The car

Arriving at a suitable test car is a straightforward process. We ruled out an SUV or a hatchback to avoid covering old ground, leaving a medium sedan or wagon in the frame. Whichever model we chose had to be a good handler. It’d ideally be a mainstream passenger car rather than a high-performance model, in keeping with the style of tyres on test, and its electronic stability control system had to be one that could be switched fully off, so we could test only the chassis and tyres. The Mazda 6 emerged as the right model, in wagon form because it has a shorter wheelbase and is a bit more agile than the sedan, and it had to be a Sport or Touring on 17-inch wheels and tyres, rather than a 19in-shod GT or Atenza.