Matt Greenop: Best car? Question still drives us around bend

Motoring writers rather dislike being asked 'what's the best car?'

What's the best car? Aaaargh! In the world of infuriating questions, this is quite high up the totem pole for the type of queries motoring writers tend to get a lot of.

And it's like the good old "how long is a piece of string?"

Quite often, it's merely a case of someone who has either just laid out their hard-earned on a new set of wheels, or have decided on what they want to buy. All these folk really want is a pat on the head and some positive reinforcement that the car they've picked is good. Scrub that, is amazing.

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That line of questioning can easily turn into an argument if you disagree with them - and you might have noticed, we are a bit opinionated sometimes.

Our brave writer Jack Biddle, who has, according to rumour, been in the car industry since the days of organic motorbikes - or horses, as they're now known, is taking on the big question this week, looking at the sort of vehicles that you can get into for under the magic $20,000 mark.

There was a time when this didn't get you very far at all. Of course, you can get a pretty high-specced used machine for that sort of money - but when you consider just how competitive the marketplace is these days, it means new car buyers really get looked after.

Think big warranties, service plans thrown in - even those car salesmen with the shiny white shoes (not naming names here) are coming to the party.

The other question that we cop a lot and hate - only because it's hard to answer - is "what's the best you've ever driven?" Our beloved readers would know only too well that we get time at the wheel of some pretty amazing machines - but picking between supercars, GTs, quick sedans and cool SUVs isn't really comparing apples with apples.

• What do you think the best car is? Let us know at below or on social media facebook.com/DrivenNZ or Twitter.com/DrivenNZ