My list is getting smaller - no diesels, no cars with turbo, no 3 cylinder cars, no cars with trailer hooks etc....

Maybe time to be less fussy?

Why? That's basically my list of exclusions as well.

For me I would add in nothing from the Stellantis group.

Why? So you have more choice :-)

Not having any Citroen/Peugeot/Vauxhall/Jeep/Maserati/Fiat or Alfa does narrow you down a lot.

My 2018 Peugeot has just 3 cylinders.........It performs at least as well as 2L Mondeo ....... used to 20 years ago - ~120mph and 0-60 ~10 secs.

Indeed so. The 2003 Mondeo had a better top speed (134mph v. 124), presumably due to better aerodynamics and a slightly more powerful engine, but the Mondeo 0-62mph was a yawning 9.9secs (8.7 for the Pug 1.2 130 EAT6). The Mondeo 2.0l may have had more power (143bhp) but, crucially, far less torque at much higher revs. (190nM v. 230nM)

It is more economical returning ~45mpg in general mixed use.

Our long term trip recording is 42.7, mainly Mrs F's shopping and social trips. The Mondeo 2L stats state 34.9 mpg combined, but I bet no-one got even 30mpg in real life suburban use.

At 70mph it is doing around 2000rpm.

Our Pug does 30mph per 1000 revs in 6th.

Despite the influences of fashion and environmental concerns it will be a long time before the now ubiquitous reliable and economical tiny turbo engines with their small light sub 50 litre durable fuel tanks are superseded by electric motors with their large heavy and eventually unrechargeable batteries.

Our 3 pot 110PS Fabia TSi is just about the same physical size as my old Mk2 Golf GTi (but the Fabia has a bigger boot and more rear seat space) with the same amount of power (think that had 112PS). So how does the drive compare.

According to the manufacturers figures and road tests the top speed is higher (probably better aero) but acceleration is slower (probably the extra 200+ kg the Fabia carries). But in the real world (even though my Golf Mk 2 experience ended in 1996) it seems to me that the engine in the Fabia has way more grunt and overtakes are far easier. The Golf averaged about 32 mpg, the Fabia has averaged about 48 mpg so far.

So its definitely a win win for the 3 pot.

But as I have said repeatedly before I am not convinced that I would want the 1 litre 3 pot in a car bigger than the Fabia. For town use it would be fine but on longer trips in hilly areas fully loaded I think it would be marginal.

No panic though, other manufacturers do bigger 3 pots and one of those should do a great job.

Both SLO and High Peak Motors warn against buying a car that has spent some time north of the border because of the effect of the amount of salt that is used on the roads up there during winter.

High Peak even advise you to check if the number plate started with an S as I assume this indicates the car was first registered in Scotland.

My Audi A 4 along with VW Passats fro the early 2000 have serious rust in their front wings but the superstructure is absolutely fine. Caused by sound deadening which contains the moisture !

That's a bit arbitrary - try measuring the difference between the climate in Southern Scotland with that of Northern England, indeed some parts of Scotland are further south than parts of England AND are warmed by the Gulf Stream.

More sensible advise is to avoid cars that have spent their time near the coast anywhere in the UK, because of the salt in the air - but you can't tell that from the registration.

Anyway, the leasing companies and rental companies register cars where they're located, not where the user is based.