Finance & Career

There are so many good reasons why, at this time of year, you should take the time to check the weather before you drive. For England, this can be done by calling the Highways Agency live traffic information service on 08700 660 115.

The obvious reason to check the weather before you drive is because winter is a time of year when adverse weather is most likely to occur. The snow, ice, sleet and storms that so often occur during the winter make it harder to drive. This is the case regardless of how well you have prepared your car for the winter weather by taking such measures as ensuring that you have enough tread on your tyres. No matter how ready your car is to brave the weather, winter driving is still a risk, and in countries like the UK where snow isn’t an everyday occurrence, many drivers are not sufficiently experienced in the conditions and are therefore unable to drive sufficiently carefully.

Winter driving can be incredibly difficult, so you are advised to check the weather first so that you can hopefully wait for an improvement in the weather before you drive anywhere. When driving in snow, it is easy to get your speed wrong. If you drive too fast, you risk losing control, whereas if you drive too slowly, you risk losing momentum when you need it, possibly becoming stuck in the snow. Remember that it can take up to 10 times longer to stop your car when the roads are slippery, meaning that you need to reduce your speed and drive carefully accordingly, even if the roads have been gritted.

Even if you cannot see ice on the road, there may still be plenty of black ice in unexpected places that can cause your car to skid. Winter driving conditions can be made particularly challenging if there is a high risk of ice due to the road layout and location. Hilly or exposed roads or roads that pass over or under a bridge, in addition to those that are shaded by buildings or trees, are all places where ice can very easily form.

The difficulty of winter driving can greatly increase the risk of having an accident. It can hamper visibility, and if you cause an accident as a result of not being able to see clearly due to ice and condensation on your windows, your car insurance premiums could also greatly increase.

References

Directgov (2011?). Safety in extreme weather. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Usingmotorwaysandroads/Roadsafetyadvice/DG_185021
BBC News Online (2010). How to drive in snow and icy weather. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8443690.stm
Hannah, Felicity (2010). 10 tips for getting your car ready for winter. http://www.moneysupermarket.com/c/news/ten-tips-for-getting-your-car-ready-for-winter/0010548/
Your Cover Insurance (2010). Winter driving tips – preparing for winter. http://www.yourcoverinsurance.co.uk/en/products/car_insurance/hints_and_tips/driving_safely/winter_driving_tips-preparingforwinter.html
Haynesonline (2011?). Drive safely this winter with Haynes. http://www.haynes.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Feature_WinterDrivingAdviceView?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001
Directgov (2010). Snow and ice – travel and local services updates. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_174618

Hannah Warder is a writer for MediaVest (Manchester) on a range of topics such as car insurance.

Prospective cheap car insurance policyholders may wish to know more about the most popular Nissans ever manufactured.

One of Nissan’s most popular cars is the Micra, which has long been known in Asia as the March. From 1992 until July 2010, over two million Micra’s were built at the NMUK plant in Sunderland in the UK alone. The original Micra was introduced in Europe in 1983 as Nissan’s replacement in the supermini sector for the Cherry, which had become larger with each successive generation. The second generation of Micra had rounder styling and was introduced in 1992, winning the European Car of the Year award for 1993. The radically redesigned third generation, meanwhile, was unveiled at the 2002 Paris Motor Show as the Nissan mm Concept and had an even curvier exterior, even spawning a coupe convertible model. The fourth generation Micra was globally launched in March 2010.

Another of Nissan’s most popular cars is the Almera, which is a medium sized family car that was built by the manufacturer between 1995 and 2006. Nissan essentially used Almera as the European export name for its Pulsar, Sentra or Bluebird Sylphy models. Although in regions such as Ireland, the saloon version was popular, almost all Almeras sold in the UK were three door or five door hatchbacks. The Almera was sophisticated compared to other cars in its class, with power steering, electric mirrors, a driver airbag and stereo all coming as standard. The Almera also spawned various special edition models during its lifetime and was rated highly for its reliability and build quality.

Nissan is also very well known for its Z-cars: a series of sports cars which date back to the original Nissan Fairlady Z. This car was sold in Japan as far back as October 1969 and exported as the Datsun 240Z. The Z cars have long been praised for their combination of good looks, performance, affordability and reliability. The Z cars have only ever been known in Japan as the Fairlady Z, but have been sold elsewhere under the names 240Z, 260Z, 280Z, 280XZ, 300ZX, 350Z and 370Z. The original Datsun 240Z particularly was praised for its combination of sharp performance and good looks, something for which the fourth generation 300ZX was again widely regarded when it first appeared in 1989. The Z car is presently in its sixth generation, the 370Z, which was first shown at an event in Los Angeles prior to the 2008 Greater LA Auto Show.

References

Nissan (2010). Nissan Micra E-Brochure. http://www.nissan.co.uk/etc/medialib/nissaneu/_gb_en/_Brochures/city_cars/-474.Par.36631.File.pdf
Auto Trader (2007). Nissan Micra 1.5 dCi car review. http://www.autotrader.co.uk/articles/2007/04/cars/nissan/micra/nissan-micra-1-5-dci-car-review
Blackcircles.com (2010). Nissan Car Tyres. http://www.blackcircles.com/tyres/cars/nissan
Auto Express (2008). Nissan Z-cars gallery. http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpressnews/230526/nissan_zcars_gallery.html
Peter Hall (2002). Return of the Z cars. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/carreviews/convertibeandsportscars/2717486/Return-of-the-Z-cars.html

Hannah Warder is a writer for MediaVest (Manchester) on a range of topics such as car insurance.

Those who are looking for car insurance may be interested to know more about the most popular Volkswagen cars of all time, which we have defined as those that are the best selling.

With sales of over 21m, the Volkswagen Beetle is cited as the best selling single design of car in history, and not merely the bestselling Volkswagen. The Beetle was also known as the Type 1, and was produced from 1938 until 2003. Beetles were manufactured in an air-cooled, rear-engine, rear wheel drive configuration, making it the longest running automobile in the world of a single design platform. The Beetle pioneered the affordable small car, alongside such cars as the Morris Minor, Fiat 500 and Citroen 2CV.

Its successor, the Volkswagen Golf, has been built in six generations since 1974. After the Volkswagen Group acquired Audi in 1964, Volkswagen made the most of its newly acquired engineering expertise to develop a modern front wheel drive car with a water cooled engine, leading to the introduction of both the Golf and the Passat.

The front wheel drive Golf was initially built mostly in the three door hatchback style, but has also spawned five door hatchback, estate, convertible and saloon variants over its long production run. A particularly successful guise was the GTi, which has been widely hailed as the first successful mass market “hot hatch”. The Volkswagen Passat, meanwhile, is a large family car that has been built in six generations since 1973, with present marketplace rivals including the Ford Mondeo. Over 15m Passats have been sold in total.

The Volkswagen Jetta is the saloon version of the Golf. It has been built continuously over five generations since August 1979. The Jetta was originally conceived when Volkswagen gave the Golf hatchback a conventional trunk, while the Jetta has also long been distinguished by additional styling changes, including both on the front end and to the interior. It has long been offered in five-seat saloon and five door estate variants.

The four generations of the Volkswagen Gol, meanwhile, have led to it becoming Brazil’s bestselling car. It was been built continuously by Volkswagen’s Brazilian arm since 1980, with sales of over 4,500,000. The Gol was developed in 1980 as a replacement for the Brasilia, which in turn had been a Brazilian market alternative to the Beetle. Its design was specific to Latin America, while the car even spawned many sporting variants, such as the GTi, which was the first Brazilian-built car to use fuel injection.

References

Volkswest.co.uk (2010). History of the Beetle. http://www.volkswest.co.uk/beetle_history.html
Volkswagen (2010). Volkswagen history timeline. http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/volkswagen-world/heritage/timeline
Christopher Santos (2010). First and Finest of the Hot Hatches. http://www.vw-one.co.uk/hello.htm
Volkswagen (2011). New Passat Estate. http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/#/new/passat-estate-vii
Top Gear (July 2000). Volkswagen Passat. http://www.topgear.com/uk/volkswagen/passat
John Simister (2010). Volkswagen Passat. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/road-tests/volkswagen-passat-2114828.html
Maps of World Cars (2010). Volkswagen Gol. http://www.mapsofworld.com/referrals/cars/small-cars/subcompact-cars/volkswagen-gol.html
Auto Express(2010). Volkswagen Jetta. http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/newreviews/209645/volkswagen_jetta.html

Hannah Warder is a writer for MediaVest (Manchester) on a range of topics such as car insurance.