Mini have anounced that as of the 1st jan 2006, all Mini owners can return their clapped out old Minis to their Mini dealer for recycling FREE. According to the Mini website, 85% of the materials will be recycled. The small print at the bottom reminds us that they are only referring to Mini’s built by BMW, not by Rover Group. It’s another sign that BMW really only bought the name, not the history. Old Minis should be recycled too!

According to Autoblog, airbags have just celebrated their 35th birthday. You’ve got to say, they are a brilliant invention, supposedly coming from military missile technology it’s one instance where a good thing has come from a technology meant to harm people.

Bold New Vectra to Drive Itself! in Auto Express.

I know the car and robotics manufacturers have been playing with these ideas for years, but do we really need it? What fun is there in a car if you’re not driving it. (Mind out the gutter please?) Good on them, a completely automated car, but I would rather keep my steering wheel and drive it myself.

Toyota have recalled 1.41 million cars in Japan and Australasia after finding a fault that can cause all the lights to fail.

Channel 4 are running an Ultimate Car competition with the prize being a portable DVD player with a couple of headrest screens.
Channel 4 claim it will:

"test your knowledge of motors classic and modern, cars in the movies, famous drivers, cars in songs, motoring history, and all things automotive."

Worth a shot, if only to see what you know about cars. Competition closes 4th Nov 2005.

BBC has put together a guide to buying a new car on their site. It’s fairly basic, but it does show that they are serious about trying to make their motoring pages about a little more than Top Gear news. The same goes for other TV channels motoring and cars sections. It’s great to be able to log in to a trusted source and find out about buying a new car rather than browsing opinions and blogs like this one.

Auto express are calling this the new Audi TT. Audi meanwhile are not naming it as such but saying that the Shooting Brake concept car is due to be unveiled at the Japan motorshow. Photos on the Audi website give an idea of what the car will look like and to me it has borrowed a lot from BMW’s roadsters. New cars always take a bit of getting used to, but even in this concept form the new Audi TT or Shooting Brake won’t take that long to convince most people.

One of the unsung heroes of the car world at the moment is the Ford Mondeo ST220. It is a stunning machine with a new model again in 2005. The Ford Mondeo ST220 is the kind of car that you could loose your license to. 3 litre V6 engine, all leather interior. Luxury sports and family motoring in one package. The mondeo st220 is definitely one of my favourite "attainable" cars of the moment. All the specs at:
http://www.ford.co.uk/ns7/mondeo/mdo_0504_body/mdo_0504_body_st220/-/-/-/-

There has been a bit of exposure recently for the Commuter Car Corporation when George Clooney was spotted whizzing off in one of their Electric Tango cars. It really looks like half a car but with 0-60 in 4 seconds and 150mph top speed it’s going to feel like a motorbike.