Battling the Welsh weather? Choose your weapon...

A FAST Ford, a classic Mini, a regal old Rover and a vivacious Italian supermini. Given the choice and a wet weekend in the wilds of Wales, which would you take?

It's not a question you've ever needed to answer before but - in the noble interests of Life On Cars research - a few friends and I have ventured over the border and battled with flash flooding, high winds and twisty roads strewn with rocks and tree branches, so you won't have to. Oh, and sampled a few of the best roads in Britain while we were at it.

Our mission for the weekend was to head to Llandudno to meet up with an annual parade of old Minis which meet up on the town's promenade for a special display, but given only one of our party was actually in one we decided to give the official route a miss and head over the mountains and through the valleys. If you fancy giving it a go yourself tap some of the following phrases into your computer; Horseshoe Pass, Evo Triangle, Llanberis Pass, accident recovery.

I've always enjoyed a good road as much as a good car, making the route we'd chosen a sort of petrolhead's paradise; twisty, challenging, and blessed with stunning scenery instead of traffic. Thanks to the miracle of Google Street View you can even check out these captivating roads long before you reach them.

The four machines we'd brought along, I wager, were all brilliant in their own particular way and yet none were really perfect either for the job of providing hours of fun and frolics on narrow, twisty lanes while surviving torrential rain and battering gales.

The Ford Mondeo ST Estate, for instance, was the fastest and comfiest, but more than once it struggled to get round some of the tighter bends on account of it being so big. The Fiat Punto a friend had brought along and the Rover 214 I was travelling in could, but you always got the sense they were designed for stages smaller than the testing terrain of a really, really challenging road in the middle of nowhere.

In fact, the one car I was coveting the entire trip was the Mini in my mirrors, because having owned one I know its pin-sharp steering and bouncy suspension would easily have made up for the shortfall in the engine department. Well, I coveted it right up until it refused to start the following morning, helping me to remember that they don't make 'em like they used to. They make 'em better.

The answer is that doesn't matter which of our unlikely foursome you take to the thrilling mountain passes in this captivating corner of Wales. You'll be enjoying yourself so much, it won't matter.