Just before the beginning of WWII, the de Havilland aircraft company proposed to the Air Ministry that they build a bomber that was so fast it would not need any defensive armament. The Ministry turned it down, believing the idea to be impossible, but de Havilland went ahead and built the plane anyway - almost entirely out of wood!

The result was the Mosquito, a plane that exceeded all of its intended limits and went on to be one of the best aircraft of the war. It was so fast and light that it was used in all sorts of roles - all because of the strength and light weight of the wood it was built from. The lesson must surely be: don’t knock wood!

And it seems the same applies in car design. A furniture maker with the unlikely name of Friend Wood has built a three wheeled car with a wooden body. Using mechanicals and 602cc engine from a Citroen 2CV, the car has a top speed of over 100 mph and returns a fuel consumption of between 55 and 70 mpg. That’s not bad by any standards.

The car has been named the Tryane II and, although the body makes no secret of its wooden construction, it is well streamlined and quite pretty. Mind you, I’m not sure how it would fare in an accident - imagine all those splinters flying about…

One of the things that has surprised me in recent years is how different the car market is in the States as compared with Europe’s. It is rare to see a familiar European car on American roads and, when it does happen, it’s invariably one of those we think of as luxury marques - Jaguar, BMW, Mercedes Benz. Yet America is now producing smaller cars and, to be quite honest, they haven’t really perfected the idea yet.

They call them compacts whereas in Europe we would think of them as mid-sized. There are plenty of offerings from GM, Ford and Chrysler in this size but the designs are a bit wasteful in space, not quite as sophisticated as European cars of similar size. Surely there is an opportunity for European manufacturers here.

Take Peugeot Citroen PSA, for instance - the sixth largest car producer in the world yet completely unknown in the States. Some of their models would compete very strongly with American compact cars but they do not seem interested in establishing a foothold here. Being a Citroen fanatic (once a Citroen man, always a Citroen man), that pains me.

Take a look at these this model and tell me it would not sell in the USA:

Citroen C5

In the upper mid-range vehicle segment, the new look C5 is available in hatchback and estate versions. This “intelligent” road car combines styling, interior space and performance.

The Citroën C5 is a car apart in terms of the promise embodied in its styling and its strong personality. It brings customers wide array of technologies and innovation for exemplary well-being and safety.

The C5 features a wide range of modern, high-performance driving aids, such as Xenon dual-function directional headlamps, front and rear parking assistance, a speed limiter and a lane departure warning system (LDWS).

In terms of safety, the Citroën C5 also features new-generation ESP to correct the vehicle’s course with precision and efficiency, and a new steering column airbag to protect the driver’s knees and shins in the event of a collision. That is why EuroNCAP awarded the Citroën C5 five stars for safety, with 36 points out of a possible 37.

The Citroën C5 boasts a level of interior comfort worthy of cars further up the market, with laminated side windows and Hydractive suspension that actively filters out imperfections in the road surface.

The top of the range is covered by the 3.0i engine (ES9A). Featuring a V6 layout with 24 valves, this engine is based on the 3.0i V6, which is also fitted on the C8. It develops 152 kW CEE (210 bhp DIN) for maximum torque of 285 Nm at 3,750 rpm. Coupled with the new sequential, automatic six-speed AM6-type gearbox, this exceptionally driveable revised engine offers the smooth power specific to a 6-cylinder powerplant. An engine of consistent performance and power, it can cope with all situations. These qualities are largely due to the new variable timing of the intake camshafts.

Okay, I extracted that from the Citroen website but, if you’ve never heard the name, you were never going to find it, were you? It may sound like typical marketing hype but the C5 lives up to its promise, I assure you. Americans would love them…

The Viking spirit lives on in Iceland. Far from being satisfied with fighting the climate, the rugged landscape and the strains of Bjork, the Icelanders get their kicks by driving overpowered homemade jeeps over mountains - and across lakes!

And I do mean across - these things don’t float, so they have to keep them going at full tilt or have a date with the bottom of the lake. It’s quite amazing that the knobbly tires have enough traction on the surface of the water to keep the car going so fast.

But you don’t have to believe me - have a look at this Top Gear clip.

Toyota Prius owners are complaining that the nature of the car’s traction control system causes the engine to die just when you need it most - in snow and ice. Many feel that this is potentially dangerous and have stopped using their Prius whenever it snows.

An increasing number of complaints have been sent to Toyota but the company remains adamant - that is the way the system has been designed and it is working as intended, apparently - so it will not be re-designed or adjusted.

It seems to me that the hybrid Prius has found the best way of all to save the planet; after all, when the motor isn’t running, it’s not pumping out any greenhouse gases…

Read more at Consumer Affairs dot com.