View Post

All New Vauxhall Mokka, better than ever

In Car Reviews, Vauxhall by Tom Scanlan

What, no grab-handles?! And that is, for me, the only slight smudge on the All-New Vauxhall Mokka. It has a charming, perky character, with its 1199 cc, 3-cylinder engine growling away through an automatic 8-speed gearbox. Is there a simpler-to-operate gearchange out there? I don’t think so — certainly not a dinkier one. The little lever is set into the …

View Post

Vauxhall Insignia SRi VX-Line – Outstanding Value

In Car Reviews, Vauxhall by Tom Scanlan

Well, how about this!? – A sizeable and very sporting family saloon that’s £10k cheaper than all those ‘premium’ marques Although the Insignia does not feel exactly quite as ‘tight’ as some of those, it has everything available in all other respects from the engineering point-of-view, including a wizard, 9-speed automatic gearbox. The test car’s 2-litre engine produces 197bhp and …

View Post

VAUXHALL’S DECADE-A-DAY – 1 – The Vauxhall 5hp Light Car

In Short Cuts, Vauxhall by Development

Built from 1903, Vauxhall’s first year of car production, and known as the ‘Light Car’, the model featured a slow-revving, single-cylinder engine producing just five horsepower. Perhaps showing Vauxhall’s roots as a producer of marine engines, the Light Car was steered by a tiller, with its speed regulated by a brass hand-wheel next to the driver. A two-speed epicyclic gearbox …

View Post

The All-New Corsa from Vauxhall, a very good car indeed

In Car Reviews, Vauxhall by Tom Scanlan

They seek perfection, but that’s well-nigh impossible when compromises have to be made. But Vauxhall’s All-New Corsa has got pretty close! And I have changed my mind about 3-cylinder engines. The Corsa’s 1.2 was the 100PS version: particularly quiet on tick-over and enjoyably growly as the revs build up…at which point, from 2000 rpm upwards, the performance is vivacious. The …

View Post

Reviewed the Vauxhall Grandland X SUV

In Car Reviews, Vauxhall by Neil Lyndon

Looking out of our windows at the new Vauxhall Grandland X standing outside the house, I was taken aback to notice that its twin exhaust tailpipes were integrated in a line of unpolished metal below the rear bumper which ended on each side in an aetiolated ovoid shape. “That’s rather cool,” I heard myself say, to my surprise.READ MORE…Its natty …

View Post

Review: Vauxhall Insignia GSi Nav Sports Tourer BiTurbo estate

In Car Reviews, Vauxhall by Neil Lyndon

Once you have managed to spit out the mouthful of its name, the new Vauxhall Insignia GSi Nav Sports Tourer BiTurbo estate amply goes to prove one thing very clearly.READ MORE…That is: connoisseurs can be full of crap. I was already aware of this immortal truth from other experiences.  Neil Lyndon hits the Scottish highlands in the Vauxhall Insignia GSi Estate  For …