Steve Davies

Ever since it was launched in 2009, Porsche's Cayenne Diesel has been - how shall we say this - a bit of a an embarrassment to a marque which prides itself on performance.

The Tushek Renovatio T500 was the star of the show at Salon Privé this week, as the Slovenian super car maker made its UK debut at London's premiere Concours d’Elégance event.

When the second-generation MINI John Cooper Works GP was announced in May, most observers guessed its 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine would produce around 230bhp. After all, the standard JCW MINI already offered 208bhp and its predecessor, the 2006 MINI Cooper S with John Cooper Works GP Tuning Kit was good for 214bhp.

Vauxhall's teaser picture of its new mid-size convertible so offended our design sensibilities that we felt compelled to fix it - what use is half-a-picture when we can already guess how the rest is likely to look. It's clearly an Insignia Convertible, but to add a bit of pizazz, Vauxhall have called it Cascada.

The Americans have a saying, "There's no substitute for cubic inches", but of course engine size and power merely compensate for weight - nevertheless Ford's 1.0-litre 3-cylinder EcoBoost engine still seems like a stonkingly impressive power plant.