Don't you think it's about time that the manufacturers produced an autotrans that was suited to small/city cars? It seems crazy to me that Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and BMW are introducing quite unnecessary seven and eight speeders on cars with oodles of torque, whereas those of us with the budgets only for smaller vehicles, and who spend most of our time on crowded roads, have to make do with power-sapping and fuel-guzzling four speed slush pumps, or even worse, 'automated' manuals.

Surely we need the seven and eight speeders more than the bloated plutocrats who could probably get by with four or even three speeds? Remember the two speed 'planetary' GM box of the fifties? They all seem to have given up on the CVT, which to my mind was the solution. I'm told that this is down to emissions performance, but don't they just have to try harder? My favourite car was the C-Max 1.6 diesel with CVT. Alright, not much step-off, but in all other respects, smoothness, being in the 'right' gear, manual override and economy, none of the subsequent vehicles (including 2.0 petrol 5-speeders, 2.0 diesel 6-speed dual-clutchers) have been as satisfying.