Peugeot's car club concept, Mu, mixes aspects of regular car hire and car clubs, and rents out bikes, scooters and even sports coupés at competitive prices

Would you be tempted to join a car club if you didn't have to pay a membership fee? Would you be interested if you could hire a seven-seater complete with roof box for a long weekend away with the kids, or even a convertible for a day out in the sun? Or perhaps you are a fed-up commuter thinking of swapping the bus or tube for a scooter, but would like to try before you buy.

Why things went so wrong so fast for Toyota – and why the company seemed so slow put them right. When Catherine Block took her Toyota Aygo to her local dealer after a terrifying drive between Folkestone and Canterbury, she told mechanics: "It was a good job my brakes worked. Otherwise I would be dead." They laughed, she recalls. "They probably thought I was being melodramatic." This was hardly the case: during the 35-minute drive, she was able to drive up a steep hill at full pelt without pressing on the pedal once because the accelerator had stuck fast.