January
The year got off to a bright start with a double page spread in the York Press after I extended an invite to join one of my food tours – handy bit of publicity! I fell onto the Air Fryer bandwagon which I remain firmly on board to this day thanks to my lovely Ninja, some of whose other products I’ve invested in this year and been impressed with. Ambiente are a mainstay of the York hospitality scene for good reason so their investment in a Josper grill at their Fossgate branch was a great excuse to visit again for a sample of the flame-grilled goodness it could serve up. I also caught up with the lovely Ellen who runs Leeds Food Tours over a first visit to Bab Tooma on Goodramgate, amazing value and delicious food as well as decent company.

February
This month marked the start of Great Taste season with a training day all about sensory analysis and fermentation to get stuck into, a fascinating day with a huge amount to learn. The fine folk at The Waggon & Horses celebrated 10 years of knocking out great beer; it’s been a pleasure dealing with Tom and Paulina in my role with York Bar Billiards league over that time. Baynes Wholesale staged their first showcase event, bringing together some incredible producers in the Merchant Taylor’s Hall. Roxy Ballroom opened their York branch as did Tasca Frango, whose peri-peri chicken remains as epic as ever to this day. Good news story of the month went to Josh, Vicky and the team in Hovingham as Myse won a Michelin star at the first opportunity – quite remarkable.

March
March began on a sombre note with the funeral of my cousin at which attendees were asked to wear band t-shirts, her loss was a terrible shock that even stopped wearing a tie-dye Petrol Hoers tee to a funeral feeling out of the ordinary. On a more positive note, Restaurant Week was huge success for York Bid and participating restaurants. I loved checking out Sushi & Bowl and Duck Shack for the first time. It’s a surprisingly large amount of work judging for the Visit York Tourism awards but this is the month it pays off, with the great and good of York’s tourism scene getting together to celebrate. Any excuse to roll out my tux! More great value food came from Red Chilli over on Kimberlow Hill by the university, whose £10 lunch deal remains spectacularly good. The first big event of the year was York Chocolate Festival for which I put together the trails, program and so on. Our chocolate sculpture gallery went down particularly well!

April
This month started with a few days staying in Greenwich, checking out the Cutty Sark amongst other things in London. With Little Fork having been studying the Great Fire of London at school a good chunk of the trip was dedicated to showing her sites associated with that. We also checked out the Art of the Brick exhibition of Lego sculptures, thoroughly recommended if you have the opportunity to visit. April is prime Great Taste judging season and I was treated to the usual broad spectrum of products, good and bad, but one session really was a treat as I got to judge with my good friend Elly McCausland. An award winning blogger and winner of an award for her first cookbook, as well as being Professor of English Literature at Ghent University she’s one of the most ludicrously over-achieving people I know. Getting to judge a prestigious award together after collaborating back when she was in York pushing a decade ago was a real pleasure, oh and don’t miss her upcoming book on the poetry of Taylor Swift…. Back in York, Ippuku Tea house launched their marvellous brunch menu which remains distinctive and unmissable…something that can also be said of the Tasca Frango brunch also launched. Fine dining came courtesy of Amber’s in Harrogate which launched its spectacular dining room, and the York street food scene benefitted from the launch of Goldee’s Bagels. I continued to enjoy taking people on Food Tours of York and took pride in delivering my first bespoke tour for a corporate client.

May
Another interesting brunch option appeared in York this month with Ambiente throwing their hat into the ring with their European slant on how weekend mornings should look, the results being as consistent as you’d expect from that team. This month’s fine dining highlight was at Thomas Carr @ The Coast featuring, amongst other delights, stonebass with a wonderfully executed crab swirl. Continuing that rather indulgent theme I was lucky enough to make the journey out to Aldwark Manor to sample their new restaurant, Chartwell. The investment here is clear to see and thankfully doesn’t shade the food which also hit the mark.

June
The worst Airbnb I’ve ever stayed in did its best to ruin a trip to Cambridge at the beginning of the month, but there was some expert punting from myself, some good pubs and museums. After returning from Cambridge I found myself heading South again the following day to London for more Great Taste duties before returning to pick up a tour group and finally get some proper photography sorted. One of the surprises of the year was how good the tapas was at Agility in Nether Poppleton. Given the chef was previously sous at Skosh, I should have expected it! Getting away from food, I took time to head to Melbourne Raceway for their Street Weekend event which featured some of the fastest and most ludicrous street-legal cars in the country. Then it was across to Settle to visit the peerless Courtyard Dairy for a showcase of Northern Irish produce through the medium of superb pizza. Middleton’s on Skeldergate launched a new “Yorkshire Tapas” menu featuring an incredibly good value onglet steak but rather more grand was a meal in Mayfair at Jeru. The striking sight of a line of Ferraris all with parking tickets worn seemingly as a badge of disdain for the rules was quite amusing but quickly forgotten as I tucked into a really special meal with my oldest friend, visiting from Hollywood! This month also featured my first visit to Skosh since they expanded, adding capacity without losing any of the wow factor in their dishes.

July
As I was enjoying delivering food tours so much, in July I offered to help out York Cares by delivering an historic pub tour of York for them. We didn’t have a huge turnout but I thoroughly enjoyed doing the research and learning about such characters as “Perpendicular” and Richard Chicken. Fine dining this month came at Swinton Park’s Chef’s Table with Josh Barnes, the first chef I’ve seen hide smoke inside an edible shell…quite remarkable. Miller & Carter belatedly opened their doors in the building previously home to the Post Office which it’s wonderful to see back in action. The team at Jimmy Mack’s launched their new venture this month too, Fat Cap Pies, delivering some of the best pies to ever grace my plate. The last culinary highlight was the always-reliable Ippuku Tea House for my birthday brunch, just perfect. One of the gig highlights of the year was provided by my first visit to Project House in Leeds where Gogol Bordello performed with typically enormous and infectious enthusiasm.

August
We’re not short of great pizza in York but more is fine with me, so welcome Rudy’s Pizza to their new outpost. Pink, a close relative of Impossible Bar opened its doors for a showcase event to give me an opportunity to see how much it’s changed since I used to go to the bank there. I rediscovered the joys of brunch at City Screen and was the lucky recipient of a parcel of Sublime Butter’s uniformly superb products. I’ve been meaning to go to Tharavadu in Leeds for some time and upon finally making it I wasn’t disappointed. Everything was memorable but none more so than the dosa, quite incredible. The big event of the month was a trip to Berlin, one of my favourite cities, which is endlessly fascinating. On the food front there a food tour (for research obv) stuck in the mind as did brunch at the top of the TV tower in a revolving restaurant, oh and copious currywurst/pork knuckle too.

September
As usual September was centred around York Food & Drink Festival, for which I again curated the events line-up. Hard work but a tremendous event that I really believe adds to the fabric of York and gives something back to the city. I paid my first visit to Harlow Carr in the run up to their Festival of Flavours and also made the acquaintance of Blank Canvas Kitchen who popped up at Brew York’s Handley Tap site in Osbaldwick. The Golden Forks is a unique event that celebrates the best of this year’s entries to the Great Taste Awards, held in Battersea Arts Centre with generous tastings from some of the best producers in the world. It’s unmissable if you have the opportunity to go along. Making sure I got full value from my train fare to London, I popped by the touring F1 exhibition the following day which had some unique exhibits – seeing the charred remains of Romain Grosjean’s was quite affecting. Almost as impactful was the opportunity to spend a lot on Lego after I was lucky enough to be gifted a voucher for market research participation, I can confirm Jaws Lego is almost as perfect of the film that inspired it. I’d not managed to visit York Beer Festival since it moved from the racecourse and was pleasantly surprised by how well it fitted the space on Lawrence Street. A busy month with some real highlights!

October
Exceptionally poor planning meant that I was back in Berlin this month, with time with friends rather than family. Sadly the precursor to the trip was less than relaxing as my wife was in Frankfurt and London the preceding days then stranded in Manchester, only making it back a few hours before I needed to leave. With childcare duly handed over I was quickly enjoying more Currywurst, trips to Burgermeister and Hofbrauhaus as well as an Ice Bar and some of the best Korean food I’ve been lucky enough to encounter. Oh and a visit to the Disgusting Food Museum: the cheeses smelled good to me but I’ll skip the urine braised eggs, ta. Back on home turf, it was Restaurant Week which featured visits to Ambiente and The Chopping Block, both amazing value and as reliably delicious as ever. Bosun’s out in Bishopthorpe held a relaunch event to welcome new chef Kurtus Auty with the venue looking as fabulous as ever. One of the biggest openings of the year in York came with Florian Poirot, the renowned patissier whose macarons are the stuff of legend, who opened the doors to a new establishment on The Shambles. A couple of light shows were memorable too: York Walls Twilight Walk making for a very pleasant way to spend an evening while York Minster pulled out all the stops to put on a show suitable to mark 40 years since their catastrophic fire.

November
The penultimate month of the year kicked off with a return visit to Amber’s in Harrogate for a faultless Sunday lunch served by none other than my old friend Jack, (somewhat) reformed from his days as resident pub gremlin in York and showing great professionalism. I then had the fortunate opportunity to join cheese expert Emma Young in Manchester for an afternoon pairing French cows milk cheeses with Northern Monk beers, a winning triumvirate! Christmas at Castle Howard is unmissable these days and they raise the bar every year as demonstrated at the press preview this year with the Mad Hatter’s Afternoon Tea looking particularly eventful. I continued to entertain corporate clients with bespoke tour packages, The Whippet Inn earning particularly strong feedback this time out. More signs of Christmas to come with the delivery of a package of pies from Made in Oldstead ready for them to make their debut at York Christmas Market, predictably well put together. One of the biggest social media engagements of the year came from The Kings Inn, the new venture on The Shambles from the owners of Licc which features truly hearty pub grub….who could turn down a flight of pies? There was a strong cue-sports theme toward the end of the month as we spent a day in Leeds at the Marvellous Brudenell club playing pool for a friend’s 40th before rocking up to the Barbican for the UK snooker championships. By this time the Christmas Market was in full swing and, while I didn’t get the chance to sample much, poutine from the gang at Miller’s was just as perfectly executed as one would have hoped.

December
December started with a visit to Santa at William’s Den where the food is far better than it needs to be, demonstrating their commitment to customer experience. My sole turkey dinner of the year was just what I was after! My Bar Billiards team is developing a tradition of going for a Christmas curry and this year (after I undertook some takeaway based research) we visited Mirchiz which won universal approval, my lamb shank lodging itself happily into my memory. In all honesty aside from a garlic bun from the gang at Biga+ and a bagel from Goldee’s Bagels, not much went on food-wise. It’s been a long year with more travel than expected and time for a break. Happy New Year!

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I’d been vaguely on the lookout for something wafty and comfy to take on a road trip I had planned. My 1998 Saab would have been perfectly tolerable but not an ‘event’, so when the Jag popped up, I jumped at the chance. £800 passed over and I was the proud owner of a 179k mile 3.2 V8 Sport. This engine and gearbox combo have a bit of a reputation for expensive failures, but the checking carried out by the previous keeper was reassuring, with all the potential sticking points covered off to one degree or another.

The car, having just returned from a 1,300 mile road trip to Le Mans, seemed to have proved its wafting credentials, so it was with great confidence that I pointed it down the A1 ready to attend the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Following that would be a trip back north via Stonehenge, Pendine Sands, St Davids and Portmeirion.

As with any car of this age there were a few foibles to adjust to, the only one of which to really annoy was broken air conditioning. Not always a problem, but we were uncharacteristically lucky with the weather and therefore obligated to spend huge portions of the journey necking bottles of water and peeling ourselves off the leather, not necessarily a huge surprise in a vehicle this age.

Jaguar’s slightly quaint mantra of “Space, Pace and Grace” perhaps lacks the modern dynamism the brand now strives for, but is still deserving of application to a car of this vintage. I’m happy to argue that those retro lines go part of the way to fulfilling the grace part of that promise, but it’s brought fully to fruition by the well insulated cabin that does a great job of isolating you from both your surroundings and the speed at which you’re passing through them.

That Classic Jaguar XJ cabin is, of course, coated in wood veneer on surfaces where leather would look strange and is a comfy place to be. Aided by an electrically adjustable driver seat, it’s easy to make yourself comfortable, so the 270 mile journey to Goodwood, the longest leg of our journey, passed without significant effort.

Space is a little more arguable. At five foot ten, I don’t struggle too much for headroom, but the cabin is pretty unexceptionally proportioned. Comfortably big enough for four with average rear legroom, there’s no space for TARDIS comparing rhetoric here. Thankfully Pace is rather more agreeable.

The 3.2 V8 under the bonnet is the smallest capacity offered of this engine, making that Sport badge feel a touch cynical, but it has plentiful firepower for making respectable progress. This example still felt strong enough to lay claim to all 240bhp originally quoted and made a delightfully smooth V8 burble at idle (possibly aided by the slight blow in the exhaust) that gives way to full-on NASCAR-hooligan when thrashed.

One clear oversight was the failure to include any sporting pretensions in the gearbox. Happy enough when blurring ratios around town or idling at speed on the motorway, it takes a hefty shove of the strangely long throttle pedal to initiate kick-down. Thankfully if you value niceties such as throttle response you can lock it in gear and sacrifice even more fuel economy. 25.6mpg average, since you ask.

So does that space, pace and grace mantra deserve its place here? More or less. Surprisingly good steering feel and turn-in mated to a V8 locked in second gear is a real pleasure but, while the pace part is acceptable, for a car that could accommodate a runway on the bonnet you deserve more room. I’ll forgive a lot of things for that shape though, ease of parking included.

As I mentioned earlier there’s a perfectly good (well, reliable but tatty) Saab outside so, without a commute to be bothered with thanks to the office that’s almost next-door, I really don’t need two cars. I’d never intended to keep the Classic Jaguar XJ long and it eventually sold on eBay to earn £21 more than its £600 reserve price. I took a loss of £179 over a few months’ ownership which, compared to the finance costs on an anonymous modern hatchback, seems pretty fair to me.

The obvious downside to running something like this as a daily driver is that constant nagging concern that it’ll not start, burst into flames, or deposit you somewhere precarious or inconvenient, and there’s not any way round that. I’ve known plenty of new cars sully their ownership experience with minor or significant teething problems but, on balance, I think you’re taking more of a risk with something like this. That said, I’ve just done a thousand mile road trip in a 3.2 litre Jaguar V8 around some stunning parts of the country and survived.

Take a punt, keep the V5 with you, and scrap it if it lets you down somewhere awkward. You can always buy something else for the run home…

Update: This piece first appeared on http://www.frontseatdriver.co.uk. I’ve since sold the tatty Saab mentioned in this, though I do miss it (turbo lag and all).

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1) Keep your car properly lubricated. Drying up can happen as you are not driving anymore. This can have serious implications later, so the best advice is to keep your car parts lubricated. You can take your car out for a really small drive so fluid reaches all the right places. 

2) Do not over-look your tyres. This is a golden time to check the quality of your tyres. Keep them clean and look for any signs of faults or damages to make a mental note of to save some money getting new tyres later. Luckily, for localities like Wakefield, there are reliable tyre companies serving the area. For example the team at Ossett Tyre House can help you find the right tyres in Wakefield (you can call on 01924271081)

3) Charge the batteries up. You can make use of a trickle charger in order to sustain your batteries. If you don’t pay attention to the batteries, you will have to get new ones later and this will just be an added expense.

4) Clean/disinfect your car. Although this seems pretty basic, try to have discipline in your car care routine. Disinfect it from the inside and de-clutter where it is needed. 

5) Run the engine. This is key, otherwise your car could be badly effected. Just move your car and start the engine from time to time.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post

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It’s hard to think of a more perfect case study to illustrate why a dash cam could potentially save one a great deal of emotional (and financial) hardship, so it’s been a purchase in the forefront of my mind for a while. With that to consider, when I was offered the opportunity to review a market leader I leapt at the chance to kit my car out with one.

The Nextbase 522GW can currently be found for £119.99 from a few different retailers, down thirty quid from its RRP. This separates it from the bottom end of the market, but if the feature list and quality stack up then that would still make it a bargain.

Those headline features include “Emergency SOS” that judges situations in which you may have become unresponsive and alerts the emergency services to your location along with key personal details such as allergies and blood type. Alexa integration also features for those of you inhabiting that smartphone ecosystem while the fundamentals all seem solid with recording at 1440p/30fps or 1080p/60fps and a 140 degree viewing angle as well as a polarising filter to get rid of glare from the windscreen. After getting the app sorted on my phone, it was only a few moments’ work to configure the Emergency SOS (fingers crossed I never have to report on its efficiency). It’s tricky to see the use of live view on a linked smart phone when sat in the car, where the very thing it’s linked to should remain unseen, and it should be noted that grabbing your footage from the memory card is better achieved directly. Downloading clips to the smartphone app felt impractically slow, stymieing my efforts to grab snippets of banal car chat/attempts to soothe Baby Fork.

Everything you need to get up and running comes in the box bar a memory card, which is supported up to 128gb. I couldn’t countenance the idea of cables snaking through my cabin, so quickly got booked into Halfords to get the thing properly installed and avoid sacrificing a USB socket better employed by my phone. This was a painless experience and good value at £30, the only inconvenience being half an hour mooching around Morrisons.

The installation left the Nextbase 522GW hidden behind the rear view mirror and pleasingly easy to forget about. Any intervention required to get the thing working would render it useless in my wife’s hands as would inevitably be skipped. In daily use, it’s completely unobtrusive and, while I’m hopeful to never have to use it, the reassurance it’s there is certainly a help. The video quality is excellent and the interface doesn’t present any barriers to use though does feature a touch of input lag. Getting at the footage on the camera is easy through the app that supports the device.

The mounting itself is extremely solid and while I’ve done little experimentation switching between the suction and adhesive mounts, there’s nothing to suggest any undue irritations here. Note that the magnet holding the unit in place is stronger than you might think. I was looking for something to unfasten it from the bracket before I gave it a hard enough yank to remove it. The box also only includes rudimentary instructions to get you up and running, not a problem with the application of a little common sense to get the appropriate document on-line, but something to be aware of if you’re a stickler for paper manuals.

In 20+ years of driving, I’ve never once crashed a car and I very much hope to continue that streak for years to come. The standard of driving I encounter every day very much makes me that feel like that’s more of a challenge than it should be, so I’m very happy to endorse the use of a device like this to better establish liability should something untoward happen. I’d certainly spend my money on a Nextbase 522GW and will make sure it remains a feature of my motoring life.

Disclaimer: The Nextbase 522GW was sent without charge for review. No demands were made and opinions are impartial.

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I’ll concede that this stuff might be a little niche, but don’t let that put you off. ‘Rapid Response’ is the story of emergency care systems developed by Dr Steve Olvey in American motorsport, primarily at Indianapolis and the Indy 500. If that sounds a little dry, don’t be fooled. The stories of humanity and determination attached to each of the incidents are focused through the lens of Dr Olvey’s relationships with the drivers involved and represent genuine advancements in emergency medicine with applications beyond motorsport.

We’re past the days of regular fatalities in mainstream car racing but, as the tragic recent loss of Anthoine Hubert shows, travelling at speed in traffic while pushing the limits of adhesion will always carry risk of an unexpected eventuality finding a chink in the systems designed to save drivers. This film is a fascinating examination of the journey to establish the modern safety standards that make such tragedies relatively scarce these days. I’d wondered if it would be a little disposable since I’m so familiar with the source material, but the archive footage and interviewees gave life to the stories, in part due to the quite jarring crash footage.

The presence of that crash footage is likely to be a point of concern for some. This is the story of advancements borne of tragedy, and those tragedies are shown in unsparing detail. You’ll certainly get the opportunity to see, in detail, the incidents discussed in the film, but do be aware that will involve witnessing fatal accidents. That said, there’s little in the way of graphic detail save for an image of Alex Zanardi at the point of amputation. The knowledge of Zanardi’s subsequent achievements ameliorate the bluntness of the image at least.

The Rapid Response film does little new in terms of format or presentation, but that platform is certainly enough to do the content justice. It’s a fascinating documentation of a journey that has unquestionably saved a number of lives and a stark reminder of the nature of motorsport’s excitement. If you’re interested in motorsport, make sure it’s one you check out.

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That being the case, I made tracks on a swelteringly hot Tuesday afternoon on a journey beset with many niggling delays to find my way to the Three Ways House Hotel. The room I was upgraded to didn’t feature much in the way of unnecessary luxury, but it was perfectly clean and comfortable, affording me a better night’s sleep than Baby Fork allowed Mrs Fork that night. The dinner menu didn’t grab my imagination, so I went exploring and found the Kings Arms, who served up some delicious pork ribs for me.

The event was to be hosted at a motoring themed bar and restaurant called Caffeine & Machine on the edge of the Cotswolds. This represented something of a mixed blessing given its location. Its situation on the edge of the Cotswolds was an opportunity to check out a part of the country that’s so far stayed beyond my reach, but the penalty for this was it necessitating an overnight trip given the distance from York.

I made an early start the next day to fit in all the driving I needed to, arriving bright and early at C&M after a perfectly nice hot buffet breakfast at the hotel. Mazda had done a fantastic job of bringing a sense of occasion to the event, quite appropriately for such a significant milestone as a 30th birthday. The premises were positively festooned with Mazda MX5 examples of every vintage, all of which were immaculately presented.

The Mazda MX5 is such a familiar sight these days that it’s hard to imagine the impact it must have had when it burst onto the scene 30 years ago. It feels a little ironic that a car deriving so much of its identity and design cues from classic British sports cars now has been around long enough to have developed its own mythology and history.

I started with the current Mazda MX5 which is well embedded as the default choice in the affordable sports car market. This 30th anniversary edition is presented boldly in a Racing Orange and features a subtle, by comparison, numbered badge on one of the flanks to remind you that you’re in one of only 3000 manufactured.

The view from the driving seat is dominated by the bonnet whose wings frame your view and give the impression that you’re driving a nose-heavy car, when in fact the footprint remains very similar to the more dainty appearing first edition. The driving experience is encouraging and playful without becoming aggressive or goading; one senses the MX-5’s real skill lies in understanding and matching the driver’s moods. While it’s happy to remain docile and relatively unobtrusive in everyday use, it’s even happier when encouraging the driver to take the long way and get stuck in. Not that it provokes you into inappropriate risks; when pushing as hard as is advisable on the public road, I was surprised at the small amount of momentum needed to convince me of my talents. Hustling the bright orange 30th Anniversary Edition MX-5 around the Cotswold roads will remain a fond memory for some time, but it did make me wonder how it would compare to its 30 year old progenitor. So I went and hopped in one to see.

The Mk1 still looks fresh. Pop up headlamps might be off trend these days, and indeed were ditched for the second generation (for reasons of weight distribution if memory serves), but it otherwise looks timeless. When I hit the road I’m more surprised than I should be at how a 30 year old car feels, well, 30 years old. I hadn’t quite appreciated the degree to which I’ve been softened by progress, but this brings it into sharp relief. It’s certainly still a fun car to drive and I took great satisfaction in blatting my way around in it, but I’d forgotten the way that non-powered steering shields you from subtleties of input by virtue of the effort involved. In addition, the relative lack of side support in the seats puts the responsibility for staying upright onto my arms. This 1995 car is powered by a 130bhp 1.8 litre engine that’s more than sufficient for the task, though the lack of a sixth gear is jarring and a limitation.

Next I move forward to 1999 to take a spin in a MK2 10th Anniversary Edition. With super shiny, polished aluminium wheels and Innocent Mica Blue paint, there’s bags of presence emanating from this car, which feels like it represents the epitome of the MX-5 experience. This was the first Mazda MX5 to enter the UK with a six speed gear box and the additional ratio, and when coupled with power steering and a few other more minor civilities, really makes a difference. The confluence of little things to arrive with this car broaden its character to a significant degree. They give one the option to mooch gently around with little effort or soundtrack yourself with a satisfyingly belligerent exhaust note while the chassis shouts similarly positively about your driving prowess. That said, one little thing it’s missing is a rest for my left foot…as I say, it’s the little things.

This just leaves the MK3 to sample and there’s a reason why I’ve left it until last. It represents the low point of my enthusiasm for the car. It’s neither the most recent, original or or most storied version and its guileless smile has never provoked any particular curiosity in me. In fact, it’s the thing that led me to fear that the spirit of this iconic model had been lost based the views of others. The 25th Anniversary Edition example of the MK3 that I drove lacks the fine styling details that give the models either side their presence. But ignoring any preconceptions, it’s a handsome enough design, if one is prepared to forgive a touch of bloating, and the interior is a comfortable space from which to conduct business. The driving experience feels just a shade more muted than the MK2 and MK4, neatly highlighting the trick Mazda has pulled off with the MK4, which makes it a lively and accessible drive with plenty of spirit that remains accessible and civilised. It’s hardly a disaster, but I’m left feeling like I’ve driven a shrunken GT that doesn’t quite fulfil that role while also failing to provoke the same smiles as its progenitors.

So where does the MX-5 sit as it sets out on its journey toward a (presumably inevitable) 40th Anniversary Edition? Three decades is a long period over which to maintain a reputation and protect it in the face of ever evolving legislative requirements and customer expectations, but it’s a challenge that Mazda has met with great enthusiasm. The MK3 might not have inspired me in the same way as the current model or MK2, but it’d be unfair to overplay that criticism on the basis of relative weakness. The MK1 is a deservedly iconic starting point that, while something of a period piece these days, represents an important moment in the acceptance of Japanese manufacturers amongst enthusiasts worldwide. 

We’re lucky that the current model has a well-rounded skill set and a real sense of the roots of the model. It’s tremendous fun to drive and packs in all the mod cons you would hope for to make it a sensible day to day option within the compromises of the genre. But it’s the MK2 that really caught my attention. Driving the same roads as the other models on the same day, this offers something more. Everything feels like it has another 5% to offer with bags of character to encourage you to take an extra wrong turn (many apologies to whoever was waiting for the car after me). What’s most encouraging is that this is an experience identifiable in the current model.

All that was left was for me to hop back into a my own car and try to overwhelm myself with the air conditioning. I’m not going to claim that driving a succession of MX-5s around the Cotswolds is a hardship, but people are still commenting on the tan a few weeks later thanks to the brutal heat of the day. The drive back gave me time to happily reflect on the day and start to think about setting up an alert on Autotrader. I’ve always liked the look of the the MK2 in orange…

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In a couple of weeks, we fly to Amsterdam from Leeds-Bradford so I’m in planning mode trying to second guess what we might forget to pack or find an unexpected need for when we arrive. I thought I’d appeal for people’s experiences of travelling with a 1 year old (well, 16 months).

The only bit of kit we’ve invested in is a Pockit lightweight stroller. This comes fresh from a trip to Sri Lanka courtesy of lovely friends who pre-empted the research I was about to do for their own trip. The main, perceived, advantage of this is the ability to head up to the flight gate and then chuck the thing into an overhead locker at the last minute and, having test driven it, it seems still perfectly serviceable as a means of child transportation. I’m so far impressed with the startlingly small package this thing folds into (saw a friend earlier who commented “so I bet you loved Transformers as a kid”) but time will tell how that translates to real life convenience.

A lot of our friends have opted for a resort based first trip with their progeny, but we’ve always loved the rhythm of a few days spent strolling around a new city, searching out its real personality. I guess city life will need a few different things relative to a resort designed around commodity but the question this begs is, What have we forgotten to pack that we can’t replace when we’re there? One supposes that any anxieties will be tempered by the likelihood of city life affording much convenience, but I suppose we’re just on the edge of another element of first time parent anxiety.

I’ve looked up the Dutch for “full fat milk” to make sure that Baby Fork has her nighttime bottle and I’m pretty confident that we’ll manage to keep her clean and fed while away from this sceptred isle. What might I have forgotten? You’ll probably find out in a post around a month from now, but do message with your suggestions.

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Now that Jaguar has finished the important business of separating its current model line up from memories of the X & S Types, rounding out the saloon models with the F-Pace and F-Type, it’s moved its focus to the business of continuous improvement and keeping the line up fresh, which means there’s a new XF in the brochures.

Aggressive frontal styling sets it apart nicely from the previous generation, the grill standing proudly upright. When viewed from anything other than head on there’re rather too many similarities in the XE and XF styling, which is great for brand identity but less so for model differentiation. Even after driving the XF for a week, it wasn’t always possible to identify this generation of XF from the previous, or even the smaller XE.

The UK-built Ingenium 2.0-litre turbodiesel engine fitted to this top ‘Portfolio’ spec car knocks out a modest 180hp, but backs that up with 430Nm of torque, but that doesn’t sound like enough motivation for a car pushing 1,600kg. Once up and running though, that chunky torque figure allows for brisk enough performance when the gearbox can been coerced out of the highest gear that it can maintain. One benefit of sticking in the high ratios is fuel economy, a motorway run returning an impressive 56mpg despite diversions and hold ups. Over a week this dropped to a more realistically attainable 45.3mpg.

With the opportunity to drive a little more enthusiastically in the Yorkshire Moors than would be wise in a town centre, the sporting nature that’s a key pillar of the brand could be explored. Setting the transmission to Sport and the adaptive chassis controls to Dynamic allows the driver to take full control of shifting duties, confirmed by the rev counter shimmying to the centre of the instrument binnacle. Everything looks the part but, after a few miles, all those reports of good body control and sporting intentions had to be questioned. The ride wasn’t perfect when presented with broken, under-funded Northern town centre roads, but motorways were as deftly dispatched as you’d expect, so it was a bit of a shock to find back road undulations breaking the car’s composure. The XF might have held its line perfectly well, but the car didn’t inspire confidence.

Sure enough, something was amiss. The Dynamic mode had somehow been compromised so that the dampers remained in soft-and-comfortable standard mode, while everything else had tightened and sharpened itself as intended. Suddenly everything fell into place and the superbly upholstered Jaguar began to make progress at significant pace, easily giving life to the cliche of larger sports saloons shrinking around the driver and becoming easy to place on the road.

As far as the interior goes, there’s something of a sense that Jaguar is still trying too hard to shake off the burr walnut image with lots of stark black surfaces and leather, contrasted on this car by grey wood insets. The contrivance of those vents that reveal themselves highlights the swathe of slightly tacky silver plastic that dominates the passenger’s side of the dashboard, while the roller that covers the drinks holders will remain easy to keep out of sight and ignore the multitude of tiny scratches it absorbs.

There’s an abundance of things to press and a large touchscreen that acts as a portal to many, many more toys, some of which might be used more than once (be honest, how much use will anybody get from a G meter in this car?) but the system feels lethargic and dated. The optional InControl Touch Pro system comes with a Meridian audio system that deploys drum n’ bass to such effect as to rattle the change in my pocket and, while largely effective and easy to navigate, would justify the £1,225 price a little better with snappier responses to inputs.

This isn’t a car without faults. Expectations of ride and handling balance from a Jaguar are high, and the XF failed to meet the (perhaps unrealistic) demands; things were too choppy around town (not helped by the 19” wheels fitted to this car) and compromised too much in general to retain the luxury feel. The car only comes into its own when pushing on beyond what could be considered acceptable, or boring one’s way down a motorway.

It’s not even that spacious. Despite being of decidedly average height, headroom was a little tight; repeatedly a bottle of water was bopped against the headliner while maintaining hydration, leading to the inevitable spills. Spillages were also an ever-present fear thanks to the irritatingly small cup holders. It’s easy to dismiss stuff like this as niggles, but this kind of thing is the detail that makes living day to day that much easier, and the kind of detail that should be well resolved on a £38k car.

The XF might be a comfortable and adaptable car to live with that can be pushed into a decent turn of speed when the fancy takes you, but the cabin isn’t flawless, and it’s not as polished as its German rivals. Jaguar represents brand values that stand apart from those offerings though, and those values can, to an extent, make up for some flaws.

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Hitting the streets with a bunch of equipment as standard (including bluetooth phone connectivity, spanky alloys, flared arches, tinted windows and climate control) for under ten grand got the motoring press quickly gushing over it. Evo in particular didn’t take long to brand the Fiat Panda 100hp as “the cheapest way into true Evoness.” I was hooked. I was also skint, but I kept hold of that road test for years while carefully waiting for the residuals to slip into my range. A few years ago that finally happened and I found an example close by to test drive. One slightly shocked salesperson later (“but… it’s a Panda.”) and I was arranging collection and discussing trade-in values.

Four and a half grand for a 2007 car with 40,000 miles on the clock wasn’t a complete rip-off, and there was a full history so a deal was done and I set about getting to know my new motor. Sport mode engaged and I was on my way, quickly finding out that the quoted 0-60 time of 9.5 seconds feels pessimistic when coupled with lots of road noise and a distinct lack of suspension. My first thoughts were that the handling was as engaging as its reputation suggested, with sharp and accurate steering. It wasn’t exactly the most natural motorway cruiser of course, but day-to-day life presented no problems within its diminutive constraints.

As a place to be it was entirely serviceable and it was more robust than one might expect, although bear in mind that those expectations are for a small Fiat. Cheap plastic and shiny fabric let things down, but everything felt sturdy and there were certainly no ergonomic howlers. The faux carbon fibre dash was pretty naff though, and I defy anyone to find an example without a torn gearstick gaiter.

All that standard equipment may have been operated with somewhat basic controls but it all functioned perfectly, comedy bluetooth excepted. Following the instructions to the letter lets the car tell you if it’s been successfully paired with your device, but sadly my inability to differentiate between mumbled Italian phrase one and mumbled Italian phrase two rendered the system useless to me.

So far, so as expected. Quick enough, pleasingly lacking in inertia, not horrible to sit in and not shedding any bits. It was perfect for nipping through traffic, and funky looking without being too ostentatious. I could have done without the blacked out windows after it was dubbed ‘a bit sinister’ by colleagues though.

The suspension was the headline though. There’s no getting away from the simple fact that it was far too hard for our roads. It didn’t take long until you were painfully aware of the locale’s most vicious speed bumps and planning routes to avoid them. Even motorway journeys weren’t immune – my partner’s failure to stay awake as a passenger rendered her vulnerable to a jarred neck when hitting motorway expansion joints. However, when I had the opportunity to chuck it around Millbrook’s city handling circuit everything fell into place in a way that the Yorkshire Dales roads simply wouldn’t allow with their broken surfaces.

Fuel consumption stuck around 37mpg at all times, unless sport mode was engaged. That was certainly a cool button to have but in real terms all it did was knock down the steering assistance and alter the engine map slightly for a bit more torque, while slicing 5mpg from your fuel consumption. That wasn’t a good alternative to holding each gear a few hundred revs longer.

Most running costs were reasonable, but that suspension clearly takes a beating and results in periodic bills of a few hundred quid to replace snapped bits. The only other minor irritation was the parcel shelf not being attached to the boot, resulting in an obscured rear view as you drive off, having forgotten to fold the shelf back down. I know other owners resorted to an umbrella kept in the car to prod it down, but I’m just tall enough to reach it from the driver’s seat.

So did the Fiat Panda 100hp deliver on the high hopes I had after that Evo review of days gone by? No. It didn’t. I can see where they were coming from, but that suspension was a fatal flaw. There’s talk on owners forums of third-party replacement dampers, but I’d no interest in going down that route.

In the right place at the right time it was undeniably superb – a cheap, practical and fun way into ‘performance’ motoring but with too many compromises, I can’t see how it matches that original hyperbole.

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Think a Jag is an old man’s car? Jaguar wants to prove you wrong with the Jaguar F-Pace…

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