SWMBO has today procured a 9 month old 2.0 petrol SE-L in soul red.

It has only done 1600 miles as it was apparently a motablity car returned for reasons unknown.

1st impressions: It is very sleek in the metal and the colour sets it off very well. I think it looks very classy.

Lots of electric gizmos (boo!) to confuse the newbie.

The stop/start system is new for us and we'll see how it does over time.

It has 17" wheels and we feel it rides pretty smoothly (she as in bouncy little 2 before...) with a nice snickety gear change. The clutch is very light and forgiving unlike some modern diesels that I have driven.

SWMBO feels a little apprehensive over its width but I'm sure familiarity will sort that out.

It has front and rear parking sensors which will make parking a lot easier for her too.

The push button start is confusing for her as well as she has never dipped the clutch when starting the engine before...

It will be travelling 50-odd miles per day so we will see how economy fares at dual carriageway speeds.

Why diesel?

Well, despite HJ's best attempts to convince us that Mazda's diesel woes are finished, I just has a little voice in the back of my head saying NO.

That and the £7k saving over new!

It's been given a dose of Collinite and looks great. I'll let you know how the mpg pans out over the next few months.