Anyone read Chris Harris's piece in this weeks "Autocar"? (13th Dec 2006)

Ostensibly a piece about fast estate cars, it ends with a glowing little tribute to the base Cayman, with a typical Harris twist to the tale.

Nice one!


PS ... you can find a copy here ... http://www.arthurlea.com/Storage/harris.jpg

Have a great deal of time for CH, he told the truth about TVR/Lotus.......TVR gone.....Lotus?.............Well its getting 45 Kgs of rubber added to its nose!

Cayman is King!
Mike

Indeed, and this was why I posted this. I cannot think of a more perceptive motoring journalist currently published, in the UK at least.

JH

Its amazing............5 times this year i thought it............Chris has wrote it!

Great feeling that we have somebody whom "Understands" and is going to politly say what he thinks!

For too long the Auto-trade and car mags had an easy time. With the advent of the internet, bb, d/cameras etc means WE know the truth very quickly. When Lotus made a mess of their gear shift sticks (the weild broke and they came off) they tried to blag the owners.

But every owner posted the photo's.........and Chris took up the cause. Lotus were forced to admit the problem and do a recall in the US. Later they did one here as well.

And as for TVR..................he didn't mince his words!

Cheers
Mike

I have been buying Autocar for my bedroom read since I learn how to drive. I don't think there is any other car magazine that provide as much data than Autocar roadtest. Not even the owner's manual!!!!

My top 5 favourite car jounalist
1. Chris Harris Autocar
2. John Barker Evo
3. Paul Robinson Retired Autocar My dad's favourite!!!!
4. Jeremy Clarkson Topgear I know he hates Porsche but his articles are
funny
5. Tiff Needel 5th Gear Need I say more, probably the best drifter in UK

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Andy

Car journalism reached its peak for me somewhere from the late 70's to the mid 80's with the then fabulous CAR magazine. Names like LJK Setright, Doug Blain, Mel Nichols, George Bishop, Steve Cropley and Georg Kacher were what I grew up on, with stories that were insightful, technical, passionate, and sometime mini-novels in their own right. Remember stuff like bringing the three gold Lamborghini's into Britain. Ground breaking photography too. In my study, I have every issue of CAR from No 1 in 1964 up to it changed format and turned to rubbish in the mid 90's. Well read, all of them.

Times were simpler then of course, quieter roads, less anti-car hysteria, no speed cameras. That said, the quality of writing was definitely higher, and in recent years car journalism has been debased to little more than a "how fast is it mister?" type affair, and an obssession with outright performance, always tested on a closed facility, and as such with increasingly little relevance to real road driving. As for the influence of the "Max Power" school of writing, don't even ask!

I see Chris Harris as just about the only person writing today who gets past this 0 - 60 obsession, and really loves and understands cars ... OH, and who can actually write too! GT Purely Porsche was a magazine I only ever bought for the photographs, as the writing was comically bad, until Mr Harris joined them. His presence seems to have transformed the magazine, and long may it continue.

We urgently need a few more like Mr Harris.

John H

Don't forget Russel Bulgin. Its good to see another old f*rt prefers the good old days

And I completely agree with you over GTPP too!

SS7

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Carrara white pauper's 2.7
Snickers wrapper in the door bin
Flies on the number plate
Church's scuffs on the kickplate
'Goodwood' umbrella in the back

EVO magazine has taken up the baton these days, certainly in terms of the mainstream mags. Great photography, and pretty decent journalism from (in particular) Meaden, Barker and Vivian.

Always worth reading. I've got every issue from 1 to 100 - it's the only motoring magazine (other than an owners' club mag) that I've ever subscribed to.

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Only up to a point. EVO are still largely performance biased, and they rather see that as the sole purpose of a car, witness their less than stellar enthusiasm for the 2.7 Cayman. Indeed they chose a Renault Megane thingy over it, on the grounds that it was faster and cheaper.

Well, I deliberately went and sat in one of those hot shot Meganes over the weekend, and to my eye, it is just another so so French hatchback. Simply because it was quick, does not make it the equal of a Cayman. Somehow, I don't think CAR magazine at its best would ever have taken such a narrow view.

Rest assured, I won't be trading my Cayman for a Renault Megane anytime soon.

JH

AHA! ... Cue my opportunity to tell my "Russell Bulgin phoned me" story

1984 and I had recently taken delivery of one of the first Honda CRX's which in its day was an absolute revelation. Bulgin had written about it in "Performance Car" or whatever he was writing for at the time, and I had written him a letter debating some of his points (as one did back then before emails and forums!)

A few days later the phone rang one afternoon and a voice introduced itself as Russell Bulgin, and was I free to talk? At first I thought someone was pulling a prank on me, but no, it was the man himself. We settled down to a very entertaining hour or so of total anorak discussion. Most amusing, top bloke!

Poor old Russell, life's not fair is it?

Nice Bulgin Story John (I've got a similar 'John Barker story' from ten years ago when I owned a Megane Coupe 16v!)

Regarding evo and the Cayman 2.7/Megane opinions - I think evo likes the Cayman but thinks it's overpriced (as do plenty of others, of course, but not some of us...). Also, the story was written by Tomalin - if you read JB's comments in particular, he's quite a fan. Tomalin also didn't particularly 'get' the Cayman S in the ECoTY 2005 report a year ago, whereas JB gives it high praise.

As for the Megane R26 230 F1 thingy - while it may look/feel like another so-so French hatchback, I am sufficiently intrigued by it that I'm going to test-drive one in the New Year as soon as my local dealership can source me a demo car. Not looking to sell my CS, but perhaps to add the Megane. I think it's cracking value, and I want to see how the LSD-FWD chassis copes with the 227 turbocharged brake horses.

I test-drove two AM V8 Vantages last week, so my tastes are nothing if not eclectic!

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