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Bogus DVLA websites costing motorists

A number of websites claiming to offer Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA) test booking services are costing drivers up to three times as much for routine applications, according to new reports. The Office of Fair Trading has confirmed that these fake sites exceed the standard DVLA costs for booking a driving theory or practical test – priced at £31 and £62 respectively – but that the independently run services are not actually illegal. On Bing: see pictures of the driving test MSN Cars learner drivers guide Preying on less experienced learner drivers looking to put in for their test, these sites generally appear as sponsored links resulting from an internet search.

New Hyundai Test Centre at the Nurburgring revealed

Hyundai’s new test centre at the Nurburgring If anyone had said, just a few years ago, that Hyundai would develop a test centre at the Nurburgring to help shake-down their cars, they’d have been laughed at. But Hyundai – and Kia – have come so far in recent years that it makes absolute sense for them to develop a full-time testing facility at the Nurburgring to test their cars for the road, along with just about every other car maker of note. James May may object to the Nurburgring factor in the suspension set-ups of many road cars (and we do have some sympathy for his point of view), but the sometimes extreme nature of the Nurburgring’s surfaces – and its endless twists and turns, uphill and down – do offer car makers an easily accessible place to test cars in the (almost) real world.

Chevrolet Volt leads satisfaction survey

The Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid has topped Consumer Reports' latest owner-satisfaction survey after its first year on the market. The magazine said 93 percent of respondents who own a Volt said they would definitely purchase one again, making it the highest-rated car in the annual poll. Two second-place finishers, the V8-powered Dodge Challenger and the Porsche 911, drew the most-favorable grade from 91 percent of buyers.