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Perils of the road ahead
The portents for 2003 are, like most portents, threatening and unpredictable. Nevertheless Michael McAleer tries to make sense of them
Keeping the wheels turning over Christmas
Christmas shopping - two words that can put city parking into a tail-spin. Patrick Logue reports on the horrors that lie ahead for the motorised shopper
The lure of the 03 plates
About one in five of Ireland's annual car sales takes place in January when03 still looks very new. John Cradden looks over the many different ways of financing one of life's major purchases
Other Stories
Road Up!
From the good times to the changing times - Patrick Logue looks at thefuture of Ireland's road-building programmeThe 6 gets 126 to win
The Mazda6 has been named Semperit Irish Car of the Year.The standard bearer for the marque in the family saloon and junior executive class, it saw off competition from two small car competitors, Honda's popular Jazz and the Citroën's lively C3. Michael McAleer reportsMotorists put fashion ahead of function when picking a car
Fashion rather than functionality is the key factor for motorists when buying a car.Spare a thought for departing friends
For some models, it's time to go. Andrew Hamilton bids farewell to a few of the vehicles we were once happy to be seen driving.Revving up to enjoy the seasonal cheer
EMISSIONS/Kilian Doyle: There's no point complaining about it at this stage, I suppose - but then, that's never stopped me before. I've been biting my tongue since they first reared their pernicious, glittered heads last month, but no more.Tanks a lot!
ACCESSORIES: Motorists need presence of mind - and presents of mind. Oonagh Charleton has been out in the bazaarsThe Bora Bora is no bore bore
ROAD TEST/VW Bora 1.8: Michael McAleer drove the curiously named Bora, and discovered that it has much to offerThe prophet of the book of quantum
Dorothea Dowling has just been named the Irish motor industry's Person of the Year. The chairwoman of the interim Personal Injuries Assessment Board, she is determined to reduce insurance costs, she told Carol Coulter , Legal Affairs CorrespondentA day at the races
That you don't need to buckle up and are encouraged to floor it are just two common traits of playing racing car games. Maybe the next generation of games will require you to be fully kitted in safety harness and crash helmet. Gareth Rowe checks out some racing car gamesRAC car check finds dangerous levels of faults in Irish cars
Robert Taylor, managing director of RAC Ireland, gives us an insight into the poor state of our cars and what motorists need from next week's budgetRoad Desk
Routes to avoid around the country in the week ahead:The Business
Inside the industry with Michael McAleerHelp Desk
Michael McAleer helps readers with their motoring problems
Looking for a 12 per cent share
Eddie Murphy (Ford) is upbeat about the coming year, expecting modest growth in car sales for 2003, up from 155,000 to 160,000.Facing the tough issues of 03
Declan McCourt (OHM Group) believes the big issues to impact on sales in the coming year will be: the negative impact of measures in the coming Budget; consumer confidence in the coming years being affected by the economy and employment prospects; low interest rates making it easy to get a new car; and price harmonisation in Europe forcing car prices in Ireland to rise.Vectra makes a mark
"The Irish Car Market held up very well in 2002 with the latest figures showing the market down by a mere 5.5 per cent," said Tony Carey (Opel Ireland).Managing to grow while the market declines
"This year we are likely to reach combined registrations of around 5,000 units, which will put us 5.5 per cent ahead of last year," Sam Synnott (Hyundai) told Motors
Minis and super-minis
In the"true" mini group, which only represents 2.1 per cent of the total car market here, the Fiat Seicento (693) just held its lead from Ford's Ka (674), with more distant second and third places taken by Citroën's Saxo and Opel's Agila. In fifth place is Daewoo's Matiz, and between them, these five hold almost 79 per cent of the segment sales.Small family cars
The bitterly fought small family car group is worth some 40 per cent of the market, and is led by Ford's Focus (8,882) ahead of Toyota's Corolla (6,505) and the somewhat dated Nissan Almera (6,429) jousting each other for second place.Large family cars
Toyota's Avensis (4,818) has been the leader consistently in this 28 per cent of the market segment for over a decade. It is comfortably ahead of Nissan's Primera (4,729) and Ford's Mondeo (4,169) snapping at each other for second place.Luxury cars
The luxury leader Mercedes-Benz C-Class (1,523) is very comfortably ahead of all in its segment's sales. However, this is in a market sector diminished by up to 10 per cent in 2002, and anyway worth just 6.3 per cent of total units sold.SUVs (4x4)
The best-selling sports utility vehicle (SUV) is a relative newcomer, the Hyundai Santa Fe (1,164), which almost doubled its unit sales during the year. A long way back from them, and in the segment below, Toyota's RAV 4 (821) and the Land Rover Freelander (797) have been battling for the runner-up placing.MPVs
Moving on to the multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) niche, Ford has marked its own space with the Fiesta-derived Fusion (72) which, perhaps for the sake of gaining its own acronym, it describes as an urban activity vehicle (UAV).Sports cars
Mazda's MX-5 (37) is still the niche leader, but much further down the mountain than last year and being chased strongly by the MG TF (29) upgrade to the older F series. Between them they left the Toyota MR2 (8) and Honda S2000 (2) in the dust in 2002.
The wheel thing
John Wheeler reports from the motorcycle and scooter show in BirminghamMy Bike and I
Rev Tony Conlan , chaplain, Beaumont Hospital
