Driving three motoring icons at Beaulieu

Every year members of the Southern Group of Motoring Writers get to drive old and new cars as part of its heritage event. I drove three wonderfully memorable vehicles back-to-back, including the Porsche GT4.

As fun as it can be jetting off around the globe to drive new cars before most people (ignoring the tedious airport antics), it is not that beneficial in terms of vehicle comparison. There really is no substitute for driving things in rapid succession.

And that is a rarity in motoring journalism unless you have deep pockets, a runway for a driveway or can attend the annual Southern Group of Motoring Writers Heritage Day. Which I did because, well, I live in the south and am a motoring writer.

This year was leaner in terms of car selection, but there was still a wide range of vehicles to grab the keys and disappear off into the Hampshire countryside. Ranging from a Seat Terra van with some, shall we say, interesting, detritus in the back to a Porsche Cayman GT4 in Frozen Berry Metallic.

Ford Mustang Mach 1: The V8 bruiser

Having parked up my enthralling diesel VW Golf Estate, it is safe to say the bar for motoring enjoyment was low. Though it was tempting to go out in something unfamiliar first, I decided to see what the Ford Mustang Mach 1 was all about.

Although this particular model was new to me, I was on the European launch of the standard model and its various predecessors. I even drag raced one at Santa Pod and got my one and only speeding ticket at the original UK launch.

Unfortunately for me, this particular Ford fleet car was a 10-speed automatic. To be fair, it shifts efficiently enough for cruising along those 40mph-restricted New Forest roads – and this is a car that makes you feel good as you do.

It is just that the gears fumble around, particularly in sport mode, as you try to up the tempo. For control in corners, it is not the best nor is it especially involving. Not only that, it was not the easiest process changing driving modes – my Windows 10 gaming PC has fewer menu options.

Were it the 6-speed manual, the Mach 1 would be scoring high praise. Because that same lovely and grumbly V8 blurs hedgerows in a way that never gets boring. Also because this particular model benefits from a tighter feel and less body roll for a more energetic drive.

BMW 1M Coupe: The German fun machine

Where do you go after a big Mustang? I figured something smaller and German. And so I grabbed the keys to a car that actually went up in value at launch such was the level of praise from a certain famous motoring journalist.

Yes, it was time to try the BMW 1M Coupe. One of BMW’s smallest M cars and powered by a 3.0-litre turbocharged straight-six. Its £40,000 launch price was a lot for a 1 Series, it must be said, but then it was extraordinarily fast – and fun to drive, as I soon found out.

Tackling the same swoopy corners, banked by beautiful trees and open heath, the 1M Coupe feels considerably lighter and more direct. Its grip levels higher too although this was not the time or place to truly test the limit.

Instead, I enjoyed the extra control of the relatively short-throw six-speed manual and the boomy exhaust note as I tested out a portion of its 4.8-second 0-60 claim. You can feel a lot of the M2 and M240i DNA brewing in the 1M Coupe.

Despite looking relatively normal on the outside, the way the 1M Coupe drives really is satisfying. A mixture of precision and brute force in a package you could use on a daily basis. Although given the rarity of this particular car, number one of 450, I doubt I would want to rack up too many miles.

And so I reluctantly brought it back for another journalist to have a go and went to comfort eat pork pies to recover. As fate would have it, the star of the day – the aforementioned Porsche GT4 – was sitting around as everyone else filled their faces.

Porsche GT4: The brilliant one

Now, it has been a while since I have been in a Porsche. I drove a GT2 at SMMT years ago and then a new Boxster, then some years later around Christmas I was meant to get a Boxster GTS but I had to get a 718 Cayman GTS instead.

So I was not too bothered that the Porsche staff gave me a quick chat about the essentials. This particular car was £97,578. The unpopular but striking a mere £678 of that – the most expensive extra being the £5,597 ceramic composite brakes.

As with many Porsches, getting in is all it takes to realise you are in something rather special. Not just the quality of the workmanship around the cabin, but the way it wraps around you in a way that is simultaneously comforting and intimidating.

The £3,788 optional full bucket seats add to the drama and hug you tighter, which in a car with 420 horsepower, a 4.4-second 0-62mph and exceedingly wide and grippy tyres is preferable. Supposedly it tops out at 189mph but UK roads do not permit me to test such claims.

Having a mid-mounted 4.0-litre flat-6 close to your ears means the GT4’s guttural engine note is hard to miss, but you can press a button to make it somewhat louder. And you will because the acceleration is explosive.

Mind you, so is the cornering ability. Where I felt like I would not want to push the Mustang Mach 1 too much harder and to a lesser extent the 1M Coupe, the GT4 felt like it was never really under any strain. And yet it was delivering immense drama.

Credit to Porsche, the GT4 is just brilliant to drive and yet for all of its handling capabilities it did not rattle me to bits. The ride is firm but sophisticated enough to cope with whatever underfunded British roads can throw at it.

I also love that it feels refined in other ways, except for the delightfully short-throw mechanical gearbox and transmission whine. Honestly, as memorable drives go the GT4 is up there with some supercars and even, dare I say it, my beloved Alfa Romeo Guilia Quadrifoglio.

Once again I reluctantly returned to Beaulieu to hand the keys back and started to think about how I could afford a GT4. It also made me wonder how much better the newer GT4 RS variant, complete with an extra 79bhp, could be.

Three cars. Three wildly different personalities. And yet three reasons that make driving enjoyable. It is a shame, then, that UK roads and living costs are only squeezing the fun out of it all. As cliché as it is to say, enjoy these machines and their counterparts while you can.