While many car manufacturers are pursuing the hybrid route (part-petrol, part electric) as a way of developing more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles, Mazda has chosen a different initial approach. The Japanese company is instead looking at completely new engines, transmissions and bodyshells, still using pure petrol and diesel powerplants but with major reductions in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. It intends to introduce these in 2011 and extend the technology across the entire Mazda range as soon as possible. Mazda has named this new initiative SKYACTIV, and its new petrol engine will achieve fuel consumption levels (without the use of electric components) that until now have been the reserve of hybrid cars. This direct-injection petrol engine employs the highest compression ratio ever used in a production petrol engine anywhere in the world (14.0:1). This enables it to use 15 per cent less fuel and also contributes to a 15 percent increase in torque (pulling power) Read more…

In the mid-nineteen sixties the Mini was hugely successful in a variety of motor sporting disciplines, both on and off track. In particular it made headlines around the world when it was victorious in the prestigious Monte Carlo rally. Now, 45 years later, the successor to the original Mini, the BMW-owned MINI, is to compete in next year’s World Rally Championship. Rallying is hardly unchartered territory for MINI. In the past this popular motor sporting genre decisively shaped the image of the brand. The Mini Cooper S became a true legend through its numerous victories, not only on the Monte Carlo event, but also in the European Rally Championship. The new MINI WRC was unveiled at this year’s Paris Motor Show and is based on the latest addition to the MINI fold – the MINI Cooper S Countryman. The Countryman is not only the newest MINI but is also the first to be equipped with Read more…

You either love them or hate them, but you can’t ignore them. The Toyota Prius, that automotive status symbol of all things ecologically friendly, is a bit like that savoury spread Marmite -people either can’t get enough of it, or begin to wretch at the very thought or smell of it. Anyway, the Prius has apparently clocked up worldwide sales of over two million since the original hybrid was launched in 1997. Across three generations of the vehicle, approximately 2,012,000 units have been sold in more than 70 countries and regions, up to the end of September 2010. The Prius, in case you weren’t aware, is a hybrid petrol/electric vehicle which, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, is the most fuel efficient petrol car currently available in the US. In fact, the biggest markets for the car are Japan and the USA. UK sales for the same period were just 38,600. The Prius Read more…

Something amazing happened at the recent Conservative Party conference. In fact, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read the headline – “Rules barring motor races on public roads may be eased”. What? Where had this come from? Motor racing has never played an important role on the political landscape (except when Bernie Ecclestone donated a million quid to Tony Blair’s Labour Party but we won’t go into that) so what was the thinking behind this? Surely cutting off child benefit to the better paid was more of a hot topic than racing around the streets of the UK? In many ways, though, it’s an example of a piece of clear thinking intended to get rid of unnecessary layers of bureaucracy. At the moment – and forget about whether you think having noisy, fast cars competing on the streets of towns and cities is a good idea or not – it requires an Act of Read more…

Middlesex man creates winning entry for comparator’s online video competition. Tim Bunn from Middlesex has won Carrentals.co.uk’s first ever online video competition, with Tim’s winning entry – ‘a superhero’s car?‘ earning him the top prize of a 16GB Apple iPad. Launched in July, Carrentals.co.uk’s online competition challenged members of the public to create a 90 second car-related video and upload it to the Carrentals.co.uk YouTube page for judging. All entries to the free to enter competition were then reviewed by Carrentals.co.uk, with the top three awarded prizes. Commenting on winning the competition, Tim says: “This is the first competition I’ve ever won and to win something as great as an iPad makes it even better!” All entries to the Carrentals.co.uk Video Challenge, including Tim’s winning ‘a superhero’s car?’ can be viewed at Carrentals.co.uk’s YouTube channel – CarrentalsCarHire. In addition to Tim’s entry, other prize winners were ‘Mini Motorhead’, which took second place and a prize Read more…

We challenged you to brighten up our summer and ran a fun, video competition where the first prize was a fantastic 16GB Apple iPad! We also had runner up prizes of £50 worth of John Lewis vouchers for second place and for third place we had £25 worth of shopping vouchers to give away. The winners have now been chosen.  This was not an easy decision to make but only 3 people could win these prizes. We want to Congratulate the three winners and say a big thank you to everyone who took part.  It is obvious that a lot of time, energy and effort went into making all these videos and we really enjoyed watching them! The winners to our competition are shown briefly in this video and we also have the links to the their full videos below: Videos in Full: 1st Place winning the 16GB Apple iPad  -  A Superhero’s car? 2nd Place winning £50 John Lewis Vouchers:  – Mini Motorhead! 3rd Read more…

Aston Martin builds beautiful cars. Its DB9 and Vantage models are two of the most desirable  ‘supercars’ on the planet. So why, oh why, has the company announced that it is to build a ‘city car’ based upon the Toyota iQ of all things? The answer is that Aston needs something small and environmentally friendly to offset all the CO2 emitted by its supercars with their V8 and V12 engines, in order to reduce its overall fleet emissions. Hence the announcement of the Aston Martin Cygnet, a ‘green’ run-around, which produces just 120g/km and is powered by a Toyota 1.33-litre engine. The car was first seen as a concept vehicle last year, but at the recent Paris Motor Show Aston announced that it would be going into production next summer and would be on sale later in 2011. The luxury car firm intends to build between 1,000 and 2,000 of the Cygnets each year at Read more…

It wasn’t the most exciting race we’ve seen this year but the outcome of the Italian Grand Prix was at least in doubt for the majority of the race. For the first part the leading three cars – Jenson Button’s McLaren and the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, circulated practically nose-to-tail and you got the impression that it was only a matter of time before Alonso found a way past, such was his obvious determination and speed. As it was, it wasn’t until the trio made their obligatory tyre change late into the race that the order swapped – Alonso coming out ahead of Button with Massa still down in third. These three simply left the rest of the field behind. It could have been oh so different, had championship leader Lewis Hamilton not tried quite so hard on the opening lap of the race. He put the nose of his McLaren up Read more…