My wife was interested in buying a Hyundai i20 with automatic transmission, but we could not find any garage able to provide one to try out. I phoned Hyundai but they couldn't help find a car. It was a similar story with some other manufacturers; apparently the number of automatics sold in Britain is so tiny it's not viable to keep them in stock anywhere.

I can't understand it - are we supposed to buy cars without ever trying them? They're not exactly cheap throwaway consumer items. In the end she bought a Honda Jazz, a very good car, and she was able to test drive it first.

Is there any way of getting manufacturers to listen to the suggestion that customers should be able to try out cars before they buy them, even if they are automatic?