The original MG Magnette was a stylish saloon that became a common sight on British roads during the 1950s and 60s. With a special two-tone paint job it was rather pretty too.

Today is our last day with the 2014 MG6 Magnette. As you will have gathered by now, it’s not been a happy week. As I walked back to the car park in Stow-on-the-Wold, I eyed it from every angle and tried to conjure up some enthusiasm.

The MG6 isn’t a pretty car. The design has little to recommend it, although the front-end view is probably the most appealing. Otherwise, it’s as charismatic as a old Mitsubishi Carisma. And that might be insulting to a Carisma owner.

Unlike the original Magnette, this isn’t a sport saloon by any stretch of the imagination. It may be loaded with a lot of standard equipment but the basic car is deeply flawed in the way it drives, the cheap interior, poor engines and, need I go on?

Suffice to say, the final straw came when I came to pull the plastic key unit out of the dashboard for the last time. It looks and feels like something you might find in a cheap cracker.

As the engine grumbled to a halt, I suddenly found myself holding just the leather key fob and an empty keyring. The key unit had come apart, with the majority of it staying in the dashboard.

So tomorrow I will console myself in a modest Volkswagen Passat  and feel very pleased for myself – because I can’t get rid of the MG6 fast enough.