There is a very particular kind of family occasion that sees my wife Emily heading to Cornwall in shorts and a bikini, entirely sensibly, while I sit beside her in a white suit, sweating gently in what turned out to be a genuinely sweltering 35 degrees. The occasion demanded it.
There is a particular kind of English shame that comes from arriving at a country pub in something the size of a small yacht, only to spend ten minutes reversing it into a space clearly designed for a Fiat Panda and a bicycle. I know this shame intimately. I have worn it like a poorly fitted dinner jacket. So when the keys to the Lexus LBX landed on my desk, my first reaction was not excitement about badge prestige or hybrid credentials. It was relief. Here, finally, was a Lexus that might fit into my life rather than requiring me to reorganise the entire village.
Early one bright and sunny morning in May, we packed up the bike and headed east. Our bike for this journey was the 2026 Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 ST. Born from the sun-baked asphalt of the American West Coast, the Pan America ST represents a fascinating paradox: the seamless intersection of unyielding Milwaukee iron and genuine apex-hunting intent.
One expects many things from a night on the King’s Road. Discreet wealth, theatrical entrances, perhaps the occasional supercar idling with all the subtlety of a champagne cork. What one does not expect is a diesel Mazda causing passers-by to pause, squint, and wonder if they have momentarily mistaken it for something wearing a prancing horse.
Chelsea, Confidence, and a Case of Mistaken Identity
The best holidays begin well before you land. Mine started on a SkyAlps turboprop out of a small, deeply civilised airport called Bolzano, where the security queue takes approximately the same amount of time as tying your shoelaces and the bar is somewhere you would happily choose to sit on a free afternoon. No theatre, no performance, no baffling queues for things you did not ask for: just a compact, calm, elegant little terminal and a flight that feels like the beginning of something good. Bolzano is, without much competition, my favourite airport in Europe.
Wiltshire Roads, Cold Mornings & Electric Surprises
Christmas. Snowdonia. Mud. Ice. Mountains. Yr Wyddfa. Logic suggested I should be flinging a rally-spec electric Mustang up the side of Eryri National Park like some sort of eco-conscious mountain goat. Reality, however, intervened. I took the Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally to The Ritz instead. Champagne. White tablecloths. Soft lighting. Our own table, suspiciously close to David and Victoria Beckham.
A Proper Festive Audi SQ6 SUV Test, Puddings Included
Images By Hayden Povey.
The modern SUV has become the de facto family chariot. Tall, comfortable, laden with technology and more often than not, about as likely to see mud as a Dyson showroom. Yet for all their polish, there’s a sense that the SUV has lost touch with its original brief: utility.
Images By Hayden Povey
I’m feeling rather smug about this analogy, which came to me while wistfully gazing into a warm pint in my local. Jonah Lomu, the insanely powerful New Zealand wrecking ball is, I’ve decided, the perfect way to describe the BMW M5 Touring for anyone in need of an automotive frame of reference.
