Vauxhall Astra VXR, a Summer Treat?

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Steve

Vauxhall, pretty much since the turn of the millennium, have really upped their game. The latest models are cracking looking cars, especially the Corsa VXR, and this summer Vauxhall are releasing their latest VXR model in the shape of an Astra. It will be the most powerful and exciting Astra ever created whilst also being the hottest hot hatch on the UK market come this July when it is released.

Major Improvements

The new VXR Astra will be loaded with a terrifying (in something so small) 276bhp that comes thanks to its 2.0 litre turbocharged four cylinder engine. The Astra will get you from 0-60mph in an impressive 5.9 seconds and will go on to reach 155mph. Such figures can be compared to the VXR’s competitors, the Megane 265 and the Scirocco R. Thanks to its reasonably sized engine, a cheap car insurance quote may also be on the cards for prospective owners.

The old Astra VXR had some rather infamous torque steer issues and with this new model packing just under 300lb ft of torque, similar issues were indeed a worry. However, to overcome any such problems Vauxhall have fitted a motorsport derived Drexler limited-slip differential which operates on the front axle. Furthermore, the new VXR will come with a HiPerStrut front suspension setup in order to make the steering independent from the suspension on the front struts in order to, ultimately, reduce that pesky torque steer and increase grip at the front wheels.

VXR Mode

In addition, the new, clever suspension can be firmed up by putting the car in one of many pre-set modes; ‘VXR’ mode. This will also sharpen up the throttle response and alter the steering weight in favour of maximum performance. The stability control can also be adjusted for those that fancy taking their VXR round the track – the best setting for a track experience is, in my opinion, off.

All these great features do however come at a cost, £26,995 to be precise. All in all, that’s not an astonishing amount to pay for an impressive amount of oomph.

The Astra VXR is sure to be a big success for those that are looking for a small, yet family sized hot hatch.

Images credited to © GM Company

The Importance of Looking After Your Car

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Steve

That feeling when you’ve just washed your car and it’s sitting on your driveway looking exceedingly clean and shiny is one that brings many motorists a sense of satisfaction and pleasure that we just cannot describe. Nonetheless, it is one that, with the weather we’ve had recently, has been rare to come by.

The weather is, thankfully, beginning to vastly improve however as we’re currently enjoying some very sunny days which means it’s the perfect time to get out there and give your car a spring clean after what has been a very long winter!

Damaging Weather

We all take out motor insurance in order to protect our cars from the danger and financial implications of an accident, yet what about protecting the appearance of the car from day to day?

What with all the snow, ice and grit on the roads many cars have been left filthy and are in need of a good polish! So, today we’re thinking about the importance of keeping your car clean. Whilst it does indeed look great, it is also very important in terms of protecting the paintwork.

Salt and grit, if left for long enough, can have a detrimental effect on a car’s paintwork and so if there are still signs of this from the snowy winter we’ve had recently, then it will be very important to give your car a much needed clean. Furthermore, the older your car is, the more susceptible it will be to the corrosive effects of salt and grit.

Paintwork Protection

It’s also important to know that cleaning a car isn’t just about keeping it shiny! Many polishes and treatments can actually help protect the paintwork from adverse weather conditions. In addition, cleaning a car doesn’t just stop with the paintwork as special bumper care products are available, and have been for some time, which will also protect your bumpers from wear and tear.

It’s also a nice touch to clean, vacuum and polish the interior in order to give your car, no matter how old it may be, that lovely brand new smell and feel!

This week we’re running a competition whereby you could win yourself an Autoglym Professional Valet Collection kit comprising of a stack of Autoglym’s best selling car care products. Full details of how to enter are available in the dedicated blog post.

Win a Luxury Pamper Set For Your Car

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Steve

It’s competition time once again here at MotorQuoteDirect and this time we’re giving away a fantastic Autoglym Professional Valet Collection kit worth up to £62.99 along with a £30 Halfords Gift Card to spend however you like on a whole host of wonderful car related Halfords products. Perhaps you fancy buying some additional gear to go with the Autoglym kit?

This is the perfect prize for anyone that loves their car as much as we love cars here on the MotorMouthBlog.

Why would I want it?

It’s simple, with the Autoglym kit you can pamper your car in order to make it spotless and shiny. As we’re moving into Spring it’s also a great time to get out there and give your car some TLC so the sun really shines off it!

Included in the Autoglym Professional Valet Collection the lucky winner will find 11 of Autoglym’s best selling car care products. These products are designed to offer a professional looking finish on the outside and inside of your car.

The kit contains the following: Autoglym’s Bodywork Shampoo & Conditioner, Super Resin Polish, Extra Gloss Protection, Clean Wheels, Instant Tyre Dressing, Car Glass Polish, Interior Shampoo, Hi-Tech Finishing Cloth, Aqua Dry Synthetic Chamois, Perfect Palm Applicator & high quality Sponge.

The £30 Gift Card can then be spent however the winner sees fit!

How to Enter

In order to enter such a fantastic competition, all you have to do is Follow us on Twitter – @MotorMouthBlog – and Retweet the competition. It’s really THAT simple. Of course, if you already Follow us, then all you have to do is Retweet! It’s a win-win situation.

The competition closes at 5pm on Monday 26th March and the winner will be chosen at random before then being announced and contacted via Twitter.

And it’s GO GO GO…

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Steve

The Formula 1 season is now underway, however, FP1 and FP2 haven’t revealed much we didn’t already know; the Mercedes looks much improved and the McLaren’s are strong once again. The real test, however, comes in qualifying tomorrow!

Icons

Anyway, back to our icons. Today, I’ve picked the Brawn BGP 001, to give it its official name. This is probably quite a surprising choice to many of you, however, when you consider the statistics, that car can only ever go down in the history books as a legend!

The Brawn GP team was born out of the ashes of the Honda Racing F1 Team that pulled out of the sport at the end of the 2008 season in order to concentrate on increasing their production car sales as the amount of people investing in motor insurance quotes on new Honda’s had declined. Ross Brawn quickly purchased the dying embers of the Honda team and formed Brawn GP with the much loved Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello forming a formidable partnership.

Splash and Dash

The Brawn GP name was only in the sport for one season only, in 2009, as by the end of the season it had been bought by Mercedes and would then, in 2010, change its name to Mercedes GP Formula One Team.

What makes the Brawn GP story such a success however is simple: they came, they saw and they won both World Championships.

Rule Changes

2009 marked the introduction of a whole new set of regulations and the car’s looked significantly different to the previous season. It was also the year that saw the introduction of KERS – a Kinetic Energy Recovery System. Brawn GP didn’t have time, however, to even develop such a system, which one would have thought would disadvantage them. However, if anything, the lack of KERS worked in their favour as while the bigger teams struggled to make their system work effectively, Brawn relied on old fashioned grip and performance with Jenson Button winning six of the first seven Grand Prix that year.

Jenson Button went on to win the Drivers’ World Championship and Brawn marked a historic year by adding the Constructors’ Championship to Button’s brilliant feat. I remember many years ago watching a Top gear interview with Jenson Button and I recall him explaining how he would give up all his money, of which he undoubtedly has lots, to win the Drivers’ Championship. Honest and true words, and I don’t think there has ever been a more deserving World Champion.

Creating History

Furthermore, Brawn GP are in the history books as entering 17 races of which they won 8. That represents the greatest ever win percentage of 47%. That figure monsters the most successful team in F1 history, Ferrari, which has a win percentage of 26%. That, for me, really does cement the Brawn BGP 001 as an iconic F1 car. I highly doubt Mercedes GP will ever revert back to Brawn GP, which will mean those stats will stand forever and the whole Brawn GP 2009 story will live on as a legendary chapter in F1’s history.

This week I’ve outlined three of my F1 icons, please comment below and tell us yours!

The Ferrari F1-2000

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Steve

We’re half way through the week, and the F1 season is edging ever nearer, so to continue our theme of Formula 1 icons, today I’ve selected the first of the Ferrari’s that Michael Schumacher steered to championship glory in the year 2000. It was the turn of a millennium and a vital shift in power in Formula 1.

The Beginning of Dominance

Previous championship glories had been largely dominated by Williams and McLaren – since the year 1980 they had won 16 titles between them whilst Ferrari hadn’t even won one. However, the year 2000 marked the moment that Ferrari began to dominate the sport. By all accounts they did not have a dominant season in 2000, but in terms of future championship glories with Schumacher at the wheel, there was only one team in it for 5 straight years.

Schumacher went on to win back to back titles from 2000-2004 marking him as the most successful F1 driver of all time with 7 world titles which made him, arguably, the greatest driver of all time. Many people would, however, still put Senna as number one. Ferrari’s F1 dominance was also translated to their production cars as sales increased, which saw an increasing number of wealthy owners looking for the correct car insurance on some exclusive, rare models.

Close Call

What was so brilliant about the 2000 season was that it was so close for most of the season; going into the Italian Grand Prix, McLaren’s Mika Hakkinen led Schumacher by 6 points. Schumacher then went on to win the final 4 races of the season, beginning at Monza to collect 40 points whilst Hakkinen simply could not keep up and the World Championship crown was finally brought back to the prancing horse for the first time since 1979.

The 2000 season also saw some thrilling moments, including Hakkinen’s pass up the inside of Schumacher at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium whilst the pair went either side of Ricardo Zonta. One of the most iconic moments in F1 history.

Hakkinen and Schumacher had a fierce rivalry on the circuit for many years, with Hakkinen winning the ’98 and ’99 seasons before Schumacher finally broke his Ferrari championship duck in 2000 in the legendary, and aptly named, Ferrari F1-2000.

Iconic Formula 1 Cars

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Steve

The MotorMouthBlog is a place for us all at MotorQuoteDirect to voice our opinions about all things motoring and motorsport, and as the Formula 1 season begins this weekend, I thought it was only appropriate this week to dedicate the blog to some of my all time favourite F1 icons.

Senna’s 1st Win

Last week I spoke of my admiration for the 1996 Ferrari F310 and the Williams-Renault from the same year, so those two famed F1 cars are out of contention for this week’s articles. So, instead, today we begin with the 1985 Lotus 97T; the car that gave the late, great Ayrton Senna his first pole position and his first Grand Prix victory. For that reason alone, it is a true icon of F1. Furthermore, it was a fantastic looking car with its John Player Special black and gold livery, pointed nose and chunky tyres.

Such iconic colours have since been featured on special edition Lotus cars that would indeed be eligible for road use, and thus car insurance cover, which you’d certainly want to protect such a special car.

1985 Portuguese Grand Prix

The first victory of Senna’s came in very wet conditions in Portugal. He qualified on pole in the dry before racing away from the competition with a brilliant and dominant display to win the Grand Prix by over a minute to his nearest challenger.

This really was a master class by Senna, a man who went on to win three World Championships and go down as arguably the greatest Formula 1 driver to have ever graced the sport.

This victory was the springboard on which Senna would go on to add another 40 victories. His second of those 41 valiant victories came in the very same car at the Belgium Grand Prix later that year.

Elio de Angelis

The Lotus 97T was also the car that brought Elio de Angelis his final race victory at the San Marino Grand Prix. The driver’s career was tragically cut short the following season during a test at the Paul Ricard circuit in France where a crash left him stranded in the cockpit inhaling fumes; this was to be the eventual cause of his death.

It’s quite daunting that both drivers of this iconic race car went on to lose their lives in tragic accidents; a harrowing coincidence during an era when fatal accidents were far too common.

The Lotus 97T, for me, is truly iconic; it marked a return to form for Lotus and also landed Senna his first victory and de Angelis his last.

The Convertible Evoque

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Steve

If you’ve read my previous posts on this blog then you’ll hopefully remember the praise I had for the Range Rover Evoque, and, well, the entire Jaguar Land Rover group really.

Well now there’s a new Evoque. Yes, that’s right, they’ve cut the roof off!

Going Convertible

While it now looks even better than before, how will it feel to drive? Often the case is that the essence of a car is almost entirely lost when chopping the roof off. The car becomes less about the car and more about the image, which, to be honest, could suit the Range Rover Evoque down to the ground as it’s already such a stylish thing! However, the hard top version that’s available now is indeed a fantastic car to drive, so my hope is that, if the convertible is put into production, then hopefully the feel of it will not be too badly disrupted!

Judging the Reaction

Now at this stage the Evoque convertible is just a concept whilst a production decision is set to be made in the next six months or so based on whether the convertible receives an impressive reaction from the public, media and press. The concept is, however, on show at this week’s Geneva Motor Show and will undoubtedly be exciting the masses.

The companies Design Director, Gerry McGovern, has been saying how Jaguar Land Rover have a history of creating new segments and that he believes, with the convertible Evoque, they “have an opportunity to do it again.”

If put into production, the Evoque will feature a Roll Over Protections System (ROPS) in order to give passengers added protection and safety. Furthermore, it’s been announced that the convertible will come in both front and four wheel drive editions whilst diesel versions could also be planned alongside the traditional petrol engine.

A Long Time to Wait

The convertible Evoque, if given the go-ahead will most probably not be available for a motor insurance until late 2015/early 2016 which seems like a long way away indeed! This is due to the very complex engineering that will need to go into each and every model. Can you really wait that long to get your hands on the convertible Evoque?

Or would you rather not see the car make it to the production line at all? The Evoque has always received mixed views, it’s almost like Marmite in the sense that you either love it or hate it!

Why don’t you share your views on the Evoque with us by leaving a comment below?

Geneva Motor Show

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Steve

The Geneva Motor Show 2012 is in full swing this week. It’s the first big motor show of the year and so the first chance for this year’s big names to show off their latest models and concepts. The most exciting of the new cars to be displayed at this year’s show has to be the new Ferrari F12 Berlinetta.

Ferrari F12 Berlinetta

It’s the new flagship model that will replace the 599 and come packed with a gigantic 730bhp from the whopping V12 powerplant. This is going to be one seriously quick car. Furthermore it is absolutely stunning! For me it is quite possibly the prettiest Ferrari of the modern era. There are similarities with previous models; however the edgy, dramatic lines along the new car make it look like a flame spitting thoroughbred, which it probably is! Cue the search for a motor insurance quote from the wealthy handful that will ever own one.

It is also sure to sound ferocious – V12 Ferrari’s always have a unique, exquisite wail that only the Italian’s know how to produce.

Other Attractions

Other exciting models being displayed include the Lamborghini Aventador J and the Aston Martin V12 Zagato. Both look exactly how they should – the Lamborghini is styled like a fighter jet whilst the Aston is subtle and naturally beautiful. The Aventador J is, of course, an evolution of the standard (I use this term lightly) Aventador whilst the new Aston is a much welcomed edition to the already stunning line up of modern Aston’s.

Kimi on Show

There are also further attractions at this year’s show as Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus F1 driver and former World Champion, put in an appearance for his new team. He was there to help promote the new Exige S Roadster and an exclusive Lotus F1 Team edition of the Evora GTE.

The GTE is the most powerful Lotus ever built as it offers 444bhp from a light 3.5 litre V6. Lotus have a reputation for building extremely well handling cars yet with the GTE they’ve pushed forward in terms of raw power and speed. If the GTE handles as well as we know Lotus can make their cars handle, then it is sure to be an impressive package!

These are just some of the incredible new cars on display at the Geneva Motor Show and it has truly set the bar for the rest of the big motor shows this year.

Will you be attending any big motoring events in 2012? If not, tell us what event you would ideally love to attend if you could by commenting below…

A Petrol Head’s Day Out

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Steve

Yesterday, a day out with the family prompted a long overdue trip back to Beaulieu Motor Museum located in the heart of the New Forest National Park. I remember visiting it once as a youngster, however it was great to return and get up close with some of the most famous and beautiful cars of all time.

’96 F1 Legends

My personal highlight was the 1996 Formula One Cars, and in particular, the Ferrari F310 – Michael Schumacher’s first Ferrari! There’s just something so iconic about the car. It is, of course, the very same contender that he won the Spanish Grand Prix in that year whilst nursing mechanical difficulties in the torrential rain. He also won in front of the Italian crowd at Monza and at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. The ’96 Ferrari was also such a pretty looking thing. It had a simple, clean design at a time when F1 cars, were, in terms of styling, at their peak!

Further evidence of this was Damon Hill’s championship winning Williams Renault which was also on display. This was another fantastic looking Grand Prix car and the one that brought Damon Hill his World Championship in 1996.

Bond Exhibition

Other notable cars at the Museum were that of James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5. This is, in my opinion, still the prettiest car ever built. It physically gives you goose-bumps whilst scanning those evocative curves. Unfortunately, due to the rather astronomical price of the DB5. Only a lucky few will find themselves purchasing a car insurance quote on the British icon. This was just one of 50 Bond cars that were on show as the BOND IN MOTION exhibition is currently being held at the Museum.

Top Gear

The World of Top Gear is also being exhibited which gives visitors the chance to get close to some of those wacky Top Gear creations, such as the three motorhomes they built, or the three limo’s they designed and much more.

Petrol heads will also enjoy seeing the DeLorean used in the Back to the Future films along with a Ford Escort Mk2 rally car.

I definitely recommend the Museum as a great day out for all those that love cars, motorsport, James Bond and Top Gear. If you’re anything like me, you’ll love them all!

Exciting News for Petrol Heads

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Steve

Exciting news surrounds the world of motorsport this week. Not only is the final F1 test underway in Barcelona before the beginning of the highly anticipated new season on March 18th, but Audi, yesterday, announced that they will run a four strong team at this year’s intense 24 Hours of Le Mans. The exciting news about this, however, is that Audi have paired themselves with a historic and iconic name – yes, that’s right, the “Quattro” is back!

Legend

The Audi Quattro was a legendary competitor in the 1980s World Rally Championships. It won two championship titles and a total of 23 rallies. It was an icon and a legend and it re-wrote the rule book for the world of rallying. The Quattro was also a popular choice on the road thanks to Audi’s reasonable prices and exciting performance statistics. It was also relatively easy to arrange motor insurance during a time when costs were simply cheaper!

Le Mans Tech

The new Le Mans Quattro will be, understandably, different. For a start the cars will involve a lot of clever electronics as they will be hybrid endurance machines. The e-tron Quattro system will work by recovering energy generated by the front axle during braking. This energy is then transmitted into the flywheel accumulator and the energy is then released as electrical power to drive the front wheels when accelerating. This extra electronic power kicks in at 120km/h.

Great Achievement

This is, therefore, a very technical and complex system and Audi have, like the original Quattro, created something no-one else has been able to yet. The technology does not exist in any production car and has never been tested in motorsport before. This is therefore an astonishing achievement by Audi Motorsport when considering that the project only began in February 2010 and they were able to test the first model just 18 months later. That’s some turnaround on such an innovative project!

In terms of raw power, the e-tron Quattro will have a 500bhp V6 TDi engine positioned directly behind the brave pilot in order to drive the rear wheels.

The e-tron Quattro will compete for the first time on May 5th in a six hour race at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit. A fitting location for the newest addition to the legendary Quattro name.