Steve Litchfield

I know, I know, it serves me right for getting drawn in by an advert on (cough) Facebook. However, the idea behind this simple Koseo product is so genius that I couldn't resist. And the price was low enough that it wasn't the end of things if it turned out to be a dud. As it turned out, it was, yet wasn't. As you'll see below. The problem being solved here is that between a car front seats and the centre console is often a slim gap. And into this fall sweets, phones, pencils, whatever. Which are then a devil of a job getting out again, squeezing fingers and tools in from odd angles.  These 'personalised filler cushions' then fit between the seats and the console, plugging the gap and stopping things falling down. Simple idea, but how well is it implemented? I can't resist listing all the attributes from the video advert and web site, in part for fun (because regardless of what I say, I did end up using the cushions): Bright red (at least in the video versio...

Sourced from Simply Cars , for about £25, I have to apologise if I gush a little in praising what is, at heart, a bit of moulded plastic. But it's also genius. Let me explain... We've all been there. It's time to transport, perhaps once a month, something really dirty in our otherwise well-kept car. So it's seats down and start loading. Old hardware that's been in the rain for weeks, rusty iron, tree branches and stumps covered in flaky wood and general biological muck, garden rubbish such as mown grass, you name it, we've all stuffed it in our cars at some point. And then, when returning from the recycling centre or rubbish dump, the back of the car is littered with damp sawdust, grime, water, mud, and so on. Which then needs drying and vacuuming. What a pain. So I leapt on this tailored boot liner. Yes, you could line any boot, for a few pennies, with plastic sheeting, ostensibly protecting your car and making clean-up easier. And I've done this in the pas...

No, this isn't a detailed treatise and specification comparison between the various car propulsion technologies. More me musing on where to go and what to do, in terms of 'choosing my next car'. I currently drive an eight year old Ford C-Max with a three cylinder 1.0 litre turbocharged 'EcoBoost' engine - those exact details becoming relevant below, as you'll see. Definitions The year is 2023 then. 'Hybrid' cars (see definitions below) have been around in production form for 25 years (since the first Toyota Prius), so are almost ubiquitous now. 'Electric' cars (ditto, definition) for about 13 years (since the Nissan Leaf), so are more common but still considered new technology. ' Hybrid ' cars have both (small batteries with) electric motors and  Internal Combustion Engines ( ICE ), with the former handling low speed, low acceleration duties, and the latter handling higher speeds and higher accelerations over longer distances. Most hybrid...