Talk about the emperor’s new clothes… Can anybody tell me why they use tartan seat cloth in the Golf GTI? I’m in touch with my Scottish  but is there some other deep and meaningful reason for it?

Apparently, the Germans have a bit of a thing for it which dates back to the 1950s. In those days, Mercedes used to give each of their racing drivers different coloured tartan seats. Fangio had red and Stirling Moss sat on green.

VW has used the Jacara cloth as standard in GTIs for years but I’m not certain it’s the best option, from a couture point of view. And if you feel the same as me, your dealer will charge you an extra £1700 to upgrade to leather.

I would hesitate to suggest this might put a lot of people off. Sure, it’s quirky and different but also strangely dated and rather unappealing. It’s the one feature of this latest GTI I could live without…