By golly I enjoyed driving this HSV GTS. It’s overkill on the narrow, tightly twisting road out home, yet flexing a foot on the throttle had the car dancing to my tune, roaring like a frustrated circus lion as we charged out of corners then lifted off to dive into them.

Those baffles which open the pipes at idle or full noise just fire your inner ten-year-old, that joyful hooligan lurking in the heart of every petrolhead.

I kinda liked the idea of all the techie stuff – that shows graphs of the g-forces applying at each wheel for example – but I was too busy making the most of the car to glance at the colourful display.

A passenger might enjoy it, but my bloke took one look at the yellow monster pawing the gravel out front and decided not to climb aboard, despite a promise he’d get the ride of his life. Or was that because of?

For more on this car, follow this Herald on Sunday link.

But would I like it as much with a modest 2.2-litre diesel engine under the bonnet?

I tried it car out in the UK, over the heaving tarmac of its narrow back roads and wide expanses of its multi-lane motorways; through crowded city streets and brief spurts of rural swervery. More...

Mercedes has just launched its latest C-class in Australia – but I drove the smart coupe in the UK, in C250CDI format.

That comes with the 2.1-litre, 150kW/500Nm twin turbo diesel engine matched to a seven-speed auto. Forget the power figure, it’s the torque that counts – particularly on winding country back roads or while negotiating city traffic. And it’s the 400Nm you notice, punching you out of corners, hustling you away from lights and generally throwing a bit of muscle about.

Yet this car is a refined cruiser when you want it to be; as effortless in stop-start traffic as it is on the motorway. Shame the swooping roofline restricts rear headroom, but then it’s unlikely to be bought by those regularly carrying two adults back there.

For more on the C-class Coupe, see my Herald on Sunday item on the car. Meantime keep up with Jacqui Madelin on Facebook at facebook.com/jacqui.madelin.

“I can really see out of this one!” piped my three-year-old niece from the back of Land Rover’s latest Freelander; her younger sister just giggled. Yep, in line with the brand’s practical focus it’s eschewed the modern trend for a high waist that puts the windowline too high for littlies – and not-so-littlies – to see out.

So I was soon reminded that interested and engaged children are much better in-car company than bored ones; more patient and so much less likely to get car-sick… as I’m sure more than a few parents discover after a stylish design wins them over, until real life proves that forgetting the shorter family members was a poor decision.

For more on the Land Rover Freelander, see my article in the Herald on Sunday .

I’ll be interested to see how Nissan’s Juke goes when it sells in New Zealand from January. Though we won’t get the 4wd version that seems so well-suited to our chillier southern cities, I can see the funky looks, high-riding driving position and compact footprint proving popular, both with a young-at-heart but more mature audience who’ll like the ease of entry and exit, and with those seeking a second family car that’s got a fun flavour.

Mind you the jiggly ride so noticeable on UK roads may put a few people off. Log on to the Herald on Sunday for more drive impressions or catch up with me on Facebook.

I’m talking rural drivers negotiating narrow lanes, switchback country roads and blind bends, and all in the face of equally optimistic drivers hurling cars, trucks and buses into places no sane driver would attempt.

I’d like to say it adds a certain piquancy to an Italian holiday, but in my case it merely added grey hairs as unusually for me, I was in the passenger seat.

Next time I visit I’ll have to fix that by talking nicely to Fiat or Alfa – it was the flocks of 500s and Mitos that looked most at home on these roads, along with 4wd Pandas and the occasional Suzuki Jimny.

But my favourites are the teensy three-wheeled mini-vans, usually driven by country farmers whose expansive waistlines bear witness to good Italian cooking and even better Italian wine; waistlines that barely fit such diminutive vehicles.

One could say ‘only the Italians’ but clearly some things don’t change – and no, the driver was not disabled…

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