I was over in England for a two week course with the RNR. Having flown to Bristol I picked up my hire car for the journey south to Torpoint. It was a Fiat Punto. What a bad car. It was noisey and the plastics and trim had a very cheap and nast feel to it.

On my return this Saturday the hire car was a 3 door Corsa. It seemed much better put together and at lower speeds drove much better than the Punto, but lagged at higher speed due to its smaller engine.

How lovely it was to get back into my Octy vRS when I got back to Belfast. I do not think that I will ever be able to go back to an 'ordinary' car again.

I do not think that I will ever be able to go back to an 'ordinary' car again.

I wouldn't say either the Corsa or Punto were 'ordinary'...considering most hire car firms will go for the entry level models (less cost, lower insurance, higher percentage resale, etc.), I suspect you were given pretty nasty examples of both cars!

Rob.

The Corsa was reasonably speced. It had a CD player, air con, electric windows and remote central locking. It did however have a small engine. I would say it would be fine as a city car but it did lag on the M5. The Punto did better on the M5 but was very very course and the plastics and fabrics used in the interior were rubbish. It only had a cassette player with a radio that did not seem to be able to pick up any stations despite the arial apperaing to be present. It had eletric windows but no remote control or air con. Also it wanted to tell me how many mpg I was doing but refused to tell me what distance I had covered other than by the change in the main odometer.

But they're both cheap cars...comparing them to a

But they're both cheap cars...comparing them to a