Today we are exploring the car landscape of Scotland, including Glasgow and the Isle of Skye, following my trip there in July. As a reminder, the MG ZS topped the Scottish charts in July, ahead of the Kia Sportage, Peugeot 208 and Volvo XC40. Notice also the MG HS at…
While in France I had the opportunity to test drive the new generation Dacia Duster, in dealerships since June. It was a great chance to check out the improvements (or not) of this new model vs. the previous generation. I previously took the Duster 2 on a whirlwind tour of…
For the first time in 5 years, I had the opportunity to visit China for the Beijing Auto Show. It was also the chance to check out the car landscape in the streets of Beijing. Needless to say that in five years, the cars in the streets have completely changed…
Zeekr 007 We have covered the noticeable foreign and Chinese brands at the Beijing Auto Show, but we have kept the best for last. Here are the three most impressive brands at the Show, that happen to be all Chinese. Another proof that the Chinese market is moving at breakneck…
Hyper SSR It's now time to go through the noticeable Chinese brands at home, the Beijing Auto Show. These are classified in alphabetical order, so no particular preferences here. The 3 most impressive Chinese brands at the show will be revealed in a separate article. The main takeaway is that…
Toyota bZ3X Arriving in Beijing for what is my first time in China in 5 years, the most striking feat is of course how different the cars are in the street. At Chinese speed, 5 years are actually equivalent to maybe 10-15 years in the rest of the world. So…
For the first time in 5 years, BSCB will be able to visit the biggest Auto Show in the world: Auto China! This year it is held in Beijing, and I will report on it in detail when the press days are over. Internet connection is unpredictable in China and…
Firstly a Happy New Year to you all! Thank you very much for your support over the 13 years this website has existed. I appreciate it immensely. 6 years ago we test drove a standard Toyota Hilux on K'Garri Fraser Island on the East coast of Australia. At the time…
Today we drive the Kia Stonic through Outback New South Wales to see if Kia continues to perform well after we tested the Cerato, Seltos and Sportage. Indeed these test drives were all rather impressive so the bar is high for the Stonic. Exterior design follows the standards of urban…
Toyota Land Cruiser 300 In October I had the chance to stop in Doha, Qatar, on my way back to Australia from Europe. It's an opportunity to check out the car landscape here and to verify sales figures. The first blatant observation is the prevalence of the Toyota Land Cruiser…
Whereas we traditionally test drive best-selling vehicles, we'll make an exception this time with the Peugeot 408. Since its launch in July 2022, it has sold just 6,448 units in France, well below its competitor the Renault Arkana. (even though Peugeot calls the 408 a cross berline vs. a SUV…
The Peugeot 208 in Quiberon The Peugeot 208 is on track to become Europe's best-selling car for the first time this year, toppling the VW Golf. The last time a Peugeot topped the European charts was in 2007 when the 207 led. This is a massive development in the history…
The VW T-Cross is one of the most successful launches in recent years: it was the outright best-selling launch in the world in 2019, and reached impressive heights in a variety of countries, notably ranking #1 in Brazil in July 2020 and #3 in Italy in September 2019. As an…
This is Part 7 and the last iteration of our Dacia Duster adventure through 10 countries and 9000 km around the Black Sea. You can read Part 1: Transnistria here, Part 2: Chernobyl here, Part 3: Belarus here, Part 4: Crossing the Black Sea and Georgia here, Part 5: Azerbaijan here and Part 6: Armenia…
This is Part 6 of our Dacia Duster adventure through 10 countries and 9000 km around the Black Sea, you can read Part 1: Transnistria here, Part 2: Chernobyl here, Part 3: Belarus here, Part 4: Crossing the Black Sea and Georgia here and Part 5: Azerbaijan here. As a reminder this Test Drive happened before COVID-19…