ROAD TESTS & EPIC DRIVE
Thank you for the great article on Mustangs old and new in your September issue, the mix of historical fact and real-time driving made for compelling reading. Peet Mocke’s doublepage photo spread was outstanding and he is lucky to work with the Cape mountains as scenic backgrounds.
I have also enjoyed your road tests of late; the blathering about touchscreens, infotainment and soft-touch materials has seemingly given way to column inches about road-holding, handling and ride, comfort and driving pleasure. The RS6 Avant test illustrates this well. What a car! As an SUV driver, I would love to have an Audi A6 Avant quattro next time round, with a tamer engine than the RS6, maybe, more in tune with my advancing years.
When paging the July 2020 back issue for an old road test, I revisited the columns: “Soft touch too much?”, “Out of touch?” and “A question of luxury”. Some straight-talking here and their comments vindicate my dislike of features like billboard-size touchscreens sticking out of the dashboard. Take a look at the new Defender for a functional and clear dashboard and interior finish in practical materials. As for the bodywork, some of the outlandish styles of American cars of the ‘60s seem to be resurfacing. Just look at the extended but useless plastic snout of a Corolla and the gorilla-like nostrils on BMWS.
I also noticed from the masthead of the July issue that no fewer than seven names have disappeared from your journalistic staff. Has there been a cabinet reshuffle at Ramsay Media? Granted, some familiar names now appear as contributors, surely you could have paid tribute to old hands like Peter Palm and others?
Regular readers will surely miss the Techmail letter page, historical car drives, as well as the Starter Classic articles. There is also scope for travel and road trip articles, like the trip in a classic Ferrari. I still look forward to the next issue. BILL FERRAR Via email
[Thanks Bill. There’s no need to pay tribute to “old hands” like Peter because, despite passing retirement age, he’s more involved with CAR than ever, contributing classic car content and assisting with road tests – editor]