Review - What the electric MG 5 estate lacks in luxury it makes up for in price
4 HRS AGO - Mirror Motoring's Colin Goodwin says that in a torrid year for the car industry, MG was the Expand
4 HRS AGO - Mirror Motoring's Colin Goodwin says that in a torrid year for the car industry, MG was the fastest growing car brand - with spectacular sales for good reason Collapse
When manufacturers experiment: 10 cars that bucked the trend
1 DAY AGO - Down the years, many cars have been notably incongruous inside their makers’ showrooms. We pick Expand
1 DAY AGO - Down the years, many cars have been notably incongruous inside their makers’ showrooms. We pick out the best second-hand selections
To truly understand the appeal of cars like the Nissan Nismo GT-R, Toyota GR Yaris and Alpine A110, as we've just done in our three-way track visit seen elsewhere on this site, you have to consider their standing in their respective showrooms.
The GT-R, for example, can be found nestled between Micras and Qashqais; the GR Yaris jostles for forecourt space with the RAV4 and Prius; and to test-drive the A110, you might well have to shunt the odd Renault Mégane or Captur out of the way.
In short, all three cars share little more than a badge with their respective range-mates (or, in the case of the Alpine, not even that), and you have to imagine there were some accountants none too pleased that they ever got signed off.
Here are a few other automotive sore thumbs that we’re glad made it past the sensible sorts.
Ford RS200
Motorsport homologation is Collapse
Lamborghini Sian 2021 review
1 DAY AGO - Outrageous looks, huge performance, a surreal pricetag – and all sold out
The Aventador is Expand
1 DAY AGO - Outrageous looks, huge performance, a surreal pricetag – and all sold out
The Aventador is hardly a car for shrinking violets, so it’s no surprise that Lamborghini has opted to turn this special based on the same architecture up to 11 – and that’s on a scale that goes to 5. The Sián FKP 37 sits on the same floorpan and is powered by the same glorious naturally aspirated engine, but it gets bespoke bodywork and pioneering technology in the form of a supercapacitor hybrid system. Despite a €2.5 million (£2.2m) pre-tax price tag, the entire 63-car run of coupé has already been sold, as have the 19 roadsters that will follow it. The 48V electric element may win attention, but the 6.5-litre V12 remains the headline act. This is basically the same engine that powers the mighty Aventador SVJ but with a slight boost in output, taking peak power to a claimed 774bhp at 8500rpm – the highest yet for a road-going Lamborghini.The supercapacitor plays only a supporting role to this, but it’s an Collapse
Opinion: Using a PCP deal to take the worry out of buying an EV
2 DAYS AGO - With technology changing at an unprecedented rate, our man thinks car finance could be the way Expand
2 DAYS AGO - With technology changing at an unprecedented rate, our man thinks car finance could be the way forward
I’m a bit credit averse generally, but the EV’s coming of age has wiped away any lingering doubts about using PCP in my mind.
The rate of technical progress is mind-boggling. With charging speeds doubling, game-changing solid state batteries poised to come on the market and no doubt more around the corner we may not know about yet, today’s EV will be well behind the curve in three years, so who can really predict the rate of depreciation?
For the uninitiated, personal contract purchase (PCP) is one of the most popular ways of financing a car, usually involving a deposit, maybe with a ‘deposit contribution’ from a manufacturer as a sweetener, a fixed repayment term and agreed mileage.
At the end of the term there’s a guaranteed future value which means you can either hand it back, pay a final lump sum to own it outright, or re-finance the balance.
The guaranteed future value avoids Collapse
Formula 1 2021: Portugal GP returns to calendar to follow Imola
2 DAYS AGO - Ongoing pandemic forces changes to race calendar, with Portugal filling final gap
Formula 1 Expand
2 DAYS AGO - Ongoing pandemic forces changes to race calendar, with Portugal filling final gap
Formula 1 bosses have filled the final remaining gap in the 2021 season schedule with a return to Portugal's Portimão circuit on 2 May.
The Portuguese GP will follow two weeks after the Emilia Romagna GP at Imola, also returning to the calendar for a second time in 2021 after featuring in Formula 1's heavily revised 2020 season. Imola is standing in for the Chinese GP.
The Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, which had been due to host the 2021 Formula 1 season-opener in March, has been delayed until later in the year, due to the pandemic. At time of postponement, Australia had very low rates of the coronavirus, but with cases increasing elsewhere, officials asked for the race to be pushed back to later in the year. It will now run from 18-21 November and the F1 race season will start in Bahrain on 28 March.
The 2020 Australian GP was cancelled just hours before practice on the Albert Park street Collapse
Buy them before we do: second-hand picks for 3 March
2 DAYS AGO - If you want a simple estate, look elsewhere, but for those who value executive looks and Expand
2 DAYS AGO - If you want a simple estate, look elsewhere, but for those who value executive looks and people-carrier credentials, a Merc R320 should be considered
Stretched people-carrier meets executive saloon: that was the Mercedes-Benz R-Class of 2006-13. If you wanted a simple estate, there was the E-Class, but the R-Class put passengers first, with six huge seats as standard (seven from 2010), lots of kit and impressive refinement.
Diesel power dominated sales (not surprising, given the 2270kg kerb weight), with the R320 CDi being the most popular version. Standard gear included four-wheel drive, a seven-speed automatic gearbox, braking assistance, climate control and automatic headlights and wipers. Sport added 19in alloys, Alcantara sports seats and aluminium details.
It may put passengers first but, like most MPVs, the R-Class has little room for luggage when all seats are occupied. On the upside, with all the rear seats folded down, there’s 2385 litres of load space to play with.
The Collapse
Opinion: Can Magnussen win in sports cars after a struggle in F1?
2 DAYS AGO - Magnussen scored just one point in 18 races last season
Kevin Magnussen is optimistic about his Expand
2 DAYS AGO - Magnussen scored just one point in 18 races last season
Kevin Magnussen is optimistic about his prospects in moving to IMSA and WEC endurance racing
He arrived in Formula 1 with McLaren, tipped as a future star, and took a stunning podium in his first race. Sounds like the debut that leads to the all-time wins record, right? Sadly for Kevin Magnussen, the parallels between his F1 career and Sir Lewis Hamilton’s end there.
That amazing second wasn’t the first of many podiums for the Dane; it was his only one. Instead, he spent seven years battling in the midfield, his combative race-craft hinting at his untapped potential.
The trouble was he wasn’t alone in that respect. All drivers can do is show their skills as best they can with the car they have while waiting for an opportunity. It can be done: take Sergio Pérez, who turned a super season for Racing Point into a Red Bull seat. But for every Pérez, there are many Magnussens.
F1 drivers are stubborn, dedicated types, flush with Collapse
Porsche considering two-door and convertible Taycan variants
2 DAYS AGO - Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo
Electric sports car range could expand beyond saloon and Cross Expand
2 DAYS AGO - Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo
Electric sports car range could expand beyond saloon and Cross Turismo; lower-slung estate also possible
Porsche could follow up the new Taycan Cross Turismo with two-door, convertible and low-slung estate versions of its flagship performance EV, according to product boss Stefan Weckbach.
Weckbach revealed that Porsche is discussing additional bodystyles of the Taycan to follow the original sports saloon and new rugged estate version. The new variants being considered include a less off-road-oriented estate based on the Cross Turismo but without the 20mm suspension lift, protective bodykit and Gravel Mode.
Such a model would be conceived as an electric alternative to the Panamera Sport Turismo, an estate version of Porsche’s ICE sports saloon, and would likely share that model’s moniker.
“I can't tell you today if we are really going for something like that,” Weckbach said, but he added that “the platform is perfect for future additional product ideas, Collapse
Geely and Mercedes-Benz to show Smart electric SUV concept
3 DAYS AGO - Smart brand's largest model yet will be previewed with a concept in September before launching in Expand
3 DAYS AGO - Smart brand's largest model yet will be previewed with a concept in September before launching in 2022
Mercedes-Benz and its Chinese partner Geely plan to reveal a concept version of the upcoming Smart electric SUV at the Munich motor show in September.
The new five-door model, known under the internal codename HX11, is the first model to be jointly developed by Mercedes and Geely, which each own a 50% stake in the urban EV brand, now based in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. It's planned to go on sale in 2022.
Details remain under wraps, but a posting on Linkedin by Daniel Lescow, Smart's vice-president of global sales, confirmed the existence of plans for the SUV, which will be based on Geely’s new SEA electric car architecture.
Lescow wrote: "It may come as a surprise to some: Smart will enter the market with a fully electric SUV - spacious yet compact. This will be the first vehicle of the joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and Geely, due out in 2022, built in China."
Comparable Collapse
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Middle management: Revisiting the Renault Clio V6
8 HRS AGO - Phase 2 banished the waywardness but still focuses the mind
If you thought Renault building a Expand
8 HRS AGO - Phase 2 banished the waywardness but still focuses the mind
If you thought Renault building a bespoke sports coupé was admirably maverick, how about it beefing up its supermini and replacing the rear seats with a V6?
Not many cars possess the capacity to really cheese me off, which is probably a good thing. But the first mid-engined Renault Clio V6, launched 20 years ago, managed exactly that.
It was like finally scoring your dream date, sitting down to dinner in a posh restaurant and then watching them launch into a stout defence of Donald Trump while casually picking their nose. Because of the enormous disparity between how you imagined the encounter might progress and how it actually did, you end up far more disappointed with your evening than had you just stopped off at the local for a swift half with a tedious colleague.
It was all there: an extraordinary appearance and a mid-mounted 3.0-litre V6 developed by TWR, the same bunch of people who had won two of three previous Le Collapse
Out of character cars: Nissan Nismo GT-R vs Toyota GR Yaris vs Alpine A110
1 DAY AGO - The original A110 may be the icon, but the A310 is the best-selling Alpine of all time
Nissan Expand
1 DAY AGO - The original A110 may be the icon, but the A310 is the best-selling Alpine of all time
Nissan committing to a Ferrari slayer, Toyota making a homologation special for the ages and Renault reviving Alpine for a Porsche rival? We just had to celebrate them
These are the cars that shouldn’t exist. The ones for which any sane chief financial officer would have seen the research-and-development costs versus potential sales, then immediately told the engineers to go away and build an SUV, please.
Which is all the more reason to celebrate why they do exist. With the looming 2030 ban on new ICE car sales, ever-tighter emissions regulations and squeezed bottom lines, such cars feel like they have finite life left in them. Because not only do they go against the zeitgeist, but they also go against the flow of the companies that build them.
The Toyota GR Yaris hails from a firm whose most numerous car is the Corolla – an entirely worthy machine, but not one you will tell your grandkids you Collapse
Skoda sales boss Alain Favey heads to Bentley
1 DAY AGO - Favey, who has served with Porsche, Volkswagen and Skoda, will oversee Bentley launches under Expand
1 DAY AGO - Favey, who has served with Porsche, Volkswagen and Skoda, will oversee Bentley launches under Beyond100 plan
Skoda sales and marketing boss Alain Favey will move to fellow Volkswagen Group brand Bentley later this year to replace Chris Craft in the same role.
Favey, whose career with the VW Group stretches back to 2009 and includes stints at Volkswagen, Porsche and Skoda, will oversee product launches from the British luxury brand from June as it progresses with its Beyond100 electrification strategy.
Most recently, Favey oversaw the launch of the new Enyaq iV - Skoda's first bespoke electric production vehicle - and it was Favey who revealed to Autocar that future variants, including the already seen coupé version, are inbound.
Previously, Favey served as head of European sales for Volkswagen cars, before becoming CEO of Porsche Holding Salzburg - the largest car distributor in Europe.
Craft – who is retiring following a long career with the Volkswagen Group, during which he has Collapse
New Volkswagen Trinity project is radical EV flagship for 2026
2 DAYS AGO - 2026 production version of Trinity will be similar size and shape to Arteon
Wolfsburg is Expand
2 DAYS AGO - 2026 production version of Trinity will be similar size and shape to Arteon
Wolfsburg is readying a bespoke platform for high-tech Project Trinity, which will 'democratise' autonomous driving
Volkswagen’s new ‘Project Trinity’ flagship model will arrive in 2026 as a cutting-edge electric vehicle offering autonomous driving and introducing a ‘radical’ new business model, with most functions offered as downloadable services.
The forthcoming EV has been described previously as a “highly efficient flat-seat concept with an iconic design” and a teaser image shown as part of a VW presentation suggests it will take the form of a swooping saloon similar to the Arteon.
The machine will be built on VW’s advanced new Project Trinity electric architecture , which will use elements from the VW Group’s MEB platform, but with new powertrains and advanced software. That will enable it to offer substantially more advanced systems, both in terms of driving technology and connectivity.
Project Collapse
Volkswagen sales to be more than 70% electric in Europe by 2030
2 DAYS AGO - CEO Ralf Brandstätter doubles previous electrification target and pledges ramp-up in autonomous Expand
2 DAYS AGO - CEO Ralf Brandstätter doubles previous electrification target and pledges ramp-up in autonomous tech development
Volkswagen will further accelerate its electrification plans, with boss Ralf Brandstätter pledging that more than 70% of the firm’s cars sold in Europe will be fully electric by 2030 - double the firm’s previous target.
The firm had previously pledged that 35% of the Volkswagen brand’s sales would be of full EVs in Europe by the end of the decade, but Brandstatter said it was time to ramp up that target to make it “the most attractive brand for sustainable mobility.”
Volkswagen has also vowed that more than 50% of its sales in the US and China will be fully electric by 2030, and Brandstatter said the firm will also invest heavily in developing its software and digital technology - including autonomous driving systems.
Brandstatter said that “autonomous driving will be experienceable for many people by 2030”, adding: “This technology must not become the privilege of the Collapse
UK electric car ownership jumped 53% in 2020
2 DAYS AGO - New RAC report suggests number of privately owned EVs rose by nearly 30,000 in the 12 months to Expand
2 DAYS AGO - New RAC report suggests number of privately owned EVs rose by nearly 30,000 in the 12 months to September
Private registrations of pure-electric vehicles surged by 53.3% nationwide in the 12 months to September 2020, according to the RAC, but there are stark regional differences in EV uptake across the UK.
Nearly 30,000 more full EVs were sold to private buyers during the 12 months than in the same period the year before. At the end of the period, some 86,130 EVs were in private hands while 86,387 - nearly exactly the same number - were registered by companies.
"This is a 150% increase compared to a year earlier," noted the RAC, "a clear indication of the rising popularity of electric vehicles among companies and something that is vital for the future health of the second-hand EV market."
The figures reveal which areas of the UK saw the sharpest and slowest EV uptake rates during the 12-month period, with five London boroughs - Barking and Dagenham, Waltham Forest, Newham, Sutton Collapse
Alpina XB7 2021 UK review
2 DAYS AGO - Packs huge power and impressive luxury credentials, but does it justify hefty price jump from BMW Expand
2 DAYS AGO - Packs huge power and impressive luxury credentials, but does it justify hefty price jump from BMW X7 M50i?
If you, like me, have an unhealthy and somewhat embarrassing fondness for the monstrosity that is the BMW X7 M50i, Alpina’s take - the XB7 - should be right up your alley.Lordy, it’s a big boy: hardly a car that’s best suited to a more incognito style of transport. The standard X7 is already a fairly potent exercise in excess, but with its enormous optional 23in rims (the largest yet fitted to an Alpina), an extended body kit, those trademark Deco lines and a set of quad exhausts, the XB7 is better described as a monolithic celebration of four-wheeled opulence. Sure, it doesn’t quite take things to Rolls-Royce Cullinan levels, but I still can’t help but respect its ridiculousness.In addition to all that new exterior finery, the regular X7 M50i’s mechanical hardware has also been Alpinafied to bring it up to XB7 specification. Buchloe has strapped a brace of larger Collapse
New 2021 Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo is rugged EV estate
2 DAYS AGO - New electric Porsche is roomier and rides higher than the saloon, but still packs up to Expand
2 DAYS AGO - New electric Porsche is roomier and rides higher than the saloon, but still packs up to 751bhp
The Taycan Cross Turismo is an estate-shaped and off-road-ready take on Porsche’s first electric car, promising heightened versatility over the saloon.
Available to order now ahead of deliveries beginning this summer, the Cross Turismo is essentially a production-ready version of bold Mission E Cross Turismo concept, which was described at its unveiling in 2018 as a “cross utility vehicle”.
Most obvious among the raft of modifications for the new model, which Autocar has already driven in prototype form, is an extended roofline, which gives 47mm of extra head room in the rear seats and a maximum luggage capacity of more than 1200 litres – around the same as the Volkswagen Golf hatchback.
The upright tailgate design can optionally accommodate a bespoke bike rack, too, and Porsche has designed a new roofbox that’s rated for use at speeds of up to 124mph.
In line with its off-road Collapse
Opinion: Esteban Ocon is a dark horse for the 2021 F1 season
3 DAYS AGO - Ocon finished second in the penultimate race of 2020...
Alonso's return, Renault's rebranding Expand
3 DAYS AGO - Ocon finished second in the penultimate race of 2020...
Alonso's return, Renault's rebranding and a year out conspired against him, but he's full of confidence again
Such is the excitement over Fernando Alonso’s return to Formula 1 after two years out that it has overshadowed even his team’s rebranding.
The Renault team with which the 39-year-old won titles way back in 2005 and 2006 is now Alpine, then, but what of its other driver?
It wasn’t so long ago that 24-year-old Frenchman Esteban Ocon was being touted as the next big thing. Rare among high-level racing drivers in not coming from a wealthy background (his father is a garage-owning mechanic in a Normandy village), he was supported through the junior ranks by Mercedes.
Winning the Formula 3 title in 2014 and then the GP3 title in 2015, he was sent to DTM and then parachuted mid-2016 into the Mercedes-powered Manor F1 team. There he put in some impressive performances in the slowest car on the grid, earning him a seat at Collapse
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Why the Suzuki Ignis is the ultimate everyday hero
8 HRS AGO - Cropley reckons the Ignis is an understated champ
An unassuming multi-purpose city car that’s Expand
8 HRS AGO - Cropley reckons the Ignis is an understated champ
An unassuming multi-purpose city car that’s greater than the sum of its parts. We reluctantly hand back the keys after three months behind the wheel
The Suzuki Ignis slipped into our lives in a quiet, friendly sort of way late last year. I can’t remember the details of its arrival except that a helpful driver dropped it off in our locked-down Gloucestershire driveway one happy afternoon early last November.
It was the first fruit of a request that I had put to Suzuki’s people to try a few of their cars (it pays to stay up to date in our racket). We started with the slightly off-the-wall SZ5 4x4, because I’ve always liked affordable cars that do a lot with a little and especially stand apart from the mainstream rather than making up the numbers in some amorphous ‘sector’.
Up to that time, I had spent only an hour or two in an Ignis, but I already had an oddly close relationship with the car. When it was unveiled at the 2015 Tokyo Collapse
The Mercedes EQA is more underwhelming than electrifying
1 DAY AGO - Here to take on the BMW iX3 and Volvo XC40, the EQA ticks the boxes and but still comes up short
Gordon Shedden replaces Dan Cammish at Honda BTCC team
2 DAYS AGO - Three-time BTCC champ Gordon Shedden rejoins Team Dynamics squad, taking Dan Cammish's Expand
2 DAYS AGO - Three-time BTCC champ Gordon Shedden rejoins Team Dynamics squad, taking Dan Cammish's seat
Gordon Shedden has been confirmed as Dan Cammish's replacement in the Team Dynamics squad in this year’s British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), leaving the Honda team to find one further driver before the season starts.
Shedden, a 48-race winner in the tin top series and the champion in 2012, 2015 and 2016, previously left Dynamics at the end of the 2017 season to pursue his World Touring Car ambitions.
Racing with the Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team, Shedden hasn't enjoyed the same level of success as he experienced in his BTCC career, finishing 13th and 26th overall in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
The Shedden/Cammish switch is a welcome bit of good news for the BTCC, welcoming back one of its star drivers and someone who is likely to compete at the sharp end of the grid.
Cammish's plans remain unclear. In a statement released by the team, Cammish held out the possibility of returning in Collapse
Volkswagen to launch entry-level ID electric car after 2025
2 DAYS AGO - MEB-based small EV would serve as replacement for the e-Up
'MEB-Lite' platform will be used for Expand
2 DAYS AGO - MEB-based small EV would serve as replacement for the e-Up
'MEB-Lite' platform will be used for supermini and crossover EV duo with £17,000 start price
Volkswagen CEO Ralf Brandstätter says the firm is fully committed to producing a small electric ‘people’s car’, with a target starting price of around £17,000, as part of its fast-growing ID range.
The German firm is currently rolling out a number of electric-only models on the Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform, starting with the ID 3 hatch and ID 4 crossover will go on sale early next year. In a new roadmap detailed today, Brandstätter revealed that Volkswagen will launch "at least" one new EV per year, starting with the China-only ID 6 in 2022, the ID 5 coupé-crossover in 2023 and the ID Buzz MPV in 2024.
The 'Aero-B', an electric estate based on the ID Vizzion saloon concept, will arrive in 2025, followed by the long-mooted entry car, believed to be badged ID 1.
Volkswagen continues to invest heavily in developing its electric Collapse
Hyundai i20
2 DAYS AGO - Hyundai turns on the style – just a little – for its third-generation Polo chaser
The Hyundai i20 Expand
2 DAYS AGO - Hyundai turns on the style – just a little – for its third-generation Polo chaser
The Hyundai i20 has proven that, for the time being at least, a meat- and-potatoes kind of supermini can sell well even in style- savvy Europe.Seven years ago, when we road-tested the previous version, we concluded that it was a competent, practical and versatile kind of small car, albeit a dry and anonymous one. Forgettable or not, however, it was good enough to sneak beyond 100,000 units per year in Europe in 2017 and consistently to do even better than that in India, which has become its biggest market.Now, as the third-generation i20 enters production in Turkey, Hyundai defines this car’s core attributes – quality, reliability and practicality – as ones that seem familiar for their worthiness of flavour. And yet the ambition and new-found confidence driving this model forwards is tentatively but plainly growing.Having decided, nearly a decade ago, that the best way to deliver greater space was Collapse
Volkswagen Golf 2021 long-term review
2 DAYS AGO - With its blend of the present and the future, is this still the perfectly balanced car?
Why we’re Expand
2 DAYS AGO - With its blend of the present and the future, is this still the perfectly balanced car?
Why we’re running it: To find out if the Mk8 Golf remains the world’s most rounded family hatch
Month 1 - Specs
Life with a VW Golf: Month 1
Welcoming the Golf to the fleet - 10 February 2021
As the switch to electrification accelerates, the car world is changing at a dizzying pace – and at every level.
The Fiat 500 and the Mini have gone electric. There’s a Mustang badge on an electric SUV. The Renault 5 is returning with battery power. Bentley is going electric. Even Hummer – Hummer! – has become an EV-only brand. But in this chaotic flux, some automotive totems remain resistant to change and continue to follow a path of evolution, not revolution.
One such vehicle is the Volkswagen Golf. Through 48 years and eight generations, it has been the reassuring, steadying constant at the heart of Volkswagen – and, by extension, the whole VW Group. The Golf has changed during that time, clearly, but Collapse
Track car maker Rodin opens new UK HQ at Donington
2 DAYS AGO - New Zealand-based firm opens new facility to show its FZED single-seat open-wheeler in the UK
New Expand
2 DAYS AGO - New Zealand-based firm opens new facility to show its FZED single-seat open-wheeler in the UK
New Zealand-based track car manufacturer Rodin has opened a new UK headquarters at Leicestershire’s Donington circuit.
The maker of the low-volume FZED and upcoming FZERO track-only single-seaters said it is expanding into “a location a lot closer to the action”.
The new 500sq m showroom, located at the main entrance to the Jonathan Palmer-owned race track, has one of the company’s FZED F1-inspired track cars on display, which is available for viewing by appointment in line with coronavirus restrictions.
The car, which Autocar drove last year at the company’s New Zealand test track, is described as “ready to race” and available for customer delivery.
It packs 675bhp from its Cosworth-tuned 3.8-litre V8 and weighs just 589kg, so it boasts a power to weight ratio of 1154bhp per tonne - more than even a Yamaha R1 superbike - and will hit 99mph from rest in just 5.0secs.
“Perhaps the Rodin Collapse
The Silence revolution Silence S01 Reviewed
2 DAYS AGO - It's super nippy, roomy and comfortable, has big-capacity storage and costs just £1 for 100 miles. Expand
2 DAYS AGO - It's super nippy, roomy and comfortable, has big-capacity storage and costs just £1 for 100 miles. What's not to like about the sound of the Silence S01? Collapse
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