Ask any concert pianist whether they would rather play a Steinway & Sons piano or a Yamaha, and I'll bet you a season ticket to the Opera House in London's Covent Garden that they would nod for the former. When I chatted with just such a virtuoso several months ago, he was smitten with the Steinway. "It's not that the Japanese brand is inferior," he stressed. "It is world class, and the sound is superb. But, well, to be honest, it's how the Steinway makes me feel inside. Special."

Now, I'm no pianist, but I think I know what he means.

As I opened the door and lowered my 190-cm frame into the driver's seat of Maserati's Gran Turismo coupe, I felt all warm and fuzzy inside. I felt special, like I'd just been upgraded from economy to business class and was being waited on hand and foot.