Gosh, I'd forgotten that one.

I hire that sack of carp on holiday. We were 7 up in it going around Lanzarote.

I swear the tide was coming in quicker!

I have driven the Serena diesel (non-turbo) and a 1.0 litre Polo, both about 15 years ago and both as rental cars.

The Polo was OK generally, its only failing was that with the air conditioning on, it was gutless up hills.

The Serena was simply gutless. No matter how hard one drive it it would not build up any speed at all. This is in contrst to a Doblo diesel (non-turbo) which got quicker during the holiday as I wrung its neck at high revs up hills. It was actually not unpleasant to drive by the end.

Several years ago when the wifes uncle decided he wanted a new car we were tasked with sorting it out (subject to him being happy after a test drive).

The simple criteria was cheap and 5 doors. His old car was a rusty 10 year old Corsa 1.2 3 door so not much dificulty finding a better car.

After driving many cars 3 stood out. The 1.0 Nissan Micra was way quicker that expected but was so basic it had to be kicked off the list. Sadly could not get a deal on a better spec 1.2, it might have been the car to buy. The Fiesta 1.2 was a cracker in all ways especially since the dealer was more than happy to do a great deal. The 1.2 Polo 3 cylinder thingy was a really nice car to sit in and look at with good spec and a great deal on offer but it was so slow it made you wonder if they had forgotten soemthing, like an engine.

On balance it was a close run thing but at the time the best car won, the Fiesta.