One of my other 13 cars is another MP4

Unfortunately, on seeing a McLaren MP4-12C the first thing you want to ask its owner is how its software, door locks, airbags and headlights are behaving. “Faults with these were blown out of proportion by some journalists,” counters Peter Hogan. “For example, it turned out that the door latches were easily fixed. Then some people whinged about the gearboxes failing but probably only one in 300 was a problem. My car has experienced none of the infotainment glitches reported by the press. The radio works. The sat-nav is a bit old-school but I love it.”

- JOHN EVANS

Peter might sound just a tad defensive except that his faith in the model is such that he has not one but two MP4s. The one I’m looking at is a 2012-reg with just 2000 miles on the clock and he bought it on 1 April (no jokes, please). His other is a 2011-reg with 35,000 miles, which he bought five years ago.

“What I really love about the MP4 is the design,” he says. “I think that, for the rear, the designer Frank Stephenson was inspired by the Ferrari Testarossa.” Peter should know: he owns one among many other cars, about which more later.