First Drives New Cars

FIRST DRIVE: Bentley Flying Spur

Bentley’s resurgence under Volkswagen’s ownership has been a sometimes-painful, but mostly gratifying thing to observe. The Continental did attract an unfortunate number of footballer’s WAGs to the table, but the strong racing spirit that has been quietly rekindled (the 2003 Le Mans win and the forthcoming Continental GT3 race car) is now starting to shine […]

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First Drives New Cars

FIRST DRIVE: Peugeot 2008

So what makes a vehicle a “Crossover”? Well, apparently “because we say it is” is enough these days. Traditionally accepted thinking on the subject would suggest that a “Crossover” would generally be based on a car platform, with attributes that put a foot in the SUV and People mover camps, such as a high ride […]

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First Drives New Cars

FIRST DRIVE: Skoda Octavia

We here at OVERSTEER have always been quite fond of all things Skoda-ish. The Superb is just that, the Fabia is a wonderfully unpretentious supermini, the Roomster was just brilliantly quirky, the Yeti just plain cool and anything with a RS badge on it was just awesome. And the previous Octavia was just one of […]

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First Drives New Cars

FIRST DRIVE: Mercedes-Benz E 63S AMG

When it comes to truly world-class performance machinery derived from lesser, but still brilliant, cars there are really only two names that count. Or, rather, four letters: “M” and “AMG”. The Germans know how to squeeze utterly mental power out of otherwise “standard” cars better than anyone else on the planet. I mean, take the […]

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First Drives New Cars

FIRST DRIVE: Mercedes-Benz CLA

Small sedans; we don’t really get what they are all about here and they avoid them like Ben Affleck movies in Asian countries (except for China). However, they are VERY popular in the USA and they would seem poised to be The Next Big Thing in Europe. So does that mean the Mercedes-Benz CLA is […]

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First Drives New Cars

FIRST DRIVE: Skoda Rapid

The Rapid name is an old one in Skoda’s history, debuting in 1935 alongside the Superb. But unless you are old, or are paying particular attention to Skodas, you probably wouldn’t know that, as the last time it appeared on a Skoda was between 1984 and 1990 on a rear-engined coupe. But now the name […]

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First Drives New Cars

The Rubicon Trail: Day Two (part 1)

  Sweet Jesus, Cletus, for people who consume so much coffee, they really do struggle to make a halfway decent cup of the stuff in America. Quantity is no problem, but quality is a rare commodity in the US of A. While requesting “a bucket of your finest coffee-flavoured swill” may not seem like the […]

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First Drives New Cars

FIRST DRIVE: Volkswagen Golf GTI

GTI; three little letters that, in any other order, wouldn’t spell anything more meaningful than “git”, but when arranged in this particular order spell out one of the more legendary badges in motoring history. Especially to any fan of the Hot Hatch genus. Now the car that took the concept of the Hot Hatch to […]

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First Drives New Cars

FIRST DRIVE: Audi A3 Sportback

The A3 is an important model for Audi both internationally and here in New Zealand where it has accounted for around 20 percent of Audi sales each year since its launch in 1997. Audi pretty much invented the “Premium Hatch” segment with the A3 and dominated it for some time, but now BMW and Mercedes […]

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