Jaguar’s first SUV crossover, the F-PACE, has been undergoing an extreme series of tests before it goes on sale in 2016, being driven in temperatures ranging from -40°C to +50°C.

The company says: ‘From the searing heat and dust of Dubai to the ice and snow of northern Sweden, the new car has been tested to the limit in some of the most inhospitable environments on earth.’

General Motors and Kia head to Canada for cold-weather testing, GM to freezing Kapuskasing in Northern Ontario, while the South Korean marque favours Northern Quebec, where the temperature drops to -35°C. McLaren took the P1 to the Arctic Circle, putting the 916bhp supercar through its paces on a frozen lake.

These are examples of the lengths to which manufacturers will go to check durability, incurring tremendous expense at far-flung facilities.

But what about real-world testing, the exacting demands of the day-to-day? After all, how many frozen lakes do you get in Neasden or Scunthorpe?

So, here are the five tests that we reckon matter the most:

1. What lies within

To test the toughness of a model’s interior to the limit, apply two small children to all surfaces. As a colleague explained: ‘When my Vauxhall Astra was stolen in Manchester, a police officer rang two days later and said: ‘We’ve found you car sir. It’s driveable but the thieves have made a really awful mess inside.’ When I went to pick it up, the interior was just as normal … thanks to my two little lads.’

2. Leader of the pack.

To test suspension, head for a purveyor of flat pack-furniture. This stuff weighs more than you think and there’s always a temptation to overload. So just watch that rear end sink under the burden of a wardrobe and chest of drawers – just like your heart when you begin to assemble them.

3. Scent off

To put the air conditioning through its paces, make for the nearest, drive-thru/take-away/chippy. Isn’t it strange how the aroma of pungent, fatty grub is mouth-watering initially but somehow less appealing when it’s still there two days later despite a concerted air-con assault.

4. Tip-top

You will most likely find it is called a Household Recycling Centre now, but it’s still really a tip – and still represents the most rigorous test of a car’s meticulously designed ‘loadspace’. No matter what rubbish you are taking to the HRC (a post-festivities Christmas trees is favourite) somehow a small part of it will remain, lodged in a seat-back cranny and defying all efforts with the vacuum cleaner for ever more.

5. Fleet feat

The ultimate, all-encompassing, test has to be the hire car challenge. Any model that has spent time ‘on the fleet’ and survived is one tough motor. As the wonderful author PJ O’Rourke explains: ‘Nothing handles better than a rented car. You can go faster, turn corners sharper, and put the transmission into reverse while going forward at a higher rate of speed in a rented car than in any other kind. You can also park without looking. Another thing about a rented car is that it’s an all-terrain vehicle. Mud, snow, water, woods – you can take a rented car anywhere. True, you can’t always get it back – but that’s not your problem, is it?’

Dubai, Scandinavia, Canada? Who needs ‘em!