One thing ford have always done well is producing a fast top of the range car for each model line from the older Escort Cosworth and Focus RS to the up to date Focus ST.
The Focus ST features a 2.5 turbocharged engine; this engine is very reliable as it was used in the Volvo T5 range that the British police use as traffic cars.

The Focus ST-2 will sit comfortably all day pottering around down or on motorway journeys, but if you put your foot down, the turbocharger spools up instantly propelling you along although this performance comes at a price of around 20MPG if you use the Focus ST-2, to its full potential so it is definitely a thirsty car.
The ST-2 is the best of the 3 line ST range only missing out on the full leather interior, but is in general really spacey and has a big boot which is ideal for the shopping. Expect the Focus ST to be as reliable as your normal everyday ford focus.

Been a well priced model the ST-2 under cuts over rivals of the same performance but you do get some draw backs from getting a lower price like the lower than average MPG and the poor turning circle. If you’re looking for a similar car the then VW Golf GTi might be worth a look although it is slightly smaller.

Optional extras are very well priced from Ford like the rear parking aid at £170 or the privacy glass at only £85. Coming standard with things like door ajar warning and a heated front windscreen the Focus ST-2 is packed fully of useable features and only charging you for the extras you might need.

Ford Focus ST-2

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By following a few simple rules when buying a second hand car whether it’s from a garage or a classified ad in the autotrader, these few simple steps might save you a pretty penny.

1. Tyres make sure that there is plenty of tread on each tyre don’t forget the spare. Also check for and tears, bulges and splits.
Make sure that wear is even across the tyre as any uneven ware could be caused by other parts starting to deteriorate.

2. Make sure that there are no big marks or splits on the interior plastics as these can be expensive to get replace even more so on slightly older cars. Check the seats for burns and tears as getting seats repaired or replaced can be up to £500 each.

3. Checking the engine bay for any big oil leaks or any split or damaged hoses. Beware of a clean and tidy engine bay as this might mean a problem that their trying to cover up, but it might also be completely clean as that’s how they like it.

4. Electrics check all the switches and lights work as faulty electrical problems can be costly to diagnose.

5. Don’t forget a test drive; the car should break in a straight line without pulling either left or right and the same when accelerating. Listen out for clunks and knocking when going over speed bumps and turning corners. 

6.  Body work check all the panel gaps are the same around the bonnet, doors and boot and smaller gaps could be a car that has been in a accident and has a bent chassis.  Check the boot floor for any unnatural creases this is the sign of a rear end shunt.

7. Check all paper work like service history and mot’s and check if it got any advisors on the MoT, this sheet should be attached to the MoT and will tell you what it was advised on. These will need to be sorted before its next MoT.

Second Hand Car Dealership

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Yes there is a difference here, with contract hire your vehicle is leased to your for a set amount of time whether it be 1 year or 2 years for a set monthly re payment and pre agreed mileage allowance. Servicing and maintenance is often included with this contract hire and you will hand your car back when the lease expires.

With leasing a car you are responsible for the upkeep of the vehicle so any repairs or servicing that needs to be done, you will pay for or your company. Often with leasing you are given the opportunity to purchase the vehicle at the end of the lease.

What do PCH and PCP stand for; these are types of Personal Contract Hire and Personal Contract Purchase for a private individual who likes the idea of a fixed monthly repayment plan.

If you’re running a company you will also be able to claim varied amounts of vat back on any leased or contract hire cars that you run.

Prices for monthly repayments will vary from company to company but a good rule of thumb is that a car with a lower depreciation value will have lower monthly repayments.

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If you’ve got £150,000 burning a hole in your pocket or a premiership footballer with the surname of Rooney or Ronaldo then you’ll be suited to the latest Bentley on the market.

This Bentley Continental GTC Speed really is a footballer’s car producing 600BHP from its twin turbo-charged W12 engine from VW.
The GTC Speed has lowered and stiffened suspension and with the steering calibrating specifically to these settings, this in turns alloys the 20” alloys to glide effortlessly over the road.
The W12 engine isn’t just bolted into any car, a few previous Bentleys have been graced with it such as the Continental GT and the Continental Flying Spur, also Spykers C and D car range also use the W12 engine.

Weighing just under 2.5 tonnes you would expect  the Continental GTC Speed to be rather slow but the powerful W12 engine pushes it to 60MPH in as little as 4.8 seconds and on past 100MPH 5 seconds after.

The Bentley Continental GTC Speed will reach its top speed of 195MPH, not bad for a convertible don’t be worrying about wind noise either the tripled skinned electric roof.

With this sort of price tag the optional extra list is pretty small so don’t worry about the price creeping up to much. 

Bentley Continental GTC Speed

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Looking for a sporty reliable 2Dr coupe, the Audi TT will be the car for you. A common sight on the roads today are the older MKI Audi TT’s which proves just what a success they were when they where first released way back in 1998. The TT still features the same 2 drive train options of front wheel drive and the rallied proved Quattro four-wheel drive and only having petrol based engines.
The MKII Audi TT comes with a variety of engines; 1.8 litre turbo, 2.0 litre turbo or a 3.2 litre . In 2008 Audi announced the details of the first TT with a diesel engine and that it would also be a Quattro model available as a coupe or a roadster. Claiming that 53MPG is achievable in the coupe version with the 6 speed box, the 2.0 Litre diesel engine produces 168BHP, so it’s no tractor engine transplant.
The MKII comes with a wide variety of engine which include, 1.8 TFSI, 2.0 TFSI, 3.2, 3.2 FSI, TTS 2.0 TFSI, TT RS 2.5 TFSI and the 2.0 TDI the RS 2.5 litre is the most powerful with 335BHP.

The Audi TT is an ideal buy for anyone who is looking to purchase one on Contract hire or lease.  The high desirability of these Audi TT’s will almost guarantee a high resale value which in terns means a low monthly repayment for you.

The Audi TT really is a 2 seat coupe,  as the rear seat are so small that even the smallest child would struggle to be even slightly comfy. The safety inside the car is go as you get front and side airbags.

The usual Audi optional extras are available on the TT like the Bose surround sound and heated seats at £200

Audi TT Coupe

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Yes you guessed it the clue about the new features is in the name, the new G-Wiz features a Lithium-ion battery compared to the older models that used a lead acid battery. The new Lithium-ion battery will also bring some new beneficial gains to the G-Wiz driver which includes a range of 75 mile over the old 45 mile range, charging time is cut by 2 hours to a 6 hour charge, and the car will also be lighter than the older mode, and it will come with a 3 year warranty.

You might be persuaded to stick with the older model when we reveal the price which is £15,795 compared to the original G-Wiz which will only cost you £7995.

Owners of a G-wiz don’t fear though you can have the option of upgrading to the new Lithium-ion battery but no costs have been released yet.

Reva G-Wiz

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The Porsche Cayman is the placed in between the Boxster and the 911 in the Porsche range. After we looked at some stats the Cayman really is manufactured to be a middle of the range and it could have been developed to be a better car and not just to fill a gap in the market.

Design wise Porsche Designers are lazy and there isn’t much change here on the Cayman, the interior is pretty much the same as the Boxsters and the exterior again is just a little longer and still looks like a Boxster with a solid roof.

The Cayman can be driven everyday without any issues and any mechanical problems. This car really will teach an apprentice driver and reward highly the more experienced driver. The 6 speed box will propel you to 60mph in around 5 seconds and on to 100mph in 12 seconds.  With a top speed of 171MPH pushed their by 291Bhp from Porsche’s straight 6 engine you’ll usually get 26.7 MPG on a combined cycle.

Rather short on standard equipment like a rear wiper which will cost you in the region of £200 and floor mats at £60 really does leave you with no cost of how much a practical Cayman would cost. A starting price is around the £43,000 mark you can soon expect that price to have £3,000 added to by adding sports full leather seats, rear wiper and a sports exhaust trim.

Porsche Cayman Coupe

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This is the most powerful A3 that Audi manufacture only topped by an S Tronic model for features. Packing explosive performance with a 261BHP engine, this S Line A3 doesn’t hang about, and doesn’t have any problems using all that power with Audi’s truly famous Quattro 4 wheel drive system which was first used in rallying.

The A3 S3 doesn’t cut any corners on the style department ,the cabin is very well built and has a very sturdy feel to it which everyone has come to expect from any of Audi’s range.
Worried about all that power drinking through a tank of petrol then worry not Audi state that on a combined drive you’ll be getting 33.2 MPG and Extra Urban would make a nice figure of 42.8 MPG

Been an insurance group 18 you will definitely need to have a few no claims bonus’s on your insurance policy, to get the Audi A3 Hatchback S3 Quattro insured at a reasonable price.

The list of optional extras is large and rather expensive, for those that struggle to Parallel Park you can get an optional extra costing £600 to assist you in your manoeuvre. 
An optional extra we definitely would have, is the cruise control if you’re going to be doing a lot of mileage and at the cost of £200 it certainly will pay for itself.  Love your music then you’ll be familiar with the famous name of Bose and the high quality products that they produce, then you’ll be delighted to hear that Audi do an optional extra for £400 that replaces all your 8 speakers with Bose ones and boy what a difference it makes.

Coming with the Standard 18” S design alloys you’re bound to stand out in a crowd but for a mere £500 you can get the nicest alloys that Audi have produced which are the 18” 5 arm design which get used on the RS range.

Audi A3 Hatchback S3 Quattro 3Dr

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Another great blow to the motoring industry has been delt this week, with the news of the British International Motor Show 2010 been cancelled due to the economic downturn that everyone seems to be facing at the moment. This is a bold yet clever move by the organisers, as already this week some big names have pulled out of Tokyo’s motor show,Mercedes -Benz,VW and BMW will all have a very small presence at the show according to the organizers. Notice there all German car manufacturers so i wonder if no new major models are planned for release. The only major new release that we can see from the big 3, is a BMW X1 4×4 which in looks takes most of them from the BMW 1 Series and attempts to make it a cheaper 4×4, don’t expect it to be great off road as the last X3 that BMW wasn’t that great off road and is more a grass and gravel style 4×4.
But if the economic downturn gets any worse for car manufacturers will they release the X1.

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Here are a few basic tips to aid your MPG  and help you save fuel.
These might only seem like little things but might have a large savings on fuel costs over the space of a year you will be surprised.

1. Since a car’s engine is most inefficient when its cold you could save a large amount of fuel by walking short trips like into your local city centre as you could get the bus and save on ever rising parking fees.

2. By changing how you drive you can great aid your MPG to rise again, pressing the accelerator smoothly you’ll use a lot less fuel than just pushing it to the floor or been heavy footed.
3. Don’t over rev the engine. An obvious tip but keeping the engine under 3000RPM will really suit the car and stop it drinking petrol or diesel.

4. By keeping your eyes on the road, you’ll spot potential hazards earlier and this will save any harsh acceleration or braking.

5. Make your car lighter removing roof boxes will reduce drag on the car and make it lighter using less fuel. Carrying a big tool box in the boot for the past month well there’s a big weight in KG terms and will be like carrying an extra person in your car without your even realising.

6. Getting your car serviced, keeping your car well serviced and tyres inflated to manufacturers spec is a piece of mind for safety that nothing will fail on you but also will add to the chart of increasing MPG

7. If your stuck in a motorway jam or it appears that you wont be moving for 5 minutes then switch of your engine, your not going anywhere so it doesn’t need to be running.

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