It also has to answer the question: can motor transport be made interesting and exciting for the younger visitor?

Many six-year-old children have moved on from pushing and parking toy cars in garages, so what happens next to inspire them about old cars and buses, and world record-breaking vehicles?

Somehow it’s much easier with vintage trains – you can touch them, ride on them and even use them as part of a scheduled journey. York’s railway museum is fantastic.

At Coventry, those options don’t apply so you mainly walk round and, er, look at them (except for the Thrust simulator which young children are not tall enough to qualify for).

The publicity blurb for this free museum (yippee! Why aren’t they all free?) boasts thrills, nostalgia, education and inspiration. From a morning’s visit, I would say there is plenty of nostalgia, but it’s a little short on the rest.

The interactive area had a car to build, a computer game, and some crayons – that was about it, plus a large empty space and some stacked chairs.

Museums need to learn that children want to do things – press buttons, pull levers, wind things up, turn steering wheels and so on. There’s a wonderful room in the Science Museum devoted to just this.

Coventry has the potential to do the same, but is the will there? John Howes

Verdict: Lacking thrills.