Still, the weather was lovely, the Subaru drew lots of admiring glances and I managed to sneak off for a birthday party and avoid a night in a tiny tent. Lindsay (that's her name) looked the part, too, thanks to her Team Gary Fisher Sugar 3 bike and matching outfit. Subaru sponsors Gary Fisher so it seemed appropriate to have the STi on hand replete with cold drinks and crisps. Some of the bikes were fantastic - big disc brakes, trick suspension and some with full carbonfibre frames - but the real heroes were the men and women doing the event on unicycles!

Since then, BG52 has been in for its 10,000-mile service. The bill was a very reasonable ΂£151.45 and Westaway Motors near Northampton provided its usual thorough and courteous service. Only a blown fuse has annoyed and that was due to a faulty power cable being plugged into the cigarette lighter. Otherwise, the Subaru remains utterly reliable. I suppose that's some consolation when you're pulling into yet another petrol station...

Running the STi isn't easy on the wallet. I do a lot of motorway miles which helps keep the mpg the right side of 20 but a good cross-country dash can see this figure plummet. Worst so far is 14.9mpg on a full tank. I'd just had the 18in rims fitted and it was deadline time, which means late nights and plenty of miles along the B660 en route to our repro house. In the interests of assessing the bigger wheel/tyre combo, I volunteered for a couple of late night runs. With no traffic, 300bhp and new tyres to scrub in, the pace was 'spirited' and the STi was better than ever. Even a sedate run home along quiet dual carriageways couldn't coax the average above 15mpg. Painful, especially when you remember it runs like a bag of nails on normal unleaded.