Never owned a French car, but had a 308 on loan for several days recently and was genuinely impressed, apart from lack of rear seat space. It was a 2.0 150 diesel with EAT6 gearbox. Went as far as looking at what they went for second hand but chickened out and got a Leon! The potential complexiies of the electronic handbrake, no heating controls except on touch screen, and AdBlue are what put me off. However, it was economical (48mpg with spirited driving), rode very nicely and felt substantially built inside.

FWIW my dad is on his third C-Max with the diesel of doom, I had never heard of this term until he had the second, I find them refined, economical and nice to drive. He does 12-15k a year and all number one and two both did 80k miles with absolutely no mechanical problems of any sort. They have all just had routine annual servicing at Ford.

Jacked up my 307 yesterday, and the OSR sill collapsed....

Presumably you jacked it at the correct jacking point ? :-)

Does seem rust is back

A friend had a Citroen Picasso that rusted through on the sills on last years MOT. He had it welded but has just "traded it in"

There are plenty of good French cars about - certainly far more praise than blame about Citroens on here - but they are more vulnerable than Japanese cars to abuse or neglect by previous owners.

As Mrs W likes to sit high up, you could get her another Picasso, or perhaps try a Toyota Verso. A Mazda 5 and Ford C-Max could go on the shortlist as well.

The deed is done...

Started looking at 2011 on cars to get the 8V rather than 16V engine, but then realised that later cars with the 120PS Euro 6 engine were not that much more expensive, and had better MPG and cheaper tax, and over the life cycle would not cost much more. So started looking for one of those; after trying out a few, decided that a 5008 would fit the bill - but not in Allure spec, as they come on daft 215/45R18 tyres. Unfortunately, most are this spec - we found one in Edinburgh that was the lower Active spec, but as we got there to look at it, some folk were piling out of it, and went on to buy it. D'oh! Headed next door to the Citroen garage, and had a drive in a current model C4 Grand Picasso - after initially rejecting it based on the seating position, it was deemed to be OK. Salesman then pipes up with the fact that they've got some pre-reg ones, and there's a sale on - can have a 'new' one for £17k. A few more sums, and again it's not that different cost if we keep it for 10-12 years (which is likely!), so we paid the deposit. It was reg in Sep last year, probably keen to get rid before the 18 plates come round shortly.

So there's a bit of a turn round! Never had a 'new' car before, and never had a choice of colour (this one is mid metallic blue).