Just back from hols in the Canaries. Needless to say the taxi drivers out there seem to rate Merc E-Classes, Toyota Corollas and Octys. Went in a couple of Octys with 644,000 and 646,000 km on the clock (just over 402,000 and just under 404,000 miles respectively by my reckoning). One did seem a bit tired but there were several with over 300,000 km which seemed almost like new.

Had a lift from the airport in an Omega 2.2 DTI with 450,000km and that seemed like new too.

Sadly the same could not be said of the Punto 1.2 (64,000km) which I hired. What a pile of pooh. So much so that it went back after the first day and got replaced with a Clio 1.2 which was much nicer (surprisingly so).

The climate there is a lot friendlier to cars. Engines will last a long time if they're looked after too (I don't know how regularly oil changes are done over there and what the oil quality is like), but the best thing for an engine is to keep it running as much as possible without cooling down . . . i.e., taxis.

Still, those are impressive mileages! The highest I've seen on a 'run of the mill' car is a Peugeot 406 HDi taxi I went in a few months back, it had 278,000 miles on the clock and other than a slightly tatty interior, seemed in excellent condition!