Motormouth

Aston Martin DBS Volante

Audi TTRS

Audi A4 Allroad

New VW polo

Alfa Romeo Mito GTA



A trip to Geneva is not on our list of regular routes. Unlike New York, Paris, Berlin and Milan to name but a few there's just not much to tempt us there. Perhaps if we had a Swiss bank account as opposed to an imaginary one and the need to stock up on rare Swiss timepieces we might be there more often, but the only item we can really afford to enjoy there is the finest Swiss Chocolate, not a bad thing to purchase but there's little need to jump on a flight all the way when one can walk to the local Sainsbury's and purchase as much Milka delights as you can carry and even guzzle down a few of those purple bars whilst browsing the isles.

We'd forgotten here at The Established Man Towers that Geneva is the place to be at this time of year for the world's motoring minds convene to swoon over new models, both cars and women... and swap car-chit-chat, we like to call it chitty-chatty-bang-bang! Just beware replacing the C with an S in that little rhyme and you've a very different statement!

Arriving in Switzerland amid Geneva and its great lake it was easy for one to forget the fact that the motor industry is in meltdown worldwide and our expectations for the Geneva Motor show were dismal to say the least. We've been offered so many press loan cars over the course of this year we were wondering if car manufacturers had run out of space to keep all these cars and were palming them off onto us...we'll take a Range Rover Vogue TDV8, a Mini Cooper S convertible and an Audi RS4 thank you very much! But walking into the great halls of Motorville things seemed to be ticking along and whilst there weren't a huge number of exciting, wacky, 'never going to be made' concept cars there were vehicles to keep the motoring public happy and perhaps swoon over.

Audi's an office favorite here and there was a lot of excitement over the new Audi TT RS. After the success of the RS4 and RS6, in Avant form is the best we'll have you know, this pocket rocket has a lot to prove and we're chomping at the bit like a racehorse at Cheltenham to get in one and take it for a drive. We love the styling with its aggressive grill, led running lights and silver wing mirrors. Add to that a 2.5 litre turbocharged FSI engine producing 340 horsepower and this is car nirvana! Of course this being Audi expect quattro, so handling one can only dream of. Order one NOW!

On the subject of Audi and it's quattro technology we were impressed by the new A4 Allroad, a smaller sister to the Allroad based on the A6 Avant. Perfect for those whom might have a weekend retreat yet inhabit a more urban pasture during the week and don't want a full on off-roader. If it's anything like the bigger Allroad then this might just be the perfect car to get all those Battersea mothers out of their gas-guzzling BMW X5's and Mercedes M-Classes and realise how much of an easier city life it is with one of these...you can actually park them for a start! If Audi take the plunge and launch this in the US...do it Audi do it..go on...then they might just get the American public out of their Hummers and into their Audis.

City cars are something we monitor very closely here, since the birth of the Mini, Audi A2 and Mercerdes A-class the sector has gotten plusher and plusher over the years with people downgrading yet not willing to lose the gizmo's and luxury of big plush saloon cars. Volkswagen debuted its new Polo, the size of the Mark II Golf we must hasten to add, and its hard to spot the different between it face on and the just released new Golf. It's a smart car though and no doubt people in London postcodes commencing with an SW will be clawing each others eye's out for one and University car parks ("Daddy please") in St. Andrews, Bristol, Newcastle and Edinburgh will be awash with them in Navy Blue Black and silver..need we say any more!

For those who want something a little more fiery and unpredictable then until the Polo Gti emerges and we get the chance to drive the thing put your money into an Alfa. Italian's can be tricky and Alfa-Romeos are not spared from this statement but their new Mini-eating Mito is hot on the heels of the Mini Cooper S in its GTA form...with yet more aggressive styling, big spoilers and a 240 bhp 1.8 litre engine this will get you around the streets of Milan quicker than Concord with a stick of dynamite up its arse. For a gentler pace there's always Fiat for the beach car of the year. Yes the Fiat 500 is becoming as commonplace on the streets of London town as the Mini and the summer heralds the launch of the 500c, a sort of halfway house to being a convertible, with a retracting fabric roof that sits on the back of the car like ramblers rucksack we think that the Cote D'Azur will be awash with them, small enough to actually park on one's yacht don't you know!

After all this meandering around the stands and the deluge of brochures, goody bags and models cavorting with cars, we mean young women paid to pose by the cars...it was time to return to London town in the realisation that the time has come for everyone to perhaps trade down as opposed to up but still enjoy motoring from time to time..Aston Martin DBS convertible anyone?