Honda Accord

If my kids were to design a car, I'm sure it would look something like a fur-lined bubble-gum dispenser on wheels. You see, they're on a different agenda. What's important for them is not reliability or credibility, but whether a car has any novelty features like tray tables, a fridge in the glovebox or a doughnut reheating device. The Honda Accord may be a bit thin on the pointless novelty front, but it does have the redeeming feature of an automatic tailgate. Simply hold down the button on the key fob and - wheeeep - the boot opens. Press it again and - hey presto - it closes. Never again will you have to leave all your shopping spilling into the sodden gutter while you fumble with a filthy boot release. Just press and load. The opening noise is, however, rather loud, so you don't want to pop the boot open in a quiet street at midnight. On the plus side, when your friend smugly points across the road from your house and says, "Look, you've left the boot open, idiot", you can (even more smugly) brandish your fob and quip, "Ah ha! No, I haven't!"

Simon Rees