TRUNDLING AROUND A COBBLED SQUARE in Ronda, warm Spanish sunlight dappling the pavé, my mind wanders, obviously, to skis. Nothing to do with the lengthy load space of the Avant that I'm in, but everything to do with the coilover suspension that is managing the multitudinous bumps of the stony surface beneath.
You see, the last time I bought some winter sports planks I did a bit of try-before-you-buy at an indoor ski slope in Milton Keynes. I had already invested the usual hours poring over catalogues and websites reading numerous reviews. I knew I wanted more width underfoot, with a bit more performance off-piste. A pair that was light, but still capable of speed. The options were whittled down and then I spent a couple of hours switching between demo models and testing each set on the artificial slope.
Some friends questioned the wisdom of this. What was I really going to learn about the skis on such a short, shallow incline? Surely it was as pointless as taking a new GT3 RS on a test drive slowly round a car park. Or a new RS4 Avant Competition around a cobbled square in Ronda.
But what I was interested in with the skis was whether I would be able to potter in them. I had faith that they would all perform as intended at speed and in powder and probably be far more capable than me. Outright performance was a given. What I wanted to discover was whether they would feel awkward and difficult to pivot when skiing more sedately with the family. I needed one pair of skis to do it all, and the slow stuff was the real unknown.
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Denne historien er fra December 2022-utgaven av Evo UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Maserati GranCabrio Trofeo - The latest, V6-powered GranTurismo is now available in open-top form. Is its combination of performance, comfort and style a winning one?
How appropriate for a car that includes a variant called 'Folgore' ('Lightning' in Italian) in its line-up that giant forks of the stuff are straddling the road ahead. It's almost as if Maserati has a direct line to the big man upstairs. Then again, giant hailstones are clattering against the fabric roof as well, and then turn to a deluge of water so heavy that to top 15mph feels reckless. Possibly not the environment the Italian firm had in mind when they chose to launch the new GranCabrio Trofeo around the Italian Lakes. Still, if nothing else it's a stern test of the canvas above my head and one that it passes with ease: there are no puddles forming inside, as you would expect of a £169,585 convertible, and it feels as quiet and snug as if I was driving the GranTurismo coupe.
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You haven't seen a Mini dance like this before, but then you haven't seen a Mini with a 4-litre M Power V8 under the bonnet and rear-wheel drive. Introducing Vini...