, as its smooth progress at speed hides its pace) I drove the car at more than 60mph, but the style in which I did so, the supreme comfort and the ease with which it manoeuvred through the twisting lanes, the agility with which it held onto the leaf-strewn bends and the aural rewards as I accelerated onto the straights was an experience I'll not forget easily. And the sound is sensational, gentle when idling in GT mode and becoming progressively more strident in S and S+ modes, the engine note barking back off the yellow Cotswold limestone as we wound through the narrow lanes of the village to our hotel (sorry, residents of Painswick).

There are three kinds of male car buyer: the man who buys one to show off to his mates, the man who simply wants to experience the joys of owning a highly-engineered thing of beauty and (most of us) the man who comes somewhere between the two extremes, with the emphasis on the appreciation of an engineering masterpiece.

I also had the pleasure of seeing this masterpiece being crafted at Gaydon, Aston Martin's home. From the upholsterers cutting and sewing the leather upholstery to the delicate mating of chassis and running gear, the impression is of a hospital where pride and skills ooze from every phase of the manufacturing process. 

Speechless for once, I gaze in awe at a motoring masterpiece

The history of Aston Martin is fundamental. A huge graphic display of photographs greets the visitor which spans the hundred year history of the marque and a beautifully restored collection of cars underlines the racing and luxury heritage. From a very early Aston Martin Lagonda to James Bond's DB10, the tale is consistently one of quality and performance.

The Aston Martin DB11 is powered by a 5204 cc twin-turbo V12 engine producing 600 bhp. It has an 8-speed ZF automatic gearbox and accelerates from 0 to 62 mph in 3.9 seconds, reaching 200 mph. A 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine is being developed with Mercedes-AMG for future use in the DB11.

I was a guest of Aston Martin. We had lunch at Cowley Manor near Cheltenham and an overnight stay at Painswick Hotel, Gloucestershire, which I cannot recommend highly enough for a quiet Cotswold weekend.

Note: Jeremy Clarkson is on holiday :) :0

Mercedes meets IWC watches: passion, performance & precision for Goodwood

One of the greatest pleasures for me as a blogger is watching high quality products being made and then trying them out. Memories of the passion and skills of those who produce such true quality items add enormously to the experience of using them. So it was on my recent trip to Switzerland and Germany to find out more about the partnership between Mercedes and IWC Schaffhausen Watches. We watched the legendary vintage Silver Arrows racing cars being prepared for the 74th Edition of the Goodwood Members' Meeting this weekend and also tried out both IWC watches and three Mercedes-AMG cars.

1954 Mercedes Monoposto being prepared for Goodwood in Stuttgart. Video GreyFoxBlog

IWC is official timing partner of the Goodwood event at which visitors will be treated to the sight of the Mercedes Silver Arrows, beautiful vintage racers from the fifties, roaring and ripping their way around the track. 

Engine of the Monoposto

On my visit the logic of the Mercedes/IWC partnership became obvious as we experienced the precision, quality and true passion that lay behind their products, whether watches or cars. If there's one thing I've learned in my years of blogging, it's that we often fail to look behind the label of a product and are blinded by a fashionable name to pay a lot for an item that is cheap and poor quality. 

To ensure that what you're buying is true quality, made with passion and precision, you need to see them being made or maintained.

Looking at modern, rather than vintage, Mercedes, we visited the AMG facility at Affalterbach, Germany. AMG started as an independent company which produced performance products for owners of Mercedes cars looking for more from their vehicles. AMG is now part of Mercedes. At Affalterbach we saw that each AMG engine is made by one man or woman - true to the racing pedigree of the brand, there is no assembly line approach here. 

A worker starts on a new engine at the AMG factory

Each worker starts with an engine block and follows it round the plant assembling it until it's complete. His or her name is then added and stays there as a mark of the maker's pride and confidence in the quality of the final product. Each part's barcode is scanned as it's added to the engine and can be tracked during its life in the car. The assembly is backed up by research and testing facilities that ensure that AMG cars are safe, fast, powerful and as environmentally-friendly as is possible. 

Each AMG engine is signed by its maker

An AMG engine on the test bed, its exhausts glowing red

This careful assembly process, which emphasises quality rather than just economy, echoes the approach taken by IWC to the design and assembly of their watches. I'll talk more about IWC in a future feature, but we saw enough to understand the nature of the relationship between the two companies.

Driving the AMG cars made available for us (four international journalists and bloggers) was an experience we'll never forget. We had an S-Class Coupé, C63 and AMG GT (right to left in the image above). All were AMG products. The GT only exists in its AMG version, while the S-Class and C63 are AMG variations of the Mercedes models on which they are based. However, they are as different as chalk and cheese, as AMG start afresh with suspension, chassis and engine, making them very different cars from their Mercedes cousins, designed for additional performance as well as comfort.

AMG GT with 3982cc V8 biturbo with 462 hp

The GT was a real pleasure to drive. Even in 'comfort' mode the 500bhp V8 engine burbled happily on the German Autobahn, its note rapidly rising to a powerful pulsating bass as power was applied, thrusting you back into the upholstery in a very satisfactory way. Backing off the throttle resulted in a lovely triple pop from the exhaust, proving the race pedigree of this wonderful car. This is a true gentleman's (and woman's) grand tourer - powerful, robust, comfortable, but with enough rawness to show that you're driving a machine with race pedigree.

All the cars oozed quality and strength. These are powerful motors, but each attracts a slightly different driver and is built with an attention to detail rarely seen to this extent on modern cars.

And returning to vintage Mercedes, the arrival at Goodwood this week of the beautiful Silver Arrows drives home (literally) how products made with care, precision, pride and with an emphasis on quality rather than economy last so well. The Monoposto pictured above is only slightly older than me, but is much more handsome, better maintained and much fitter. Similarly an IWC watch will outlast its owner of properly maintained and looked after.

Streamlined body enclosing the wheels, allowed for a while under F1 rules in the fifties

We also visited the Mercedes Museum, a vast, modern building beautifully designed by a Dutch architect which houses the huge collection in a very contemporary, purpose-built environment. Here we saw cars from the earliest nineteenth century to the latest Formula 1 pace car, naturally an AMG GT (images below).

Click to find out more about Mercedes, AMG and IWC Schaffhausen. For more about the Goodwood Members' Weekend #74MM, 19th to 20th March 2016, click here.

This trip was sponsored by IWC/Mercedes. 

Mercedes AMG and IWC Schaffhausen in harmony

A look that inspires 2 - Austin Healey Sprite Mk1 - 'Frog Eye'

I found this image of a car I used to own - the actual car, 629 CDE. The Mk1 Austin Healey Sprite was known affectionately, for obvious reasons, as a 'frog-eye' (or 'bug-eye' in the US). They were tiny cars with no opening boot (you accessed that behind the seats) and, I think, an 850cc engine.

It was a precursor to the Austin Healey Sprite Mk2, which also appeared as the MG Midget (I owned one of those too, but that's another story). It was great fun and took me back to the days when a man could work on a car without having to be a computer scientist. He would also sport a moustache, cravat and have a pipe clenched between his teeth.

If I was to buy another old car now, it would be one of these.