FEEDBACK YOUR KEEPER VERDICTS

MERCEDES 230SL: “And they say German cars have no emotion. This is the classic little black cocktail dress for the garage. All you need if stuck for a car to make an entrance at any swanky party, polo match, luxury holiday resort.”

MAZDA MX-5 NA: “MX-5s should have been sold by Nike as sportswear. Although, to be slightly critical, like lycra, it looks better on women than on men.”

AUDI RS6: “Great to watch Mercedes and Auto Union muscling it up. Some things these Germans just can’t leave in the past.”

MERCEDES 300E-24V: “Bruno Sacco was voted by his peers as one of the best automotive designers of last century and this was one of his favourite models. Enough said.”

BMW 745i: “When BMW targeted the S-Class, they really should have pointed the gun the other way. The awkward, confused styling was only surpassed by the technology shovelled into it.”

MY16 FORD MUSTANG GT: “Retro cars?? I suppose Ford is allowed to follow the trend. Not executed as well as the Dodge Challenger initially. Looks like they had a bit much middle-age spread but maybe that’s Ford’s target market.”

NISSAN 350Z: “Didn’t they do well. After a slow decline from the 240Z, the stars aligned again for Nissan. Not a retro car but certainly a deserved nod to the 240Z with the right mix of simplicity and muscle. As for the convertible version, I’ll pass comment, but please Nissan, no 2+2.”

FERRARI 308 GTB: “What a poster car for the 80s... until the Testarossa.”

PORSCHE 911 GT3 RS: “If VW has the Beetle, then Porsche has the Cockroach. The 911 is the consummate survivor, evolving without change to stay at the top of its game and spreading to every corner of the motoring world. Even VW AG can’t kill this thing off. Would have been a better choice of car for Back to the Future.”

BMW M325i: “I had one of these for a short time, along with a couple of 320s. All rigid little boxes with the flexibility of many bolt-on mods and engine sizes that give a budding enthusiast plenty to play with. But my personal opinion of them is a little low. They all felt torqueless and required a lot of revs to keep up with the traffic. Was happy to do it, but my idea of a driver’s car would be something a little more compliant. The manual gearbox was slow and clutch heavy in the 325i and all were a little ‘tail-happy’ to be relaxing. My last 320 had a coming together with a barrier guard while aborting an attempt to go length-wise sideways into a one-lane tunnel around Kaikoura. Too fast you may think, but I was concentrating on the dwindling fuel supply in the small hours of the morning while trying to get back to Invercargill.”

It’s your turn to rate our fleet: keepers@kiwigarage.co.nz