Driven: Fiat Panda 4x4 Multijet Climbing (2006) Gretings, petrol heads! Today I’m going to report my test drive of a car I like since it was first launched, back in 2003: the Fiat Panda. I immediately connected with its cuteness and honest simplicity; it’s a basic car which does not pretend to be more than that. It has charisma. I cannot avoid smiling when I see one of these things, especially in yellow. I actually prefer it to the 500, for me the latest fashion-victim… Even so, some bits did not appeal to me. For a start, the tall interior centre console is not pretty, it looks like a concrete block fell through the windscreen. Petrol engines were also weak, the less bad being the ooooooold 1.2-litre 44 kW/ 60 PS (even Fiat recognized its fuel consumption is lower than its hopeless 1.1 brother’s…). Another option was the 4x4 variant, with slightly modified bodywork, a simple four-wheel-drive system and taller suspension. It added genuine off-road ability with almost the same road perf...

Some more photos of my beloved smart. Still as good as ever! :D

Greetings everyone! Today’s post regards, once again, the smart roadster, my car. The reason why I find it interesting to get back to this is simple: it’s a sheer emotional thing. I’ve driven it now for more than 3k kilometres (~2k miles), and I have to say I still think it’s epic. For the ones who do not understand me, please, read some ‘proper’ reviews of this car, or just drive one. Yesterday I met another roadster driver, and his thoughts on his car are pretty much the same as mine, even if his use of his roadster is much different from mine. However, a common point was made: it cannot be the only car on a daily basis. Let me explain: my work place is 25 kilometres from home, and I end up driving more than 2k+ kilometres a month. In April, I used it on a daily basis, and I was astonished with its fuel consumption: week after week, it was always up to 4,5 l/100 km (50+ mpg). Better is hard, but I recognize my driving is far from average and I go to work mostly on highway. But I have...

Hello car enthusiasts! The car I’m reviewing today is very special for me, and for several good reasons. The main one is that this is my real first car, as I just bought it with my money. And, for the ones who dream to have something and, much later, exclusively with their own effort, manage to make that dream come true, the feeling is something unforgettable, a genuine milestone!!! And that’s my case. A car enthusiast since 1997, when the, then new, Mercedes-Benz SLK made me awake to the “car world”, my car dreams always went around the aforementioned SLK and, occasionally, other cars that, by their time, were very appealing (the last one was the Opel Astra GTC 1.6 Turbo with 180hp, exclusively for Portugal). Even so, the SLK dream was omnipresent. It was standing deeply in my heart, and the choice was very obvious. It only depended on the time needed to afford a nice second-hand unit. The smart roadster never managed to “tickle the box” the way the SLK did. I even remember the first ...

Driven: Audi A6 2.0 TDI S-Line (2008) Hello once again! Today’s driving report belongs to my almost daily-transport in my work days in Spain: the Audi A6, in S-Line guise. Oh dear… It’s big, isn’t it? Well, not a very good start for me. And its design does not pretend to make it look smaller, either. Even so, it’s a symbiosis of elegance and sportiness. Its lines are dynamic, especially from the side and the back, which are underlined by the S-Line equipment package. This package includes gorgeous 17” alloy wheels (a nightmare to clean, and that’s almost a weekly task!), front, side and rear skirts and lowered suspension. From an aesthetical point of view, it certainly looks nice. But it also looks big and somewhat fat… Solidity is omnipresent, in both the exterior and the interior. Speaking of this, it looks mostly classic, with most of the sporty looks gone. Yes, there are (fake) aluminium inserts here and there, but the overall result is far from exciting. Materials are top-quality ...