IN THIS FEATURE Like having a mistress who can cook Shifting expectations Traffic-light hero

I put the paddle-shifter up there with talking cars of the 1980s ('The door is ajar! Fasten your seatbelt!') - totally superfluous. If I choose to downshift at the wrong time, that's my choice. I'd like to be able to do that! For the same reason I don't always eat healthily. If a doctor hands me an apple, that's fine: I know the apple is better for me, but sometimes I want a slice of pizza. Likewise, sometimes if I see a patch of sand (and there's no one around), maybe I punch it, get a little sideways as I come out of a turn. Juvenile, a little immature? Yeah, but it's what I like to do.

"There's something more rewarding about finding the sweet spot yourself..."

The other annoying thing about these electronic gearboxes is that they are better than we are. You can pretend when you paddle-shift manually that you can do it better and more efficiently than the electronics. Maybe Michael Schumacher can, but you can't. Not really. You can play with the paddle-shifter but you really are only playing with it. You get the sense that the electronic brain is saying: "Are you through fooling around now?" Cars like these don't need you.

To me people bonded with their cars in the early days, especially with cars like classic MGs or Triumph TR2s or 3s. You found what we used to call the 'sweet spot': you'd reach a certain rev count and you'd just know you'd only have to apply the slightest amount of pressure and the lever would just move forward. There was a great deal of pleasure and accomplishment in that.