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Is Owning a Car and Short Term Car Leasing Mutually Exclusive?

When a person needs access to a car for a few weeks or longer, they usually either buy or lease, and like ‘custard or cream?’ or ‘brown sauce or ketchup?’ this choice is usually mutually exclusive. However, when it comes to vehicles, there are certain circumstances where the options may not be yin and yang. Here are 5 circumstances where short term car leasing can actually complement your current car ownership or the decision to buy a vehicle. Testing the Goods Have you e

ELON-GATE JOINS SMILES HIGH CLUB

The Tesla Man painted himself into a twitter box, last week; and found he isn’t made of Teflon

It’s late at night and you are fielding thousands of responses from people across the globe wondering what you will tweet next. Some folk will troll you, others will agree with you. Meanwhile share prices rise and fall on these “thinking-out-loud” moments. BUT you are not IMPOTUS Donald J Trump – rather, you are Elon Musk (pictured), the high-flying CEO and primary mover an

AIR-COOLED KALASHNIKOV? ZERO TO 100KPH IN 6 SECONDS!

Ignore the blatantly one-sided series of articles from the UK and US gutterersnipers: propaganda has rarely looked so good FACT

Most will be familiar with that most “iconic” of weapons – the AK47. A simple design to mass-produce, easy to maintain in extreme conditions, air-cooled with that distinctive “thaka-thaka” cyclic rate; and the calibre to cause lots of trouble. They still make them – and the company, Kalishnikov have just announced their grand entrance

IMPETUOUS IMPREZA IMPRESSES

Is there a diesel option for the new Subaru CV, Impreza OR forthcoming Forester? Nope!

A sign of the times, perhaps. Other manufacturers are running with this option – for example the Audi A1s are all ”non-diesel”. Hanyways...the new Impreza is one of three models built on Subaru’s "Global Platform" (SGP), so joining the XV SUV and – when it arrives next year – the Forester. So expect a thoroughly rigid, road-feeling ride, something that the Japanese manufactur

OK KOMPRESSOR – SONG AND DANCE ROUTINE

On Irish roads now, the Mercedes A-Class remix is entirely satisfactory

Hatch and Mercedes are in the same sentence again, except this time plaudits are singing praise. Where as the last A-Class felt more like an attempt to shore-up a lagging sector for the Daimlers (a bit like those old ad-hoc MPV Vitos, maybe?), this latest version dances to an entirely different tune. For now, just the two on-cue 1.5 litre diesel and 1.3 petrol engines, with a 2.0 performance version on the way. But they are a

POWERING OFF

Base government policy arguably exposed in prominent relief

A few weeks ago, here at CBG HQ, we wondered aloud about motor taxation, the diesel engine and the government incentives of the future. Unfortunately there are so, so many areas where they (the irish govt) are simply reactive – and so, so fail us: everything long-fingered or buried within tribunals, a series of bottom line decisions versus lowest common denominators. Meh: just deleted an entire paragraph on the HSE, Leo V, homeless

A1 – TOP OF THE CLASS?

A totally reworked Audi A1 arrives in Ireland towards the end of 2018 – rivals will take note

When we say “reworked” here at CBG HQ – realise that we are not referring to the insanely brutal one-off  496bhp ‘clubsport quattro’ version of the new Audi A1 (gulp…)! Rather variants released to the “gen-pop”, as it were. So and as one would expect from any entrants to this increasingly competitive segment of the market, it is a reasonably imp

LUST FOR LEXUS: THE NEW LC500h

No doubt about it – this luxury “GT” is beauty; and a bit of beast:

Soon, people will be rubbernecking this machine – it IS one of the most beautiful things ever seen on Irish roads. First up in Eire will be the 3.5 litre petrol header, allied to a battery-powered drive. When you press the ‘’on’’ button it starts in electric mode! The 300bhp V6 only kicks in when you demand more than 1500rpm at any one time. In fact on the motorway the hybrid will h

GOLD LEAF IS NEW STANDARD

They electrified us once before (with the 280ZX!); but this new e-Leaf is shockingly “i-smart”:

One could be forgiven for looking down at the old Nissan Leaf – slightly dowdy with a possibly frumpy owner, off to walk the dog or lose the ‘’vehicle’’ in the local shopping mall car park. This new electric Nissan Leaf, though, is an entirely diffident proposition to its predecessors: it would even lend Germaine Greer some street cred (as if she needs it)! Som

AFTER EIGHTS

After two decades under wraps, there’s a new BMW 8-series on the way.

So the Bavarian sculptors are at it again – with the welcome announcement of the imminent release of their brand animal, the new 8-series! By the manufacturer’s own admission (and, ahem, “standard perceptions”) the first models, while more-than-effective performance coupes, were also technological clotheshorses (a bit like the Mercedes S-Class?), almost an exercise in motoring Narcissus. The build