2019-10-01_CAR_UK

Porsche in fails-to-

win-by-a-country-

mile shock

Utterly pointless

back doors –

and the thing’s

Cayman money!

OCTOBER 2019 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 57

Opinion

IMPERFECT PORSCHES + TRIUMPH HERALD + VW UPS AND DOWNS

Didn’t see that coming

When the August edition of Porsche

Plaudits Monthly arrived, I did my

usual preliminary scan through the

gossamer-thin pages, to discover

only 31 with some form of Porsche

involvement, probably a bit less than in

recent months! However, when I then

immersed myself properly – shock,

horror – a Porsche Cayman comes third

out of four in The Shortlist!

It took me the whole of the Inside

Sterrato feature to compose myself, and

then another hammer-blow: a Porsche

Cayenne comes last in the Giant Test.

Has the world gone mad? If you carry

on like this I shall have to revert to

calling you CAR again!

Despite my sarcasm, I do like the

new format, especially The Shortlist,

You Drive Our Cars and One Year On.

Maybe you ought to have a reader along

on your Giant Tests as well, so that

you can get the view of someone who

actually parts with their own money.

Patrick Limming

Ludicrous

What is the point of cars like the new

Megane RS Trophy-R? It’s expensive,

compromised and ugly. I feel this might

be an unpopular opinion, so let me

elaborate. Expensive speaks for itself,

and at getting on for the same price as a

Porsche Cayman, can’t really be argued

with. Compromised? Well you’ve just

bought a hot hatch with the same

number of seats as the aforementioned

Cayman. Were you desperately

concerned about boot space? Ugly? I

can certainly see the argument that

beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but

I’ve yet to see a five-door hatch that

looks as good as a three-door – and

unfortunately five doors is pretty

much all we’re offered. So we have an

expensive hatchback with two seats and

five doors, two of which don’t actually

lead anywhere. Why?

Paul Thornton

Incomparable

Having been one of your biggest

admirers since CAR’s inception, I

thought it hilarious that Mike Flewitt

suggested (in the July 2019 issue)

the twin test of a Triumph Herald ⊲

It’s what

we want

I rarely disagree with the words of

the esteemed Georg Kacher, but his

Giant Test in the August issue was

just another attack on the much

maligned (by the media) SUV.

After hammering each car

for not being a Porsche 911, he

finishes by describing cars of

this ilk as a ‘disproportionately

popular segment’. Disproportionate

compared to what? I will agree that

the phrase ‘performance SUV’ is an

oxymoron, but the motoring media

miss the point. Car companies are

simply giving the public what they

want. Not everyone wants or needs

to dash around in sports cars. They

have kids, jobs and a limited budget.

So move on and give us the stuff we

can only dream of. That is what you

do best, especially Georg.

And in case you want to know, I

love my diesel Macan to bits...

Phil Taylor

Letter

of the

month

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