As technology evolves, the humble automobile is become ever more developed to think for itself and the popularity of automatic cars are on the rise. In certain new world countries such as Australia and New Zealand, they have become standard where in other countries such as Great Britain, the majority of cars still tend to be of manual transmission.

There are a number of benefits to trading in your conventional manual transmission auto for an automatic. Perhaps the greatest advantage is for those times when you are sat in city rush hour traffic, stopping and starting at intolerable speeds through packed streets. When driving an automatic, you do not have constantly control the clutch and the gear stick to safely manoeuvre, which is tedious to say the least in a traffic jam, as all of the control is within the gas pedal, allowing you to relax a little and to move with ease, and to forget about the stress and frustration of always changing up and down to adapt to the situation.

Not only are automatic cars easier to drive in traffic, they are easier to drive in general. There are less controls to worry about as the car does most of the thinking for you. Controlling a clutch pedal is often the hardest thing for younger drivers, and to eliminate this factor makes driving less stressful, not to mention the ease of a hill start that has been the failing factor of many driving tests and, of course, without the need to synchronise a clutch pedal and a gear shift, it is extremely difficult to stall an automatic car, even if you are trying. Some countries even offer automatic driving licences, although this does restrict the user strictly to using automatic cars.

Also, with less driving technique to focus on, it is much easier to concentrate on your surroundings and the road before you. This is particularly effective for longer journeys that tend to become tiring and tedious, providing you don't find yourself bored from having so little to do to control your car. The simplicity and ease of mind of driving an automatic is hard to match in a manual transmission car.

Automatic cars tend to be easier to sell on the modern market as the appeal and demand for them is so much higher than that of a manual transmission car. This means they tend to hold more value over time.

Traditionally, manual cars have had better fuel economy as they tend to weigh less and, if driven by somebody with an economic conscious, where the driver has more control they are able to diminish the consumption by selecting higher gears where appropriate, however technology in automatic cars is quickly catching up to match this and these days there isn't too much difference between the two types of transmission. Some automatic cars even offer a fully manual or partially manual mode which can be selected when the driver wants more control of the vehicle, effectively creating the best of both worlds for the owner.

With so many supercars such as Ferraris and Porsches taking the spotlight, the Suzuki Swift keeps a relatively low profile in the world of automobiles, however it has been produced since 1983 and is still being developed, improved and manufactured to this day, it's continuation ensured by it's popularity worldwide.

In terms of value for money, the Suzuki Swift ticks a lot of boxes. It is the cheapest automatic car available in India. The engine can produce over 40 miles per gallon which enables one to fill up less and to get more distance out of their fuel than a lot of similar cars on the market such as the Ford Fiesta. It's cheap to initially purchase from $17,225 USD, and relatively reliable when it comes to maintaining the engine over time, keeping maintenance costs to a minimum.

For such a cheap car, the feel and build is not reflected in the price. Multiple users comment on the comfort of the interior during longer trips, even when they fill up the back seats of the three door with adults and children alike. Apart from the Suzuki Swift Sport, the Swift is cheap to insure, falling into the 11E group in the UK which, when compared to the Fiesta, is much more economic.

Considering it is equipped with a very modest 1.2 litre engine as standard, the Swift is incredibly quick and nimble, and when pushed around tight winding corners, often feels like driving a mini sports car with sharp steering, strong grip and smooth gear changes. The excellent suspension soaks up all of the unexpected bumps making a very smooth ride.

The Swift is still available with a manual gear box, while other manufacturers seem to focus on going fully automatic, although the automatic engine delivers even more milage to the gallon, reaching distances of up to 50.4 miles. There is an option to equip your Swift with Dualjet engine which lowers the running costs even more, even eliminating the need to pay road tax in certain countries.

One of the disadvantages of the Swift is the space. Being such a small car, manoeuvrability around tight city roads is not a problem and parking is child's play, but this does come at the sacrifice of a bit of comfort on the inside. For some taller users, the backseats might prove a little too tight, although some users have claimed this isn't a problem, and the high roof means you shouldn't encounter any problems with head room. Trying to fit larger amounts of luggage in the trunk can prove difficult with a capacity of just 211 cubic litres, particularly as most of the space is vertical so wider objects don't always fit.

After a crash test in 2010, the Swift was awarded a five star rating for safety and an impressive 94% score for occupancy protection. The car comes equipped with seven airbags, one even for the driver's knee. ESP and ABS are offered as standard on all models.

While not the most impressive car available, there are many reasons to love this little auto, particularly when you are trying to drive economically and for easy manoeuvring around tight city streets.

The dictionary definition of biofuel is “a fuel derived from living matter”. This realistically means that it is a fuel that is a product of vegetables or animal fats, and is becoming an increasingly popular choice for powering vehicles around the world. Biofuels have been around for almost as long as cars have, as at the start of the 20th century Henry Ford planned to power his Model Ts with ethanol, and early diesel engines were proven to run on peanut oil.

Currently, bioenergy (which is energy produced from biofuels) contribute around 10% of the world's consumption, although most of this is unprocessed traditional fuels such as charcoal and firewood, mainly used by people in developing countries to cook and to heat their homes with. When biofuels are processed and sold as liquids such as biodiesel and ethanol, they can be used in vehicles to produce velocity.

Ethanol is a type of alcohol that is produced using any feedstock that contains a decent amount to sugar. Examples of this are sugar cane, sugar beet, maize and wheat. The sugar can be fermented into alcohol, and the starch can be converted to sugar which is then afterwards fermented into alcohol. The alcohol is burned, like petrol, to create an ignition in the engine. A litre of ethanol contains about 2/3 of the energy of a litre of petroleum.

Some diesel engines can be run on biodiesel, which can be made from vegetable oils, animal fats, or even leftover cooking oils from restaurants and meat processing facilities.

Biofuels produce less greenhouse gasses when they are burned, and unlike fossil fuels like petrol or diesel, as they are produced using new plants, in the process of developing the fuel some of the carbon dioxide is extracted from the atmosphere in the process of photosynthesis.

Biofuels are better for your engine than petrol. Often the two are mixed together to produce cleaner fuels, and they produce fewer emissions when burned. Your engine will run for longer and require less maintenance and using biofuels will also bring down the overall pollution check costs. As demand for biofuels rises, the cost is predicted to also fall, meaning eventually it is possible it will be cheaper per the kilometre to use biofuel over petrol.

Biofuel is renewable, and so when oil and gas reserves run dry, we will always be able to produce more biofuel. Although not completely green, biofuel is renewable and sustainable making it more effective in the long term than petrol, diesel and natural gas. For counties without reserves or crude oil, reducing their dependancy on fossil fuels and increasing their consumption of biofuels means more jobs will be created and will make their economies more secure.

Biofuel is expensive to produce, however if demand increases this is likely to decrease production costs. There are also concerns over farmers having to produce the same crop year after year and depriving their soil of certain nutrients. There is also a higher dependency on the use of fertilisers in the production of biofuel which can cause pollution to the immediate surroundings of the crop, especially water pollution.

Obviously the automobile has been designed with one intent in mind - to transport people or cargo from one point to another, however, as a tool, the humble car has been used in many ways since it's invention other than this. Here are just a few examples of how vehicles have been used in more ways than just moving people.

Camper vans - Not only will it move you from one point to another, but a camper van is effectively a mobile home. These come with incredibly versatile features to ensure you are getting the most efficiency out of the diminished living space in the back, including folding beds and chairs, stowaway tables, intelligent space design and rearrangeable furniture. Some of these are so advanced they even have flushing toilets and shower systems. There is a trend to convert old people carriers and estate vehicles into temporary camper vans amongst backpackers and travellers which involves turning the back seats into a comfortable bed, under which clever storage systems can be placed to keep everything you need, from camping stoves to cutlery and so on. While somewhat less advanced, this is usually considerably cheaper and an excellent way to travel if you don't mind getting in touch with the fine outdoors.

Filming - While modern technology is beginning to replace cars used for filming by using drones and systems based on rails, cars have been used extensively for filming and will probably be used for many years to come. You can acquire some really unique shots by filming from a moving platform, and when filming car chase scenes or any scenes involving transportation, it allows for a greater diversity of shots. Cameras can be attached to different parts of the car for different effects, or can be held and operated by people sitting inside the car. Sometimes, cars have even been modified to become remote controlled while holding filming equipment for shooting scenes.

Furniture - People have been using spare car parts for years to create furniture for their home. BBC's Top Gear famously turned an engine into a coffee table, and have also created living room seats from car seats, but other examples found online have been sofas made from car bodies, beds made from pickup trucks, BBQ's made from car grills, lamps made from suspension springs, coasters made from gears and other car parts, gear stick top wine stoppers and of course, the old tire swing. Vintage cars seem to be most commonly used for their aesthetic effect, but using cars and car parts to decorate your home creates a very unique, retro and quirky style.

Music - in 2009, Julian Smith composed a piece of music designed to be played on a Jeep. He placed microphones in and around the vehicle and connected them to a sound desk before several people created sounds using the car doors, the horn, the engine, the ignition, jump cables, and even the seat adjustment buttons and arranged them to create a techno style piece of music all filmed in one take. This goes to show that with a little imagination, incredibly unique and creative ideas can come from every day objects.