Modern cars might be heavy, but they’re also safe, luxurious and efficient. We’ve never had it so good.

I’ve been lucky enough to drive a pair of automotive curios this week that sit pretty close to the extreme bookends of the new-car market. My time in the BYD Sealion 5 DM-i – a top-value, plug-in hybrid family SUV – was followed by a day in Wales in the Lamborghini Temerario: another PHEV, but with two seats, a twin-turbo V8 and more than 900bhp.

On my return journey home, I had time to reflect on what a broad and exciting place the automotive industry still is. There’s further proof in this week’s top news stories – Volvo’s luxurious, long-range EX60 is the chalk to the forthcoming Kia EV1’s cheese: both electric, but totally different in terms of philosophy and what they’re set to offer new-car buyers.

And while we might bemoan the Government’s continued war on the humble motorist, how costs continue to rise, or that the latest crossovers and SUVs are little more than glorified refrigerators, if you stand back and soak it all in, I reckon we’ve never had it so good. Cars are heavier, but they’re also safer, more luxurious and more fuel efficient. They’re better equipped and more connected, and most are more reliable. The advent of EV-specific platforms means many offer generous interior space, with little detriment to the driving experience.

That’s doubly true since makers, almost without exception, have reined in their zero-emission masterplans, reinvesting in ICE tech to develop high-power, low-CO2 alternatives to the cars we know and love. Whether you’re after an affordable supermini, a fashionable family SUV or a pulse-racing sports car, you won’t need to look particularly hard to find what you’re after.

People ask me: do bad cars still exist? The short answer is yes. If anything, the gulf between the great and not so good is bigger now than at any point in the 15 years I’ve been writing about and reviewing cars. Although the duffers might be fewer and further between, the bar has now been set so high that it’s all too easy for complacent manufacturers to swing and miss.

But when it comes to choice today, we’re utterly spoiled. If you can dream it, the likelihood is you can buy it. So before we write off the automotive world as dull, uninspiring and conformist, let’s look at the wider picture and be grateful for what we’ve got.

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