The Reliant Scimitar GTE isn't my perfect car, but it's close

EARLIER this week I thought about launching a Champion competition for our artier readers. Because, if not one of the world’s car companies could come up with my ideal motor, maybe they could.

No, really. There have been hundreds of different cars over the years and while some of them have got tantalisingly close, not one of them satisfies all the strict criteria the ultimate Life On Cars machine would have. 

The particular blend of poise, style and practicality I’m looking for brings me past the hot hatch, the coupe and the roadster to the three-door estate, a curious breed of car not made in any meaningful numbers since Ford and Vauxhall dropped theirs two decades ago. Shooting brakes, as they’re known, blend a sporty set up, a low profile, four genuinely useable seats and a room for a set of drawers in the same package – if you’re familiar with the Reliant Scimitar GTE (pictured above), you’ll know what I mean.

But the Reliant’s got classic car build quality and the ultimate Life On Cars classic – call it the Simister GT, perhaps, shouldn’t. It should be as cheap and easy to run as a Ford Focus, and as well screwed together. It should be roomy and comfy enough to take four mates and their bags to the wilds of Wales, and light and delicately-balanced enough to be a laugh when you get there. Crucially, it should be light, because then its tiny engine could give you plenty of full-throttle kicks when you’re up for a laugh, and upwards of 35mpg when you don’t.

It should also, because an MGB and an MX-5 have indoctrinated me in the virtues of al fresco driving, be equipped with some sort of opening roof system, perhaps a clever Targa system like the sort Porsche uses, or a canvas Webasto job like the one fitted to my MGB GT. It should also, even though it’s an estate, look good enough to eat. If Alfa Romeo can make a five-door estate look like the automotive equivalent of Heidi Klum, then a three-door should be even more of a visual treat.

Essentially, motoring’s equivalent of Jamie Oliver will have to take the basic concept of the Reliant Scimitar, throw in the best bits of a Mazda MX-5, Ford Focus, Porsche 911 Targa, and the Alfa 156 Sportwagon, and leave to simmer. Oh, and throw on the style of the original Range Rover, the feel and handling of the old Mini and the unruffled refinement of a Jag XJ6 for added flavour.

The closest anyone’s ever come to this mouthwatering bit of kit, I reckon, is the Lynx Eventer, an estate version of the Jaguar XJ-S (pictured below) which managed the almost impossible achievement of being better looking than the coupe it was based on. I would, if the Champion Euromillions syndicate ever comes good, love to have one in my dream garage, but I still reckon it’d be too big, too thirsty and too unreliable to make the perfect Life On Cars machine.

Maybe it’s just too tall an order...

Jaguar XF Sportbrake is a clever and cool estate

FISHING, camping, horse-riding and skiing. All things I imagine the Jag set love getting up to, but until now they've never really had the car to cope.

If you wanted a finely sculpted, thoroughly British way of lugging your lifestyle equipment from the gymkhana to the ski resort you've only really had two options; a Range Rover or a Discovery. That's why I reckon Jaguar's onto a winner with something they should have come up with ages ago, in the form of an XF estate.

It gets off to a great start in my books simply because it's got a cool name - it is, ladies and gentlemen, the XF Sportbrake, which it makes it sound like an aerodynamic aid you'd fit to your snowmobile or mountain bike. I know it's a sort of unspoken rule among the executive car club never to call your estate an estate, but somehow Sportbrake has just got a bit more oomph than Avant or Touring does.

Jaguar, who are revealing the XF Sportbrake at this year's Geneva Motorshow, said:

"Sharing its underpinnings with the XF saloon, the Sportbrake's overall length grows by just 5mm, its weight by less 70kg and its chassis structure matches the strength of the conventional XF. These characteristics mean the Sportbrake can closely match the acclaimed handling of the XF saloon yet offers a large and highly practical load space.

"Every panel on the XF Sportbrake, from the B-Pillar rearwards, is new. The strong silver signature line running the length of the car is extended while the C-Pillar is finished in gloss black, a trait shared with the XJ saloon."

Estate car practicality blended with the firm's refreshingly affordable 2.2 diesel lump should, I reckon, broaden the XF's appeal way beyond the members of your local golf club. Expect to see plenty of them on our roads when the Sportbrake gets launched later this year.

Mercury Custom Woody

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Fire up the... BMW 5-Series Touring

EARLIER this year I argued one of BMW’s biggest sellers was as close as you’ll get to the perfect car, and with this latest model it’s business as usual.

No matter whether you opt for the saloon, the Touring estate or the strangely-styled GT, BMW’s 5 Series has always been one of those cars that’s irritatingly good at just about everything - you just match your choice of engine with the level of management you’ve been promoted to.

Even the 520d Touring version I’ve just tested, one of the entry models in the executive saloon’s expansive range, does everything you could ever ask of it effortlessly; you’ll barely notice it breaking into barely-legal speeds on the motorway because it does it so quietly, comfortably and inconspicuously.

This whole car’s appeal is about doing everything subtly but there’s still plenty to get excited about, with the heads up display helping you to stay safe by beaming a digital readout of your speed into your line of sight, and the spacious Touring version gets a rear window which opens separately from the tailgate if ever you’re parked in a particularly tight spot when you’re loading up.

But step outside and it’s soon forgotten, because the styling isn’t nearly as aggressive or adventurous as its predecessor. BMW designer Chris Bangle might have been lambasted at the time for the challenging angles he gave to the last 5 and 7 Series models, but for me at least the new arrival has styling so subtle it runs the risk of simply being boring.

It’s a small gripe on a car that - hefty £30k price tag aside - is excellent in almost every way. If you’re looking to make a statement to show off your success you might want to look at Jaguar’s XF or the new SAAB 9-5, but if you don’t mind taking the obvious choice the BMW’s still the no-brainer buy.

Voluminous V60 also goes for coupe curves

THE days of Volvos being boring and boxy are a step closer to being banished forever after the Swedish firm launched its latest estate earlier this week.

Looking more like a curvaceous coupe than the likes of the angular Volvos of old, the V60 is the latest in a long line of load luggers to emerge from the Gothenburg factory, but the company are hoping to impress buyers with style and a sporty drive as much what it can carry.

“From the design viewpoint, the focus was on making the car as close to a coupé as possible, while retaining that handy extra space at the rear. Our sports wagon does not aim to compete with the traditional estate car. For the customer who wants a lot of load space, there is our V70 or XC70,” said Örjan Sterner, the car's head of exterior design.

“The dip in the middle of the double wave visually pushes the car down. This enhances the stance and makes the car look sleeker and lower. The sculpted bonnet and the short overhangs front and rear also emphasise the sports car feel.”

The company are also claiming it'll be a class leader when it comes to safety - it's a Volvo - and that rather than concentrating on giving buyers a cavernous boot, it's aimed more at buyers impressed with the S60 saloon's style but insistent on having the extra space of an estate.

Anyone looking to impress their fellow IKEA customers is being urged to head to Volvo dealerships in the autumn, when the V60 arrives in the UK.

Mercedes in exciting estate shocker

WHO said estates can't be exciting? Not Mercedes, if this latest effort at a load lugger is anything to go by.

The German firm might be harking back to the 1960s by calling its new concept car the Shooting Break but it isn't hard to see it for what it is; it's the CLS coupe reimagined for those who spend their weekends at IKEA instead of the golf club.

The original CLS, a coupe with the novel addition of rear doors, was a huge success for Mercedes from the moment it hit the showrooms in 2004, but since then it's spawned a succession of imitators. Bringing in buyers still forced to go with the strait-laced E Class Estate to carry bigger loads, the company reckons, is the answer to the Jaguar XJ and Audi's A7 arriving on CLS territory.

“The proportions are clearly those of a coup: the long bonnet, narrow-look windows with frameless side windows, and dynamic roof sloping back towards the rear create a basic stance with which it looks ready for the off. It is only when taking a second look that it becomes clear that the Shooting Break concept car actually has four doors and an estate rear,” a Mercedes spokesperson told The Champion.

“As such, this study in design reveals its philosophical links with the four-door CLS Coupe, a car which has established a new market segment since 2004 and today is already seen as a design icon which is likely to occupy a very special place in the history of the motor car.”

It's unlikely the Shooting Break will beat the load-carrying capacity of the more conventional E-Class Estate, but then the E-Class doesn't have a nose quietly borrowed from the forthcoming SLS supercar or its snazzy headlights, which ditch bulbs altogether in favour of an armarda of 71 LEDs.

It isn't clear yet whether one of the first coupe estates since the Reliant Scimitar really will hit Britain's roads, but watch this space. Alternatively, buy a secondhand Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon for the same sort of thing.