Families spending less on transport - new figures revealed

THE LATEST Family Spending data shows that UK households spent £489 on average per week in 2012, according to the Office for National Statistics. Once inflation is taken into account, average spending has decreased since 2006 when households spent £526.40. Transport has seen the biggest spending reduction taking inflation into account, falling from £87.10 per week in 2001/2002 to £64.10 in 2012 despite the price of petrol increasing substantially over this period.

Kubrick's Jaguar memories: XJ12s and more

Once upon a time there was a small boy, about seven years old, who had taken an interest in cars at a rather early stage, mainly thanks to his old man, who was (and, thankfully, still is) a car enthusiast and, back in those days, a staunch supporter of a certain Southern German marque. This naturally meant that the small boy would sometimes be a bit annoyed by his father's occasionally overbearing passion, but at the same time usually knit his eyebrows himself whenever he came across something sporting four wheels but no blue & white propeller (which, he believed, was the way things were supposed to be). So the foundations had been laid to turn this very young chap into a proper petrolhead one day, but his interest remained relatively casual and moderate until that one fateful evening.

New Vauxhall Astra engine details

Vauxhall has released details of the engines for the new Astra Vauxhall released a fair bit of information on the Insignia inspired new Astra back in May. That was followed up with video of the new Astra blatting round Millbrook and details of the new Astra’s interior. But with the official launch of the Astra at Frankfurt looming, Vauxhall has now released details of the engine range for the new car.