The Golf SV offers a little more space without the length of an estate. Read my review here

See pictures and opinions here. I'll be writing a review shortly for Beautyandthedirt.com

We almost didn't go to the Goodwood Revival this year. It's so big, it's so expensive, and all the best bits are fenced off for the corporate guests.
   Part of the feeling of peevishness is down to that feeling you have when you loved a band when they were small, and you used to see them up close in tiny venues, but now you have to shell out for a stadium and share them with the rest of the world. We loved the Revival when it was smaller, quieter and charming. Now it's huge, and everyone else is there. But we went for a day and ended up wishing we'd gone for the weekend. There's so much to see, gorgeous cars racing their wheels off, classic planes roaring overhead, beautiful people, bikes, clothes etc. We enjoyed catching up with lots of friends, including Sarah and Jake from the Planet Sputnik Gang and Sue and Dave from Hotrod Tiki, watched some excellent racing and got to wipe away a tear as two Lancasters rumbled out of the twilight. No doubt we'll be back next year.

See my gallery of photos here

The Audi RS6 pace car next to me revved its engine; it was a mighty speedy machine – but my task was to beat it off the line.
   My car was an automatic, so we wouldn’t be relying on super-fast gear shifting. Remembering 0-60mph tests for Autocar. I put my left foot firmly on the brake and pressed the throttle with my right. “Go!” said my companion, and it was left foot off, right foot to the floor. Wheels squealed, engines roared and I left him in the dust.
  
It was, of course, a cheat.

If you want to get more power out of an internal combustion engine, you can do worse than to create bigger explosions to send the pistons racing up and down. A turbocharger compresses the air flowing into the engine, so you can cram more of it in the chamber allowing more fuel to burn and make that bigger bang.
   Conventional turbos use the exhaust flowing out of the engine to spin a turbine, which in turn spins an air pump. Trouble is, you have to wait for some exhaust gas to be created, hence the dreaded ‘turbo lag’ before the boost of power.
   The Audi A6 TDI diesel concept car I was driving on the Sturup test track near Malmo in Sweden had an electric compressor serving its turbocharger.  That meant the compressed air was available immediately – and that’s the only reason why I was able to beat a professional driver off the line.
   A seriously clever bit is that the electricity for the compressor is largely recuperated from the car when it’s coasting. So it doesn’t take power from elsewhere, or increase fuel consumption. It gets its power via a separate 48-volt electrical system (most cars have 12-volt) and has its own lithium-ion battery in the boot.

Double the fun
We journalists had a lot of fun on the track with two cars: the Audi A6 TDI concept with a 3.0 V6 ‘monoturbo’ producing 326 PS, and the RS 5 TDI concept with a 3.0 TDI biturbo, producing 385 PS, which can accelerate from 0-60mph in about four seconds. Both cars were obviously fantastic off the line and great fun around the track – the biturbo was a real thug.
   The most important point about both cars, however, is that they demonstrate an alternative to the idea of going from petrol or diesel straight to hybrid or full electric. Instead, electric functions could be added to the car to add performance, or reduce the engine size to allow for lower fuel consumption and emissions.
   It’s another way of improving the internal combustion engine, rather than ditching it for something completely new. As one of Audi’s engineers pointed out, we’ve been working on this engine for more than 100 years, and there’s so much more it can do, why go back to the drawing board?

This £43k Porsche Macan S Diesel will be seen on TV soon barging its way through a country fair scattering geese with Ashley Jensen (Maggie from Extras) behind the wheel. Hmm - wonder why they chose a Porsche? (I suppose it could have been a BMW X5.)
   The scene is from a new mildly comic detective series being filmed in Biddestone, Wiltshire for Sky Atlantic. So Bergerac had his elegant Triumph Roadster, Emma Peel had her sporty Lotus Elan, and townie Agatha has a giant SUV. (Apparently it was Porsche who insisted on this particular model, the company may have simply asked for 'a Porsche'.)
   Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death is a pilot, based on the Agatha Raisin books by MC Beaton (Marion Chesney) who also wrote the Hamish MacBeth. There are 24 books, so if it goes down well, there could be a series or more.
   Yesterday Mathew Home (Gavin out of Gavin and Stacey) was spotted and there's an F-type convertible buzzing about - that's driven by Agatha's love interest, so possibly Mathew is its driver.
  Let's hope it's more Midsomer Murders and less Rosemary and Thyme. And, apart from harrying geese, I do so hope dreadful driving isn't one of Agatha's comedy quirks.
  
Macan S diesel
Price £43,300
Engine 3.0-litre V6
Power  258bhp
Transmission Seven-speed PDK, four-wheel drive
0-62mph 6.3 seconds
Top speed 142mph
Economy/CO2 44.8 - 46.3/164/159
On sale: Now

See also Emma Peel from The Avengers vs Alice Morgan from Luther here

Beaulieu International Autojumble is far removed from any other jumble sale for car bits. It's hard to say who or what is more eccentric, the buyers or the wares.
   This year I was helping to man a stand raising money for the Guild of Motoring Writers Benevolent Fund, and I'm pleased to say the team raised more than £2,000 selling donations from motoring journalists.
   I had fun chatting to other well known writers including Martin Buckley, Giles Chapman, Sue Baker and Kim Henson. I also bumped into Andy Saunders, the automotive sculptor. He's the only person I can think of who would buy a classic motorbike with the aim of turning it into a super-stylish bicycle.

See my gallery of Beaulieu delights here.

The latest generation of the world’s favourite sports car was revealed simultaneously in the California, Barcelona and Japan today (Sept 4). The global excitement was comparable with the launch of a new iPhone, and lots of flashing lights, grinning executives and a concert by Duran Duran came before the wraps-off moment.

Close to a million Mazda MX-5s have been sold worldwide since it arrived in 1989 (as the Miata in the States and Eunos Roadster in Japan). Back then, the public had been starved of an affordable open-top sports car since the death of the MGB. This is its fourth generation, but like Dr Who, the regenerated Mazda has always kept its essential character under the skin.

We’re promised it has again, and it will be as much fun as ever, living up to the slogan of ‘horse and rider as one’. Driving a Ferrari on the road rather than a track can be surprisingly dull, because it feels as though you’re doing 25mph at 70. The MX-5 is the opposite, it feels sporty at 25, and it will make you grin even if you’re just off to the shops.

Mazda has always resisted the temptation to make it more powerful in order to keep insurance and fuel costs low. Simplicity is part of its DNA, so although the engine details haven’t been revealed, we expect it to be efficient and punchy, but not blistering.

Big mouth strikes again

As for the look, the cuteness of past models has been replaced by more modern and a slightly more aggressive styling. The rear sweeps up like a mini F-type Jag, and the side profile has a bit of a ‘Coke bottle’ waist, simple and quite sexy. Personally, I’m not keen on the big, scooping mouth; although quite fashionable at the moment, it reminds me of a bottom-feeding fish.

Every generation has its fans. I adore the very first, which was always retro and is now even more so, evoking sports cars of the 1960s such as the Lotus Elan. The second generation was more fussy and feminine, the third simple in styling but a little executive in character for my liking. The good news is that there are plenty of all generations available for reasonable prices. This is partly because they’re proved so reliable, and because everyone loves them – and have bought a lot of them. The arrival of the new model will push pre-loved prices down a notch, so if you don’t fancy this one, you can grab an older bargain.

I’m also seriously looking forward to seeing the Alfa version of this car, but it’s not likely to be revealed until next year.

But more than that, I can’t wait to get behind the wheel of this one.

I wrote a book about the MX-5 in 2002, did a major revision in 2006 and a major rewrite, adding the third generation in 2008. Sadly it's out of print, but turns up at autojumbles. See MX-5/Miata Enthusiasts' Guide