British Town Distances Itself From Ali G

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acha Baron Cohen is famous for his outlandish characters like Borat and Ali G, and now, the town from whence Ali G "came from" has decided to rename itself in efforts of erasing the connotation to the comedian. Staines has officially changed its name to Staines-upon-Thames, which we are certain no one will ever shorten to just regular ol' Staines...not.

Spelthorne borough council pushed for the change and hopes it will bring more business to the town. Colin Davis, one of the council members, told the BBC, "Ali G may have had a role [in the name change], but I think it goes back further than that." He says that the new name will help people from outside of the town learn where it is and make them aware of its riverside location.

Staines has officially changed its name to Staines-upon-Thames, which we are certain no one will ever shorten to just regular ol' Staines...not.

So, in the reflective spirit of the season, I'm going to look back on the best of what I've driven. There are no set rules here, other than a) I drove the car in calendar 2011 and b) I spent significant time in it, meaning either I had an example for a loan or I attended the press launch, and c) I drove it, not merely rode in it. This means I'll have to exclude a few great cars that I only had a few minutes with, as well as a couple of excellent machines in which I rode shotgun but did not take the wheel. Also, some excellent cars I drove in 2010 won’t make the cut under this criteria, even if they remain unchanged. That may seem unfair, but we're only going back a year here.

Since this list will be pretty diverse, each car will be judged only on its merits and how it stacks up against its competition. Price and fuel economy matter, and will matter more in some cases than others, but the basic criteria is this: did I like the car or not?

Here we go, in no particular order, keeping in mind that I am just one journalist of many.