Detour #264: Revisiting the Old Military Road, Scotland

Time travelling in a futuristic MG Cyberster, John Mahoney returns to a road full of memories.

If you want to truly preserve a great memory for perpetuity, never go back. If you do, you risk inadvertently unpicking those carefully curated neurons and tiny synapses that document the past and accidentally rewiring a recollection forever.

That's the reason why I had planned never to return to the Old Military Road in Scotland because my last experience along this thin ribbon of compacted stone and tar was so heavenly, I really believed it could never be repeated.

Rewind to summer 2015 and I found myself just west of Aberdeen behind the wheel of a Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe. Swinging open the rear-hinged aperture and, believe it or not, my expectations were low as I sunk into the pillow-soft quilted leather armchair. You see, it's the limousine's job to isolate and protect you from a road or hostile environment – not engage, titillate or entertain you along what must be one of the UK's finest roads.

Luckily, for some explicable reason the huge Phantom Coupe had a sense of humour and is far better to drive than you'd ever imagine. Shrugging off its limo roots instead of feeling out of its depth the big V12 two-door was surprisingly precise, engaging and fast cross country. In my (im)perfect memory the sun shone and the traffic was light and the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful.

Almost a decade later nothing has changed on the scenery front, but today it's pouring with rain and too chilly to lower the roof of the new battery-electric MG Cyberster GT, that neatly costs a fifth of the price of the Roller I last drove around here.

With more than 127 miles to cover over roads that live mostly within the Cairngorms National Park it's nice to note range will not factor, since the Cyberster can cover up to 276 miles on a full tank of electrons. Instead, the drive is more about exploring whether you'd actually choose a droptop EV for your very own epic Detour.

Amusingly, access to the MG is no less dramatic than a Phantom coupe. Instead of a pair of 'suicide' doors there's a couple of electric scissor doors that arc gracefully skywards. I say gracefully but should add they're fractionally too slow for an impatient soul like me. Once behind the wheel it's easy to feel comfortable and the Cyberster's fiddly infotainment doesn't take the edge off how at home the reborn MG roadster feels on the fast-flowing roads that carve their way up first through forests and then moorland as I begin the climb towards the mountains.

Despite the odd patch of blue sky, the rain seems to have scared away the cyclists, motorists and slow-crawling tourist traffic. Hooking a left at the B976 and I’ve already been seduced by the effortless nature of a powerful EV. With twin-motors and almost 500bhp to play with the roofless long-awaited follow-up to the old MG TF mimics the way the Phantom didn't notice hills but is far more adept at blisteringly quick overtakes of slow-moving tractors, trucks and vans.

The unlikely parallels continue as the B976 becomes the A93 as I begin my ascent. Like the Rolls-Royce the MG prefers fast and smooth, rather than being hustled along a tight and twisty road. Push too hard and the Cyberster instantly feels its weight and runs out of body control, communicating its unease to the driver.

With a break in the rain, I lower the roof and become an electric droptop evangelist. The sights, the smells and the sounds are amplified in a way you simply never hear with a noisy engine. Bird song, is prevalent, for example as well as the rush of water, either beneath the rubber, or from the nearby rivers, waterfalls or small streams. Better still, it slows you down and invites you to stop and smell the roses – or whatever the Scottish equivalent is.

Do I miss the sound of a snarling V8, flat-six, or braking-four? Not really but when I reach the blustery Glenshee ski resort I begin to question the sanity of anyone choosing to drive a convertible in these parts. It's here that the Devil's Elbow Viewpoint should treat onlookers to some of the best views in Scotland but today there's such thick fog I can’t find it and I’m not dressed for any impromptu hikes into the mountains, or abyss, as the rockfall warnings suggest.

Instead I climb back into the MG, raise the roof, stab the heated seat button and ease my way back along the road in utter silence. As I travel south on the second half of the loop, in all honesty the weather has made it feel like I’ve spent the day driving in a completely different part of the world on roads that are utterly familiar.

It's uncanny how the MG Cyberster also provides for an unlikely same-but-different experience to the two-door Phantom. Both are effortless fast, smooth and quiet with the two opposite ends of the automotive spectrum enhancing a long journey in their own unique ways.

For now, if you ignore the substantially more expensive Maserati GranCabrio Folgore, the MG Cyberster has the two-door roadster segment sewn-up, but that changes next year with the arrival of the Porsche Boxster EV that will no doubt offer an even more engaging drive.

Until then, the MG Cyberster really does makes for the perfect Detour, with its all-electric powertrain capable of making plenty of new memories to savour.

Words John Mahoney X/Twitter | Instagram
Photography MG

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ROADBOOK

CLASS: HIighland Fling

NAME: OLD MILITARY ROAD

ROUTE: Fettercairn to Fettercairn

COUNTRY: SCotland

Distance: 127 Miles

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