Following plenty of good reports, 'What Car Car of the Year', Honest John, etc we booked a test drive in a Peugeot 3008 1.6 VTi (the only one available) with a very positive attitude. We wanted this car. We found the cockpit style cabin very restrictive especially for access to seat belts and seat adjusters. There was nowhere for my feet (only size 10) off the pedals and the engine was severely underpowered for a car of this size. The most significant problem and the real clincher was it made both my wife and I nauseous, both as driver and passenger.

A real pity as this is a well-made car with all the right bells and whistles, maybe the 1.6 THP156 with Dynamic Roll Control would have solved some of these problems. Why pay extra for a feature that should be standard? Had we followed the salesman’s advice and merely 'gone up the dual carriageway and back' we might have missed the ill effects. Anyway, we are back to square one and would appreciate some advice. We now think a moderate sized estate would fit the bill. It needs to be petrol, manual, with a bit of go and a good all round driving experience, all for around £20,000 or less, new or up to two years old. We were put off the Nissan Qashqai by the dealer attitude.