John Marcar John Marcar

FEATURE | Meet Jan Kalmar of KALMAR Automotive

At the start of July, I was invited to meet Jan Kalmar, the founder of a relatively new company that reimagines and re-engineers classic Porsche 911s into more focused, more fun, and purposeful drivers' cars.

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John Marcar John Marcar

REVIEW | VW Golf GTI Mk8.5 (2024)

The new 2024 VW Golf GTI is a mid-life upgrade to the Mk8. The latest Mk8.5 Golf GTI has more power, styling upgrades, and some key changes to interior tech, but with a price tag of over £40,000 (with options), is the new GTI at risk of pricing itself out of the market?

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John Marcar John Marcar

FEATURE | The Story of the VW Golf GTI - Mk1 to Mk8.5

In 1985, The Times newspaper coined the phrase 'Hot Hatch' when writing about the VW Golf GTI. The writers were most likely referring to the impending arrival of the second generation of Golf GTI, following the very well-received Mk1, which had been on sale for 11 years prior, since 1976.

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John Marcar John Marcar

1300 Miles on a Ducati Multistrada V4S - Breakfast, Brunch and Dinner

Since 2003, the Multistrada has been Ducati's take on all-purpose motorcycling, having observed competitors' efforts from the likes of BMW with its GS models. The ethos behind the model and its name is that it is a bike capable of taking on all roads and even bigger adventures. I decided to take the Multistrada V4S on an adventure for Breakfast, Brunch and Dinner in the three capital cities of the UK.

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John Marcar John Marcar

Mini Cooper SE Sport - Praise be for the Small EV

The second-generation Mini Cooper Electric has arrived, and it's an all-new enterprise in almost every way. It's an entirely new car, with a new smaller size, and it's even built in a new location outside of the UK. John Marcar tests the range-topping Mini Cooper SE Sport to see what's new and if it retains its charm.

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John Marcar John Marcar

BMW X7 M60 - Still better than a Range Rover?

The latest X7 I have to test is the new 2024 M60 variant, and by quite some margin, the new car is considerably more expensive, ludicrously more powerful and even more garish in its styling than its predecessor. The X7 M60 is powered by BMW M's 4.4 Litre TwinPower Turbo V8 petrol engine, pushing out 530 hp and 730Nm of torque. 

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