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Driven: Volkswagen Golf Mk7

Walking up to the seventh-generation VW Golf, redesigned flip key in hand, you're in no doubt that this is a) new or – perhaps more importantly – b) a Golf. It's the "200 meter test" lead exterior designer, Andreas Mindt tells us and, while we're suspicious of the idea of self-conscious ‘iconic design', you have to concede he's right. In fact the Mk7 Golf's pared-back graphics and a return to a true two-box proportion create a more accurate vision of what we imagine when we think ‘Volkswagen Golf' than either of its two most recent predecessors.

Designer insights: highlights of Auto Design Prague 2014

Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, might not seem the most obvious choice for an automotive design conference. But when one considers the country's history of innovation in the arts and architecture, its long-lived automotive marques like Tatra and Skoda, and Prague's central location in Europe, it makes perfect sense. Conference speakers included the program design director for Citroën DS, Ivo Groen; Volvo vice president of design Thomas Ingenlath; Jaguar advanced design director, Julian Thomson; Gert Hildebrand, head of design for Qoros; and Johann Lemercier, program manager at Ferrari design.

2013 Mini John Cooper Works GP drive review

Mark Vaughn threw the '13 John Cooper Works GP around Circuito Mallorca a few months back, and the quickest-ever production Mini proved itself to be an excellent track car. The questions one always asks about a car stuffed full of turbo boost and beefy suspension goodies, however, remained hanging before us: Will it be intolerable on the street? Will it ride like a steel-shod forklift on rough pavement and leap like a hornet-stung mule into the back of a porta-potty truck when the boost comes on?