One pothole for every mile of road in Britain

There is now one pothole for every mile of road in Great Britain, according to official data sourced by car breakdown and recovery company Britannia Rescue following a Freedom of Information Act request. And just like everything else in the UK, it would seem we can blame the weather, with experts suggesting that the combination of a harsh winter and a dry summer has exacerbated the problem. On Bing: see pictures of potholes Find out how much a used car is worth on Auto Trader The result is a 79% increase in compensation claims, with UK councils receiving 32,000 reimbursement requests in the past financial year.

2014 MINi Countryman gets a facelift to bring it closer to the new MINI Hatch

The 2014 MINI Countryman (pictured) gets a facelift The MINI that’s far from mini – the MINI Countryman – is getting a bit of a refresh for 2014 with a minor facelift to take it through to an all-new MINi Countryman in 2016. So no, the 2014 Countryman isn’t the big version of the new MINI Hatch, it’s a refreshed version of the current Countryman with some minor tweaks to keep it current. It’s the usual facelift fodder for the Countryman with a new nose incorporating a new grill with big lower scoop, red ‘S’ badges for the quicker models, LED fog lights, new alloys and underbody guards for the All4 4WD versions.

CAR tech: who's to blame for your car's terrible fuel economy?

In early 2013 Audi lost a case brought by the Advertising Standard Agency (ASA) because of ‘misleading’ fuel economy figures used in an advert, after a customer complained they couldn’t get anywhere near the 68mpg quoted. The court case once more exposes the yawning gap between officially sanctioned mpg figures and those experienced by owners. A recent study by the Independent Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) looked at cars sold in the UK and Europe, and discovered the difference between official mpg figures and real-world driving had grown from 8% in 2001 to a barely believable 21% in 2011.