London 'most costly' for car cover

MOTORISTS living in London faces paying almost four times the amount that a driver in the Isle of Man would spend on their car insurance, a study has revealed. AA Insurance, which compiles an index of the typical cost of car insurance for someone who shops around, named London as the most expensive place in Britain to insure a car, followed by the postcode area of IG, which includes Ilford, Chigwell, Woodford Green, Buckhurst Hill, Loughton and Barking, with Greater Manchester in third place. The IM (Isle of Man) postcode was found to be the cheapest place to insure a car, with the average quote for someone there who shops around standing at £231.

New, Cleaner Diesel For Sporty Astra GTC Coupe

KEEN to boost availability of its new, greener diesel engine, Vauxhall has fitted it’s ‘whisper’ 1.6-litre motor to its rakish three-door Astra GTC. The coupe bodied Astra joins the five-door and estate Sports Tourer models, and it boasts numbers that should appeal to tax-savvy company car drivers as well as private buyers seeking to save some cash. The engine replaces the 1.7 CDTi, providing 136 horsepower - a slight increase on the outgoing unit- delivered through an improved six-speed manual transmission.

Top Gear: The Motoring Ashes, Ferrari 599 GTO & Boris Becker

Top Gear Ashes v Australia After a better than average start to the latest series of Top Gear (Series 16 AB), with a trio of tests and Scouse comic John Bishop proving there’s nothing quicker than a scouser in someone else’s car, tonight’s Top Gear looks promising too. It’s Top Gear Ashes time, with the boys attempting to heap more humiliation on the Land Down Under. They take up a challenge from the Australian Top Gear presenters in a car-based version of the Ashes.