I had a new air-con radiator installed on my 08 registered Vauxhall Vectra by a specialist Air-con workshop in Shropshire. When I questioned why the existing radiator had gone so quickly, the repairman showed me a well worn air-con radiator removed from a Vauxhall like mine. He told me that "They never last long because they're made of such thin material and get damaged by stones".

To demonstrate his point, he ran his finger nail across the fins of his worn radiator: to my horror, this action generated a shower of thin aluminium chips, rather like the swarf you used to get from punched cards, but much, much thinner. To me the metal looked almost paper thin.

I am aged 70 so my next car will have to see me out and I cannot afford prestige cars such as Mercedes & Jaguar, so must stick with the likes of Fords & Vauxhalls.

Which mass production manufactures provide the best build quality on their family/small family cars? Or must I just accept that every 4 or 5 years I have to have a new air-con radiator installed?