Blog Posts - Liz Turner

Teaching your kids to drive badly

5/29/2016

Kids learn by watching and imitating us. They do as we do - not what we say. So if we use phones while driving, put on lipstick at the lights, or bellow at other drivers, so will they.
   A survey by insurance company Ingenie reinforces what most of us probably know deep down - that kids often grow up to copy their parents bad driving habits. Some embarrassed parents get to hear what their children think of their driving in a YouTube video, click here.
   I was disappointed to read that 52% of the children questioned would rather be driven by Dad than Mum. I can't help suspecting it's because when Dad drives, the family is usually all together, going somewhere nice. Mum only drives if she's on her own, often stressed on the way to school, or she's dragging the kids shopping. (Remember the boredom?)
   So another tip, if you want your daughter to be a confident driver - Mum should drive with Dad as a passenger sometimes - and this should be perfectly normal.
   See Ingenie's Parent Manfiesto here

I want to ride my bicycle

12/24/2015

I'd be very happy to find one of these in my stocking. (Actually in our house, it was always a pillow case.)
This pretty retro Ladies Bike comes in cream, green, blue, raspberry and black, along with a wicker basket on the front and a matching tan saddle. (I prefer the basket on the front; one on the back is a bit too "I'll get you and your little dog, too.) Pity I can't persuade the cat to perch in the basket for a ride. This bike is pretty affordable at a penny off £300. Outdoorsy bikes are three times the price.

For more, see Mango Bikes mangobikes.co.uk

Little Dog Lost

11/9/2015

When I stop at the services, my first thought is: where are the toilets? Followed by how do I find my way out of this hell?
   For a small dog, a service station is an alien planet of noise, feet and flapping crows raiding the bins. We'll never know why Bonnie (left) slipped her collar and vanished at Reading services west-bound, but she would have been more nervous than most as a rescue dog from Eastern Europe.
   Her adoptive owners have mounted an epic social media campaign, gathering more than 1,300 followers on Facebook who watch and comment on the search as if it were a live soap opera. But, so far there's no sign of her.
   It's a terrifying lesson for dog owners everywhere. If you're taking your dog on a long journey where you may be stopping at the services, consider putting them in a harness-type lead, and hold on tight.
    And if you're in the area, watch out for Bonnie.

Melissa's Magnette-ism

8/21/2015

Congratulations to Melissa Cambell, who has been in touch with an update on her MG Magnette project. She managed to trace several previous owners and used their photos to make a short film to be shown at Brighton University for her MA Photography show.

She says: "We managed to drive the car into the gallery, so people could sit on the back seat and watch the film!"

It's currently on show at the excellent Towner Gallery, in Eastbourne, as part of the East Sussex Open exhibition. Thousands of people have visited the show, and Melissa reports it has had a great response.

The film has also been nominated for this year’s Magnum/PhotoLondon graduate award, shortlisted for Bloomberg New Contemporaries, and selected for Source Photographic Magazine’s graduate review.

Melissa says: "I have also made a book, containing the photographs and email correspondence from the previous owners. This has been exhibited in photography exhibitions in London and Athens! I hope to show it at other galleries and museums over the coming year."

See more o Melissa's website here

An MX-5 owner writes

3/4/2015

Paul and Annette with a car that will never get sold

Spotted - travelling light

MX-5 owner Paul Steucke sent me this hilarious picture (bottom left) of an car loaded by someone who only just left the kitchen sink.
The location is Spiffy’s on I-5 south of Seattle, and he points out it's all matching luggage.
We got on to talking about the design of the fourth generation, which I'm not keen on. (I'm hoping it grows on me.) Paul says: " What is it about designers that they think they HAVE to 'improve' it when it has already proven to be a heart and soul design? Don’t mess with a good thing!"
He sent me this picture of of himself with his wife Annette in their Mica red 2007 MX-5 RHT outside Anthony’s restaurant in their home town of Olympia, Washington. He says "I never intend to let it go. My last will and testament gives it to my son and if he sells it I will come back and haunt him. I love that car. I previously owned a Porsche 921 Turbo, and a Jaguar XK-120 Replica, and the 1994 Miata, prior to my current MX5 RHT."
Paul was also kind enough to ask if I would be updating my book to include the fourth-generation car. The answer is no at the moment because the publisher, Haynes, now only produces manuals.

A big thanks!

2/9/2015

A big thanks to Heather Morgan at Motor Safari for donating a Diamond Gift Voucher for four people for the raffle at the WOMAC party on Thursday 12 February.
I've known Heather since I was writing for the much-missed She magazine and she was a young mum working hard to set up a new family business - now her daughter Rhiannon works with her!
WOMAC or Women on the Move Against Cancer raises money for different cancer charities every year. We rely on the generosity of our colleagues in the industry, and this year we are raising money for Fight Bladder Cancer.

These shoes weren't made for driving

2/7/2015

My evening shoe and its safer friend, the driving shoe

Even famously barefoot Sandie Shaw donned sensible shoes when driving her Lamborghini Miura

I’ve been sent a survey by YouGov for the car insurance company 1st Central about road rage and driving habits. As one subject was shoes, they naturally thought of me. (Although my rage has never led to me throwing a shoe.)

One question revealed that more women change their shoes to drive than men. Bit of a NS Sherlock there. I’m sure there are men who need to change out of their DMs or brothel creepers, not so many men regularly wear what Germaine Greer described as ‘fuck me shoes’.

Personally I find that driving ruins your shoes and the wrong shoes ruin your driving. I used to have a very cute pair of proper driving shoes with little rubber studs up the back of the heels to stop them getting scuffed. Usually anything flat that allows me to feel the pedals and move my foot freely will do.

The survey points out that while there is no specific offence associated with driving in inappropriate footwear, a driver can be fined if they are stopped for driving erratically and it is found that their footwear was the cause. In some extreme cases insurance companies might reduce or even refuse a claim if footwear was to blame for the accident.

To read more, click here

Shoes do and don’ts

Driving bare foot can hurt after a while and is best avoided

If you’re driving in socks or tights, your feet can slip off the pedal

Flip-flops can come off and get jammed under the pedal

It’s a good idea to stash your driving shoes out of sight when you park, they will mark you out as a woman driver to someone looking for a victim

Austin's Story

2/2/2015

Katsumi (Tim) Nagae's beautiful short film Austin's Story is out on Vimeo for a year.
Austin is a bright, but autistic, little boy with an extraordinary talent for photography. He likes to take photos of the sculptures around his home town of Brighton, Michigan, and knows each one like a close friend. Click here to view the film on Vimeo.
I interviewed Austin and his Mum (from behind the camera) for the film while I was working with the extremely talented Katsumi in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I found the experience truly inspiring and uplifting. (Click here to see more about my work with cable station CTN.)

Uptown, top ranking

2/2/2015

My review of the Range Rover Sport Autobiography is on luxury lifestyle magazine site Beauty & the Dirt, following an enjoyable day driving Jaguar and Land Rover products. I've certainly had worse days at work.
Click here for more.

Can you trust fuel figures?

1/23/2015

Once we stopped believing in official mpg, we went for a diesel

I do sometimes wonder what official fuel figures are for. They are achieved in such ideal conditions, no one can ever replicate them on the road.
   The argument is that they allow you to compare one car against another, but when my husband and I wanted to buy a car, we were sucked into looking at entirely inappropriate cars, based on their official mileage. See the story here).
   We only got wise when we looked at the trip computers of the cars we were test-driving. It's something I always do now when driving manufacturers' cars, and I suggest you do it, too, if you test drive a new car. Without fail, the economy recorded is always way off the quoted figures. (yes, I know the economy would get better once they'd got a few more miles on them, but not that many!)
Consumer motoring website, HonestJohn.co.uk, has recently published its Real MPG Report 2015. One of its surprising findings was that new small cars, which are often sold to motorists with the promise of superior fuel economy, were among the worst when it comes to meeting their official MPG figures – some of these cars fell below manufacturer’s stated figures by as much as 32.3%.
   Looking into the data, Honest John found that the worst performer was the Nissan Note - which misses its average fuel economy rating by almost a third (32.3%) The best performing car was the Land Rover Defender - achieving 106.3% - however this year the Defender is going to be taken out of production.
   On average, HJ reckons cars achieve 86% of their official figures.

See Honest John's Real MPG Report.
What Car? also produces its own True MPG figures