Raph, you git. I’ve liked these for years and was rather hoping they’d remain a little-known oddity so I may reasonably afford one, one day.

Yup. I’ve been on a tour around the factory. Found it quite amusing, but easy to see why they do it.

Fun fact: Bentley applies its “lightweight” carbonfibre trim over a piece of trim already covered in a wooden veneer, as it’s easier than having a separate production line for carbonfibre-covered bits. I’m guessing it’s a similar process for the stone.

“Cool”

I’ve driven a Prius before. As a car for being economical there’s little wrong with it, but it doesn’t have the fun factor or engineering intrigue of the Honda. If you stripped away the Insight’s hybrid tech, it’d still be a hugely economical car, because of the aero, the materials, the lean burn tech. If you did the…

Mine is also silver (hint of bias to nominating my own car, but whatever) and it’s been fantastic. I bought it both as someone who cares about fuel economy, and a petrolhead. Appeals to both sides of my automotive interests.

Not sure it can be considered “cool” necessarily, but the first-gen Honda Insight kinda works. Expensive when new, they hardly flew out of showrooms - little over 17,000 sold worldwide. Today, they’re relatively inexpensive and still get economy figures far beyond any modern vehicle without a plug. They’re…

It’s neat, but still not a patch on the 021C. Newson’s concept was just beautifully simple in a way neither this, nor most other concept cars, nor virtually any production car is.

I’d agree to an extent, though assistance can mask feel by evening out (or reducing to imperceptible) the tiny changes in steering effort and movements that constitute feedback.

I’m gonna go along with everyone else suggesting older engines. But I’ll go even older: The singe-cylinder in the Benz Patent Motorwagen. There’s something quite beautiful about old steam engines and it’s clear the trend for making old steam engines aesthetically pleasing continued when internal combustion started…

Thanks for the clarification - interesting to know.

I’ve tried finding legal clarification on this but since you can drive them (and other 3-wheelers - not that there are many) on a car license now (they used to be motorcycle license only), they’re considered cars.

I’m aware they sell it in the US. My comment was “not registered as a car”, which it isn’t - it’s registered as a motorcycle. I only mentioned it to pre-empt possible “it’s not a car” comments.

My default answer to all these questions is one that already exists.

Rather fond of the original Mini Cooper’s interior. Incredibly simple, great visibility, good use of colour.

Oh, almost certainly. I just don’t see that as a bad thing. The basic point is that the GT-R is still great to drive. I’d not go as far as calling the tech ‘babysitting’ either, since that undermines its purpose. It’s not a car designed to make slow drivers fast, it’s a car designed to make fast drivers even faster.…

I’m not sure that’s really the case, though. Arguably, any modern performance car makes it easy for people to go fast - usable performance has increased at a huge rate in the last 20 years or so (we’re at a point where the average hot hatchback is setting Nurburgring times better than 1990s supercars). Most diesel…

I wanted to dislike the GT-R. I wanted to believe it was just like a big Micra with lots of grip and no character.

Love this generation IS, and I love the thought of having one with a V8 in it, but my brain won’t reconcile paying a number this big for a car which in basic form can be had for under £2k in the UK.

There’s a metaphor for humanity in here somewhere.