Take one MG RV8, add the Peak District, stir in some hotel quirks, drizzle liberally with rain, then season with dodgy Audi A3 drivers. What do you get? Our latest cover feature – a car we’ve christened the Inbetweener. Half classic, half retro, and entirely good company when you’re drying out with a strong coffee by the bar afterwards.

If that sounds damp, Rich Duisberg brightens things up with a US road trip in a V10 BMW M5 – a car so over-endowed, it makes Route 66 feel like a Scalextric set. Dimitri Urbain explains why the Volkswagen Citi Golf simply refused to die, while debutant Daniel Bevis (of Copacetic fame) goes gloriously green over a pristine Opel Manta A.

Elsewhere, Alex Wakefield tells us what it’s really like to enter Concours de l’Ordinaire at the Festival of the Unexceptional, and Rich is back with a buyers’ guide that lumps the Citroën Méhari and Mini Moke into the same sandy bucket. Jon Burgess then sticks his oar into the Jaguar X-Type’s reputation – and finds the truth is less tabloid than you’d think.

And because this wouldn’t be Classic.Retro.Modern. without a bit of chaos, Picture Past revisits the golden age of family cars – when seven seats might mean an estate, a minibus, or something that looked like it belonged in an armoury. There’s even a stretched Jag – because why not? Ben Hooper turns up with an ’80s-tastic Mitsubishi Starion EX Turbo, Commercial Break revisits Ford’s greatest hot hatches, and Georgiana Buckingham-Smythe brings another round of Celebrity Squares – starring Andy Crane, Barry Sheene (not in leather) and Jane Asher (in leather).

Throw in a Lotus Esprit, a Fiat 126 BIS, a Volvo V70 Classic, a Peugeot 205 estate (yes, really), and more besides, and you’ve got an issue that’s eclectic, eccentric and possibly just a bit addictive.

Enjoy issue 36 – it’s wetter than your average car mag, but twice as much fun.