The morning following the celebrations of the Portuguese victory for Smart Times 2014 was dreadful. The steady rain and cold, together with a lack of events for the day, meant that ST2013 was close to dead. I had previously planned to drive what the guys from Top Gear called the best driving road in the World, and I had also been told by locals that the weather changes a lot along Switzerland. So, it was with lots of expectation that I drove out of Buochs at 10 a.m. Clarkson, Hammond and May drove from Davos to Stelvio, but as I was heading back to Germany, I decided to drive to Davos, but instead of driving to Stelvio, I would leave the road 28 and head to Malles Venosta instead, then San Valentino Alla Muta, Imst and Füssen. Fingers crossed for blue skies! The first part of the route was only Motorway, but it was´t that boring because the Swiss landscapes are always changing, and are always beautiful. I must also add that the Swiss people were right of course, because some 20km...

Welcome back, Pertolheads! Today I’m going to share my biggest experience so far on a fan club meeting, more specifically, the biggest Smart drivers meeting in the world: the annual Smart Times, this year in Lucerne, Switzerland. This event has been happening since the year 2000, at first only a meeting of some Smart enthusiasts from central Europe, later with the full support of Mercedes-Benz, and year by year, it grows accordingly. First of all, I should apologize for the personal approach of today’s post, because the simple matter of fact is this: I’m a Smart fan. It has been some time since I wanted to join this event, but living in Portugal made that a little bit complicated, as Europe’s California is far away – around 2k kilometres, to be precise. However, as now I’m living in the south of Germany, things were different. So, one month ago, I brought my beloved batmobile – 2355 km (1472 miles) in two days, without the slightest of dramas – and last weekend I drove...

Driven: Peugeot 208 1.0 VTi Active (2013) Greetings once again, Pertolheads! Today’s post regards my last rental car in Germany, the latest Peugeot 208. I must recognize I had high expectations regarding this car, partially because of the impressive Peugeot’s CV on this front (who can forget the stunning 206, or the legendary 205), partially because the PSA-group is now on a very fragile situation, so they can’t afford themselves a bad product. Even so, they did. I’ll go straight on: it’s one of the worst cars I’ve driven lately. After the (still) gorgeous 206, the 207 was already a downturn, but the 208 is on a class of its own. After spending an entire week watching Price Drop TV, their designers went straight to the drawing board and came up with this. It’s a prime example of what overdesigning is, the short size of the car enhancing even more this problem. And the designers didn’t stop on the outside either, because even the classic instrument cluster arrang...

Welcome back, Pertolheads! Today I return to the dreadful world of the rent-a-car Economy class. For those who don’t know what’s that, let me put it this way: it’s the class you’ll find yourself in if you book your flights using cheapflightcomparison.com.ru, in order to save 15€ (after 101 taxes). My case, basically. The current Ibiza was launched a couple of years now, so in 2012 Seat presented a refreshed version. For the small, young (not very rich) families, the ST small Estate was unveiled in 2010, also undergoing the 2012 facelift. Being a little longer, it was possible to increase boot space to a very reasonable 430 litres, adding a lot of practicality in the meantime. There’s an upper (fully covered) shelf, accessible both from the boot or from the back seats, two small storage spaces at each side (fantastic if you go shopping and refuse to pay for bags), four lashing points on the boot floor and a 12V socket. The interior is similar to the regular Ibiza Hatch...