I’m all for listening to the voice of the customer. When I put my ear to the railway track of the Ti readership, I hear the distant rumble of your needs. Do you really need more finely crafted articles by Dan and Andrew, musing over the relative merits of assorted supercars, with gratuitously beautiful photography?
Or that chap Catchpole giving us neck-ache as we peer vicariously out of the side window of some luridly sideways rally car? Still less Karun, telling us first-hand what it’s actually like to race an F1 car in some place called Monaco. No – what you need is more technical detail about the interior trim of the Nissan Almera. And I’m here for you…
The Almera is an interesting car. No, really. This instantly forgettable Golf-sized hatch, now usually spotted with old-dog-cataract foggy headlamps and the saggy suspension that comes with astronomical mileages, is an interesting case in how well-meaning efforts to listen to the customer can seriously backfire. Moreover, it is the car that saw the invention of that technical tour de force known as the curry hook.