What Not to Drive

by Richard Hammond, Andy Wilman

What are the not-so-cool cars, the cars you shouldn't opt to buy—and those you shouldn't even be seen in or alongside? No, not the Skoda or station wagon, which have a heroic anti-car coolness of their own, but the Golf or Astra or professional footballer's Ferrari. This is a book that celebrates Jarvis Cocker's decision to drive a station wagon and Roger Moore a Renault 5. It questions what happens to the status of your car after you have seen Bernard Manning or Jade Goodie posing next to a model of it in the newspaper. Additionally, there is a "Showroom Questionnaire" for car manufacturers to ask their customers before they sell them a car that might become irrevocably uncool as a result.

Genres: Cars, Nonfiction

276 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Richard Hammond is a British TV presenter, most noted for co-hosting car programme Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson and James May, as well as presenting Brainiac: Science Abuse on Sky1, Should I Worry About...? on BBC One and Total Wipeout, also on BBC One and Richard Hammonds Blast Lab on CBBC. He has also presented several one-off specials such as ITV's The Gunpowder Plot: Exploding The Legend and the annual Crufts awards.

In 2006, Hammond suffered a life-threatening crash at speeds of over 280mph in a jet engine powered dragster racing car. He recovered months later and continued his presenting work.

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too shabby, considering I don't know anything about cars and I know even less about European cars.

[Andrew Conlon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Majestic

[Mr_TakeYouDown (Saaketh) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to read 'what not to drive' by Richard Hammond because i wanted to read about about cars and realised that i needed to fill up categories on the bingo board.
This book fills in the 'a non-fiction book' category on the bingo board.
What Not To Drive tells us all what the not-so-cool cars are, the cars that you shouldn't opt to buy and those you shouldn't even be seen in or alongside. It also discusses how companies like to use famous people to model there brand new where out in the market, people like Richard Hammond are completely proving them wrong about the greatness of the car.
What i liked about this book is that unlike other car books , it tells you the opposite which is what not to drive and does a very good job in doing so.
What i didn't like about this book is that it only talked about european cars such as the VW and Ferrari and not about cars from other countries.
I recommend this book to car lovers, people who want to know about what rich people drive around in these days and to people that want a heads up on what cars are good in the market.

[Wendalynn Donnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic. I used to work at a auto dealership, and I can tell you that the General Manager did not appreciate Mr. Hammond's opinion on balloons.

[Kristina Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting summarisation of cars and their connotations... though possibly he's changed his mind about some parts by now. Private number plates perhaps? Naming a vehicle? *cough*Oliver*cough*

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

i'm just a girl who would walk barefoot over broken glass for this man 🎀