Volkswagen Golf 5

If the Golf GTI is 'hot', the Golf V6 is strolling around Death Valley in a tinfoil suit eating a freshly toasted Pop-Tart. It's on the track that you really notice it, the 4WD providing supreme grip on the bends and the torquey 2.8-litre engine zipping you down the straights.

But there's a problem - it s dressed just like any other Golf, the innocuous V6 badge being the only indication of its superiority. So get behind the wheel and you risk assuming the persona of the barrel-chested bantam in the boozer who picks a fight with the big bloke in the hope that victory will confer a few leering inches to his squat, bullish frame. But no matter how many Boxsters you succeed in getting the better of, the Golf refuses to look like one, retaining instead that ubiquitous and frankly depressing 'Bright Young Thing' image.

Although such inadequacies didn't play a part in the broken wing-mirror, scuffed front bumper and cracked windscreen, they may be responsible for some of the excessive wear on the tyres which were replaced at service. The other major problem has been the on-going saga with the CD player.

It was removed and replaced under warranty, but three months on, our missing CDs have yet to be returned. (Guess the boat has come in for the Volkswagen employee who is into Grover Washington Jr and keen to learn Spanish.)