Times Online (Enlarge photo)

30/05/2008 21:02. My elegantly uniformed chauffeuse, Heike Hebsacker, met me as I arrived in Salzburg, opened the rear door of the Skoda and said: “Good afternoon, sir - your car.” A chauffeuse and a Skoda? Surely a conflict in credibility at a thermonuclear level.

But Heike was totally credible as she smiled and silently transmitted a “You'd better believe it, sunshine” message. So, obediently, I settled into the leather rear seat of the immodestly named Skoda Superb, stretched my legs and considered the words of the writer and wit, Graeme Garden. When asked several years ago to provide the least successful chat-up line for the girl of his dreams, he suggested: “Let's go for a drive in the Skoda.” Now Heiki was taking me for a drive in a Skoda that moved with mellifluous fluidity. So the... // Times Online