AROnline
Technician’s Update: It doesn’t stop with cut-price cowboys
Mike Humble When I used to put a price out for a job whilst working as a mobile mechanic, I would always ask if the potential customer had obtained a quote from elsewhere before giving a price. Pitch the opening gambit too high and you will get three beeps or a long tone to signify the caller has rung off, [...]
May 17, 2013
· 
Mike Humble · 
10 Comments
Sales Talk : Treading carefully with over-inflated egos
Mike Humble I used to work for one of the biggest dealer chains in the country, and before it was taken over by another equally huge group, it was a pleasant outfit to work for – providing you pulled your weight. I transferred over to a nearby Vauxhall site eventually, but at first, my role involved selling new [...]
May 16, 2013
· Mike Humble · 21 Comments
Blog : Time called for time-warp Ford dealer
Mike Humble Anyone who has traversed the A509 trunk road between Wellingborough and Milton Keynes will surely agree that it’s a boring and busy road swamped with fun spoiling speed restrictions and traffic calming measures. When I lived in the County of spires and squires known as Northamptonshire, I used this road on thousands of occasions [...]
May 6, 2013
· Mike Humble · 44 Comments
Events : Report – Techno-Classica Essen 2013
The 25th Techno Classica in Essen, Germany, shows that the European classic car scene is in full swing now. It handsomely broke last year’s record for the number of visitors, with something for anyone even remotely interested classic cars. Words: Alexander Boucke, Photography: Alexander Boucke Everyone who knows the British Museum in London, and has [...]
April 16, 2013
· Alexander Boucke · 8 Comments
Blog : To MGB or not to MGB – that is the question!
Mike Humble Ever said those fatal words “yeah, I can do that, no problem” and wished you hadn’t? It’s something we all say, all get burnt with and never ever seem to learn from. A very good friend of mine, who also supplied me with Project Partridge – aka the 800 Vitesse coupé, is a real Brit car [...]
April 12, 2013
· Mike Humble · 11 Comments
News : BTCC MG6 test for top MINI Challenge driver
Clive Goldthorp Total Track Limited, the company which administers and promotes the increasingly popular MINI Challenge, has just announced an innovative competition for all this year’s JCW Class drivers – the luck winner’s prize will be a full day’s testing in one of the Triple Eight Race Engineering-run MG KX Momentum Racing NGTC-specification MG6 GT [...]
April 12, 2013
· Clive Goldthorp · 2 Comments
Blog : The motor pool update
Mike Humble MGB GT I have a good friend of mine who works in the field sales environment who regularly tells me to be wary of any company which uses the words Solutions or Specialist in its name or website. After pondering a while, and in my experience, this often tends to be the case – especially in [...]
April 8, 2013
· Mike Humble · 24 Comments
News : Plato takes two BTCC wins at Brands Hatch
Words: Simon Thompson Photographs: BTCC Media Office Triple Eight Race Engineering-run MG KX Momentum Racing kicked off the new Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season with a new look and a new face at Brands Hatch over the Easter weekend – the two NGTC-specification MG6 GTs were sporting a new livery and young [...]
April 3, 2013
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Blog : MG6 owner’s final running report
Words and photography: Ant McGowan My MG6 experience came to an end this week when I traded it in against a new SEAT Ibiza FR. After playing as much hard ball as I could with the dealer the reality is after 20 months on the road and 11,500 miles (nine months in my possession), my [...]
March 30, 2013
· Mike Humble · 81 Comments
Our Cars : Mike Humble’s new 800 Coupe
Mike Humble buys himself a prime slice of 1990s two-door coupe prestige. How will he fare with AROnline’s latest project car? So far the signs are looking good… A Rover returns Yeah, yeah, I can almost hear what you are saying to the monitor: ‘well, that didn’t take long before you got another Rover’. And you may [...]
March 29, 2013
· Mike Humble · 64 Comments
Blog : I want spring – now!
Our readers in the more northern countries will probably smile now, but I’ve had enough of winter now. A couple of days – or even weeks – with snow and frost are fine for me, around Christmas, in January or February… Words and photography : Alexander Boucke But now, a few days before Easter I [...]
March 25, 2013
· Alexander Boucke · 48 Comments
Essay : Top 10 AROnline classics for cheap running
We love Bangernomics at AROnline and in the interests of running cars on a shopestring, we choose 10 great and unusual cars to run on a shoestring using the principles we hold so dearly. We know that fuel prices are going up, and tax is being squeezed, but you could beat the system with any [...]
March 20, 2013
· Keith Adams · 169 Comments
Our Cars : Out with the old… in with the older
Mike Humble As a rule, I don’t do jealousy with cars. Yeah sure I feel mildly envious with certain steeds some people have bought purely because I like them too – but jealousy? not me. But as the opening gambit states. I did say ‘not as a rule’ and my favourite cars are as eclectic as you [...]
March 12, 2013
· Mike Humble · 34 Comments
The Bus Section : Leyland Atlantean
Mike Humble Atlantean: bearing the weight of the world Should you be of a certain age, a bus still rustles up a mental picture of something big and noisy with large 22.5in tyres that rattles your fillings and windows with the thumping growling big block Gardner or Leyland 680 power unit. The sights, sounds and [...]
March 4, 2013
· Mike Humble · 29 Comments
Commercial Vehicles : Your help needed
Mike Humble They say that time flies, and how true is that sentiment? This month marks the 20th anniversary of the collapse of Europe’s largest truck builder – Leyland DAF. Way back in 1987, the two brands of DAF and Leyland were merged into one following the Conservative Government’s decision to start privatising the State owned-Rover [...]
February 23, 2013
· Mike Humble · 15 Comments
Our cars : Renault 18 – 500 miles on
Keith Adams A few weeks back, and after much prevarication, I bought myself a lime green Renault 18TS. My rationale for buying such a car was simple – I wanted a vaguely classic shaped car from the late 1970s that I could press into daily use – and practice what I preach about old car [...]
February 23, 2013
· Keith Adams · 33 Comments
Our cars : Rover 216GSi’s second Life
Today, our old Rover 216GSi starts into a new lease of life – hopefully a successful one… Words and photography: Alexander Boucke Three years and almost two months ago, the useful life seemed over for our beautiful 1991 Rover 216, not without reason – although reliable, the Honda engine used rather inconvenient amounts of oil, [...]
February 16, 2013
· Alexander Boucke · 21 Comments
Our cars : Renault 18 joins the fleet
Keith Adams One of the perks of writing about cars for a living is that I do get access to all manner of new ones to test and review. But despite the new metal that comes and goes in my life, I still enjoy owning and maintaining my own cars – and that’s why, when [...]
February 10, 2013
· Keith Adams · 60 Comments
Our cars : Nothing to see here…
Business as usual Bought: July 2012 Mileage: 10,152 miles Actual economy: 36.9mpg After the maladies associated with my MG6 ownership experience, I’m delighted to report that the car hasn’t missed a beat since getting some personal attention for MG Motor UK back in the autumn. I’m at now over 10,000 miles clocked up by a [...]
February 10, 2013
· Keith Adams · 29 Comments
Our Cars : Mike’s Xantia – Très bon or Les Misérables?
Mike Humble: Well, it’s been a few weeks since the Rover 75 vanished into the darkness on that snowy Tuesday evening towards the Anglian parish of Colchester. I was half-expecting some withdrawal symptoms from losing the warm cosy deep-pile seats and the ember glow of the dials when driving at night. Yes, I miss the [...]
February 7, 2013
· Mike Humble · 22 Comments
