GARY Numan is an icon of late 70s and eighties electro-pop. Famed for hits such as Cars and Are Friends Electric, he was also well known for his love of flying. Numan now lives in Los Angeles with his wife and children. He is back in England in December for his Dead Moon Falling tour and a new album, Splinter, is due for release next year. For more details go to his website, www.numan.co.uk or follow him on twitter @numanofficial.

What was your first car?

My first car was a dark purple Morris Marina estate, bought for me by my parents in 1975. Registration number was OPA 946L, that's how much of a sad anorak I am about cars. It became the taxi for almost everyone I vaguely knew for a few years until they got cars of their own. My memories are of it being a rather nice, good looking and reliable car, but it was a Marina so that can't actually be true. I can only assume my memory is tainted by the love I felt for it as my first car.

How many times did it take to pass your test, who taught you and what in?

My dad taught me to drive although I did have a few lessons from a licensed instructor before I took the test itself. She was a friend of the family actually. The point of the lessons was to teach me how to pass the driving test, a slightly different requirement in the real world to learning how to drive. Mostly I was taught in the Marina although, at the very beginning, I did have a few lessons in another car my Dad had at the time, an old Austin 1100 I think. Luckily, I passed first time.

Who would be your ideal fantasy passenger and where would you go?

My ideal fantasy passenger would be Raquel Welch, as she was in the A Million Years BC film, and I don't think I'd go anywhere to be honest. I doubt I'd bother to even drive out of the garage although that would depend on just how good a fantasy it was I suppose. If it was a rubbish fantasy, and she insisted on going for a drive, I'd probably take her to North Wales, that's probably one of the prettiest drives I've had, in the UK anyway. Ideally I'd end up in Portmeirion, absolutely love it there.

What is your dream car and why?

I have a long list of cars I dream of having, but the Koenigsegg Agera R is pretty much top of the list. I first saw a Koenigsegg on Top Gear and I thought it was one of the most brutally beautiful looking cars I'd ever seen. Since then they've just made it better looking, and faster. I've read that the Agera R can accelerate from nought to 200mph in less than 18 seconds, that's just phenomenal. They cost some outrageous amount but that's what makes it a dream car for most people I guess.

How would you describe your driving style?

These days steady and careful. I usually have a car full of children so the desire to get to places with a minimum of fuss and drama is high on my list of priorities. That's especially true now that I'm driving in California as the rules are a little different and I'm still trying to make sure I'm doing all the right things. I had to take a written test last week as the first stage of getting my California driving licence. Got through that okay so now I have to take a driving test sometime in December.

Tell me one driving anecdote from your past?

The best known anecdote was an incident that led me to write the song 'Cars'. I was in traffic in London when two men got out of the car in front and started kicking my car and shouting. I guess I must have cut them up earlier, or maybe they just didn't like the look of me. They were trying to break the glass and get me out of the car, all very loud and dramatic and I was obviously in for a beating. I noticed a small gap that my car would squeeze through and went for it, up onto the pavement, scattering pedestrians as I went, and managed to drop down onto the road again a bit further along and get away.

What is playing on your in car iPod or CD player at the moment and why?

At the moment I'm working on a new album called Splinter so I have all the songs as 'works in progress' in the car. I find that listening to them that way makes it easier to hear what's working with each song and what needs to be fixed. Sometimes listening to music in a studio makes you focus on certain things, drum sounds, vocal EQ, all than techy stuff. Listening to music in the car is good for just listening to the basic melody and arrangement, the most important bits really.

What do you drive now and why?

I don't even have car at the moment. My wife Gemma has a four-door Jeep Wrangler so I'm sharing that until I decide what car to get. I really wanted a Chevrolet Camaro, but I think I'm going to have to go for a big SUV type car. A Lincoln Navigator or something of that size. As I said, I have three children, who seem to fight constantly as soon as the car starts up so I need a car big enough to keep them apart, and one that can fit our huge dog Wilbur, a 15-stone English Mastiff.