I am overseas again, visiting my father who is wintering in the eastern Mediterrranean. His rental car is a Suzuki Splash (auto). Mine is a Kia Picanto.

Main impressions is that apart from boot space (only space for one medium size suitcase if you're lucky) these are very acceptable cars for almost all one's driving. Nippy around town, sufficiently quick to keep up on the motorway up to about 75mph and adequately economical. Both have slush boxes but surprisingly appear to have decent torque. I wonder is this is because the cars are light? I drove an Astra with 1.6 auto last year and it was a slug.

The obvious difference between the cars is the height. The Suzuki is so much higher and gives a great feeling of control and comfort. The Picanto has slightly odd seats that are OK, but not great.

I come back the that old standby - would I buy one at home. Well no I wouldn't because of all sorts of reasons mainly related to feeling good about oneself when driving up to appointments, or into the car park of the (golf club/gym/church/synagogue)* delete as appropriate. Were I to move to overseas where the most important factor is cost and air-conditioning I could seem myself in both but most likely the Splash.

Has anyone ever radically changed their car after renting one overseas?