Chevrolet announced that its Bumblebee themed Camaro marks the launch of the new model in the UK, the car is set to create a better buzz than most at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Building on Chevrolet’s iconic US Heritage, the retro-styled Camaro has been on sale in the USA since 2009, and has already seen sales in excess of 200,000 as American retailers cleared their waiting lists.

And very soon, those waiting to get their hands on an official Camaro in the UK will have reason to celebrate – the car will go on sale as an official Chevrolet, complete with full manufacturer warranty, during the first half of 2011.

It has been featured on silver screen in both 2 Fast 2 Furious and Transformers – the car is a full four-seater, with an interior that also takes significant cues from the look of its forebears.

The Camaro will be available only in top level V8 trim – the 6.2-litre 426bhp powerplant is as much of a legend as the Camaro itself. It promises a top speed electronically limited to 155mph, and a 0-60mph time of less than five seconds, coupled to a dynamic chassis that, thankfully, owes little to the layout of more traditional muscle cars.

Read More Over at: carpages.co.uk

Due to public concerns about the level in the rise of fuel duty (expected to be 3p from the 1st April 2010), the Chancellor has opted to stagger the rises over the coming months.

The first rise of a penny is due from April 1st 2010, with the second arriving in October and the final rise in January 2011.

Fuel prices have rocketed in recent months even though the price of a barrel of oil has been relatively low. The finger is pointed at the weak pound.

Click here for an explanation on fuel taxes

Saab have entered a new era by producing it’s first car as an independent manufacturer. After spending several weeks closed the Trollhattan plant in Sweden is now up and running again and has started to produce the newest model in the Saab range the 9-5 Saloon.

CEO’s of both Saab and Spyker, the company which saved Saab at the 11th hour, were both on hand at the factory with it’s workers to mark the momentous occasion.

Congratulations to Saab and all it’s employees for pulling through these difficult times.

Personally I thought Aston Martins’ Rapide was as good as it got when it came to 4 door saloons. Porsches’ attempt looks like it ate all the pies, the Maybach is on it’s way out and the S-Class and the 7 Series were never really in the same league.

Then Bugatti goes and does this:

It’s exquisite! but it’s still only a prototype. Bugatti say if there’s enough public interest, which i’m sure there will be regardless of any credit crunch, then sales will start in 2013 in exchange for £900,000 or your soul if you don’t have that kind of cash.

It’ll produce 800 bhp with around 900lb ft of torque which should launch this divine beast from 0-62mph in just under 3 seconds and topping out at about 240mph. The word ‘ridiculous’ come to mind seeing as it weighs in at 2 tonnes!

Full article from evo magazine here

Loads more pics from flickr here

Good news for new car buyers. Not all the £400 million set aside by the government for the scrappage scheme has been used the date has been extended until the end of March.

“Against the background of the economic downturn the scrappage scheme has proved a great success, driving UK car sales, protecting jobs and supporting the supply chain for car manufacture at a time when this sector needed it most,” Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary said.

Read more @ Auto Express

Check out the top ten scrappage scheme stars – listed by Auto Express – Read full article

1. Kia Picanto	2. Hyundai i10	3. Ford Fiesta
4. Toyota Yaris	5. Renault Clio	6. Vauxhall Corsa
7. Nissan Micra	8. Honda Jazz	9. Suzuki Alto
10. Peugeot 107

Welcome to the Totally Test Drive blog. It’s going to be a experience! We hope to bring interesting and fun content but inevitably there’ll be some boring stuff and some stuff you probably won’t agree with or like, but hey, that’s life.

To all of you that have arrived here and found out about our blog all by your selves you might be interested to know that from the 1st February 2010 we’ll be running a competition til the end of the month offering some great prizes. The winners will be notified by the end of March.

1st Place Prize
1st place will receive a track day driving experience at the home of British motorsport (Silvestone, in case you were wondering) in a Lamborghini Gallardo – The Ferrari 360 package just seemed so 2009.

2nd Place Prize
Were giving away 2 second place prizes. This is an opportunity to be driven at hair raising speed around Brands Hatch or Oulton Park by a professional race car driver in a jaguar JP1.

3rd Place Prize
In 3rd place we’ve got 10 Limited Edition Totally Test Drives mugs to give away. I say they’re limited edition because quite literally we only have 10 of them.

Good luck!