Cold but brilliant open air motoring

AS we headed ever higher into the mountains above Bala, the muddy green of the countryside became a chilly shade of white.

Today Life On Cars is one of its adventures over the border, with our merry gang of enthusiasts on the way to Llandudno to see the gaggle of Minis which travel to the resort on their annual run from the Wirral.

On the way however, we've ventured through the mountains on the wonderful roads which wind their way through Bala, Blaenau Ffestiniog and Betws-y-Coed, even though at a frosty two degrees it was probably  a tad too cold to have the MX-5's roof down.

 Bloody freezing but big, big fun.

 Check out Life On Cars tomorrow for a full report on the 2013 Wirral to Llandudno Mini Run

Caterham goes karting

THOSE two cornerstones of heroic driving - Caterhams and karts - have been spectacularly combined in a new entry-level motorsport series.

The Surrey firm who brought you the Seven have drawn on their years of staging one-make racing series - and, more recently, their F1 experience - to create a karting series for keen racers, with the £4,995+VAT package and the machine itself, the CK-01, making at their debut at this month's Autosport show down at the NEC.

Caterham Group CEO, Tony Fernandes, said: “Caterham Karting will once again make this fantastic sport accessible to everyone, without losing any element of the competition and experience. In fact, with tight regulations and totally transparent, controlled costs, Caterham Karting will simply be the best value, most competitive and most fun karting in the world.

“This is not just another new karting championship, this is a revolution in motor racing. Motorsport for all is finally here.”

The package, designed to appeal to novice drivers, includes the kart itself, the necessary training to get your racing licence, entry into a six-race season, and full technical support from the gurus at Caterham itself. The CK-01 is ideal for either launching your motorsport career or - more likely - having an absolute ball on the track for less than the cost of a Citroen C1. It's also - and I know this probably doesn't get said very often - a fantastic looking bit of kit. If you're keen to find out more, go to www.caterham.co.uk or call 01883 333 700.

Can I have a go?

Fire up the... Skoda Citigo

THE ONLY way is up! That's what Europe's biggest car company - the mighty VW Group - are hoping you'll conclude if you're thinking of buying a small car to squeeze into tight parking spaces.

Yet you don't actually have to stump up for a Volkswagen if you're looking to buy the up!, the German firm's smallest offering. Trek down to your nearest Skoda showroom and they'll happily sell you the same car in all but name. That's the joy of the Skoda Citigo.

Skoda, in case you hadn't noticed, stopped making Eastern Bloc oddities years ago and is now quietly taking over the world with a range of cleverly thought-out cars which are usefully cheaper than their VW cousins; the Yeti you'll already know and love, there's a new Octavia saloon on the way, and for anyone thinking of a Golf or Focus there's now the Rapid hatchback too. The Citigo's a bit more obviously related to its siblings - the aforementioned up! and the SEAT Mii - but that's by no means a bad thing.

You get, for instance, the same neatly-proportioned body, although the Skoda's styling is more conservative than the up!'s. You get the same 60bhp, 1.0 litre petrol powerplant with its offbeat engine note, the same gearbox, and the same solidly built, suprisingly roomy interior. You get an awful lot for your money but - and here's the important bit - you get it for quite a bit less than you would if you'd gone for the cachet of the VW badge instead. Depending on which version you go for, you can save roughly between £500 and a grand by opting for the Czech-badged car.

The trickier question, as I mentioned when I drove the up! earlier this year, is whether to go for it over a Fiat Panda, which lacks the Skoda's solidity and style but is roomier and more fun to drive. That's a tough one to call, but if you're dead set on the up! and its siblings you'll be quids in by swapping the Veedub badge for a Skoda one.

Clever marketing or VW shooting itself in the foot? You decide...

If the Ford Mondeo is brilliant nobody will notice

HERE'S a bit of a motoring prediction for 2013. If Ford's new Mondeo is any good not one of you will bat an eyelid.

Which is a shame, because I reckon chances are it will be. This year the Mondeo celebrates its 20th anniversary - no really, it has been around that long - but take a look at the sharp end of the car sales charts and it's notable only by its absence. The best selling saloon in Britain is the BMW 3 Series.

This says more about the people who buy cars than it does about the cars themselves. When the Mondeo came out petrol cost 43p a litre and the sort of souls you'd see driving them hadn't bought them; they were given them by their fleet managers, which I think partly explained why the Mondeo always got such a kicking in the customer satisfaction surveys. If you buy a car privately you cherish it because you chose it carefully and paid for it with your own money; if it's a repmobile you're not going to be as bothered. Unless it breaks, in which case you - and your bosses - will be furious.

I also reckon, though I'm happy to be proven otherwise, that there's never been a bad Mondeo. Sure, there'll have been an iffy special edition or two in the car's 20 year history and obviously some are better than others but I've always thought the basic package - sensible saloon practicality and Ford value for money mixed with a dash of driving fun - has a certain something. I'll let you into a little secret; everyone I know who really knows their stuff on cars likes the Mondeo.

These days, though, the Mondeo and its ilk are an an endangered breed, and it's not just the £1.30 litre a petrol prices pushing the few remaining reps into family hatches instead. Mondeo Man these days is buying his own car with his own money, and if he isn't ploughing his hard earned into an infinitely trendier Nissan Qashqai than he's got the choice of the BMW 3 Series or the Ford Mondeo. I'll say that again; BMW or Ford. Even if the new Mondeo looks like an Aston Martin Rapide that shrank in the wash - which, amazingly, it does - it doesn't stand a chance.

Keen to find out what all the fuss is about, I've driven the new 3 Series and would like to tell you that it's rubbish and that you should buy a Mondeo instead. Only I can't, because it's brilliant.

Top Gear - due back on your screens on January 27

WORD from the Beeb is that the world's most watched bit of motoring telly is due back on our screens later this month.

There's been a bit of a Top Gear vacuum on our screens lately, most noticeably when over Christmas the TV schedules had plenty for fans of Eastenders, Downton Abbey and Miranda but not much for anyone looking for the petrolhead's usual Yuletide helping of three middle aged blokes breaking down in the middle of nowhere. To be fair, the excellent World's Most Dangerous Roads has made a bit of low key comeback but Top Gear, perhaps stung by criticism of last year's India special, was nowhere to be seen.

Until this weekend, when Auntie announced the show would be back on Sunday, January 27.

From what the official online preview suggests it looks set to be a belting season packed with the trio's usual blend of speed, seriousness, silliness and, er, Stig-ness, with a not-at-all-delayed Christmas special featuring the Aston Martin Vanquish, the Lexus L-FA and Dodge Viper on a trip to Mexico, somewhere where the show has plenty of fans.

It's not as if the trio haven't been idly doing nothing since the last series finished way back in March of last year, with Richard Hammond treating us to a rundown of James Bond's cars last October, and Jeremy Clarkson and James May bringing out the brilliantly funny Worst Car In The History of the World special on DVD, but the return of a new, full series looks set to be a bit of a treat.

Can't wait...

Video: The new Range Rover

THIS is Land Rover's TV advert for what'll be by far its most expensive offering when it hits the showrooms early this year; the new, full-size Range Rover.

I know this is the second Range Rover article in as many days and adverts aren't really my thing, but this one's got all the right ingredients. Mountain scenery, winding Alpine roads, a brief look at what it can actually do off-road, some Matt Monro on the stereo and - perhaps best of all - a quick nod towards the beautiful 1970 original that started it all. It is The Italian Job for 4x4 enthusiasts.

As if I wasn't dreaming of owning one already...

Fire up the... Range Rover Evoque

TO appreciate this baby off-roader you have to think not in terms of ground clearance, horsepower or litres of loadspace. It is a car callibrated best in column inches, retweets and Facebook likes.

The Range Rover Evoque is, thanks to its near-constant appearances in the likes of Heat and Hello! and the input of Victoria Beckham's style know-how in its inception, one of the coolest cars on the planet right now. It's also one of the hardest to judge with an open mind - not only am I from a family of Range Rover owners, I'm aware too that it's made right here in the north west, in a Liverpool factory and was developed with help from the British taxpayer. Not that you're interested in that. What you want to know is if it's any good.

First impressions are good - the five door 2.2 diesel I tested looks, for want of a better word, fabulous, although its three-door sibling is even more stylish. Sharply creased and with a distinctive squint at the front end, it manages to look like a Range Rover without inducing the environmentalists' irk its bigger brother manages.

In fact, the question everyone's asked me is whether that shallow rear window makes it tricky to see out of, but it doesn't. It is no harder to drive than a Ford Mondeo, which is perhaps no big surprise given the two are - via Land Rover's Freelander - distant relations under the skin. In fact, the biggest dissapointment is that you lose the commanding driving position Land Rover owners know and love, but you'll forgive that because it handles crisply and tidily on even the trickiest of roads.

The price to pay for all of that, naturally, is the price itself; you can get an entry level version for around £28,000 but the ED4 version I drove was nearer to £36,000. If you're more worried about value and practicality you definitely get more for your money by going for the Freelander, but that's missing the point. The quality of the interior, the sportier drive and the looks, to my mind, make the Evoque more than worthy of the extra outlay.

As much as I hate coming to an obvious conclusion the Evoque is just too good for the pop singers and TV stars to keep to themselves.