I
’ll get to reviewing the Audi A6 Avant e-tron shortly, but first I need to get something off my chest. I’ll start with a question: what’s your candidate for the most useful innovation in motoring history?
For me there is a long list of nominees. The starter motor is definitely up there, mainly because it meant drivers didn’t end up with snapped forearm bones using a crank handle every time they wanted to fire up their engine.
Or what about ABS (antilock-braking system), without which 90 per cent of drivers these days would end up wrapping their pride and joy around a tree as soon as the heavens opened? While we’re on safety systems, there’s the three-point seatbelt — patented by Volvo and then gifted to all other carmakers. It’s reckoned that in the first 50 years after its introduction, in 1959, the seatbelt saved more than a million lives. Definitely a contender.
Some people might even go for creature comforts, such as air conditioning, heated seats or even DAB radio.
