My, 14 year old Golf, has started making odd noises, which I was quoted £3K to fix, I traded it in while still a runner.

Self starter. If a car does re-start itself after you get out then that's a shocking design. If my Mazda auto-stops and I leave the car I get a furious beeping noise then it won't re-start unless I press the starter again. Far more sensible.

That's because its a Japanese design.

My Fiesta is the same, you get a beeping and warning message.

Agreed, but drivers have been encouraged to rely upon warning lights, not least to show if the oil level is low. Worse, a good number of modern engines do not have dipsticks.

Mercedes' decision in the 1990's (when marketers had ascendancy over engineers) to dispense with the oil pressure gauge was regrettable as it deprived drivers of a useful and typically reassuring indicator.

I am reminded of an article by a well known lady columnist, her BMW "blew up" and she informed the garage that several warning lights had been on for "weeks". She was upset when the garage pointed out her mistake.

EVERYTHING is made in China these days.

If I want to get gifts for my Chinese in-laws, I usually end up in Charity shops buying "collectables", or old prints to take out and reframe when I get there.

At one point 85% of the worlds underwear was made in a single Chinese city; although with these days, China is too expensive, so the low value stuff is made in places like Thailand, Vietnam, or Indonesia.