THE Chevrolet Trax is a compact SUV in the Nissan Juke/Skoda Yeti mould. As well as chunky looks and a tempting price tag, the lil’ Chevy also has heritage on its side – its maker claims to have got the sport-utility vehicle ball rolling in the 1930s, with the Carryall Suburban, an eight-seater car the size of a bread van and built for the North American market in the days before anyone thought of calling SUVs “SUVs”.

WELCOME to Monaco. Park your yacht over there and join me for a couple of laps of the world’s most celebrated F1 venue. With race weekend just a few days away, the barriers, grandstands and banners are in place and the circuit is ready for action.

“YOU lucky sod” was the first of many similar, albeit more colourful and less printable responses I received when I told people what I was up to last weekend.

THE Diversion feels like an old friend. The faithful sort that knows just what you need, when you need it. It doesn’t need expensive technology or to shout about how cool it is. There is no pretence; just honesty – and its integrity is what keeps the Diversion competitive in the middleweight market.

VOLKSWAGEN really should be good at MPVs. The German manufacturer’s output is almost always simple, sturdy and user-friendly, which is just what most of us want in a family car. If any model falling below those standards did slip out of a VW factory’s gates and into dealerships, you get the impression that heads would roll at Wolfsburg in short order.

Fans flocking to Duns for anniversary of F1 title win

THE Beetle reboot continues with Volkswagen taking the car to the next, and logical, step in its evolution – going roofless. Of course, Volkswagen has been here before; previous iterations of the “new” Beetle boasted a Cabriolet variant. However, as you would expect, evolution has brought a number of welcome improvements.

AS CONVERSATION killers go, mentioning “mid-size seven-seat people carriers” is right up there. But before your dinner party guests look at their watches and start moving to the door, they might like to know that there’s more to the new Kia Carens than its snooze-inducing nomenclature suggests.

I admit I’m a bit of a softie. I’ll happily walk away from any sign of trouble and I’ve never taken up golf for much the same reason. I can’t see the point in getting soaked just to sink a wee white ball into a hole out of my line of sight somewhere far in the distance. A yachting friend keeps inviting me to join him on a cruise round the west coast. I’m sure it would be lovely, but unless he can guarantee wall-to-wall sunshine and flat-calm waters, then I’ll just stick to dry land, thank you.

I’m guessing this is a book for bikers And I’m guessing I can call you Sherlock.

But you don’t like bikes That’s not true. I’m just a bit... scared of them.

I SUSPECT winning the lottery would do it. An original joke should bring it on. Maybe just a kind word from a good friend is all it would take. For some people it would require a visit to the dentist and then they might have to wait a few weeks before it appeared.

PURISTS might well wince at BMW’s
decision to focus as much of its
attention on luxury as it does performance, but this slight change in direction is also a realisation that an increasing number of buyers are seeking high
levels of refinement to match their car’s capability.

The Renault Captur launches into a market of compact crossover vehicles such as the Nissan Juke and the Skoda Yeti but brings with it some genuinely clever interior touches and no small dose of style. Some super-economical engines also feature. Expect the Captur to attract the sort of buyer who likes the way the Nissan Juke drives but who would prefer prettier styling.

LAUNCHED in 2005, the ER-6f and its naked sibling were set to take on the world of budget middleweights and, to a large extent, they succeeded. But the early models had a tendency to feel just that – budget. Seven years on, and the ER6 bikes are much more sophisticated.

BOASTING an idiosyncratic design and eminently affordable price tag, it was envisaged as the homegrown motor car that would propel Britain out of the post-war doldrums, and bring car ownership within the reach of ordinary families.

IT is billed as one of the most advanced Rolls-Royce ever built and even has a GPS tracking system that ensures its driver will always be in the correct gear.

The mostly all-new Subaru is longer, wider, lower and roomier. Frederic Manby puts it through its paces and likes what he finds

But young women suffer from EU rules on gender equality, writes Jeff Salway

Trapezoidal. It’s not a word I’ve come across much in my scribbling career but it seems to have entered my vocabulary with increasing regularity in recent times. The strict definition is something “quadrilateral having two parallel sides of unequal length”. Still with me? No? Well take a look at the lighting on the new Leon from Seat and there it is.

What is it? It’s a high-pressure washer. And it goes by the nickname of “Eco Beast”.