Category: Diary

BrownCarGuy January 2026 Round-Up

From daily-driven EV roadsters to AI policing, vanishing bargains and why driving now feels fundamentally different

January usually eases us into the year. A reset. A breather.

Instead, 2026 arrived with a quiet tightening of screws. New rules slipped in without fanfare. Algorithms began judging drivers. Affordable cars continued their slow extinction. And beneath it all sat an uncomfortable realisation – driving isn’t being banned, it’s being redesigned until it barely resembles what we grew up with.

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BrownCarGuy December 2025 Round-Up

The month the car world quietly lost its nerve. December wasn’t about mince pies and nostalgia – it was about power, control, and where the future of driving is really heading

December usually winds the year down gently. Not this time. Instead, the car world spent the final weeks of 2025 quietly reshuffling the furniture, double-checking the locks, and pretending everything’s absolutely fine while the walls creaked. Deadlines moved. CEOs disappeared. Regulations softened. Tech firms flexed. Governments hedged. And drivers, once again, were told it was all “for their own good”.

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BrownCarGuy November 2025 Round-Up: Classics, Controversies & Car Chaos

A packed month of veteran cars, EV scandals, Budget shocks, iconic reviews and a few gloriously unhinged podcasts

Winter’s coming. But activity ramped up. Events and stories came at me like a runaway HGV – overwhelming, yes, but also wildly entertaining if you’re into that sort of thing. One moment I was on Pall Mall admiring 120-year-old machines and chatting with Steve Berry; the next I was at the NEC drowning in classic temptation. And in between, I was unpacking everything from caffeine-fuelled driving dangers to copycat-turned-king Chinese car brands, New York’s anti-car Mayor, and a UK Budget that essentially confirmed: “The end of driving is nigh.”

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When the Years Catch Up: A Birthday Reflection

A raw, witty confession about relevance, resilience and refusing to be scrapped, even when the suspension’s a bit knackered and the engine is spluttering!

Gotta be honest. I’m starting to feel it. It’s my birthday today. I’m 57 years old. Five, seven. Fifty-seven. How did that happen? When? Surely that’s an admin error. A typo someone forgot to correct.

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BCG Therapy Podcast: Remembering Quentin Willson: A Personal Tribute to a Motoring Giant

A personal tribute to Quentin Willson, filled with memories, gratitude and the stories that show why he mattered so much to car people everywhere

Some news knocks the wind out of you, even when you don’t expect it to. The passing of Quentin Willson did exactly that. A motoring journalist, consumer champion, former Top Gear presenter, and one of the sharpest, driest voices ever to grace British car culture. For many of us, he wasn’t just part of the furniture – he built the room.

For me and Imthishan, the shock ran deeper because we’d spent a week with Quentin in December 2024 when we hosted him as a guest of the Mille Miglia. It meant we got to spend some time with him: conversations, long drives, and the sort of unexpected moments you only appreciate later. Now, looking back, that week feels very precious.

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The Future We Promised Ourselves – And Why We’re Not at Warp Yet

Shahzad Sheikh staring at the Starship Enterprise from a shuttlecraft window
I’ve always loved Star Trek for its vision of a hopeful, united, intelligent humanity. But as the USS Enterprise prepares to warp into the future, I can’t help but wonder – have we stranded ourselves in the past?

Stardate: Right-Here-Right-Now

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved Star Trek. Not because of the phasers, photon torpedoes, or the occasional red-shirt casualty (though let’s be honest, those were fun too). No – it was the future it promised. A future built on intellect, compassion, curiosity, and progress. A future where humanity finally grew up, stopped arguing about nonsense, cured disease, ended hunger, explored the stars – and had the decency to put cup holders on shuttlecraft.

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BrownCarGuy October Round-Up: Scandals, Supercars & 10 Million Fines

From EV world records to yellow-box chaos, Mazda’s electric comeback to the potential end of classic car tax exemptions – October was a rollercoaster for motoring news, reviews, rants, and revelations

October was a month where the motoring world felt like it had one foot on the throttle and the other in a pothole. We had political mayhem, performance miracles, tech scandals, nostalgic deep dives and a few hearty laughs along the way. Whether you’re here for honest reviews, shocking truths, or a dose of car culture therapy – I’ve rounded up my best videos, blogs, and podcasts from the past month. Buckle up!

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Ageing Out or Levelling Up? Why Older Workers Still Matter

Approaching 57, I ask if age really sidelines us – or if experience, insight and resilience make older workers more essential than ever

In just a couple of months, I’ll be 57 years old. And honestly? Some days, I feel it. The knees creak more than they used to, the waistline’s trying to sneak past the speed limit, and let’s not even mention how often I forget what I came into the room for.

Now… where was I? Oh yes… Professionally, too, the landscape has shifted. There’s less work floating around, fewer calls coming in, and a niggling voice that asks: maybe I’ve had my time. Maybe I really am edging towards my sell-by date.

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Britain’s New Wave of Racism: Why It Feels Like the 70s Again

From doomscrolling into the late hours to reliving the scars of the 70s, I can’t help but fear that the immigration debate has unleashed a wave of newly emboldened racism

It’s 3 AM and I can’t sleep. I’m doom-scrolling – and I literally mean doom. The algorithm has me in its prickly, unyielding grasp. Not showing me what I love or what inspires me, but what I fear. What I worry about.

Racism. Rage. Riots. Rampage. Right-winged rants.

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Bye Bye Boxster!

Farewell to the Porsche 718 – Why We’ll Miss the Boxster & Cayman

It seems 2025 has become the year of goodbyes. Not to friends or family, thankfully, but to some truly iconic cars that shaped the modern motoring landscape. Recently, I waved off the Nissan GT-R, then the Honda Civic Type R. And now, with a lump in the throat and perhaps a tear in the eye, it’s time to say farewell to the Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman. This is one that hits hard.

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