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...

Ownership report: Smart Roadster 60 kW (2007) Hello Petrolheads! Today I bring you further news of my first car, the Smart Roadster. A couple of years have passed since I last wrote about it, and by then I was as thrilled as in the very first day of ownership. It was something like you dating that girl you always found sexy, all was perfect, but it was all about having fun. Two more years later, that dating has ended. It got so serious it turned into marriage now! I find this a great analogy to what happened to me regarding the Roadster. I bought it without even having driven one before, all because of those stunning looks. Yet, the looks are only the tip of the Roadster’s qualities. By now, I got to know the Roadster pretty well. It still thrills me every time I start that fantastic 3-cylinder, it still surprises me every time I drive it on any B-road and, as I found out last month, it amazed me as I drove it for an entire weekend during heavy rain, on pretty...

Driven: Lancia Delta Multijet Oro (2010)   Hello, petrolheads! I’m back to an Italian playgroung again, this time with the Lancia Delta, perhaps one of the most controversial family hatchbacks on sale today. The current Delta is, for many, an unknown car, almost like the Lancia brand itself these days. A few may still recall the phenomenal Delta Integrale from the eighties, but from there on, Lancia almost vanished in time. Being integrated in the Fiat Group, a long time ago it was decided that Lancia should be more focused on comfort and luxury, while Alfa Romeo would keep its focus on sportiness. The second generation, launched in 1993, was the first real product of this strategy, but here is the thing: for a car to be “Premium”, it cannot be flawed in key areas, such as design, reliability, comfort or performance. An Audi A3, essentially an overpriced Volkswagen Golf, works because the Golf has good underpinnings. Being based on the Fiat Tipo, a mediocre design even when n...

Hello car enthusiasts! Today I will... discuss, let’s say, Convertible stuff. More specifically, I will try to make a couple of considerations regarding roof arrangements, as there are two dominant approaches these days: the trendy, practical folding steel roof and the classic fabric top. Which is best? The classic convertibles and roadsters are visually recognized mainly because of the predominant black fabric roofs. It’s the cheapest, lightest, less complicated solution to cover the heads of open-air driving lovers. As time passed by, their remarkable evolution went from a simple layer of fabric and a couple of steel tubes (pretty much like my Smart Roadster’s…), later with a plastic screen at the back for improved rear visibility and a gutter over the doors. Electric motors were introduced for added comfort, back in the Sixties (remember the movie ‘Bandits’, from 2001?), after multi-layer fabric tops making their appearances, perhaps the biggest and more relevant evolution in their ...