Topgear News

The newest version of the Volkswagen Touran now comes with new tyres from Bridgestone which have been designed to be run-flat. These tyres, called the Turanza ER300 RFT’s, have reinforced side walls which mean that in the event of a puncture, you can still drive the car to the nearest lay-by or garage safely, due to the fact that the reinforced side walls support the cars weight. These tyres are however an optional extra on the remodeled Touran.

The other new features on the remodeled Touran include a new radiator grille, headlights and the rear of the car has been redesigned in the form of lights and bumper. They have also installed two computer compatible sockets in the car.

Aston Martin are creating 40 limited edition Vanquish, with black paintwork and several new additions including leather upholstery, black chrome fittings and a limited edition sill plate. The limited edition Vanquishes are being created to signify the end of the production for Aston Martin Vanquish. The limited edition Vanquish will be the same price as the V12, which is good news for people who can afford the £182,000 car.

The limited edition Vanquish can also be fitted with a normal gear shift, rather than the paddleshift box, for an extra cost of £15,000.

It must be one of the shortest stays ever in new car showrooms. Italian giant Fiat has axed its Croma range from UK dealer forecourts because of “disappointing sales”.

The compact MPV with estate car styling was launched in autumn 2005. But the manufacturer sold only 440 examples to the end of that year, while 2006 saw 827 find homes.

“It’s disappointing, but the figures speak for themselves,” said a company spokesman. “Fiat hasn’t stopped Croma production in Italy, and it continues to be made in right-hand drive. We’ve got a few in stock, but we won’t import the car in volume.”

Bridgestone have just announced that they will only be supplying four different types of tyre to F1 teams in 2007.

The four different types of dry weather tyre will be Hard, Medium, Soft and Super Soft, of which two types will have to be chosen for each grand prix race. Along with this is the new grand prix ruling which states that every driver must use at least one set of their tyres in dry weather races.

On the negative side for grand prix teams using Bridgestone tyres, Bridgestone tyres are currently around two seconds slower a lap than their main competitor Michelin’s tyres.

Red Bull driver Mark Webber says the team’s new car is struggling for pace and that changes have already been made for this week’s test in Bahrain.

This year’s car is the first Red Bull Formula One machine by leading designer Adrian Newey, formerly of McLaren.

“Both David (Coulthard) and I had a bit to say when we first drove the car,” said the Australian, who is struggling to fit the car.

“The changes came from driver feedback and Adrian watching the car on track.”

Owners of cars and especially performance cars should be checking their car tyres more regularly, due to the fact that they can pose an accident risk if a car tyre is defective.

Tyresafe, an organization who promote tyre safety, carried out a survey over a two month period and the results were pretty shocking - 30% of tyres removed from performance cars were defective, a figure which is three times the national average of 12%.

Part of the reason why performance cars are more likely to have defective tyres is because the wheel arches tend to be larger than your average car, making it more difficult and awkward to check the tread of the tyre.

A Seat off-roader… is there no stopping the 4×4 trend?

It seems not. Seat has sold all-wheel drive models on the Continent before, but they’ve never made it to the UK. Next month we’ll see the Spanish firm’s vision of a crossover, based on the super-sized Altea, the XL.

Word is, it’ll get the full gamut of crossover styling tweaks; expect little innovation, just a pumped-up ride height, body cladding, under-body protection and the VW group’s Haldex part-time four-wheel drive system. So, no, this won’t be a proper SUV to take you across a bog, but it should be fine for occasional excursions off the bitumen.