The following is a short extract from "Clarkson on Cars", first published in 1996. What can I say about the opinionated Jeremy Clarkson ? He infuriates his readers but we always go back for more..... I think I should just introduce him as "the very tall Jeremy Clarkson".

"THE MORE YOU PAY FOR A CAR, the less reliable it will be.

And it's not just cars either. My old Casio watch used to be second perfect, week in and week out, but the Breitling that's replaced it sheds nine seconds a day and sometimes stops completely in the night.

My L8 Zippo is capable of lighting cigarettes in a hurricane but the Dunhill I take out on posh frock nights refuses to ignite if someone on the other side of the room is waving their arms around a bit. I have an Umberto Ginocchietti jacket which has worn through at the elbows in less than a year, yet my Lee Cooper jeans are unburstable.

And so it goes on. I read about a woman the other day who has enjoyed 120,000 trouble free miles in her Daihatsu Charade, yet the new McLaren, which costs more than half a million pounds, broke down on its first ever journalistic road test. Prince Charles suffered the ultimate ignominy the other day when his brand new £150,000 Aston Martin Virage Volante conked out, rather conspicuously, on the Cromwell Road.

We may all drool over a Ferrari but if you used one every day, its engine would go out of tune and then break altogether. You would grow to hate the steering which is more stubborn than a dog which doesn't want to go to the vet's, and the gearbox, which is heavier than a washing machine. But this is part of the appeal. You've got to be some kind of triangular torsoed he-man to drive a Ferrari, and you have to be rich enough to have another car for the other six days in a week. You only take the Ferrari out on special occasions - that's what makes it special.

If you have a car that you can use every day, it will be an everyday car; humdrum, and tedious. Unless it's a Porsche.

Porsches are unique as they, like no other cars made, blend quality with sophisticated get up and go. And I have to say that some of them, these days, are pretty good value for money.

The 968 Club Sport does not have much in the way of creature comforts but you find me a more invigorating coupe for less than £30,000. And all you lot at the back with your Mazdas and your Toyotas can put your hands down now. They are not in the same league.

The 911 too is something of a bargain. I recently spent the weekend with an egg yellow Carrera convertible which can haul itself from 0 to 60 in five point something seconds. It sounded great. Yobs spat at it. Taxi drivers asked if I'd swap. And yet it costs a mere £59,000 which is £20,000 less than the equivalent Ferrari.

Now, I'm no great fan of the 911. It's 31 years old and in some ways, you can tell. The dash was put together during a game at a children's tea party, and a blindfold was involved. And I reckon the new suspension is a triumph of engineering skill over a flawed design. That engine simply shouldn't be where it is.

Furthermore, the latest version, which was launched six months ago, has a pair of headlights which make the whole car look like a startled rabbit. And it's just too easy to drive; the steering's too light, the clutch is no harder to depress than a member of EXIT and changing gear is no harder than stirring soup. The end result is a car that just doesn't feel special enough even if you have just gone round a corner at 150mph and all the girls in the street are trying to leave their phone numbers under the windscreen wipers.

Me, I've always preferred the Porsche 928, the Big Daddy. At £73,000, it is reassuringly expensive and it is capable of achieving speeds far in excess of what is practically possible. It also has a proper engine where engines should be - at the front. Lift the bonnet and you are greeted with the sight of a huge 5.4 litre, quad cam, 32 valve monster which sends 350 brake horsepower to the back wheels through a rear mounted five speed manual gearbox. Or, in my case, a four speed automatic. This is all good beefcake stuff.

With that in mind, I began to formulate a pretty good case for the German equivalent of Giant Haystacks, until I remembered the Corvette. Here is another 2 + 2 coupe with a big V8, a hard ride, and prodigious power which is now available with right hand drive for £45,000.

There's no doubt the Porsche is built to higher standards than the Chevrolet and that, curiously enough, is where my argument falls flat on its face.

The more you pay for a car, the less reliable it will be. Unless it's a Porsche".

Driving a Carrera 3.2 involves you like no other car. The following is an extract of a road test by Mike McCarthy (one of my favourite Porsche writers). The car on test is a 1985 Carrera 3.2 Sport Coupe -

"To say the 911 is all about performance is to state the absolute obvious - but what performance! What Car? managed a sensational 5.5secs to 60mph from a standstill, a mere 0.4secs slower than a Turbo! The same car then rocketed on to 100mph in 15.2secs, and 120mph in 22.6secs. Porsche claim a top speed of 152mph and few quibble with this - Porsche, unlike some manufacturers, tend to be rather conservative in their claims.

And, subjectively, the performance feels and sounds as exhilarating, as spine-tingling, as the figures suggest. From the moment you switch when the engine will idle with that characteristic "whoomph, whoomph" for a while, you know there's a beautifully made, jewel-like power house behind you. Nor is it all sound and fury, signifying nothing - though it must be said that in traffic jams there was an annoying unprogressiveness to the throttle. Floor it, however, and the muted growl from behind takes on a deeper bark, the exhaust at first overpowered by fan whine but as revs increase the harsh beat from the exhaust takesover, building up to a crescendo at the red line (reached almost alarmingly quickly in first and second) that is without doubt one most joyous noises to issue from any car currently in production. Could this be one of the reasons 911 owners keep coming back for more?

The 911 has a reputation for tricky handling near the limit. That may well be the case, but in some 400miles of travel in the test car it never put a foot wrong. The steering has a feel to it that puts you back about 20 years when rear-engined cars were all the vogue: it is light yet direct and, thanks to a lack of assistance, has superb feel.

Under 99 per cent of conditions the 911 displays mild understeer, changing to neutrality as power is applied. Deliberately entering a corner on a trailing throttle, or under braking, shows that the basic, unalterable dynamics of the 911 have been disguised but are still there: the tail starts to dictate the line through a corner. What has to be borne in mind is that in slippery conditions oversteer comes in at much lower speeds, The problem lies in the difference between grip in the dry and in the wet, which is more marked than in other, more conventional, cars.

Obviously, for a car that requires a 'slow in, fast out' driving technique, brakes are important. Those on the 911 do all that is required of them: the only way we can see them being improved is the adoption of anti-lock braking.

Fat tyres and a stiff suspension setting are not the best way to achieve a smooth ride, and sure enough the 911 is not the best in this respect. Even on motorways there is some ripple, and potholes and roadworks can cause distinct thumps and jars. On the other hand it is far from soft and wallowy, a feature which many prefer".