Car 6

Yet another electric car made it to my house a couple of weeks ago, causing me to wonder if I need to put in a wallbox charger of my own? writes Brian Byrne . The Kia e-Soul is the latest generation of the boxy but charming compact from the Korean carmaker. It is only being sold as a battery electric car in Europe, which means that the brand now offers two fully electric and one plug-in hybrid here. The style includes bright and cheerful dual colour combinations, so apart from its very identifiable shape you’re going to see it coming anyhow. But it’s also very practical, the upright driving position offering good visibility, and room in the back which rivals cars two segments above. I appreciated the tallness. It is one of the few cars I've driven lately where I didn’t have to scrape my head through while entering. The dashboard and instruments layout is cheerful and generally quite simple. Battery level and range is easily visible both on the centre screen and the mai...

As a nameplate Mondeo has been driving through the roads of Europe since 1993. That itself a testament to a carmaker doing something right, writes Brian Byrne . I'm on multiple record as opining the current Mondeo is maybe the best car Ford ever built. Probably. So, one reason to smile when they offered me a Mondeo once again. Another was because it was the estate version. Again, my grá for wagons is well documented over more than three decades of this work. Third, it was the hybrid Mondeo, the blue oval's first electrified offering on this side of the Atlantic. All the good stuff that makes Mondeo what I like was naturally in place. Stylish, spacious, solid, and a sweet drive. Comfortable, cargo commodious, a quality finish without being splashy, in the Titanium grade. Mostly, the sense that this model still fits my size and my driving life, and would do so if it was to be the only car I would own for the rest of it. Nothing new there. Which leaves the powertrain. As...

The late Lee Iacocca was the US Ford guy who decided in the mid-1960s that there was a market for an affordable sporty car based on the humble Falcon sedan, writes Brian Byrne . He nixed a couple of smaller concepts before deciding on a version that was still a ‘family man’s’ potential buy. Built on the Falcon’s underpinnings, it was only about $400 more than the sedan’s $2,400. The rest is icon history. I remember because I was at the time fascinated by American cars, in motor magazines which then crossed the Atlantic. I had a special version of the Mustang to drive within a few weeks of Iacocca’s passing last month. The Bullitt is a limited edition version of a model still totally individual more than five decades after it debuted. This one doesn’t have a Ford oval badge, nor a Mustang name anywhere. It doesn’t have the classic motif in the grille. Only, in the back panel behind where the original had the fuel filler hidden, the name ‘Bullitt’. But everywhere I drove, the...

In the premium segment, the BMW 3 Series has an iconic status, writes Brian Byrne . For the young executive moving upwards, it’s the aspiration model beyond whatever motor they have at the moment from the mass-market pool. Given that getting someone into a brand at this level can mean keeping them for a career, it’s arguably the most important car in the Munich-based maker’s portfolio. So BMW tends to be careful with how they change their 3 Series when it comes to a new generation. Recognition is everything in the premium business, and there’s no wriggle room for being daring and major shifts. The 330i which is the subject of this review is a case in point. Make no mistake, there are significant changes both outside and underneath. But in neither case do they distract from the icon familiar. The unmistakable cues of the older 3 Series remain, but closer examination brings out the subtleties of sheetmetal shifts and restyle. The most significant of these are not quite so subt...

While on holidays recently in the US, I took the opportunity to drive my son's recently acquired pickup truck, writes Brian Byrne . A Ford F250 the same age as himself, from 1971. Bought a bit for fun, as it is very collectible, and more for hacking stuff around his home in the woods above the Hudson river. With a 6.4l V8 and a 4-speed manual transmission one of which is a 'granny' crawler gear, it proved a bit of an experience when hauling a load of bags of mulch from Home Depot. It brought me back. No power brakes (they were only introduced as an option in 1972), a big steering wheel with very light and non-progressive steering. The fairly unrestricted throaty burble from the 250hp engine that was Ford's workhorse for almost two decades from 1958 is not part of my own folk memory, and in a nearly-50 year-old car is not particularly smooth. But the 3-person bench seat is a familiar, like the Ford Consul I learned my driving in. Incidentally, I spent an afternoon ...