The mountain regions of France in mid-June are blissfully empty, meaning I got to use most of what the Z has to give. Mostly what it gives is great fun, but more power and character from the engine would have been welcome bonuses. I was travelling in convoy with a standard Mini Cooper and a turbodiesel Merc E220, and while I might have been able to go a fair bit quicker if they hadn't been in my way, I doubt I could have overtaken either of them.

Still, while the other two were straining their steeds to the very limit, I could lope along in the Nissan simply enjoying its rear-drive out of the hairpins and marvelling at how tireless its brakes are down steep mountain passes. On one evening thrash across to Digne les Baines, I had one of the best drives of my life in the Nissan - for a good 40 minutes our little convoy went about as fast as it's sensibly possible to go on a public road and saw only another four cars in our path.

The Z is an accomplished cruiser, too, relatively quiet, sufficiently torquey so that you just stick it in sixth and leave it there, and with good sound and air-con systems. And over the 2100 miles it covered during its week away, it turned in 25mpg, which given how hard it was driven in the mountains was pretty good going.