Matt Prior: Chassis setup is the secret ingredient to ride quality Car News

Now that I’ve plunged my head into an edit of the video I recorded while driving the Gunther Werks modified Porsche 911 993, I note that there is one detail I foolishly omitted from the written review of last week.

Despite the huge amounts of mechanical grip afforded by the 911’s more balanced weight and super-wide tires (especially the 295-section fronts), as well as its engine’s 435bhp and 7800rpm, at one point , I watch the speedometer as I accelerate between turns and realize I’m doing 50-60 mph.

It’s a particularly modest speed to take advantage of – and I mean really take advantage of – a car of this performance potential. I didn’t think I was backing down or trying not to extract performance. I was just driving towards visibility and engaging with the mechanics.

There’s a real skill to the car’s set-up, which makes driving at all speeds appealing, and some automakers do it better than others.

The early 1990s Toyota Supra was the first car I remember reading about that the driver remained oblivious to the process unless he went full throttle. The recent Toyota GR Yaris is a car I love at all speeds but, as I wrote, it gets better the faster you go – and it can go really fast. And I don’t take much from, say, a modern Lamborghini, except on a race track.

It’s nice, then, to drive a car with enormous potential that delivers it at a pace you can enjoy. I think that’s an undervalued asset.

Trod around

There’s a full review of the Niu MQi GT Evo – a long name for a compact machine – on the website of our new sister title, Move Electric. It’s a battery-powered electric scooter with a pace roughly equivalent to a 125cc petrol, which again reminds me that battery-powered electric is really good for small machines.

The Niu can easily hit 60mph, sometimes 70mph, and comfortably cover 50 miles on a charge (longer-traveling riders tend to buy fat bikes rather than scooters anyway). And if you have to park where there’s no power, you can remove the batteries and carry them inside to recharge – also a handy safety feature, given that scooters get pinched so frequently .

I don’t really need a scooter (although the need hasn’t stopped me from buying stupid cars before), but if I used the train more it would be a great way to get to town station.

The Prior’s Crystal Ball

We bring you silly stories for every Christmas issue and one, in 2017, was for some of our journalists to theoretically propose the revival of a dead car brand.

A top industry executive was then tasked with passing judgment on our suggestions, and those offered for Austin-Healey, Rover and Saab by my esteemed colleagues all fared better than my slightly tongue-in-cheek suggestion: Hummer.

“I can see it working. But I see it’s not working,” I joked. Harshly, I was told it had limited anorak appeal, even less customer appeal, and no business plan.

Well, it could be, but how are Austin-Healey, Rover and Saab doing now, huh guys? Because I present to you the new one, not quite as I had envisioned it but for sale, GMC Hummer SUV and pickup truck.

I may not know how to make a car, but I know what people want, and obviously it’s a 1,000 horsepower, four-ton, battery-electric 4×4.