BMW USED CARS

Standard 19in AMG alloys and beefy side skirts do far better justice to the new S-Class's oddly distended wheelarches, while a huge front apron with outsized air intakes and similarly chunky rear end, broken up by a pair of massive twin exhausts, complete the kind of repackaging that makes you think of borscht and punishment beatings.

But the S65's sales pitch gets skewed again by a £145,365 price tag. To put that into a Merc context, the 'L' version of the S320 CDI is £58,975, while the 500L is £73,770, and that'll still hit 62mph in 5.6 seconds.

Whenever and wherever the conversation turns to the Jaguar XF, it's all about the design. Even today, when we show up to drive the thing, the talk begins with the shape of the sheet metal, and the furnishings within.

I won't dwell on it though, save to say two things. First, it looks terrific on the road. Seeing it in pictures and at motor shows, I was tempted to judge the nose as slightly overworked, and the tail as slightly over-subtle. But actually that's the right way to go. Consider: if a car comes the other way, you see its face go by in a handful of seconds. The only time you get the chance to study a car at length on the road is when you're following it, either directly or in an adjacent motorway lane. This means the frontal aspect has to be assertive to make a quick impression, while the rear end can be more subtle but has to be flawless.

This is the finest large sporting saloon in the world. It sits
at the top of a distinguished and expensive heap, including the V10 Audi S8,
the 525bhp Mercedes S63 AMG and the all-new BMW 7-Series V8 twin turbo, and it
trounces them all in different ways.

It's
ironic that after 12 years of sales, no one really knows how to pronounce Ford
Ka. Even Ford people mix it between K-A saying the letters separately, Ka with
a short 'a' or Ka as in car. And all this despite the fact that it's racked up
1.4 million global sales, a staggering 500,000 of which have been in the UK.
It's almost like not knowing how to pronounce Coke.

There's something
really attractive about a proper soft-top in the era of folding metal. It harks
back to a time when convertibles, roadsters and cabriolets were more of a
rarity and an indulgence; a vastly more emotional purchase, and one that
commanded attention and envy.

The Ford Ka's greatest weakness is the previous model.
Despite this latest version getting lots more fancy plastics inside, better
packaging for the rear seats and boot, and now a diesel engine, there's simply
no way it can ever exceed the heights the first Ka reached. Not with a chassis
as dull as it's got.

With summer here the 'Great Right Forearm Tan Competition' is under way and I, for one, am feeling confident. The rules are these: at the first sign of sun, wind the driver's window right down and let your forearm hang nonchalantly on the sill. Come Autumn, the winner is the person with the deepest, most evenly spread right forearm tan. I ought to mention that extra points are awarded for the hairiness of the arm and the volume of the stereo once the window is down. The Ibiza offers several advantages for me.

Somehow VeeDub has managed to craft a cabin that includes some rear legroom in the two seats. Given that most convertibles struggle to fit children in the back, this is quite an achievement. The only downside here is that headroom is restricted - well, you can't have it all.