JJ on Cars

There's a general feeling of weight and solidity to the W209 CLK— no doubt in part due to the fact it tips the scales at more than one and a half tonnes. And the coupe doors feel heavy - they are long and therefore require more steel and glass in their construction.  Having experienced the incredibly light feeling doors of a modern Mercedes-Benz C-Class, it's not a given that you'll have this experience with all luxury cars. I'm reminded of the slimy lawyer in the movie Jurassic Park, admonishing the young lad for messing about with night vision goggles;  "Is it heavy?" "Yeah." "Then put it back, it's expensive." Jurassic Park (1993) One argument might be that it's not a particularly luxurious experience, having to engage one's muscles and heave a heavy door open. But, it's that subtle underlying feeling of weight to the car that, rightly or wrongly, helps make you feel safe. The car feels planted on the road at higher speed...

Most petrolheads will agree that all eras of automobiles have something to offer. From the very first cars produced, the genesis of what would become the subject of our collective hobby, to present day cars with their comparative complexity, computerisation, safety and efficiency.  But I have a theory that most of us have a special place in our heart for cars built in the era of our birth. It's almost inevitable. The cars that surround us in childhood tend to foster our nascent passion. I suppose they are more or less burned into our brains! They are, after all, responsible for what got us going in the first place.  For me, that means the straight edged, boxy cars of the 1980's. As my childhood sped by, those cars went from being shiny and new, to affordable, and finally (at the point where I was old enough to purchase and drive one!) to rust and obscurity. Despite this, I managed to acquire a car so obviously a product of the 80's, it might have been the automobile equiva...

If you're lucky enough to have enjoyed a holiday abroad in the post Covid-19 era, returning to the UK in the autumn is to many people an unappealing prospect. In Britain, we're lucky to have our drinking water fall out of the sky on a regular basis. The downside is it tends to land on our heads as we go about our daily business - making us feel slightly uncomfortable and heaven forbid, wet. It's also starting to get cold, with temperatures of 13°C causing Game of Thrones inspired mutterings of 'winter is coming'.  As I boarded the budget airline's cramped Boeing 737 in 27 degree heat however, there was something I was looking forward to on my return... The Mercedes-Benz CLK, a car that has been out of production for 12 years, still feels like a high quality and luxury product. As someone who throughout my 20's was a huge fan of Japanese cars, I'd always looked down on luxury German offerings as too much style and faux-quality over substance. The industr...

The Portuguese Island of Madeira, a few hundred miles off the north coast of Africa, is essentially one huge extinct volcano protruding from the Atlantic Ocean. There is little to no flat land on the entire island and as such many of the roads are twisted, narrow and steeply inclined. The cities are built like stadium seating and any house more than a couple of kilometres inland is all but guaranteed a stunning view of the ocean. At night the island lights up like a giant rocky Christmas tree. Cámara de lobos. Madeira (by J. A. Alcaide is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) The last 20 years or so have seen the Madeirans attempt to master mother nature by building an impressive network of tunnels cut into the mountains, and an airport that is literally built out over the sea. If you take the main motorway through the south-east of the island you will drive underneath the main runway, its huge supporting columns looming over you on all sides. Aircraft often approach this runway in an almo...