During the world wars, it was German. But they are supposed to be a very good car. In fact I had one as a hire car. The best ones I had were that and the A4. Not too impressed by the Vectra though.

Get an A3, with 5 doors for the little Harrisons. Er, ok, for the higher resale value. http://www.discussworldissues.com/im...ons/icon14.gif

Mondeos are made in Belgium, but yes, they're Ford. I think that the initial models were heavily based on Volvo designs, but I'm not sure if that has continued. I'm not aware of the particular quality of the Belgium plant.

My father's diesel 1999 Brazilian-made Fiesta (the first car I drove on a regular basis) could manage 170 http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/tongue.gif (I did need over a km to reach that speed though http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...milies/lol.gif).

In any case, most of the Fords over here are made either locally or in Brazil, and we didn't service many of those when I worked at a mechanic's shop (we mostly did Audi and VW), so I can't say much about them.

No. Belgium was.

Oh, he was making a joke!

Decide on the make you like. Go to a dealership and ask the sales manager what he is driving. Then buy his car. Not a same-make-and-model, but his actual car. Chances are very good that its top-of-the-line, in next to mint condition, and has a full warranty. It will likely have very low milage and have all of the 'bugs' worked out. If you negotiate correctly, you will save a bundle off new, and end up with a shiney new 'broken in' car.

Because in my scenario, you are buying the best car on the lot, if you are dealing with a lot that primarily deals in used cars, or a low milage, top of the line demo that is probably less than a year & has full factory warranty if you are dealing with a new car dealership.

I've done the latter 3x, and had 3 largely maintainance free cars. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/wink.gif

Besides, Provost is a Yorkshireman. He could probably build a car in his shed, if he had the time.

Well, I'd actually give good thought to if I needed a car, because hiring a car for the 4 weeks of a year you actually need one is a hell of a lot cheaper than spending 20K on a status symbol. So Understanding what a new i10 would offer you is at least useful for a comparison. A high spec Polo or i10 will set you back about twice as much as an i10, but the residuals also need considering - the i10 residuals are not bad, 55% or so, partly because of the ****ed up scrappage scheme Brown set up (the bastard).

But yeah, £7K for buying an i10. I know you are a bit on the short side, but there is head room.

But I have to buy a brand new car though, don't I?

Really depressing thing, you'd think that about German cars, but it isn't really true. Some German cars have awful residuals. Supposedly the A1 has good residuals...at less than 50%. the A3 averages around 40%, the Polo and Golf around 45%, according the What? Car. The i10 isn't listed in the current issue, but in previous issues it was over 50%. And the scrappage scheme has finished, IIRC.

How do you know what I will end up buying?

I see the future http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo.../dizzyanim.gif

or more accurately I can read - you are buying German, and you are not buying a Porsche... thus this car I recommended will be better than whatever you end up buying http://www.discussworldissues.com/im...ons/icon14.gif unless you are going for SL, are you???

OK, PH. We'll forgo sporty and go for practical. How about a Jetta TDI?

Then... Something on the froggish side perhaps? Fancy a Clio?

Even more http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/bored.gif