THE MAGAZINE FOR MEMBERS OF GEM MOTORING ASSIST GOODMOTORING ROAD SAFETY І CAR REVIEWS І HOLIDAYS І FEATURES І YOUR LETTERS AUTUMN 2015 Your votes have made us the UK’s number WINNERS one breakdown provider for 2015! AGAIN... See inside for results of the Auto Express Driver Power survey BE OUR GUEST... ...for a tour of the Morgan Motor Company MIND YOUR BACKS, FOLKS We help you alleviate the pains that are driving you to distraction REVEALED: ThE CAR ODOURS you hate ThE MOST Recommend a friend... Refer your friends & family to one of GEM’s Breakdown Services and every time one of them joins, you’ll receive a £20 M&S voucher. Here’s what you need to do: 1 Tell your friends and family about our award winning Breakdown Cover 2 Visit motoringassist.com/eraf1009 and enter yours and your friends’ details (please note, you will need to know the email address of the person you are recommending) RECOMMEND Or call 01342 825676 (Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm) GEM BREAKDOWN 3 When your friend joins our breakdown cover we will send you your £20 M&S voucher. COVER AND RECEIVE A Find us on Twitter (@motoringassist) & Facebook (gemmotoringassist) £ 2 0 VOUCHER! Award winning Provides one of the most comprehensive policies in the market as indicated by breakdown cover Best Breakdown Cover a Defaqto 5 Star Rating GEM Motoring Assist Terms & conditions: This offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. GEM Motoring Assist have the right to withdraw or amend this offer at any time and without prior notice. We will only use your friends’ email addresses in conjunction with this ‘Refer a Friend’ offer. By entering friends’ email addresses you are confirming that you have obtained their consent for this. Please only suggest friends who you believe will be interested in GEM Motoring Assist Breakdown Cover. Gift vouchers only issued once new member joins. This offer is not available to members upgrading their policies. No cash alternatives available. Voucher will be sent out approximately 28 days after the membership policy start date. Please note this offer is only open to GEM Motoring Assist Members. GEM Benefit Sheet A4_29.07.15_#1.indd 2 29/07/2015 14:36 WELCOME TO THE AUTUMN EDITION! AS I WRITE this, I am looking with pride and satisfaction at the results of the recently-published Auto Express Driver Power Survey. Thank you very much if you took the time to complete the survey, because once again GEM has been voted the overall winner, as well as ‘Best Buy in Breakdown Cover’. We are passionate about giving you the very best possible service, not just in breakdown recovery but for everything connected with your motoring. Everyone at GEM joins me in thanking you for your loyalty and support. We are more motivated than ever to find ways of improving our service to you in the years to come. It’s not very often that we get the opportunity to organise a GEM member event, so we’re excited about the exclusive tour of the Morgan Motor factory in Worcestershire on Thursday 22 October. Unfortunately we won’t manage to fit every member onto the tour, but there are 10 pairs of admission tickets to be won. Somehow it reminds me of a Roald Dahl story, but if you expect me to dress in top hat, tail coat and cane for this tour, then you’ll be disappointed. And please remember my name is Williams, not Wonka! Anyway, all the details of the tour, and how to apply for a pair of tickets, can be found on page 6, right next to our car insurance advertisement, which I would love you to investigate if you may soon be in the market for a renewal of your annual premium. Our colleagues at Shield offer a top-class, professional service which I recommend highly. Do give them a try. Better still, if you contact them for a quote before 31 August 2015, your name will automatically be entered into a draw to win a £250 prize. Other goodies available this time: we have a fabulous weekend for two in Cambridge (page 28) on offer as our competition prize and two robust and highly visible Stoplock car security devices (page 11). Enjoy this edition and stay safe. David Williams MBE Chief Executive ALL ABOUT GOODMOTORING MAGAZINE ARE YOU SITTING GOOD MOTORING is Good Motoring is published by Complaints policy: We COMFORTABLY? the magazine for members GEM Motoring Assist. hope you never experience of GEM Motoring Assist. © GEM Motoring Assist 2015 any problems relating to the As we get older, we all tend to suffer from Good Motoring is the property contents of Good Motoring. aches and pains, stiffness and reduced Editor: James Luckhurst of GEM Motoring Assist. All rights GEM Motoring Assist can flexibility. But if this affects your ability to Editor-at-large: reserved. The views expressed in accept no responsibility get in and out of your car - or drive around Valerie Singleton this magazine do not necessarily for problems arising from safely and in comfort, then it’s definitely Road Test Editor: reflect the views of GEM Motoring advertisements with Good David Motton Assist. Motoring. In the first worth exploring a few ideas that could GEM does not accept any instance, complaints and make driving life a bit easier. Proofreader: responsibility for errors or omissions. correspondence relating to A brand new video from GEM explores Roger Rushton Good Motoring is distributed advertisements should be some worthwhile tactics and tools that could [email protected] quarterly via Royal Mail to members directed to the advertiser really make a difference and ensure your road of GEM Motoring Assist worldwide. concerned. Should you not journeys are made in comfort. We look at Advertising enquiries: For questions and comments reach a satisfactory conclusion the whole science of ergonomics, we make David Breary, Creative relating to GEM membership, Good within a reasonable period of Publishing Services Motoring subscriptions and editorial, time, please contact us by post suggestions on journey planning [email protected] contact GEM Motoring Assist. or email. and we give advice on what to look for if you’re considering changing your car. Do encourage family members GETTING IN Write to: Good Motoring, GEM Motoring Assist, Station and friends to take a look at toucH WITH Road, Forest Row, East Sussex, RH18 5EN the video, which you’ll find at GOODmotoring: Telephone: 01342 825676 motoringassist.com/drivercomfort Email: [email protected] Please note: magazine enquiries only to this address Website: www.motoringassist.com Cover image: Close-up of a Morgan sports car. For a chance to join us on a Morgan factory tour, please see page 6. 413 CONTENTS Autumn 2015 ON THE BACK TO COVER BASICS Paul Caddick considers how the increasing stress of modern driving is affecting our health. There have been great strides in the design and manufacture of modern car seats to adjust in accordance with different body shapes using them, but these are compromised by cost, space and other safety CELBRATING GEM’S SUCCESS paraphernalia. Readers of Auto Express once again voted us number Page 20 one in their latest Driver Power Survey. As a way of saying thank you for your vote, we have 10 pairs of tickets for an exclusive GEM tour of the Morgan Car factory in Worcestershire taking place on 22 October. Page 6 THE THE ALL-SEEING DRIVERLESS CAR Harrison Keasey, a blind 13-year-old schoolboy from Worcester, ponders on the future of road transport and his own AUTUMN vulnerability. Will driverless cars prove the answer to the challenges he faces? How affordable, reliable and secure will they be? EDITION Page 18 HITCHING A RIDE... Deborah Meaden, star of Strictly and Dragon’s Den, ON THE COVER chats to our editor-at-large Valerie Singleton about her choice of car, her driving skill and her views on road safety. Page 22 CUBA’S CHEVVIES AND LINCOLNS Alan Hart spent a few days on the sub-tropical island, just as hostilities with the USA were being patched up with presidential handshakes. But, as he reports, the new accord could see much of the ‘real’ Cuba (including its amazing line-up of old cars) disappear without trace. Page 30 FRAGRANT VIOLATIONS “I did a supermarket shop. Some time later a horrible smell developed in my car. I searched everywhere but could not locate the source. Eventually, I found a haddock fillet had lodged itself under one of the seats...” We conducted a poll recently to establish what you rate as the worst smells you can encounter in a car, as well as your most unpleasant smell tales. Not for the faint hearted... plus details of the Government’s forthcoming in-car cigarette ban. Page 15 4 www.motoringassist.com CONTENTS Autumn 2015 WONDERFUL WEEKENDS Enjoy our eight-page selection of sensational short breaks - perfect for a late season get-away. Page 38 FANCY A LUXURY TWO-NIGHT BREAK IN CAMBRIDGE? ... then don’t miss our fabulous competition with a truly brilliant prize. Good luck! Page 28 NEW MAZDA MX-5 Fresh (and soaking) from the launch in Scotland, road test editor David Motton was just in BIKE BREAK the nick of time for his review. Fresh from a short trip to As owner of a Mk3 MX-5, he the Dordogne, Henry Harris was excited to be one of the first offers some wise words on safe to drive the fourth generation motorcycle touring and the toll a version of the world’s best- FAB selling two-seater sports car.