tommallett

Yesterday I drove into central London, a city which is known for its 9.9mph average traffic speed and an exorbitant congestion charge. I was in an ALPINA D5 on my own and the last mile of my journey took me precisely 1 hour and 23 minutes. This got me thinking.

The D5 is economical, fast and comfortable. Indeed, I've had 170 mph out of it and 48.4 mpg on a run. But that doesn't matter when you aren't going anywhere.

It was then that a spotted my first Aston Martin Cygnet (if you're on twitter you may have seen me tweet about it). The little Aston Martin is a silly car, only the biggest Aston Martin tinted spectacles could convince you of anything else. However, it made me think about what I'd rather be in, or, more to the point, what we all ought to have been driving.

My own car could be justified by the fact that I had done 125 miles before I arrived at the traffic jam, but I wondered whether the Bentley in front had done the same. Probably not I reckon.

The penny has dropped for me. Mainly we travel on our own, at very low speeds so why do I need to be in a 170mph limo? City cars make sense and if I lived in London I'd probably have one.

Now, where can I buy a G-Wizz?

In fact, make mine a Renault Zoe.