Like you wrote about the BMW 7er a few days back, manufacturers have been more interested in letting us fine tune the driving experience to a point that the car no longer has its own character.

I’m happy to drive a now 20 year old car with just one climate zone that has just two buttons I need, one for air conditioning, one for without. My ipod plugs into a retrofitted aux input in my old Becker and I don’t need GPS since I usually know where I’m going.

I see so many tv commercials now for cars advertising their bluetooth capabilties, fuel economy and ruthless practicality. But so rarely is there a message about the driving experience.

Personally, short of adjusting the seat, mirrors and radio station, a car shouldn’t offer much more room for personalisation. A driver should adapt to their car, not the other way around.

But don’t forget that 90% of folks would complain about the austere interior!