First of all, perhaps I should declare an interest.

In the early hours of the morning one Friday last December, I tried in vain to turn a four-wheel drive vehicle into a corner at 20mph. It slid off the road and became grounded.

Despite having permanent four-wheel drive and a lockable centre diff, there was no way out without being winched by a recovery vehicle three hours later.

That car was on standard road tyres. When I was offered a set of cold weather tyres by ATS Euromaster for this winter, it didn't take me long to decide.

Three new upper-medium cars made their debuts at the Paris Motor Show.
Highest profile, it being in France, was the Peugeot 508.

Then, perhaps more important in terms of volume, was the so-called ‘new’ Volkswagen Passat.

Finally, but arguably the most impressive of the three, was the Kia Optima.

The Peugeot 508 was shown as a four-door and SW estate. Peugeot has said the 508 saloon will sell more units in China than saloon and SW combined in Europe.