WHEN I USED TO TEST A new car, there were certain criteria against which I judged it, and that’s probably not very surprising. These criteria changed order depending on the car, because I’d not be thinking too hard about luggage space in a Ferrari F50 nor handling characteristics in a Micra, but there they were and around them my world revolved.
With most new cars today they’re not there any more or, to be strictly accurate, they remain but so thoroughly displaced by a new imperative as to have become obscured.
This moment of realisation came