Honda at least are frantically playing catch up. The current civic Type R is the last one to be naturally aspirated. Guess what's in the pipeline-that's right, a turbo.

Having taken a bizarre stance against forced induction in general and turbos in particular, the Japanese have been caught red-faced. VTEC-more lag than a turbo, and no boost at the end!

Unless Malta have resurfaced every road in the last 15 years, i'd choose a softly sprung car, which immediately removes boneshaker Focus from the list.

I'm a little surprised at the lengths of warranty that apply here, are these warranties maker backed?

I'd be looking at cars with compliant ride due to my previous experience of Malta's roads, so maybe a soft roader would be the way to go (though not necessarily), if 5 year warranties are common there i'd be looking at other makes too in case the likes of Kia offer the 7 year cover, and i'd test them all till i found the ride i wanted.

Edited by gordonbennet on 30/03/2014 at 10:02

lambada - the Quasqai we have is one of the last of the old models, and a friend has a brand new, new model. The new model is very nice and the improvements are worthwhile. It is roomier than the old model, if you need the extra space.