My first car had silver painted steel wheels with just a central hub cap to cover the wheel nuts and bearing cap. The hub cap was chromed with the old Ford symbol, the silver painted wheels never corroded while I had the car (it was 21 years old by then). Looked much better than black steel wheels with tatty plastic wheel trims.

StarGazer

Like "cos I had had a few drinks George (the dog) said he would take the keys".

Impressions of the Mercedes B-class may help - I think I may be the only one on the forum who has one (B200 CDI). I'm also probably the only Mercedes driver who thinks he should have had a Skoda.

In many ways it's a fine car - excellent seats and driving position (for me anyway - I'm 5' 7"). Lots of room in the back for a fairly short car and reasonably good visibility. No imaginative seating arrangements but the rear seats do what I need surprisingly often - fold down easily to make a van without having to remove the headrests.

Steering and handling are fine - very little penalty for being a tall vehicle. The bugbear is the engine - quite sprightly performance but the diesel drone does my head in. 4 cylinders + diesel + automatic is probably a bad combination for noise. In fairness this is much less noticeable at motorway speeds. It also has an infuriatingly low idling speed - about 700 rpm - which makes the car vibrate although it never actually stalls. Apparently this is set up at the factor and can't be altered even by a dealer.

Wipers are set for LHD - a stupid piece of penny-pinching.

A manual might be better, but as you don't need a diesel, maybe try the B200 petrol. A broker might get it down to about £18,000, or there's the A200 which is of course smaller and cheaper, but still room inside.

Reliabilty - fine so far after 6 months and 11,000 miles- touch wood.

The Mercs are worth a look if you want to sit high and don't need 4wd. If sitting high isn't a priority, then I'd go for the A3. My last car was a much-loved Audi A4: if I can possibly afford it, so will my next. If I can't, it'll probably be a Skoda.

Saw it in HJ this week. Leave vinager open in the car, and it will eat any smell there might be!

I took one off 15 years ago as a 17 year old. I worked at a house on a privaye estate in Nottingham (The Park) and we weren't allowed to park there, we had our own carpark but it was full on this day, and the private school over the road was on holiday, so I popped it outside the school thinking it would be alright, but no.
It was a proper top quality clamp not a Halfords-DIY type, I jacked the car up, with the freeplay this allowed, I could get my fingertips behind the plate and undo the valve cap and deflate tyre, I was able to remove the washer fluid reservoir from the engine compartment, and pour the fluid over the wheel/tyre,as the tyre was deflated and wet, the clamp managed to come off with a lot of tyre squashing and brute force. I then fitted the spare and drove home with the clamp (not theft as it was not my intention to permanently deprive the owner).
The next day the clamper man came to work, I kept him waiting in reception and then went down and he asked for his clamp, and I said OK, follow me, and walked 2 miles to where I had had to park with him in toe, opened the boot, but the 15KG clamp on the floor and walked off.
He had a very red puffy face. OK poor man was only doing his job, but we all have bad days at work.