Here's a thought to ponder: have you ever wondered how long you could manage without reverse gear?.

Well I hadn't until the gearbox on our previous Saab 900 decided to go all New Labour (Forwards Not Backwards). The answer is a surprisingly long time, although it required a lot of forward planning and the constant fear that you might forget to back it into the downhill parking space. But the novelty of this game wore off after a while and we started to think about a new car to replace this and my wife's other Saab (which did go backwards).

Deciding what to get proved to be a difficult choice. Like many people, we needed many functions fulfilled by the new car: principally it had to be fun to drive and carry a family. Financially, anything exotic was out of the question. Along the way we considered a Mitsubishi Evo - too much like it's lesser Lancer cousins; a Subaru STi - couldn't live with the wing; second hand E46 M3 - couldn't find a good one cheap enough; a crazy S-type R Jag - er, just couldn't, plus a few others.

In an act of frustration we went to the local VW dealer and kicked the tyres of a Mk IV Golf GTi which they seemed quite willing to almost give away. At this point, it occurred to us that what we really needed was two cars and that for the price we were offered the Golf ($200 a month), we could afford two cars.

The other car still needed to have four seats but didn't need a big boot. It needed to be comfortable for long journeys and it needed to be new or nearly new. And it needed to cost as close to $400 a month as possible. With our Euro-cred taken care of with the Golf, it seemed fitting to get a muscle car. With that in mind, oddly enough there wasn't a lot of choose from - only the Mustang and the Pontiac GTO.

The GTO is an anomaly in the US car market. For a start it's not American - it's an Australian Holden Monaro with a cheap nose-job. It bears no relationship to its illustrious predecessor, the car that started the muscle car craze in the first place. Even though Holden had created a remarkable interpretation of the American muscle car, GM still managed to mess up its entry into the US, sending most of the 9,000 2004 cars to the northeast. They arrived in showrooms in the middle of winter and the last thing people needed was an over-powered, over-steery rear-wheel drive muscle car that looked like it would head backwards into the nearest snow bank.

Predictably, it didn't sell. With another stroke of genius, and the winter snows barely melting, GM decided that what the car lacked was power (?) and announced that the 2005 model would have the Corvette's LS2 engine with 400bhp and host of other upgrades. Surprise, surprise, sales of 2004 models tanked as anyone who might have been interested in a GTO simply waited for the vastly improved 2005 model to come out a few months later.

Not that the 2005 has been a runaway success though. Ford captured the mood of the baby-boomers perfectly with their re-interpretation of the Mustang, and in comparison, the GTO - for many it seems - too understated. Its sleek, elegant lines and quite beautiful proportions look tame compared to the glitz of the retro pony car. The net result being that for every GTO you see, you'll see a hundred Mustangs - which, for me is one of the best reasons for having one.

It's proved to be a very satisfactory choice. This one came second hand with 1,600 miles on the clock. We could have bought a brand-new one for the same money, but the VW dealer who financed it wasn't allowed to sell a new one. There are virtually no options available - maybe because they're built in Australia - only Noddy colours (blue, red, yellow or black) and a different front and rear bumper.

Unlike the Mustang, GM didn't stick a live rear axle under it and the car is blessed with a remarkable ride and handling combination, soft by European standards, but certainly comfortable on mind-numbing Interstate journeys. It's not blisteringly quick and all the controls - especially the agricultural gearbox - give it a very lazy personality. Though it's not imprecise, its reactions are slow; you have to think ahead of the car. And although it's quite light for its size, on tight twisty roads, you do notice the bulk and I think it could do a better job of controlling its mass.

The Goat is not without other faults too. The quite remarkable leg-room in the rear comes at the expense of a ridiculously small boot - hampered further by the fuel tank being placed between the boot and the seats. And though two full size adults can be housed in comfort in the rear, they'll have a hard job getting there. The front seats sit right next to the B pillar and though the engineers thoughtfully put an electric button on the side bolster to move the seat forwards, waiting for a big enough gap to squeeze into can be mighty frustrating.

That said, it's fun though. The car seems to look better the more you stare at it and it does exactly what we bought it for. And it goes backwards.