#BrownCarGuy – News, Views & Reviews!
It’s been a long time coming, but I finally got my hands on the all-new MG Cyberster GT – and yes, it was worth the wait. I missed the launch, missed the press events, nearly missed this drive too, thanks to a temporarily closed track at Millbrook. But I’m stubborn (or mildly obsessive), and I wasn’t going to leave until I got my go behind the wheel of what is arguably the most important sports car of recent times!
There are many questions in life for which we have thus far failed to find a satisfactory answer. For example: why does toast always land butter-side down? Or what precisely is the purpose of a rubber chicken? And most pertinently on this occasion, what happens when you take a classic Fiat 500 – a car only marginally larger than a ripe melon – and stuff it full of EV batteries and magnets instead of a noisy two-pot and Italian expletives?
Sometimes a car doesn’t need to scream to make a statement. It just needs to show up with a cheeky grin, a bit of charm, and enough clever thinking to stand out in a sea of lookalike electric boxes.
I don’t often say this about electric cars, but I’ve been waiting to try this one for a while. Ever since Renault first dropped images of a retro-fabulous concept that looked like it’d teleported straight from a 1970s disco into a new Star Trek movie (The Roads of Khan!), I’ve been itching to tickle its torque and see if the drive matches the desire.
The 2024 Volkswagen Golf GTE is a plug-in hybrid that’s as much about efficiency as it is about delivering a fun drive. Think of it as a Golf GTI, that’s actually a hybrid, and that can drive over 80 miles on electric power alone! Finished in a pastel egg-shell (or Crystal Ice if you’re being official) Blue, this GTE looks the part with subtle blue accents on the grille and badging, setting it apart from its petrol-powered siblings. But is it just another Golf with a plug, or does it bring something special to the table? Let’s take it for a spin and find out.
The 2024 Volkswagen Golf R Estate – yes, estate. Why not? It’s like the ultimate Q-car Golf. Seemingly a practical family load-lugger. But oh boy, are you in for a treat if you floor that throttle!
This is the all-new second-generation MG ZS, tested here in Hybrid+ form in the top-of-the-range Trophy spec. Slightly bigger, with more features, and prices only up by around £1,000, it remains a competitive B-segment SUV.
Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting BYD’s new UK headquarters in Uxbridge, where I got up close and personal with their latest models. Among the range was the BYD Seal, which I’d previously reviewed in its all-wheel-drive (AWD) form. This time, though, I had the chance to take the rear-wheel-drive (RWD) version for a spin. Is the RWD variant just as good, or does the AWD offer something more? Let’s dive in and find out.
The Volvo EX30 is the baby SUV in the Swedish brand’s electric SUV lineup, and it’s making quite a statement. Billed as a compact crossover, it offers a blend of stylish design, advanced technology, and the kind of practicality we’ve come to expect from Volvo. Plus of course, solid quality and assured safety. But with a starting price of £33,795, can it really deliver on all fronts? I got behind the wheel of the Single Motor Extended Range RWD Ultra, priced at £42,045, to find out.
MG is truly on a roll, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and marking it with the launch of several new cars, including their UK best-seller, the all-new 2025 MG HS. With over 57,000 units sold in the UK alone, the MG HS is now the eighth best-selling car in the country this year. This isn’t just a facelift; it’s a full-blown second-generation model based closely on the Chinese third-gen Roewe RX5 introduced in 2022.
