After three Skoda Octavia vRS estates (brilliant, but my wife's arthritic knee and the bolstered seats didn't get on) and a Volvo V60 (worthy but stodgy) I went for this Q2, and I'm very glad I did. I wanted the highish driving position (otherwise an A3 might have suited me fine).

At 70, I'm no boy-racer, but I like to get a move on, and the 2-litre Q2 is ideal, especially up and down the undulating A303 where we do a lot of our mileage. Plenty of performance from the excellent petrol engine, yet it'll give over 40 mpg on a long run. The steering and handling are in a different league from the V60: light and direct without being so much so (as in a BMW) that you can't truly relax, as I like to when driving.

In her 'Our Cars' review Georgie is a little unfair about the cost price: press cars are quite understandabty loaded with extras, but you don't have to have them all, and if you just go for the ones you need, then the price is competitive with rivals. The 'virtual cockpit' is nice to have but not essential, although mine came as part of the Tech Pack which on the whole is worth while. I've no regrets about going for manual aircon, as it can be adjusted easily to the temperature you need, the actual measurement in degrees not being that important. The powered tailgate is great to have - and it helps to find the car in a car park too.

6,000 miles done in 5 months: no problems so far. The only real criticism is of the Bridgestone tyres which for some reason Audi fit as original equipment. Road noise is excessive: Bridgestones came on my wife's (also excellent) A1, but when changed for Goodyear all-season tyres the A1 is much quieter.

Other possibilities I looked at were the Volvo XC40 (both this and the Nissan Qashqai felt 'floaty' and I felt oddly remote from the action), Peugeot 3008 (I didn't even test drive this as the heating and aircon have t be adjusted by a touchscreen which is potentially dangerous), and VW T-Roc (very good to drive but it was new on the market and there were no discounts; also Audis hold their value just that much better).

The Q2 is a medium-sized car with a big engine - just what we need. Ultimately, the thing about driving an Audi is that you don't wish you were in anything else.

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