Surely there is something fundamentally stupid about the way we are building cars today? I drive a ten-year-old Toyota Yaris, a wonderful little car. My wife has a larger car, a Volkswagen Touran, for her job as a nanny (employer's kids, pushchairs, dogs and so on). Three weeks ago the dashboard display told her to rush to a garage to have the oxygen exhaust level thingy checked. Some malevolent on-board computer gadget told them that we also needed a door mechanism and the air-conditioning fixed.

The very nice people at Volkswagen have done all this and my complaint is not against them. But we are now £1,600 lighter in the pocket for no real gain whatsoever. Our driving experience is exactly what it was before. If I wanted a spaceship I would go to Florida. When I was a small boy I could identify all of the bits under the bonnet. Now all I find when I lift the lid is an unintelligible collection of boxes. We need to take the ego out of car design.

I am one of those apparently rare people who are perfectly happy if their vehicle starts, stops and turns left and right when I tell it to. Remember when every street had a bloke who was always tinkering with cars, and dads could teach their teenage children how to do a basic service? There must be a place in the market for a car that is reliable, durable and doesn't induce wallet-panic whenever servicing is required.