MAKES LITTLE SENSE BUT WILL STILL GET YOU SMILING Bringing out the big guns

horrendous tyre roar – you couldn’t even hear the radio.

For some reason, and it could be the Shooting Brake body style or a different specification of tyre, this car suffers from it much less.

The Shooting Brake also feels better balanced than the hatchback through the corners.

Inside, it’s standard top-spec Merc furnishings. It has the aforementioned leather sports seats and the company’s effective infotainment system, including “Hey Mercedes” voice control that actually works (most of the time).

Over the top in price, looks and performance, the CLA 45 S Shooting Brake is a car that makes little rational sense but will appeal a lot to those with deep pockets, brand loyalty and a sense of humour.

IS it really 20 years since Mitsubishi brought its amazing Lancer Evo here?

The rally-bred four-wheeldrive saloon had been personally brought over by fans as grey imports, but in 2000 the penny dropped at the car firm and it decided to import the car itself. The first model to arrive was the Evo VI Tommi Makinen special edition. Limited to 250 units, it sold out within a fortnight. They are collectible modern classics today. Rightly so, because these incredible cars are among the fastest cross-country machines ever made.

YOU’RE looking at the most powerful motor ever produced by Mercedes-Benz.

The car is the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series and is powered by an extreme example of the company’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine, which produces a huge 730bhp.

That unit has been fitted with a 180-degree or flat-plane crankshaft, giving it a very distinctive scream like a Ferrari.

That’s enough nerdery. Simply put, it’s going to be one special and very fast car. Stand by for an equally impressive price tag.