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Richard Usher, Founder, Great British Car Journey…..

I have to admit after a few drives in our new Toyota Mirai – I am a bit of a convert to the notion of cars powered by hydrogen.

Firstly, our Mirai is the series one version so it’s front wheel drive, whereas the series 2 is rear wheel drive. Certainly for such a big car, it handles very well and can be taken through corners, with confidence at speed. The ride is also noteworthy as the way it soaks up the bumps is truly impressive, which, when coupled with the very comfortable seats, makes for a very comfortable place to be.

The brakes take a little bit longer to adjust to, as the Mirai slows down naturally when harvesting power, so the brake pedal needs treating with some care. The pedal has more feel than in a more conventional car but you soon adjust to a rather different way of driving.

Performance is more than adequate and I haven’t yet pressed the ‘Power Mode’ button which I am guessing gives you even more torque and acceleration.

Compared with all electric vehicles I have driven, the range remaining reading seemed relatively unaffected by hard driving and in fact, over 25 miles reduced by 25 miles. We will be going in search of some hydrogen fairly soon!

Although it is by no means a lightweight tipping the scales at over 2000kg, it is considerably lighter than the equivalent Tesla presumably because it’s battery is a lot smaller. This means you are less conscious of mass when cornering and also a bit kinder to the road surface. I imagine the front tyres will not be destined for a particularly long life.

I will leave it to those with science qualifications to adjudge whether hydrogen production can be deemed ecologically and economically viable. I do however salute Toyota, for being far sighted enough to pursue alternatives to hybrid and hybrid electric vehicles and producing in the Mirai, a fascinating and highly competent machine with a distinctly futuristic feel.

Finally, the dash display of course baffled someone as technophobic as me! There are all sorts of displays, one of which shows schematically the combination of hydrogen and oxygen causing wheel rotation. It’s all a bit skewed off to the passenger side, so apart from the big digital speed read out, I just let it do its stuff!

We are delighted to have added the ‘future’ to our driving fleet and you can book your driving experience below.

Richard Usher, Founder of Great British Car Journeys’ response to Keith Adams’ open letter to the new Minister for Transport, The Rt. Hon. Louise Haigh MP.

The letter can be found on AROnline here and is full of hope, that there is a great opportunity to take a fresh look at our roads.

I am very largely in agreement with Keith’s sentiments and there are some excellent thoughts and suggestions.

As a further point, I am genuinely concerned that the new government are proposing to revert the cut off date for sales of petrol and diesel cars back to 2030, the previous incumbent’s original date, which they then pushed out to 2035.

I have run an all-electric car for three years and have no problem with the concept, although I am now back to diesel, albeit one built in 2005.

My concerns over the electric future are based on the huge number of unanswered (at least to me) questions which I have asked numerous people, including MPs, without receiving much clarity by way of response.

So here they are:

1. As the battery does not appear to be a replaceable item on the current crop of electric cars, how long will a battery last before the car becomes unusable.
   
   
2. Lithium, the principle element of the modern battery is hard to extract and also hard to recycle. The average age of cars currently on the UK roads is over 9 years old. So, will batteries last that long?
   
   
3. Regardless of whether we can generate or purchase enough electricity to support what will be much higher demand, how will motorists access the necessary charging points? The number of public charging stations is already massively adrift of the targets set by the last government and so home charging would appear to be the answer? However, many millions of car owners do not have a private driveway and park their cars on the street outside their house, so how will they deal with the problem of the cable? I am already seeing streets In London which are festooned with over-pavement cables from dusk until dawn and beyond, providing a fine trip or other hazard for pedestrians. This, to me, seems to be the BIGGEST problem of them all!

So… these are my three BIG questions which, inevitably, lead to even more questions.

If anyone out there has answers with a degree of certainty, we would love to hear them!!

Richard Usher, Founder of Great British Car Journeys’ response to Keith Adams’ review: Metro City (1990) on AROnline.

My Dad had loved his 1965 Mini Cooper S and kept it for nearly a decade before buying an MGB Roadster.

It’s difficult to describe the sense of expectation and excitement that gripped Birmingham where we lived, in anticipation of the Metro’s launch. The Birmingham Evening Mail produced a huge supplement on the car which was universally seen as the replacement for the Mini which had been in production for more than 20 years.

All the British Leyland garages in Birmingham (and there were lots of them) threw special launch events to woo back the customers who had defected to Ford, Vauxhall or even one of those Japanese brands. The TV advert was on all the time and my Dad bruised by a flirtation with an ever-rusting Lancia Beta, ordered a Metro 1.3 from Cutlers of Streetly.

SHA 191W arrived in March 1981 and became his commuting car. He was very pleased with it, indeed delighted. It didn’t go like a Cooper S but it was spacious, comfy and reliable. Inevitably, when the 72 bhp MG Metro was launched in 1982, he ordered one from Cutlers and I briefly inherited the first car.

Having sold my first car: a Mini Clubman Estate and bought a desperately rotten and worn-out Healey Sprite, I was very pleased to be in something new, modern and better than my old Mini to drive. In the end, I also inherited the MG, which was great fun, as my Father went on to buy an MG Montego!

I now own five Metros – proving that the little car has secured a lasting place in my heart. These include, the very last MG to roll off the production line and a very early 1981 car with less than 10,000 miles on the clock. The later K series cars are quicker and have a 5-speed box which is very welcome and I really like my cabriolet version!