Articles by Paul Pottinger

Yes, but why? That's the question dangling over Hyundai's new sedan, the four door take on the generally well-received i40 wagon. Again though, why, when the already much bigger i45 is around for much the same price? Hyundai's answer, in not so many words, is that the i40 is better. The sedan, like the five door sibling, hails from Hyundai's German R&D facility and the pencil of chief designer Thomas Burkle. It comes with decidedly European flavoured engines --  not least the diesel --  with suspension and steering bespoke for Australia. It is not, in other words, the big, sloppy, motion sickeness inducing i45 -- the least resolved car Carsguide has driven in recent years. "That was designed in California for the American market," Hyundai spokesman Stephen Howard says. "This is smaller. It is on a different platform to the i45. The i45 is made more for comfort, the i40 sedan has a more dynamic ride". It is also, for the moment, more dynamic than the i40 Tourer. Taking a cue from the book of susbidiary brand Kia, Hyundai sought bespoke tuning for this market, bringing in engineers from its Korean base to experience local conditions. "Those settings will come into the Tourer when the current stock in Australia is run out," Howard says. "There's major incentives and driveaway deals on those at the moment." The four mirrors the Tourer's spec levels -- Active, Elite and Premium -- and two four cylinder engine choices. The 2.0 direct injection petrol will doubtless sell more, but our pick would the hardy 1.7 turbo diesel with its 100kW/320Nm in auto form. Prices starts at a symbolic $29,990 for the manual petrol Elite few will buy up to an ambitious $44,590 ask for the the top spec diesel auto. Both transmissions have six speeds, though auto only from the Elite up. Standard kit dependent on the spend is impressive, running to nine airbags, cornering headlights and sat-nav system with SUNA capability displayed on a 7-in screen. The value equation is emphasised by Hyundai's standard five yearr/unlimted km warranty -- something most rivals cannnot or won't match. Unusual though it seems for the sedan to arrive after the wagion, this only comfirms the i40's Euro accent -- there the five door is always first out of scuplture's clay. Burkle has said he wanted to get away from the conventional three box sedan shape and that fluidly aerodynamic silhouette is about as far as a four door compact can escape -- though it's not miles away from Moray Callum's Focus sedan for Ford. Our first drive -- and we've a special one lined-up -- is ahead of us, but we'll hazard that here's another Korean car to steal Japanese thunder. Hyundai i40 Sedan Price: $29,990-$44,590 Warranty: 5 years/ unlimited kilometres Resale: NA Service Interval: 12 months/15,000km Safety Rating: Five star (Tourer) Engine: 2.0 litre 4-cyl petrol 113kW/214Nm; 1.7-litre 4-cyl turbo diesel 100kW/320Nm Transmission: 6-speed auto or man; FWD Thirst: 7.5L/100km petrol; 5.6L/100 diesel (autos) Dimensions: 4.7m (L) 1.8m (w) 1.4m (h) Weight: NA Spare: full-size  

Would that on Porsche's encyclopaedic option list there was a box for "weekly track day" - preferably at Sydney Motorsport Park.The renamed, extended and curvingly enhanced Eastern Creek track is one of the decreasing stretches of hardtop on this continent where Porsche's 911 can be enjoyed to anything approaching the extent that its nature demands.VALUEWhile one car presented by Porsche at this showcase for the entry level 911 Carrera and Cabriolet variants is optioned from its $235,850 starting point to a few bottles of Grange under $300K, the item that most impresses is the one least embellished. Yet even in basic form - if anything priced from 230 grand can be so called - the 911 subverts Carsguide's dearly held tenet that less is more.TECHNOLOGYThe - ahem - base Carerra's 3.4 flat six now realises 350 horse power in older and perhaps more meaningful terms, or 257kW and 390Nm. With 400cc more, the S makes 294kW/440Nm.Both achieve 100km/h from standing in less than five seconds, blazingly fast for roads cars and seemingly all the quicker from this cockpit on such wide open straights and a tightly sinuous series of corners where the truly prodigious levels of mechanical grip have to be felt to be believed.Much - much too much - has been made of the move to 100 per cent electric steering. 911 acolytes deplore this as a desecration and will bore about it till plants wither and birds drop stunned from the skies. As one whose life hasn't been spent in a 911 and whose driving life is spent in the real world, I say it's here, it's staying and it's brilliant - fulsome, alive, life enhancing.DESIGNThe real world motif is worth recalling when putting the Cabrio between the Park's new set of plunging and rising apexes. Altogether softer and less sled like than the Coupe, you're in danger of regarding it as less than an unalloyed joy until you remember the invocation of former foreign minister Gareth Evans when addressing the Greens - "in the real world ..."  Still it'll be keenly interesting to see how the new and reportedly much advanced Boxster - released next week - stands in Porsche's open top order of things.As a showcase for enhanced sophistication the Cabrio is hard to fault - be it an innovation as simple as the wind deflector that can be automatically raised and lowered as opposed to being hauled out of the nose and manually erected, or intelligent engine mounts that respond via magnetic fluid to the car's movement for optimum weight distribution.DRIVINGWhat will surely be Porsche's conventional manual transmission is the first to come with a seventh gear. Why? Well, on the daily 250km/h autobahn commute (I've met people who do this), this tall override ratio allows the flying German executive to achieve what would in this country be terminal velocity. Moreover it does it at an engine speed not much greater than that required by a less exotic car at this country's soporific speed limit.To access seventh, and to avoid ham fisted upshifts, it's necessary to travel via fifth or sixth. Suffice, that while none come within three cogs at this track day presentation, the manual now matches the incredibly adroit twin clutch auto PDK for gears, if not outright speed off the mark or - if you happen to care - fuel consumption. Then of, course, there's the ongoing matter of Porsche Doppelkupplung, the PDK twin clutch auto that changes gear and adapts so rapidly there's barely cause to trouble its shifting paddles.Indeed, when my opponent in a launch control activated drag along the main strait thought to change up of his own volition rather than allow PDK to work its own magic, Carsguide's ability shy pilot took an unlikely chequered flag. Yes, it's special alright, especially in Sport where it's quite amazingly anticoatory, tastefully blipping the throttle on downshifts, enhancing the 911's ability to make us amateurs feel like champions. But is it more fun? That's between you and your left foot. While fewer than one in five will opt for the conventional manual, a slickly short throwing model of the species, it's hard not to agree with the head of another German maker of fine driverly car who laments the dying art of nailing a gear  shift for yourself. "We've lost something, haven't we?" No you can't stop progress, it's just that unlike the 911, you might like to slow it up a bit.VERDICTOur abiding principle is that less - less stuff, less expense -  can be more. The purest Porsche proves it.

BMW managing director Phil Horton said the zero emissions i3 electric car will be in showrooms in a little over 12 months. It will be followed early in 2014 by the i8, a plug in hybrid sports car that also uses a turbo diesel engine.But the i3 commuter car uses no fuel at all, running on a 22kWh lithium-ion battery that gives it a total range of about 160km between recharging - though it may come with a petrol range extender engine. Capable of about 150km/h, the battery is fully recharged in four hours."They are BMW's, but not as we know them,'' Horton says.But he says there is "massive amount of work to do'' to prepare infrastructure for electric vehicles."It would be highly desirable if the government was to take a more open minded view about actively promoting the sale of zero emissions cars, as opposed to not seeming to be very interested in anything to do with the industry,'' he says."I think it could be done quite simply. We have a lot of tolls. If you were able to drive a zero emission car down the highway without incurring tolls, that would make more people think about them.''Australia’s first family sized electric passenger car, Nissan’s Leaf, goes on sale next month at $51,000, joining Mitsubishi’s tiny i-Miev. Nissan estimate that the Leaf, which can be charged up overnight from a specially adapted domestic power point, will sell some 1500 units a year. 

It's all too easy to poke fun at the Prius. And I should know. Having emptied the bile ducts over the years, however, it's probably only fair to dip one's lid in the direction of one of the most successful visual marketing exercises since the Coke bottle and Levis' 501s.The Prius is every bit as synonymous with hybrid cars as those other symbols are with soft drink and jeans. Except the Prius isn't cool. Oh, no. Never that.Nor is it especially practical, not in the way of the bigger, newer and actually very good Camry Hybrid, which now not only has boot space but can tow too. But then the Camry looks like a Camry, as opposed to an instantly recognisable advertisement for the eco virtue of those within.Which is where the Prius V comes in. The V denotes not "five", but stands for "versatile". Substantially bigger than the familar Prius, it seats seven. At least it has seven seats, enough to shift half the kid's footy or netball teams without making an outsize carbon footprint.VALUEAny form of seven-seater looks good at $35,990, the sticker price of the entry level V. It looks all the better for being only a grand over the standard Prius, though the top spec i-tech Prius is still wildly overpriced at $46K. Expect the V i-Tech to go over that when it arrives by year's end, replete with leather, sun roof, sat-nav and such like. The package at hand lacks for little, with fruit including display-screen, auto air-con, 16-inch alloys, head-up display, keyless entry and ignition and the now unavoidable daytime running lights.In a market otherwise almost burdened by choice, people movers are the only thing not found in abundance. This, of course, is the only hybrid. The V looks handsome against such rivals as there are, though Kia's hard-breathing Rondo starts under $30K as do a few SUVs with a third row of seats.Getting rid of it might prove difficult. As a number of private and fleet owners have found to their considerable cost, the used Prius market belongs to the buyer.TECHNOLOGYYou don't need me to expound yet again the almost miraculous fuel saving of the petrol/electric hybrid powertrain. Suffice, that under optimum conditions the combined 1.8-litre Atkinson cycle petrol engine and 60kW electric motor are capable of returning 4.4 litres of premium unleaded fuel per 100km. Only after a freeway stretch on our introductory drive did consumption rise, and then to a hardly outrageous 5.7.As with the Prius, there are three drive modes: EV allows for deathly-quiet running on electric motor power alone for up to 2km; Eco dampens throttle response and limits power consumption from the air-con; Power does what it suggests without scandalising Bob Brown. Unlike the Prius, the V model debuts a space-saving lithium-ion battery pack, which resides under the centre console between the two front pews. It's this which has made the third row of seating feasible.DESIGNEven without the aid of new battery gubbins, the Prius has been expanded damn cleverly. The V is substantially longer, wider, higher and heavier while remaining recogniseably of the now three model line up (including the tiny $24K Prius C).The seven-seat format consists of three independent sliding, reclining and split-folding second-row seats and a 50:50 split-folding third tier. Each row is elevated above that in front. With seven up there's 80 litres of cargo space, thrid row flat there's 485  or four full size golf bags. Don't know about full size adults in the back row, though. Despite claims to the contrary, it's kids only.SAFETYThough not yet crash tested, it's difficult to see the V failing to realise the number of ANCAP stars its model name implies.Kit includes seven airbags, reversing camera, hill-start assist, stability and traction control, and anti-skid brakes with brake assist and electronic brakeforce distribution. It's all there.DRIVINGWell, you can't have everything. At least you can't have your Prius with anything other than an utterly anodyne drive. You'll get a more involving experience on XBox. And comparable steering feel.Even with two on board, the V starts to labour on longer hills. When carrying seven, well ... be good to stay out of the overtaking lane, won't you?  All of which is, of course, quite beside the point. No one's asking this to take corner quickly or even half capably, which is just as well.The V will, however, do precisely what it says on the tin, and that's move five and two half people prodigious distances between visits to the bowser. Clincially capable then.VERDICTIf the small and medium Prius strike you as a bit pointless, here's one that makes sense in practice as well as on paper.Toyota Prius VPrice: 35,990Warranty: 3 years/100,000kmResale: 52 per centService interval: 6 months/10,000kmSafety raing: UntestedEngine: 1.8-litre 4-cyl petrol/electric hybrid, 100kW Transmission: continuously variable auto Fuel economy: 4.4L/100km, 101g/km CO2 Dimensions: 4.6m (L), 1.8m (W), 1.6m (H) Weight: 1505kg Spare: Temporary

Though sales of the Adelaide-built sedan continue to slide in Australia, the export deal will see the Commodore become the Chevrolet SS – and a race and showroom star -- in the United States. In that guise, it would also star for the heartland brand in the Nascar stock car racing series, which runs second only to Formula One in global popularity. Holden has been testing left-hand drive cars on public roads in Victoria in recent weeks and running it head-to-head with one of its strongest potential rivals, the Dodge Charger, as it finalises its end of the important new deal. Motorsport sources in the USA hint that an announcement of the Chevrolet SS program is imminent, including the Holden connection. The coming VF Commodore as the donor car for the program ticks the boxes for American muscle car fans, and Nascar stock car racing as well, thanks to its V8 engine, large body and rear-wheel drive. The dollar value of this historic deal is expected to be announced today. The Chevrolet connection is a revival of the major export deal that saw the Commodore sold in the USA as the Pontiac G8 until the American brand was closed when General Motors was forced into bankruptcy during the global financial crisis. This time around, numbers are likely to be much lower but the profile will be much higher thanks to the Nascar connection. Former GM Holden president Mark Reuss, now the head of GM operations in the US and a known fan and supporter of the Commodore, was yesterday dodging Carsguide's questions on a link between the SS program and the Commodore. Holden chairman Mike Devereux also refused to comment on the strengthening rumours in the US, which were triggered by the announcement. It is the key to the deal, and the timing of all announcements, since Chevrolet has already confirmed that it will compete in the stock car series next year with an all-new model that is not currently in showrooms. It has also registered the SS Performance nameplate. Full-scale testing of the racer is expected to begin soon, and the bodywork expected to be revealed at the same time. “The smart money is betting on a civilian version of the V8-powered, rear-wheel drive Chevrolet Caprice PPV, which GM imports for police fleets from its Holden unit in Australia,” America’s Automotive News reporter Mark Colias told Carsguide early in May.  

It's the worst ever result for the troubled local carmaker. Ford, whose iconic Falcon sedan continues to plunge in the sales charts, had an operating loss in 2011 of $78 million.  Ford Australia chief financial officer Mark Rearick blamed the after-tax hit on a one-off $212 million tax impairment related to "tax losses generated in the current year and carried forward from prior years". "The operating loss is primarily explained by one-off costs associated with a restructure of the Ford Australia business, a continued industry-wide decline in the sale of large vehicles, and vehicle supply issues for both Ranger and Fiesta as a result of the Thailand floods," Mr Rearick said. The company retrenched 250 workers at its Broadmeadows factory last year and reduced production to 209 vehicles a day to clear a backlog that had at one point filled the factory's grounds with unwanted vehicles.  Ford's previous worst result was in the global financial crisis of 2008, when it took a $274 million after-tax loss. Ford's announcement of the 2011 result came two days after chief rival Holden announced a $89.7 million profit for 2011, down from $112 million the previous year. Critics have pointed out that the Holden profit is roughly equivalent to the amount of Federal Government funding the carmaker received during the year. However Holden's chief financial officer, George Kapitelli, has said the two figures are "a coincidence''. Ford last year received $102 million from the Federal Government's Automotive Transformation Scheme -- almost the sum it invested in the locally made Territory and Falcon. The latter has just been released in its first four-cylinder engine version.  Ford Australia CEO Bob Graziano said the Falcon, the great majority of which are sold to fleets, would once more be viable to those which "have a policy of  four cylinder vehicles only". So far this year, Falcon sales are down 30 per cent on 2011. The Territory and Falcon were outsold again last month by the Focus small car, which is imported expensively from Germany. Mr Rearwick said the relocation of production in Thailand in a few months would lower operating costs. Mr Graziano said Ford last year updated 85 per cet of its lineup and had "walked away from unprofitable" areas of its business. "We're confident we're making the right decisions, albeit tough ones, for the future of our business," he said.  

If any single model has embodied the disparity between executive sedans from Europe and those from Japan, it’s been the GS.Even in the most sedate versions, the mid-size wares of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and even Audi have at least a hint of sport saloon about them. By polar contrast, the well-intentioned Lexus GS has been as croquet is to base jumping.The fourth generation, however, comes with the suggestion of no one less than our own Paul Gover - who tossed one about in preproduction form last year - of being something more than a floaty, flatulent, rear-wheel-drive Toyota.As ever, Lexus takes a katana to the Germans, deftly undercutting them on substantial, if not perceived, value. For in prestige cars, perception is - if not all - then at least the half the market,  and for this lot the L badge can't equate to those from Europe.If you are one such, then you're reading the wrong auto publication. And  if you want to pay two grand for metallic paint - as per the Euro norm - you need more help than I can give you.The GS 250, which we hadn't got into by publication time, starts from $77,900 topping out at $99,900. The 1-litre bigger engined 350 starts with the Luxury ($89,900). In several respects the $10k dearer F-Sport is the one we'd have, with its tail taming rear wheel steer on top of an adjustable chassis.Luxury Sport looks and feels every bit of its $109,900, banks of soft leather rising over the top of the dashboard, a multi media screen bigger than some hotel windows and still priced against the competition in such a way as to be a bargain.Interior fittings, most of them standard  from the entry level or included in $3k enhancement packs,  read like a luxury lifestyle catalogue. A mouse controlled  system in place of the more usual touchscreen, linked to a split-view 12.3inch widescreen dashboard display. Other stuff runs to  surround sound, front 20-way power seats; pre-collision system, heads-up display, blind spot monitor, lane keep assist, and Driver Monitoring System.An entirely new body and platform house a typically Lexus-esque array of tech, it's just that you get them for about $20k under anything speaking with a Stuttgart accent. Each GS them get three driving modes, Eco, normal and sport, each distinct and worthwhile in their own right.To this F-Sport adds Sport plus, which to some slight extent reduces the interventionist tendencies of Lexus's formidable battery of electronic safety measures.The dynamic highlight of a model lineup that had been the luxury car equivalent of a milky cup of tea followed by a nice lie down, is the F-Sport's rear steer. Rather more sophisticated than the four-wheel-steering systems of yore, the system turns the rear wheels opposite to the direction of the front at an angle of up to two degrees at speeds of up 80km/h.Shoved fast through a slalom course demonstration, it provides a kick in the rear completely at odds with the comfy cruising image previously synonymous with the bigger Lexus models.But the naturally aspirated 3.5-litre V6 – though enduringly effective in most circumstances – feels like last week's newspapers next to the hugely effective turbo fours being slung by the Germans, let alone the boosted sixes of the 535i and Audi's supercharged S4.The real engine story, you feel, comes in six weeks with the arrival of the GS Hybrid. So I guess we'll be doing this all over again then.This is a tale of two ends, each having the appearance of being designed by separate studios, which if not exactly beyond speaking terms, are somewhat further apart than 4.8m ought to be.The front end - especially the mildly blinged F-Sport - might have been drawn by boys racers, all jutting bits and rear vision mirror filling intimidation. Then there's a butt drawn by someone whose idea of daring is a tie with spots. As though to rekindle the cliche that Japanese designers can't disregard anyone's ideas, it looks variously like a 5 Series or an A6, depending on how you squint.Nothing equivocal about the interior, which is simply first rate, a tactile enveloping pleasure in which to sit at any spec level. Driver's will love the cossetting cockpit feel and impossibility of not finding the perfect position. And even the tallest of us present at this week's introductory drive were able to sit comfortably behind our own set driver's seat.I'd sit happily in these all day, pews that manage to be comfortable when tootling and torso hugging through bends. In fact, let's not equivocate, the GS has the best cabin in the game - a harmonious meeting of comfort, function and a dash of  funk with that cool analogue clock in the dash.You'll need to try awfully hard to kill yourself in a GS, what with 10 airbags and what until recently would have seemed a sci-f  array of active and passive measures. Excellent - and standard - fixtures that should, surely come with every car at the price are the heads up speedometer and emergency brake lights.Like all really sorted cars, the GS seldom feels as fast as its travelling. Though still (literally) weighted toward grand tourer than sports sedan, it's difficult to imagine how the former could have been more adeptly seasoned with flavours of the latter.It's a sedate and even deathly quiet cruiser, that - at least with dynamic options added - is an almost equally capable and smile inducing  corner carver. Evenly balanced, sitting almost billiard table flat, the front wheels left free to steer, you'd want to spend your life on test tracks to harp on any perceived BMW superiority.Especially not when optioning up the latter to Lexus standard spec can blow the buy out by 50 grand. You'll be struck by the sheer effortlessness of the Lexus - both in its "natural" habitat of boulevard/freeway running and almost staying with the best of them when previously it wouldn't have kept them in sight.Pity then, that the atmo V6 so lacks the low down torque that happens to be a standard feature the Germans can boast. Again, this where the Hybrid could be a real gameFar better than we had any precedent to expect, the best is likely still to come. See you in six weeks then.

That’s the day each month on which the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries tells us which brands sold what. Much of this, of course, is fearfully predictable.There is within minutes of the VFACTS figures the inevitable Toyota press release banging on about being Australia's No.1, GM Holden making the best of Commodore sales, while Mazda quietly unzips its proverbial trousers and unleashes from a great height yet another record month.Saddo that I am, I love combing through the Retail Sales by Marque and Model part of the report, which pitilessly details each and every iterant's performance. If ever you doubted that there are too many brands competing for too few dollars in this sector of the galaxy, run your cursor through this document. Consider the February showing of this random and diverse assortment: Alfa Romeo (95 sales); Chery (142); Citroen (163), Chrysler (7); Proton (110  though they're cheaper than chips) and Ssangyong (128 ditto). Would our part of the world be a poorer place if this lot simply cleared off? Alfa and Citroen at least provide a bit of colour and chic, though only the latter has any immediate new models of consequence. Chrysler? I suppose some might be looking forward to the “new”' 300C. Love to say something educated about Chery but they won't let the press drive their cars. I tend to forget Proton are still here and driving a Ssangyong Actyon this week  I'm unlikely to succumb to nostalgia should that brand seek less arid pastures.No one - except of course Holden and Ford - wants to see a return to the tedium of the tariff protected duopoly, yet it's the plethora of choice that threatens to eliminate diversity. Where, for example, are Mahindra? Equally, who cares? Anyway, in a market so warped by badge engineering - one that can re-badge Dodge's Journey as a Fiat - a name means only as much as you're prepared to pay for it.

"We like football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars.'' Those of a certain age might recall this ad jingle of the 1970s. Enduringly irritating though it is, it also has undeniable sociological significance. It bespeaks a long vanished era when football never meant a round ball, takeaway cusine was somewhat limited, Skippy was still on in the arvo and the foreign car makers who'd set up shop here could flog their wares behind a vast rampart of tarriffs. Much has changed. Ford and Holden have long since ceased to leave quality control to their customers and the Australian car market is the world's most over populated and competitive with some 230 models on sales. Which is why forking over $275 million of taxpayer money for Holden to keep producing its cars here is a gambit that's wide open to question. As Australian-made cars are outsold by those from not only Japan, but also Korea and Thailand, it's incumbent upon the two American and one Japanese carmaker still present to make cars that are world's best practice. Sorry, but they don't. Ford kind of gets a pass. The obituaries for the Falcon and the Terrritory are ready to run when Detroit pulls the plug on Broadmeadows in the next few years.The Blue Oval will then follow the path of Mitsubishi to being a successful full importer.Sufficiently incentivised, as I read someone in the business pages say, Toyota has agreed to keep bolting Camrys together in Melbourne. The hybrid version is a sound family car, though hardly compelling. Which brings us to General Motors Holden.We can ignore the Commodore because you do and it's surely going to be replaced by some generic GM-derived world car. It's from such as these that the rest of the Holden's family car line-up is derived and none of them are anywhere near the top of their respective segments. The best of them is the Cruze, which has been adapted for, and is bolted together in, Australia. It is a thoroughly decent device, but tellingly, in today's edition of Carsguide, it is omitted from a comparison of the leading small cars. As worthy as it is in some versions, there are still four or five better small cars than the Cruze. Yet it's for the production of this car that Holden are subsidised by you and I. Whatever your position on local carmaking, surely our $275 million should buy a class leading car. Will the next Holdens make that grade? I'd like to hope so, but on Holden's current form, I very much doubt it.

Got to look on the bright side though and there has been a silver lining in a lousy week to use Sydney's rank, inadequate road system.(And ain't it great to see Bob Carr - who did so much to make this happen - back in government?) It's this: The absence of cyclists. This staggers me.According to the Lycra lovers of the cycle lobby and treadly spruikers such as Clover Moore (whose inept chunk of social engineering - that cycle track - is never used in any weather), Sydney is the coming city of the cycle.Never mind that Moore's notion of Sydney extends no further west than Annandale. To hear this crowd propagandise, the lot of us are throwing a leg over and pedalling like happy little burghers of Copenhagen (which Moore fondly imagines Sydney to be).So where the bloody hell were you all week? Three guesses: On trains, in buses and driving. In other words, making like any sensible Sydneysider at any time.We're told ad nauseam by the spokesmen, "Two wheels good, four wheels bad''; that those with bums on saddles and feet on pedals are truly the righteous and those who use motorised means to get about this fevered city are agents of Satan.Yet all it's taken to make the hi-vis vest fundamentalists fade from view is the mild displeasure of the very Mother Nature at whose breast this crowd claims to suckle.You can laugh at these self-righteous tossers for living on another planet (as if, on a bicycle, you can get kids to separate schools and self to work, then to shops before after-care closes).But, really, how weak are they cowering from a spot of drizzle? Why aren't they out there causing their usual chaos with the sense of entitlement that enables them to flout road rules, hog transit lanes and force  busloads of commuters  to travel at their pace? Cyclists, welcome to the real world.