Volkswagen sponsored garden took Gold at Bloom

Volkswagen celebrated a Gold medal at this year's Bloom garden festival in The Phoenix Park. And there wasn't a car in sight, writes Trish Whelan.

The carmaker had sponsored the 'Think Blue' show garden which took gold in the Large Garden Category on the first day of the show.

A wonderful achievement considering there was a total of 27 gardens competing for prizes in the various categories during the show.

The VW 'Think Blue' garden was designed by Jane McCorkell; the contractor was Mark Alan Landscapes Ltd.

Besides the stunning garden with its waterway, reclining area and colourful flowerbeds, a very special exhibit was proudly displayed on its own pedestal - the Heineken Cup won recently by the Leinster Rugby Football team which is sponsored by Volkswagen.

Mini Coupe is first Mini 2-seater

Mini is expanding its family with the Mini Coupe geared to maximising driving fun.

It is the first two-seater in the Mini line-up and has a unique body and interior concept. It also focuses on delivering optimum performance, giving the brand's hallmark go-kart feeling a whole new depth of intensity.

Available with four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines in the UK, we'll have to wait for Irish engines, specifications and price. In the UK, the range includes the 122hp of the Mini Cooper Coupe to the Cooper SD Coupe 143hp and the Cooper S Coupe 184hp, all the way up to the John Cooper Works Coupe, a thoroughbred athlete producing 211hp.

Average fuel consumption for the petrol engine is 5.4 L/100km or 52.3mpg, C02 emissions are 127g/km, and the car can accelerate from 0-100km/h in 9.0 seconds. Top speed is 127mph.

The 143hp diesel takes 7.9 seconds for the 0-100km/h trip and has a top speed of 134mph, and has a C02 of 114g/km.

Motorexpo at Canary Wharf

Going across to the UK this week? If so, you might make time to go to the 2011 Motorexpo at a 97-acre, privately-run London's Canary Wharf estate which officially opened to the public yesterday.

This is the UK's largest free-to-visit motoring event, so no tickets and no queues. OVer 400,000 people are expected to attend.

The record number of car manufacturers this year include Bentley, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Saab, Skoda, Tesia, Vauxhall and Volvo.

In all, you can see over 250 vehicles on display among them models such as the new Jaguar XF, Bentley Continental GT and Range Rover Evoque, all making their UK public debuts.

The proceedings got underway yesterday with a cavalcade of 50 Jaguar E-Types travelling between central London and Canary Wharf, marking 50 years of the iconic sports car. The car became one of the most acclaimed and desirable sports cars of all time. The convoy was organised by the Jaguar Drivers' Club in the UK.

The show closes on Sunday 12 June.

Two more wins for Chevrolet in Hungary!

There's just no stopping the Chevrolet team as their Cruzes collected two more wins in Budapest yesterday and improved their tally to an impressive seven wins out of the eight races held so far.

The first visit by WTCC to the Hungaroring saw huge crowds flocking to the track, cheering for home boy Norbert Michelisz.

Alain Menu took a flag to win in Race 1 while Yvan Muller and Rob Huff scored a 1-2 in the second race. With these results, both Chevrolet and Rob Huff stay firmly in command of the Manufacturers' and Drivers' overall standings.

Race 2 was much more chaotic. Because of a torrential downpour the Race Director red flagged the race for half an hour.

Boston, where they like their superlatives

"It seems the only planning stipulation was that the streets be wide enough to accommodate a pregnant cow."

The ability to tell stories is the primary requirement to work in Boston's tourism industry — that line above is about the city's Italian quarter on the North End (which is not the picture above it), writes Brian Byrne. And it seems to me that there must be a training school which teaches them the stories, because you keep hearing similar ones from different guides, trolley drivers and cruise couriers.

Which is fair enough, I guess. It's a compact city, with a compact history both in its depth of years and its geographical area. And things happened fast — the gaining of independence from the British Crown took only eight years from the time the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed from the balcony of what is now known as the Old State House in 1776. 

Return of Summer Rallycross to Mondello Park

Both the UK Rallycross Championship, and Summer Rallycross, are welcomed back to Mondello Park on Sunday 12th June with the staging of round 3 of the 2011 Quaife MSA British Rallycross Championship by the County Kildare Motor Club, writes Fergus Brennan.

A massive ninety car entry is expected to take to the grid with the spectacular Rallycross Supercars heading the bill, supported by a very healthy grid of Supermodified cars, the first appearance in Ireland of the RX150 Buggies and the Irish début of the Suzuki Swift one-make series. To celebrate the return of the series to Ireland, Mondello Park is offering Adult admission for just €10, with under sixteen’s free of charge. In addition groups travelling together can make even bigger savings with a car full of spectators gaining entry for just €30.

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Advice on preventing driver fatigue

This June weekend will see a lot of motorists driving much longer distances than normal.

The AA is warning drivers to watch out for Ireland's latest road killer - fatigue. It's ironic that the fact that our roads are now much better (and safer overall) actually makes drivers more vulnerable to fatigue.

The advice is to share the driving if you can with no one spending more than two hours at the wheel without a break.

Also ensure you get adequate sleep before driving; ask your GP if any prescribed medication you are taking can affect your driving. You should remember that daytime drowsiness can be a side effect of non prescription medications like hay fever and cole and flu medicines which may contain antihistamines.

Try to avoid heavy meals and any alcohol before driving.

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Road Test: Lexus CT200h

The new and smallest Lexus on the Irish market is something of a conundrum, writes Brian Byrne. But I'll come back to that later.

The CT200h is the brand's latest hybrid car. It is also the first premium hybrid hatchback.

It is, of course, economical. As hybrids are in petrol car relative terms.

And, being a Lexus, it is finished to a high luxury standard.

(Review continues after the ads)

Volkswagen launches Irish Exclusive Golf Edition-R

Volkswagen Ireland have added the special Golf Edition-R to the legendary Golf range with prices from €21,995. It is exclusively available to Irish drivers, writes Trish Whelan.

The 6th generation Golf is a favourite with Irish drivers and with only a select number of the Golf Edition-R available, it will be an exclusive addition to Irish roads.

The new addition to the hatchback sits between the Comfortline and Highline specifications.

Standard features include 16-inch alloy wheels, multifunction display, Bluetooth connectivity plus R design sports styling pack, together with fog lights and RCD 510 Touchscreen radio with 6-CD changer and Aux-in MP3 player as standard.

Electric car charging now on Irish Ferries routes

ESB ecars and Irish Ferries have launched onboard charge points on the Dublin-Holyhead and Rosslare-Cherbourg/Roscoff routes which means electric and hybrid car travel to Britain and France is now possible.

Motorists can now access this free service during the crossing so that their cars are charged by the time they reach their destination. These charge points are operational on the Ulysses and Oscar Wilde Irish Ferries' vessels and will be extended to the rest of the fleet.

The development extends the horizon for electric car and hybrid motorists who can now recharge their electric car as they travel into and out of Ireland.

Paul Mulvaney, Managing Director ESB ecars and Daragh O'Reilly, Marketing Manager Irish Ferries, are pictured above at the launch of the onboard charge point on the Dublin-Holyhead cruise ferry 'Ulysses' in Dublin Port yesterday.

Ford reclaims top spot in May car market

As car sales increased by 10.4 percent last month on the same period last year, Ford reclaimed its number one position as the country's best-selling car brand, according to statistics from the Society for the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI).

Total sales in the month rose to 9,471 units versus 8,580 for May 2010. Ford, with 1,561 cars, or 16.5 percent market share, was the most popular brand, ahead of Volkswagen on 13.2 percent and Renault on 10.9 percent.

In addition to winning the top placed car brand in sales last month, Ford's Focus range with sales of 823 units was the top-selling model in Ireland.

In the commercial vehicle sector, sales rose by 75 percent to 1,277 units on the same period last year. However, this healthy increase was influenced by higher taxation changes (that came into effect for the sector from 1st June).

Fiat Ireland take over Chrysler and Jeep

FIAT Group Automobiles Ireland took control of the sales, distribution, marketing and aftersales service of the Chrysler and Jeep brands in Ireland on 1st June.

The first vehicles to go on sale here will be the all-new Jeep Grand Cherokee, new Jeep Compass and the revised Jeep Wrangler, as well as the Chrysler Voyager MPV, all of which are scheduled to arrive before the end of the month. The Chrysler Delta will follow in September and the all-new Chrysler Ypsilon is due in October.

The Chrysler and Jeep sales network currently comprises six dealerships. These are Alasta Autos in Dublin; McGuigan Motors in Monaghan (also appointed a Fiat main dealer in FEbruary); TP Waters in Kildare; McCarthy Motorpoint in Cork; Clareview Motors in Limerick; and Cunningham Higgins in Galway.

Suzuki add new 1.3 diesel to the Swift range

Suzuki have added a new Band A, 1.3, diesel model to the Swift range, writes Trish Whelan.

The new 75PS engine offers low emissions of just 109g/km with combined fuel consumption of 4.2 litres/100kms or 67.3mpg, giving an estimated driving range of around 1,000kms which will be appreciated by motorists in the current economic climate.

The new Swift DDiS is available for €17,500 as a five door GLX model. It has as standard seven airbags, ESP, air conditioning, 16-inch alloy wheels, a USB port and heated electric door mirrors.

The Euro 5 emissions turbo charged engine is now smoother and more responsive than before with maximum torque of 190Nm from just 1,750rpm and a 0-100km/h time of 12.7 seconds. It offers an eight per cent improvement in fuel consumption than the 1.3 diesel used in the previous Swift.

Launched last September, the Swift range with Dual VVT 1.2 petrol engine starts from €13,650 for the three door GL up to €17,550 for the five door GLX with automatic transmission. The petrol engine with manual transmission model are 116g/km making it one of the cleanest compact superminis on sale.

Most drivers won't give a lift to a hitch hiker

Three times as many males as females would be willing to pick up a hitch hiker, according to a poll by the AA as part of its Summer Driving Week.

Around 13,000 drivers took part in the poll based on topical summer driving issues. These included attitudes towards hitch hikers, accepting roadside assistance from a stranger, preparing for car journeys and whether fuel prices were impacting their domestic holiday plans.

Positively 84.7 percent said they will inspect their car before heading off on long drives this summer. Some 61 percent said they would not give a lift to a hitch hiker, but 26.3 percent said they would consider it depending on the circumstances.

Half the women polled said they would accept help from a stranger if their car breaks down in an isolated location this summer. This figure was much higher among male respondents with 82.9 percent agreeing they would happily accept a helping hand. For motorists looking to avoid this dilemma, the AA is offering a discount of three months free off AA membership until 5th June.

Fuel prices are shaping the plans of a large number of motorists this summer with half of the drivers polled saying they will be cutting back on summer weekends away because of record high fuel prices.

AA reminds hay fever suffers to take care

With glorious weather and moderate to high pollen counts forecast for this weekend, the AA is reminding hay fever sufferers to take preventative action to manage their allergies while driving this June bank holiday.

In the AA's latest motoring poll, 27.7 percent of the 3,700 hay fever sufferers surveyed indicated that the symptoms of their hay fever, primarily constant sneezing and watering eyes, has affected their ability to concentrate while driving. One even admitted to scraping another vehicle during a sneezing fit while reversing.

The AA advise those afflicted to take non drowsy hay fever medication in advance of a journey, to wear sun glasses, keep your windows rolled up and to use the air conditioning to filter out pollen particles. They also suggest, if needed, to pull over somewhere safe until your sneezing attack has passed, and if possible, to ask someone else to do the driving.

Renault car sales gain 9.5 percent market share

Renault's passenger car sales have gained a 9.5 percent market share year to date.

In the combined passenger and Light Commercial Vehicle market, Renault is still performing well at number four, with 9.9 percent of the market, up on the same time last year. Its LCV range has a 13.4 percent of the overall LCV market.

The brand says those interested in availing of the Government scrappage initiative should make a move as the scheme ends at the end of this month. Buyers can still benefit from the double scrappage offer from Renault, extended to 02 and 03 drivers.

New passenger vehicle registrations up by 9 percent

Latest registration statistics released by Motorcheck.ie show new passenger vehicle registrations at 65,686, up by 9 percent for year to date. These include saloon, hatchbacks, MPVs, jeeps, coupes, convertibles, crew cabs, buses and motor caravans.

Used passenger imports are down by the same percent to 17,113 from the start of January this year to the end of May.

There has been an increase in the number of new commercial vehicle registrations, up 8 percent at 8,936 for the first five months of this year. These include car and jeep derived vans, pick ups, vans, light commercials, HGVs and Agricultural tractors.

But it seems fewer are buying new motorbikes with only 591 registrations in the same period, down by 15 percent on the same period in 2010.

MG's Chinese owners target Europe

The Chinese owners of the MG sports car brand plan to invest heavily and launch new models to grow MG around the world, with Europe being the main target market.

Shanghai-based parent, SAIC Motor Corp, owner of MG Motor UK, has already spent 1 billion pounds in resurrecting MG and its sister brand Roewe, formerly Rover, and will now spend another 2.2 billion pounds to boost MG and Roewe sales to 700,000 by 2015.

MG launched sales of the MG6 compact car in the UK, the first new car assembled at its Longbridge, England, plant in 16 years, in April. The model will go on sale in mainland Europe next year when a diesel engine is ready.

MG has a range of six new models at various stages of launch or development including the MG3 small hatchback, and the MG5 to compete against VW's Golf and Ford's Focus.

Motorcycle endurance race debut postponed

The return of Endurance Motorcycle Racing to Mondello Park has been postponed until September following the cancellation of this weekends planned race writes Fergus Brennan.

The endurance series, which will be for a range of production based race classes and running over a single four hour event, has been postponed until 25 September to allow interested competitors more time to prepare their machines for long distance racing.

A number of entries were received for the race and quite a number of competitors expressed interest but wanted more time to build a specific machine. The longer run-in to the Autumn race in September will allow for this and a good entry is expected.

Competitors wishing to get involved in endurance racing can find the event regulations in the competitor information section of the Mondello park web site www.mondellopark.ie

New anti drink driving law comes into force

New powers to allow Gardai to test drivers for the presence of alcohol at the scene of road traffic collisions come into force from today.

The measures require Gardai to conduct mandatory testing of drivers for alcohol at the scene of a crash where someone has been injured, or of a driver who has been injured and removed to hospital.

Noel Brett of the Road Safety Authority (RSA) says 'this measure is another important step towards removing the scourge of drink driving from our roads.' He believes it will save many lives and prevent many serious injuries.

He has praised the public for their change in attitudes and behaviour over the past decade as drinking and driving is now viewed by most people as anti social behaviour. Offenders risk a hefty fine and the loss of their driving licence for a length period if prosecuted.

The RSA is also appealing to road users in advance of the June Bank Holiday weekend to take extra care when using the roads and to also keep an eye out for farming machinery.

A total of 53 people have been killed and 116 seriously injured in June Bank Holiday crashes between 2000 and 2010. So far, 77 people have died on the roads to date this year, a decrease of 11 on the same period last year.

Ford in UK to release photo archives

To celebrate the centenary of Ford of Britain this year, the company is exploring its photo archive to reveal rarely seen images, writes Trish Whelan.

Thousands of Irish men found work building Ford vehicles in the UK in times past, and many will be interested in these specially selected pictures to be released each week.

In 1901, two years before the creation of the company that still bears his name, Henry Ford won his first race. The developments pioneered by Ford in motor racing have often translated into better production cars, with today's race cars benefitting from past experience.

This week's image is of the British-built Ford V8 Pilot taking part in the Monte Carlo Rally. With the standard car weighing in at nearly one and a half tons, the Pilot was hardly the ideal race car. But in an era before space-age alloys and super-strong plastics, it was the weight of the Pilot that made it robust enough to take victories in 1950 at the Tulip and Lisbon rallies.

Today, the strength needed to withstand the rigours of modern rallies can be achieved through careful design and lightweight materials.

Advanced engineering means that the power-to-weight ratio of the 2011 Ford Fiesta RS WRC far exceeds the Fords of 50 years ago, as illustrated by Jari-Matti Latvala taking to the air in the 2011 Rally Italia Sardegna.

Topaz scores in Europe

Topaz, the country's biggest fuels and convenience retailer, has been recognised as one of the Best Large Workplaces in Europe for the first time.

Topaz emerged in 14th position at a recent awards ceremony in Paris for the 25 top Best Large Workplaces in Europe.

Best Workplaces sets out to recognise the finest employers and the most satisfied workforces in Europe. With over 1,380 companies representing 1.5 million employees taking part, it is the largest employment survey of its type. There are separate categories for Multinationals and for Small and Medium Enterprises.

Paul Candon, Marketing and Corporate Servcices Director at Topaz said their employees are their greatest resource. Other Irish companies on the list included EMC, Bright Horizons, Boots, and Unicare.

Topaz came seventh in a list of Best Large Workplaces in Ireland earlier this year. It is one of Ireland's largest privately owned companies with annual turnover of €2.35 billion. It employs 1,300 people.