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It turns out that it’s still possible to buy a functioning car with an MOT certificate for less than £500.

I may have bought it from a friend’s parents’ neighbour, but this ULEZ-compliant Jaguar X-Type cost me just £400, complete with six months on the MOT (with only tired suspension parts as advisories) and just 53,000 miles.

From the outside, you can tell it has lived in London’s busy suburbs its whole life, but inside it looks almost new, despite the dated grey leather matching the walnut veneer like an original Mercedes-Benz A-Class and a moose test.

The 2.1-litre petrol V6 is silky smooth (although shockingly averse to making progress), while the suspension is as pliant as almost anything else these days but equally demonstrates how far body control has come in the past 20 years.

The only thing I’m not looking forward to is the running costs.

The annual road tax is £415 and the fuel consumption is diabolical. We’re talking 16mpg in town and 24mpg on a run.

The anachronistic five-speed automatic gearbox working with a complete absence of torque is to blame for this: if you set the cruise control at 70mph, the car will need to kick down to fourth at the slightest incline.

Overall, my new Jag is far from perfect, but you can’t argue with £400.

Log two: Jag faces early exit – but not for why you'd expect

After just a few months, it’s already time to move the X-Type on: it turns out that someone who commutes by train does not need two cars.

I’m not getting rid of the X-Type because it’s rubbish.

Well, it is, but in the same way your grandad is rubbish at athletics: time may not have been kind to his sporting credentials, but you still love him.

And that analogy works because your grandad probably drives, or at least drove, an X-Type, and when he bought it 20 years ago it was somewhat more competitive than it is now.

I do love the car, but unlike my grandparents I struggle to find time for it.

Driving it is surprisingly pleasurable – it offers a relaxed undertone that is missing from almost everything these days – but when I do want or need to use one of my cars, it’s my Alpina D3 that I turn to every time.

The X-Type is simply too unforgivably uneconomical for its slowness and too unrefined to be cosseting.

I can’t complain about the deal I got, but if one of these had fallen into my hands with a more practical diesel or the mildly fast and fun 3.0-litre V6, it may well have stuck around a bit longer.

I eventually sold it for just over £1000 and, even at that price, it still feels like a lot of car for the money.

A future classic? I very much doubt it. Likeable? Surprisingly so. 

Hyundai has confirmed its new Ioniq 6 N performance saloon will be revealed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed next month.

The company has also released new images of the hot saloon, showing its twin rear spoilers and a chunky diffuser influenced by the one fitted to the extreme RN22e concept car.

Although not fully shown, the front end of the new Ioniq 6 N draws on the sporty new N Line variant of the standard Ioniq 6, which was updated earlier this year.

The changes are intended to “maintain aerodynamic performance while achieving a smoother, more refined silhouette”, said Hyundai.

Asked what else we can expect, Simon Loasby, vice president of Hyundai styling group, said: “The huge wing. You’ve got all those curves on top so we need to counter the lift.

"Compared to Ioniq 5 N, we’ve had the chance to widen the fenders (who doesn’t love a wide body?) so it’s got even more stance, even more squat and even more cool factory.”

Inside, the Ioniq 6 N is expected to adopt key components from the Ioniq 5 N crossover, such as its three-spoke steering wheel with N-specific drive mode buttons, as well as its more supportive front bucket seats.

Power is most likely to come from the same 641bhp dual-motor powertrain used by the Ioniq 5 N.

This is capable of replicating the power delivery of an internal combustion engine mated to a dual-clutch sequential gearbox, complete with shift paddles for simulated gearchanges.

It’s possible that Hyundai will boost this set-up for the Ioniq 6 N, but a 0-62mph time of 3.4sec (as with the Ioniq 5 N) would put the saloon on a par with ICE mainstays such as the BMW M3.

The Ioniq 5 N also packs an 84.0kWh battery that officially yields a range of 278 miles, although it’s likely that the more aerodynamic Ioniq 6 N will boost this nearer to the 300-mile mark.

The car is likely to arrive in UK showrooms this winter. Prices are predicted to start at just below £70,000.

Volkswagen has started testing the ID 2, one of its most important cars in recent times, and prototypes have been spotted in a clever camouflage.

Photographed near Germany's Nürburgring circuit, where the ID 2 is being put through its paces, the test mules are clad in Volkswagen Polo body panels in a bid to disguise the electric car, as well as avoid the attention that a classic camouflage livery may attract.

Despite this test car's unassuming white look, certain details confirm what is underneath – such as the short front overhang, distinct fascia, smaller rear lights and a fake door release at the bottom of the boot lip.

These details reveal that the production car will feature many similarities to the 2023 ID 2all concept. Indeed, VW design chief Andreas Mindt previously told Autocar that such an approach was likely because his team had fought hard to make sure the production model closely followed the styling and dimensions of the concept.

He added: “It’s even better [than the concept]. I really like it and it’s one of the reasons I’m so optimistic for our future.”

The pictures also give away some of the interior details. For example, while the ID 2all concept was fitted with a flat-bottomed steering wheel, the production mule looks to be using a wheel with a flat top too. This is similar to what was shown in the smaller ID Every1 concept, suggesting some of that car's kit (including the refitting of physical controls) will also be adopted by the ID 2.

The production ID 2 is pencilled in to go on sale next year priced at around £22,000, which would make it one of the cheapest EVs in the UK. Before then, the ID 2X, its £25,000 supermini-sized crossover cousin, will be revealed at the Munich motor show in September, although it won’t go on sale until a year after the hatch. 

Underneath, the ID 2 will be based on the shortened version of the MEB platform and, like the ID 2X, will be offered exclusively with a single motor on the front axle, giving 223bhp, and a choice of 38kWh and 56kWh batteries - the latter providing a range of around 280 miles. Volkswagen has said the larger battery will be capable of topping up at 125kW to take its state of charge from 10% to 80% in just 20 minutes. 

A hot GTI variant of the ID 2 is also in the works and has been previewed by the ID GTI concept. It will enter production in 2027 with a bespoke soundtrack and gadgets but will not, like other hot EVs such as the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, feature a fake gearshift. Details are still sketchy but VW technical chief Thomas Schäfer said it will prioritise “go-kart” handling and fun over outright power.

The ID 2 is one of the Volkswagen Group’s four entry-level electric models in a line-up that also includes the Cupra Raval and Skoda Epiq. It will be built alongside the Raval at Seat’s Martorell plant in Spain, with the ID 2X and Epiq produced at VW’s nearby Pamplona factory.

Hyundai has confirmed its new Ioniq 6 N performance saloon will be revealed at Goodwood Festival of Speed next month.

Alongside the announcement, it has released new images of the hot saloon, showing its twin rear spoilers and a chunky diffuser that draws on that fitted to the extreme RN22e concept car.

Although not fully shown, the front end of the new Ioniq 6 N draws on the sporty new N Line variant of the standard Ioniq 6, which was updated earlier this year.

The changes are intended to “maintain aerodynamic performance while achieving a smoother, more refined silhouette”, Hyundai said.

Asked what else we can expect, Simon Loasby, vice president of Hyundai styling, said: “The huge wing. You’ve got all those curves on top so we need to counter the lift.

"Compared to Ioniq 5 N, we’ve had the chance to widen the fenders (who doesn’t love a wide body?) so it’s got even more stance, even more squat and even more cool factory.”

Inside, the Ioniq 6 N is expected to borrow key components from the Ioniq 5 N crossover, such as its three-spoke steering wheel with N-specific drive-mode buttons, as well as its more supportive front bucket seats.

Power is most likely to come from the same 641bhp dual-motor powertrain used by the Ioniq 5 N.

This is capable of replicating the power delivery of an internal combustion engine mated to a dual-clutch sequential gearbox, complete with shift paddles for simulated gears.

It’s possible that Hyundai will boost this set-up for the Ioniq 6 N, but a 0-62mph time of 3.4sec (as in the Ioniq 5 N) would put the saloon on a par with ICE mainstays such as the BMW M3.

The Ioniq 5 N also packs an 84.0kWh battery that officially yields a range of 278 miles, although it’s likely that the more aerodynamic Ioniq 6 N will boost this nearer to the 300-mile mark.

It's likely to arrive in UK showrooms this winter. Prices are predicted to start just south of £70,000.