I have a 2008 Skoda Roomster diesel bought new. Now it has 78,000 miles on the clock and I think time to change. For a couple of years I anticipated relatively high annual mileage, perhaps about 20,000 including a couple of trips into France and Norway. In our 70s now, another car is likely to be our last - provided it is reliable. We are also looking for a little more luxury and comfort on the longer runs. I wanted to check out a Volvo C30, a car I have always admired from the outside. Mainly I wanted to see if I could get in and out easily. Surprisingly there was no problem. My wife was persuaded that it could be the car for her too.

The showroom (Volvo main agent) showed us a 2012 C30 at £17,000, which had all sorts of gizmos built in (seats with settings memory, for example). Having said I hadn't anticipated that level of cost he checked what was coming in at the £12,000 mark (from a central Volvo pool I think). There was a 2010 model at £12,500 with about 26,000 miles on the clock. It promises good economy and reasonable running costs. Is this likely to be a reliable car that is comfortable to drive?