Nothing like a first-hand report - thanks Avant.

As regards actual purchasing I have a choice of either buying an ex-demo in the UK or buying new here in France. Buying here will obviously be a left-hooker which I'm not wild about but is probably the way to go as I'm permanently resident and if I need to sell it in two to three years time will sell better here.

If the pound/euro rate stays as it is at the moment, around 1.40 or so, I can buy a new Octavia vRS estate with a few extra bells and whistles over here through one of the mandatair auto ordering sites for about the same in sterling as a 6 month old ex demo would cost in the UK without the extras.

This includes the larcenous French government registration and pollution penalty tax, which i would still have to pay if I was importing a used UK car anyway.

Then there are the costs involved in importing- flight over, hotel, short term insurance, road tax to get it to the ferry, the ferry ticket etc etc.

Then the inteminable trudging around government offices to get it registered, if they don't recognise the UK model spec on their computers it'll be a "computer says no" and have to get it inspected by another government department etc etc.

Thanks again for the long term report Avant.