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New MINI Crossman caught testing

The new MINI Crossman caught testing at the Nurburgring [ad#ad-1] Yes, the MINI has become ubiquitous ( to its detriment), and sales have fallen off, despite the plethora of variations on the market. But that’s not stopped BMW from pushing on with the MINI Crossman, which has been spotted testing at the Nurburgring this week. But, although I’ve moaned that MINI has lost its way of late, this particular MINI, odd though it may sound in concept, could be a real winner.

Grab a ‘VAT Free’ Skoda Octavia

In yet another ‘Sign of the times’ Skoda has announced that they are now offering ‘VAT Free Octavias’ until the end of the year. No, this is not a tie-up between Alistair Darling and VW, it’s just Skoda’s way of offering a headline price decrease of a bit over 13% (less expensive to Skoda than last week for the same headline, to be fair, and there is a new model due in January!). Grab a VAT free Skoda Octavia I’m pretty sure that there will be a raft of these ‘VAT Free’ offers floating around on everything from cars to washing machines, capitalising on the fact the VAT is in the headlines.

MINI Countryman Cooper & Paceman Cooper get ALL4 4WD

The MINI Countryman Cooper (pictured) & Paceman Cooper get ALL4 4WD We always find it astonishing that car makers ‘ration’ the availability of four wheel drive platforms in their cars, usually citing a ‘lack of demand’. But that lack of demand is usually predicated on the lack of supply, and increasing the supply of 4WD cars would see more sold, especially after a series of harsh winters where many motorists struggled to keep their cars in a straight line. So the decision by BMW to extend the availability of their ALL4 4WD setup to a wider range of MINIs is welcome, with the petrol Countryman Cooper and Paceman Cooper now getting the ALL4 option too.