Expert wheeler dealer Mike Brewer is continuing his quest on Discovery tonight to trade up from a banger to a supercar.

In the third episode of Wheeler Dealers Trading Up, which airs at 9pm, Mike is in Sweden to look for – what else – Saabs and Volvos.

See how he gets on in his aim to trade up to a $30,000 sportscar and have a sneak preview on us.

Mike gets his hands on a classic Saab 96:

And goes banger racing:

This may well be the worst example ever seen of an attempt to defraud motor insurers. Purely in terms of execution it would be hard to surpass the poor quality of this Russian pedestrian’s attempt to extort money.

Equipped, we presume, with a skinful of vodka and with all the acting skills of a Crossroads extra, he meanders along the middle of the road, waiting for his attempted victim to ‘hit’ him. Unfortunately this kind of thing is so common in Russia that dashcams are pretty much standard issue for the honest motorist, so the entire escapade is caught on camera. Once the bemused driver has let the ‘victim’ know he’s on camera, he trudges off dejectedly.

Criminal fraudsters here in the UK aren’t always so obvious, but dashcams can help insurers detect dodgy behaviour and save you from the costs of a fraudulent claim. That’s why Adrian Flux can offer great discounts of up to 15% to drivers who fit an approved dashcam, such as a ChilliBongo.

If you’ve seen a more egregious dive than this (that doesn’t involve Luis Suarez), let us know in the comments.

Dave Wilson on Google+

I love a bargain banger. In fact the last two cars I bought each cost me less than £800 and, touch wood, they have cost me considerably less to run than the ‘sensible’ purchase I have run alongside them for the last three years. They have also been a lot more enjoyable, and the patina of age has given them personality.

But am I doing this wrong? Perhaps so. What if you could get a bargain banger, clean it up, maybe do a bit of work on it and swap it for something nicer? And what if you repeated the process with the car you got in return? If you rinse and repeat a few times, could you end up with something really nice, like, say, a supercar?

Well, wonder no more, because Mike Brewer, off of Wheeler Dealers, is putting all of his car trading nous to the test in Trading Up, a new series on the Discovery Channel this evening. Starting in India with $3,000, Mike will be travelling the world over the next six weeks as he attempts to turn that initial investment into a genuine supercar. Along the way he promises to show us some used car dealer tips and tricks that can make a car worth more.

Here’s a sneak preview, but you can catch the whole series on Discovery HD tonight at 9pm. Set your Sky+

Edit: The video says 10pm. The Discovery website says 9pm, so does the Sky guide. 9pm is the correct time, so make sure you don’t miss it!

Dave Wilson on Google+

Friend of Flux Jonny Smith finds out just how tough it is to drive an F1 car when he gets to grips with a high tech driving simulator that top teams use to train their drivers in tonight’s episode of Fifth Gear on Discovery (8pm). Here’s how he got on:

And with summer just around the corner (no, really) do you fancy driving some of the best sports cars around for under £5,000? Have a look at these three bargains:

Wheeler Dealers returns to our screens on Tuesday, February 19, looking for a deal on the most successful Aston Martin ever made – the legendary DB7.

Throughout the series, which starts at 9pm on Discovery, Mike Brewer and Edd China buy, restore and sell a range of iconic motors from across the UK, USA and Poland.

They kick off with the glorious DB7, the cheapest of which normally sell for around £16,000. But Mike is looking for the best possible deal and finds a tired trade-in with interior water leaks and external oil leaks at a large main dealer, and successfully beats the price down to below £13,500.

We’ve got a sneak peak as Mike takes the Aston for a spin:

Our favourite motoring journalist Jonny Smith, who is busy restoring an old Enfield electric car in a British speed record bid backed by Adrian Flux, returns with a new series of Fifth Gear on Monday (February 11) on Discovery.

Jonny teams up with Tiff Needell, Jason Plato and Vicki Butler-Henderson for the latest series of the motoring show.

In the new series Jonny heads to Norway to test new cars on the ultimate mountain highway, Tiff experiences the thrills of the Frontline MGB GT and Jason’s at the wheel of the latest version of one of the world’s longest running cars – the Mercedes SL.

Here’s a taste of Vicki putting the new Porsche Boxster through its paces as it goes up against a jet plane.

It’s that time of year when roads can turn into temporary skating rinks as the temperature drops and snow falls.

Adrian Flux Insurance Services has compiled a few helpful hints to help you drive safely in icy conditions if you find yourself forced to make an essential journey. Ensure your tyres are inflated correctly and you have a minimum of 3mm tread to cope with the treacherous conditions, and that your battery is fully-charged before you set off.
Clear all snow and ice from your windscreen, keep locks clear with a quick spray of WD-40 and plan any journeys round busier roads which are more likely to have been gritted.

If you find yourself trapped in your car, make sure you have everything you need on board to stay warm and safe. Keep warm by running the engine, but make sure your exhaust pipe isn’t blocked by snow or you could be overwhelmed by toxic fumes, and never run the engine for more than 10 to 15 minutes in each hour.
10 tips for driving in winter weather:

1.         Try not to venture out until the snow ploughs and sanding trucks have done their work and allow yourself extra time – and fuel – to get to your destination.

2.        Don’t leave your car running to warm up and then disappear inside to finish getting ready for work. Apart from the waste of petrol, you never know when there is an opportunist thief about.

3.         Turn on your lights to increase visibility to other motorists, ensure your lights and windscreen are clean and make sure that you’re wearing dry shoes rather than snow-covered boots which might slip off the pedals. Wear sunglasses to reduce the glare of low winter sun on the snow.

4.         Stopping distances are up to 10 times longer in ice and snow. Decrease your speed and leave yourself plenty of room to stop.

5.         Select second gear when pulling away, if possible, and ease your foot off the clutch gently to avoid wheel-spin. Use low gears, especially on hills, to keep traction.

6.         If you do find yourself skidding, don’t panic – the situation can be remedied. Always remember to steer into the skid – so if your rear wheels are sliding to the left, steer left – and be as gentle as possible with the pedals. There’s no substitute for practising on a skidpan or taking an advanced driving course.

7.         If you find yourself stuck, straighten the steering and clear the snow from the wheels (first, try turning your wheel from side to side gently to clear snow out of the way). If you need to clear snow by hand, shovel it away from the wheels and underside of the car and use old carpet, sand, cat litter or salt in the path of the wheels to get traction.

8.         If a road hasn’t been gritted, try not to drive in the wheel-tracks of other vehicles, which may be more icy than undisturbed snow.

9.         Keep a cold weather kit in the car for emergencies. Include a blanket, hat, gloves, thick socks, a fully-charged mobile phone, a torch, high-calorie snacks, water and a shovel in addition to your all-year-round kit of reflective warning triangle, tow rope, jump leads and first aid kit.

10.       Don’t be afraid to turn back if the conditions seem to be too treacherous. No journey is more important than your safety.

Call specialist broker Adrian Flux on 0800 369 8590 or visit adrianflux.co.uk

Paralympic cyclist Jody Cundy has spoken about the highs and lows of a year in which his passionate but x-rated outburst at being disqualified in the 1 kilometre event at London 2012 made him a household name.

Jody, who will this year feature in a new advertising campaign for sponsor Chartwell Insurance, was a strong favourite for the event in which he is the current world record holder and took the Para-Cycling World Track Championships gold medal in Los Angeles in February.

And, after riding personal bests in almost every session at the pre Paralympic training camp, Jody’s hopes were high for a home gold medal.

“It was time to race, with the kilo up first I was ready to go, and with all my competitors going before me I was feeling really confident as I stepped on the track, especially as the fastest time was still half a second slower than my Beijing (Paralympics 2008) winning time and still some 9/10ths of a second slower than my world record, and I was going faster than ever now,” he said.

“I just needed to race at my best and that was it, unfortunately it all started to go wrong in a big way! I made my start just as I have countless times in training, however something was wrong, the gate held me, the next thing I know I’m wheel spinning and going sideways. Not ideal. So I stuck my hand up, called for a mishap, pulled off the track and got ready to take to the start again. However that was it, I was unfairly denied a second start, and that was it, a big fat DNF next to my name.

“What followed wasn’t my proudest moment, but it will go down in Paralympic history in the same way as John McEnroe’s outburst at Wimbledon in 1981. I basically threw all the toys out of my pram at anybody who would listen, in denial that I wouldn’t be defending my kilo title, and was removed from the velodrome. Knowing I was out of order I wanted to apologise, and try to put things right, at least to all the kids that had witnessed my foul-mouthed tirade. So a little later I came back out to apologise to everyone in the crowd, then to the sponsors and governing bodies and organisers in a press conference and media scrum. Then finally I headed back to the village as I had to compose myself and come back and race the 4km pursuit the following day.

“Having watched the footage back, it looks like I started the tiniest of fraction too early hence the gate held me when I pulled forward. Unfortunately though, the false start wasn’t called by the commissaires, so I didn’t get the immediate restart the rules state.

“The next day, with the crowd behind me, I ripped around the velodrome in qualifying to a new British Record, and 3rd best time overall. In the bronze medal race I made short work of my opponent and took bronze with an overtake in just over five laps. I covered the first 1km quicker than the winning time from the previous day. Considering the disappointment the day before, and the fact I hadn’t focused on the pursuit, as I placed all my eggs in the kilo basket, a bronze medal really did feel like winning gold.

“London will always be memorable for me for some amazing highs and some equally amazing lows, but I’m glad I can say I was there and I won a medal in front of the best and noisiest crowd anyone can ask for. What a year for sport, and amazing to have played a small part in it!”

Back in February, Jody’s season had kicked off at the Para-Cycling World Track Championships in Los Angeles.

“They turned out to be an interesting championship – in the Team Sprint riding with Darren Kenny and Sarah Storey we suffered our first defeat since 2006, taking silver behind the Chinese, who had found an amazing man who really did make the difference to their team,” said Jody.

“In the 4km Pursuit, qualifying was interesting, as there was an official standing on the track in the back straight! Cue a restart, and I managed to post the 3rd quickest time. In the Bronze medal final I tried to learn from my pacing issues in qualifying.  However after the 1st kilometre I could see my opponent and decided to chase him down rather than doing a full 4km.  After 5 3/4 laps I’d caught and overtaken Roberto Alcaide from Spain to take the Bronze medal.

“In the kilo I managed to maintain my unbeaten record to take the 1km title in 1:06.001. Not my best ride, actually the first time I’ve won at the worlds without breaking the world record, but still it was good enough to take my 5th consecutive world title and the coveted rainbow bands. So LA turned out to be a mixed bag of results, but I did get a full set of medals!”

“My racing year finished with a few more races on the track, a bronze medal in the Team Sprint at nationals, a 2nd place in the flying lap at the Revolution track series, and in my final race of 2012, a win in the 10mile scratch race in the final round of the MRTL Premier Division track league.

“2013 will be a really important year for training, as I plan my revenge in Rio. On the way to 2016 I have also set myself the ambitious target of riding for England at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014. So the hard work starts again, and my motivation is sky high. Thanks to all my family, friends and supporters and all my sponsors!”