A PET SNAKE and emergency knickers are among items motorists keep in their car glovebox, according to a new survey.
Those were among the more revealing answers to a Glovebox Secrets poll among drivers quizzed by an internet motoring magazine.
Sunglasses were the most popular item kept in the glovebox according to the survey, but other answers were more bizarre.
Nick Fletcher, roadtests.co.uk’s associate editor says: “We expected fairly normal items to be listed, and most people did indeed say they keep sweets, maps or pens in the glovebox of their car. But not everyone – some of those polled came up with some much more unusual things.
“One woman always kept packs of dog food to feed any foxes she spotted and another said she never travelled any where without a pair of what she described as ‘emergency knickers’ in the glovebox. But the most amazing answer was from a man who said he kept a pet snake in his car. Our researcher thought he was joking, but he opened the glovebox and showed him a small python curled up asleep.”
The six most common items carried in the glovebox are: sunglasses; sweets/chocolate; a pen; roadmaps; loose change; tapes or CDs.
Ironically, the quiz failed to find a single person who actually kept a pair of gloves in the glovebox.
SOME bikes can be seen as fashion statements that are only allowed onto the public highway on sunny Sunday afternoons, polished and preened they cover less than a thousand miles a year and are then traded for the next must have model.
It’s not a philosophy I subscribe to, bikes are expensive play things and should be used as often as possible. That’s why I have an affinity with bikes like the Honda CB500 Sport, it wears its heart on its sleeve and although it’s a big favorite with training schools and newly qualified riders, the more experienced can still have fun.
The Honda may be seen as a boring ride to work hack but even top road racers cut their teeth on the humble CB500, James Tosland, the newly crowned World Superbike Champion won the CB500 Cup – a Honda backed National Championship – in his youth and has fond memories of his days on the 50bhp twin.
Enter a race today on your CB500 and you would be laughed off the grid but out on the road it can still be entertaining. The power delivery is soft and progressive with high overall gearing, it’s as fast in fifth gear as it is in sixth but 80mph comes up with just 6,000rpm on the clock and 3,000revs still to go to the redline.
With such a wide powerband the long gearing gives relaxed cruising but add a passenger or headwind and the gearbox gets worked hard. Fuel economy is good however, I managed 55mpg on a run with 170 miles available on a tankful.
It’s the same story with the chassis, the spec sheet may be uninspiring and eighties like but a simple cradle steel frame and twin rear shocks do their job well.
Softly damped forks have the front end diving on the single disc and care should be taken at night on unlit roads, I found myself in darkness on a country road and had to take a guess at which way the road went. I soon learnt to keep the speeds down in these conditions.
The CB500 has been around for about ten years now and changed very little from its launch, a rear disc and graphics are the only major revamps and a half fairing has been added. Clocks are basic mid-nineties Honda fare and although they may not be state of the art tackle, they fit in with the rest of the machine.
One thing which has changed is the price, when it was released the list price was over four and a half grand but now it’s under four grand.
For me that’s a bargain, the CB can still deliver reliable and fun motorcycling after all these years, it may not be trendy but as a first bike or cheap affordable transport it beats the litre plus fashion statements.
LAST week, fifty strapping gung-ho guys of the sort that make women faint were put through a punishing exercise that makes American special forces look about as hard as a box of kittens.
In the end, one man will have won through to represent Britain in the Land Rover G4 Challenge. It used to be called the Camel Trophy and is basically a world tour featuring car torture, near death experiences and interesting dietary opportunities which render Gaviscon about as effective at stopping the Tex Ritters as Ex-lax. To emphasise this, the press release came complete with – and this is absolutely true – a packet of barbecue flavour, meal worms.
The eventual winners of this event will have battled across three continents and taken the Solihull off-roader to its very limits. They will then pick up the G4 trophy but only if they have managed to retain all their limbs.
G4, I have to say, is pure FHM meets Practical Guerilla Warfare and, for sheer excitement, can only be matched by electrocution.
However, I have to admit to having had a rare moment of excitement myself when an Internet site sent me something called Car Abusers Identified.
I mean, come on, motorists take more of a hammering than a blacksmith’s thumb but surely now they weren’t going to be accused of drinking above the recommended number of petrol units or chain smoking oil filters?
Are there people out there who shouted insults at their motors or gave them a severe beating with a rubber truncheon?
Well, yes. What would you do if you had a shunt in a Mini? Well, obviously ponder the wisdom of your clothing choice but after that I’m sure a quick trip to the body shop might be on the cards. You wouldn’t try to fix it yourself would you? With a sledge hammer?
Believe it or not, one woman did: “Sorry dear but I’ve bumped the car, but don’t worry it’s now a lovely ornamental rockery feature.”
There are so many examples of crass stupidity it’s a wonder MOT stations don’t offer the services of a psychiatrist. And I don’t include builders who turn estate cars into contemporary plaster art workshops or the aftermath of a Peruvian landslide.
Frankly we can also nod through those confused and bewildered enough to think you can go off-roading in a Corsa or run around on tyres with so little pressure in them every speed hump becomes an emergency landing by the Women’s Royal Auxiliary Lead Balloon corps.
But we should bid happy motoring to owners who discovered their dog was partial to velour upholstery or even impatient drivers who rev their engines every morning until they melt. I do worry about those drivers who have put petrol in diesel cars. This is the equivalent of forcing beagles to smoke. Look, diesel is a noxious poison that brings about knocking noises in your ears and gasses floral displays. Petrol smells of roses and makes you strong like a lion, inquisitve like the stickleback.
What will not make you more attractive to anyone is supergluing pictures of Cliff Richard to your windows. The woman who did that to her Rover needed all the glass replaced and, to be honest, it’s probably lucky she didn’t know the Mini owner with the big sledgehammer. Perhaps not.
At least there’s nothing inherently dangerous about driving around displaying pin-ups of Gareth Gates. But picture this.
It’s a bright Sunday morning and here comes Mr Back to Front Head who has decided that this is just the right time to overhaul his brakes – the automotive equivalent of repairing your own hernia. With boxing gloves on. It is especially dangerous if, as one man did, you joint all the pipework with domestic plumbing fittings. Try an emergency stop in Luton and your central heating comes on back home in Dudley.
And I would love to know what gave one driver the idea of cleaning his engine with Windolene. Or what clean air benefits there are in putting detergent in the oil filler.
Home decorating of cars has always been a favourite. Interesting stick-on Noddy compasses are one thing but there are those drivers who think the cure for rusty sills is underseal which invariably creeps further and further up the side of the car until they’re driving around in a radar invisible stealth hatchback.
Then there was the angler who found his Golf overrun with maggots after a fishing trip . So what? As someone who is about to tuck into a tasty fried meal worm snack I can honestly say maggots are for wimps. Ask the lads on the G4 Challenge.
WHEN Suzuki launched the DR 350 back in 1991 it was the first serious off roader over 250cc that could handle the rough stuff as well as the daily grind to work with equal aplomb.
It was light and nimble in traffic but it didn’t intimidate off-road. If you were a novice green-laner, it flattered and if you were experienced, it flew.
A couple of years ago we got it’s replacement, the DR 400, and although there were no common parts, it has been designed with the same dual purpose rideability in mind but brought bang up to date.
The engine is a liquid cooled four-stroke single and gains an electric start, imperative in this day and age. Power is in the region of 40bhp and, as usual with Suzuki’s single cylinder range, it has smooth delivery without being boring and holding it to the red line will not loosen any fillings.
Top wack is around 85mph but things are getting a bit scary at this sort of speed. The large, motorcross-style mudguard affects steering as does the short wheel base and long travel suspension. A gentle weave can set in at around 80mph and it hates crosswinds.
To be fair, Suzuki has tailored the DR in favour of off-road capability and any tarmac qualities will be compromised. If you need a more road-orientated machine, then the new 2005 Supermoto version with 17 inch tyres and shorter seat height may be more suited.
As far as style goes, it is a pure motorcrosser with narrow seat, aggressive plastics and a tall seat height, I’m 5’11″ and I had trouble planting both feet on the ground, so if you are shorter in stature then this is not the bike for you.
A quick blast up a local green lane showed its mud-plugging potential. The DR400 steered though ruts and suffered my ham fisted efforts without pitching me off! This must have been the first time I have played in the mud and come away unscathed.
Back on terra-firma, that lofty riding position gives excellent vision. You tower over normal cars and the slim waistline makes traffic busting a pleasure. Take it down a country lane, short shift through the five speed gearbox, letting the long travel suspension soak up any potholes, and it is as quick as anything.
In fact it’s a bit of a hooligan without the mega speeds.
The DR 400S may be billed as a dual purpose machine, but in reality it is more suited to off-roading. That tall seat height and nervous front end may be too much for some people who would be better off with Suzuki’s Freewind, which was recently deleaed from the range but can still be picked up at discounted prices. This has the bigger 650cc engine and better road manners.
Priced at £4,350, the DR400 is in a fiercely competitive price bracket but you get top quality suspension and brakes and a useful competion style digital speedo with two trip meters with addition and subtraction functions as well as a clock and stopwatch facilities.
As a genuine enduro bike it works and for that reason the price is right.
THERE you go then, Prescott sneaks in under the radar to buy himself a new Jag. An XJS no less, bit old fashioned but stylish in a Terry Thomas sort of way.
Here’s the deal; he traded in the old XJ and handed over ten grand for the eight year old car, a sports coupe that might return 17mpg if you kiss it twice daily and buy it flowers.
Not the best price in the world, but considering the prices of old XJ’s hit the floor faster than bricks, he’s not had his pants pulled fully down.
Especially as they accepted his 16 year old smoker in part-ex, a Jag that dates back to the days when canteen staff were in charge of quality control. Celebrity status? Come on, we’re talking Shirley Williams not Robbie Williams.
I know the new car’s blue, and I know he bought it from Pullborough in West Sussex, but I don’t really care. In fact, far from taking the chance to go off on one about the former minister for everything, I’ll just say well done, good on you fatty, hope you enjoy your car.
After all it’s not your fault I had to get the train to work this morning. It’s got nothing to do with multiple ownership of plush cars that I sat next to a bloke who thought washing was optional and opposite a woman wearing eau de Toilet Duck.
Oh, and it’s the middle of summer so the train’s heating was on full in case we had a sudden ground frost or travelled through a localised nuclear winter.
Best of all the station Tannoy revealed that CCTV was in constant operation, presumably to record for posterity the prompt arrival of any train.
To think I could have been in the privacy of a Lexus RX300, picking my nose totally unseen through the black-glass windows. But I couldn’t, because it was stuck on the M6 while the whole damn country was coming apart at the seams.
Meanwhile we are all treated to a post-war side show of Alastair Campbell (ugly corner) v the BBC (pompous gits corner) and Parliament getting all moist over saving foxy-woxy from the evil country bumpkins.
Do you know that at the start of last week there were seven two-mile plus sets of roadworks between Luton and Wigan? The Lexus delivery driver does. He counted them.
Since Prescott unleashed his lame dog of a transport blueprint, journey times have increased by 16 per cent. Unless you travel by train in which case they’ve probably increased by 16 degrees Celsius. They are due up a further 16 per cent before the 200 major improvement schemes are completed.
So far the score is seven. Shares in mud have performed better than that.
According to one report the Government is in danger of losing credibility over transport chaos. Really.
Surely there can be no crisis of confidence in an administration that puts its full might behind banning some fat men on horses chasing a Basil Brush, while it costs £78m of taxpayers money every week to keep the trains moving and road traffic is barely moving at all?
Of course we could all ride bicyles. Hey? If I wanted to live in the third word I’d move to..
So the options are going absolutely nowhere or going absolutely nowhere. You might as well do it in comfort.
Which is what the Lexus is all about. It even has one of those backwards facing TV cameras like the Primera. Only in colour.
On the other hand you could buy a second hand Jag. Don’t pay as much as Blubber though, and enjoy the rotten fruits of his labour in frustrated opulence.
EVERY so often something comes along that’s just right. Rooney for England, the Williams sisters in tennis, and Kylie’s bottom for wide screen TV.
With cars it’s a rarer event than you might think. Sometimes the car looks right but drives like a sack of grass. Others have verve and style but the interior appointments of a cave, while others are so ugly they would make a robber’s dog cry.
Now it has to be said that Vauxhall owns a pretty mixed bag when it comes to cars of great interest. There’s the Corsa. But then in the world there’s also soap. It smells nice, does its job, but it takes masses of TV advertising to make us give it a second glance.
Or the Vectra. Yes the police use them and that’s because they are solid, reliable and reserved, and come in predictable shades of white and blue.
On the other hand we have the VX220 turbo which is as naughty as the final episode of Sex in the City.
So what to expect from the Signum? Well the name wasn’t all that promising but, wow, how surprised you can be.
Yep, it’s family transport, but this is one of the highlights of the year.
A sort of elongated hatchback, the Signum is one of the smoothest drives around with refreshing turbocharged performance from its two-litres.
And the handling. Surely there’s a law against big family cars handling like this?
Inside we’re talking fairly standard Vauxhall finish but with some new twists. For a start there’s the clever Travel Assistant in the back that becomes a picnic area complete with tables, cooler, DVD player holder and 12-volt socket.
Signum is the first six-speed Vauxhall. It won’t be the last and helps with the effortless motorway performance.
No, I’ve not just had a joyful experience or found a tenner, Signum is something new that works. The two-litre turbo costs £18, 550 and hits 60 in eight seconds with a top speed of 137mph and has 175 bhp.
The closest we’ve come to this idea is the Renault Avantime, which had the refinement and the performance, but whereas the Signum is as cute as Kylie the Avantime was a trout.
WHETHER you’re new to it or an old hand, driving is a hazardous activity and something that needs upmost concentration.
That’s why drink driving, driving under the influence of drugs and driving distracted are all severely punishable offences. However, something that sometimes slips under the radar but is just as dangerous is driving while tired.
Figures from RoSPA (the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) suggest that up to 20% of accidents on monotonous roads (like motorways) are fatigue related.
On top of that, road safety charity Brake found that 10% of at-work drivers concede to having fallen asleep at the wheel, while 50% admit to getting in the car after less than five hours’ sleep.
There is no doubt that people who drive as part of their job are under pressure to get to places at a certain time which increases the chances that they will get behind the wheel when tired.
That is why the Fleet Safety Forum has launched ‘The Wake Up campaign’, calling on employers to do more to manage drivers’ schedules and health to prevent tiredness.
There is also the school of thought that this is a bigger issue during the recession because employees are under pressure to get more work done.
Of course, driving tired isn’t just a problem that affects business drivers; it is something that all drivers must be mindful of. We all have deadlines to meet, whether they are for work or our social lives, and most drivers do long journeys at some stage, especially when they’re going on holiday.
In recognition of the problem, car manufacturers are driving things forward with new technologies like a system that can read eye movements and react if the driver looks like falling asleep.
There are also cars that can react if you suddenly veer off course, a major indicator of a sleeping driver. But while these advances are fantastic, they are not in many cars.
While falling asleep at the wheel is deadly, it’s not just those drivers who fall asleep that are a risk. Just being tired is enough to reduce your reactions and increase the chances that you will make bad decisions- both major causes of serious road accidents.
Getting behind the wheel when your driving ability is knowingly impaired (whether that be through drink, drugs or tiredness) is irresponsible.
I hope that employers will wake up to the fact that their demands on employees shouldn’t force them to drive tired. And for the drivers themselves it’s very simple:if you feel tired don’t drive in the first place, and if you’re already behind the wheel and you feel tired – take a break.
WHETHER you’re new to it or an old hand, driving is a hazardous activity and something that needs upmost concentration.
That’s why drink driving, driving under the influence of drugs and driving distracted are all severely punishable offences. However, something that sometimes slips under the radar but is just as dangerous is driving while tired.
Figures from RoSPA (the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) suggest that up to 20% of accidents on monotonous roads (like motorways) are fatigue related.
On top of that, road safety charity Brake found that 10% of at-work drivers concede to having fallen asleep at the wheel, while 50% admit to getting in the car after less than five hours’ sleep.
There is no doubt that people who drive as part of their job are under pressure to get to places at a certain time which increases the chances that they will get behind the wheel when tired.
That is why the Fleet Safety Forum has launched ‘The Wake Up campaign’, calling on employers to do more to manage drivers’ schedules and health to prevent tiredness.
There is also the school of thought that this is a bigger issue during the recession because employees are under pressure to get more work done.
Of course, driving tired isn’t just a problem that affects business drivers; it is something that all drivers must be mindful of. We all have deadlines to meet, whether they are for work or our social lives, and most drivers do long journeys at some stage, especially when they’re going on holiday.
In recognition of the problem, car manufacturers are driving things forward with new technologies like a system that can read eye movements and react if the driver looks like falling asleep.
There are also cars that can react if you suddenly veer off course, a major indicator of a sleeping driver. But while these advances are fantastic, they are not in many cars.
While falling asleep at the wheel is deadly, it’s not just those drivers who fall asleep that are a risk. Just being tired is enough to reduce your reactions and increase the chances that you will make bad decisions- both major causes of serious road accidents.
Getting behind the wheel when your driving ability is knowingly impaired (whether that be through drink, drugs or tiredness) is irresponsible.
I hope that employers will wake up to the fact that their demands on employees shouldn’t force them to drive tired. And for the drivers themselves it’s very simple:if you feel tired don’t drive in the first place, and if you’re already behind the wheel and you feel tired – take a break.
SOMETIMES I really wonder whether the European Parliament is working for or against us.
This week, the Euro experts are expected to pass an item of legislation that could actually force buyers to switch to petrol rather than cleaner diesel cars and so produce more planet destructive CO2 gas.
Their decision could make diesel cars rise in price by up to 900 Euros – around £600, according to experts.
That’s because air quality limits in forthcoming Euro V and VI emission standards, supported by a vote in the European Parliament, could add significant cost to diesel cars.
For example, to meet Euro V particulate limits, even the smallest car would require the addition of a particulate trap to the exhaust system.
This just beggars belief. Massive consultation costs, administrative and research budgets expended to develop the new technology and when push comes to shove it could easily pull the rug on diesel due to price.
The technology will work all right but a proportion of the car buying public could hot-foot it back to petrol power even though it can be up to 30 per cent worse for fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
In Britain diesel is more expensive at the pumps and this latest body blow could precipitate the rush back to petrol.
The move threatens to halt what the European Commission recently described as the ‘significant progress’ made by car makers in cutting CO2 output since 1998.
A typical case of shooting yourself in the foot I say.
THE Prime Minister revealed at this week’s British Motor Show that he wants all new cars to be electric by 2020 – and that could explain the thinking behind the Government’s current tax policies.
But according to a survey by the AA, 82 per cent of motorists in the Britain now believe that motoring taxes are stealth moves with little or no benefit to drivers.
More than a third of the 15,000 members surveyed said that they no longer understand the system of annual Vehicle Excise Duty, which demands various levels of payment according to CO2 emissions.
A few cars are exempt whilst most pay substantially more and some incur massive increases.
One of the biggest outcries came from the announcement that cars bought years ago will face huge tax hikes.
AA president Edmund King has written to the Government requesting that the ‘retrospective’ nature of Vehicle Excise Duty for cars registered between 2001-2006 should be scrapped.
He points out that the tax will be so high that older high-polluting cars will become worthless so their owners will have no choice but to keep them and to continue running them, which will raise CO2 levels.
The results sent to the Government show:
Commenting on the results, Mr King, says, ‘More than three quarters of motorists now see road tax as a ‘stealth tax.’ We believe that the retrospective nature of the tax increases for cars registered between 2001-6 should be scrapped before it comes a ’10p tax on wheels’. The Government should also provide more user-friendly information to inform car buyers of changes to VED over the next two years. Our concern is that people may be buying cars today that they may not know will fall into much higher bands in 2009 and 2010.”
The motoring organisation says it has had a record number of hits on its website from motorists desperately trying to find out how proposed changes to the VED system will affect them.
‘Even though the public and indeed the AA accept that a tax system based on CO2 can influence the choice of vehicle, there is confusion, mistrust and lack of information about the proposals.
‘If the retrospective increases in tax go ahead in 2009/2010 then there is the possibility that many motorists might be driving to the polls still fuming from excessive tax increases to the cars they bought before these tax changes were proposed.’
HOW do you make the best sports bike on the market better?
This was the thorny problem the designers at Suzuki were up against when they set about developing the 2003 version of the top selling GSX-R 1000.
In it’s short history this flagship of the Suzuki range has destroyed race records all over the world, non more so than in the Isle of Man where Yorkshireman David Jefferies took the outright lap record last year as well as the British Superstock Championship.
The bike featured here will spend it’s time on the British Road Racing circuits in the capable hands of Scot Ian Duffas who will be supported by Ken’s Motorcyles for 2003 with a Honda CBR600 as well as the Suzuki.
Changes to the GSX-R 1000for this year are minimal but significant. The old model felt like a big bike which the rider sat “in”, but a slimmer tank and redesigned top fairing give this year’s bike a smaller feel even though the scales say any weight savings are marginal.
Racers complained of a lack of feel and power from the front brakes, something the average road rider would fail to notice, but new radial mounted four-piston Tokico calipers gripping 300mm discs should solve the problem.
Tweeks on the front end quicken up the steering. It could be mistaken for a 600cc machine in this department but from a breath of throttle there is some serious power that could only come from a big one litre lump.
Fuel injection is now the norm and every year all manufactures refine there systems – Suzuki has been noted for glitch free power delivery and once again the engineers have come up trumps. The GSX will pull cleanly from as little as 2,000 rpm in top gear with acceleration from 4,000 rpm becoming phenomenal.
I picked the test bike up straight from its PDI and had no problems at all running it in. You could live with this machine without taking it above 5,000 rpm and not feel hard done by – heaven knows what it’s like when the full 12000 revs are let loose.
A trip up the Gatso ridden A1 needed all my restraint to keep to 70 mph – a moment’s lack of concentration will see 90 on the new instrument console and it feels so unstressed at normal speeds.
It could be argued that this bike is wasted on normal roads but you would be missing the point – it may be extremely fast and able to handle race track conditions straight out of the crate, but in everyday conditions it’s capable of being a pussycat. Like our feline friends however, poke it with a stick and it will take a bite out of your licence – last year’s model managed to put three points on mine!
The Suzuki GSX-R 1000 can be classed as the two wheeled version of a Supercar like a Ferrari – it has race track refugee looks and will demolish the national speed limit in second gear, but unlike the six figure sum required for a piece of Italian automotive art, all this performance is available for less than £9,000. A bargain in any petrol heads book.
