drive like a Norwegian

Came across this car review on the Times Online while checking out DVD Jon's blog.

It takes you a while to get to the "car" part in the text, which is exactly why Jon also found it noteworthy enough to blog about it. Here's a few appetizers:

"This is the weird thing about Norway. On the surface it appears to be a monochrome and rather chilly version of Britain. There’s the same northern European efficiency, the same things make us laugh, and the town centres are full of vandals who like to key your car....

...You might think everyone can talk English and of course most do — even A-ha — but there are exceptions. Last Tuesday I asked the proprietor of a remote highland cafe for the rest room and he recoiled in such horror I began to think “rest room” might be Norwegian for “Hey, troll, I’ve got a gun and if you don’t hand over all your money I’m going to shoot your husky”...

...Perhaps difficulty with communication is why the hotel room in which I stayed had a fold-out whiteboard nailed above the bed: so guests can use diagrams and cave drawings to explain to their girlfriends what they have in mind next."

Finally, there comes the "car" bit of the story (on the Mercedes M-Class):

"Obviously Mercedes wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice, so plainly the people making the new one have been told to stop singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot and get on with some work, and the designers were told it was 2005, not 1956.

...As a result the new car looks great, feels well made and when you climb aboard works like any other Mercedes, not a Massey Ferguson with electric windows...

...The verdict, then, on the M-class is pretty much the same as my verdict on Norway. Efficient and good fun, but odd and too expensive."