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.

Well the jobs all done now with 'fat' valve tubes.

What a difference radial tyres make. It used to tow with a 1 ton load and barely moved about behind the car. Now it bounces and sways like it has no dampers. Even with the max 50psi in the tyres they still squash a lot, and the trailer just moves around on the tyres. The old crossplies I took off only ran at 30psi and barely squashed at all with a 1 ton load. Now I know why the army stick on those skinny old fashioned tyres, 'cos that's the only way you can load the trailer up and still tow at normal speeds.

I saw a HA patrol attending to a car on the hard shoulder the other week. They had thoughtfully put six cones round the car while the owner waited for the breakdown service. I've not seen them do that before, looked a bit silly but probably reassured the driver a bit!?

I see them on patrol pretty regularly, 2 or 3 per week and I can now normally tell from a distance that they're not police, on the stretch of the M1 I use.

;o)