Tiscali in association with New Car Net brings you the latest roadtest reports.

By Graham Whyte

'Bonjour, mange tout. Je suis am a journaliste avec a penchantte for les voitures.' Nurtured by Alan Coren and others, Franglais has become so much part of our comedic language that it has its own dictionary definition: informal French containing a number of English words.

But long before Mr Coren left school, car-makers were employing Franglais, or at least one example of it: coupe. The English interpretation of this French word means a car with four seats, two doors and a sloping back. But in French, coupe (with or without an accent), means 'cut' - no mention of cars.