So the Octavia wins the small family car and hot hatch accolades. Well done Skoda.

Do Octavia owners think Skoda deserves it?

COTY 2006 goes to the BMW 320D. According to Quentin Wilson (BBC News this am) it will be bought by people needing to boost their defective egos (only paraphrased a little). Nuff said !

BMW's are great cars with great engines, specially the diesel. However, so many BMW 3 series drivers are sadly lacking in road sense or good manners that the brand is being debased in the eyes of many. You just know that the car sitting 2 inches from your back bumper is a BMW 3 series with a young thrusting (i.e. bad) driver. WHY??

So the Octavia wins the small family car and hot hatch accolades. Well done Skoda.

Do Octavia owners think Skoda deserves it?

COTY 2006 goes to the BMW 320D. According to Quentin Wilson (BBC News this am) it will be bought by people needing to boost their defective egos (only paraphrased a little). Nuff said !

The other day I was cruising along as usual in my BMW coming onto one of my motorways, which was very busy with inferior cars.

First off, I couldn't believe that the volume of traffic DIDN'T slow down for me AT ALL as I came off the slip road! I had to squeeze into a barely big enough gap between two cars in order to get onto my motorway! (The driver of the car behind me did realise his mistake though and honked an apology to me with a long blast of his horn.)

Unbelievably, I had to do the same again before I could get to the BMW lane. (Why do underlings use this lane? Surely everyone knows it is for BMW drivers only?)

Anyway, once I was in the BMW lane and posing along at 110mph enjoying the adulation that the inferior car drivers were giving me, I noticed an inferior car ahead of me which was not only in the BMW lane of my motorway, but was driving at a ridiculous 70 mph!

Naturally, I got to within a foot or so of his rear bumper and flashed my headlights to remind him he shouldn't be in the BMW lane of my motorway and to get out of my way.

Of course, once he realised it was a BMW behind him, he did just that, but I could hardly believe it when he pulled straight back out behind me! He also tried to keep up with me and when he realised I would out-run him, he put on some blue lights in his front grill and urged me to get onto the hard shoulder so that he could congratulate me on my excellent car.

Needless to say, I was eager oblige and when we had stopped, the man gave me a piece of paper confirming what I already knew - that my car goes fast! Apparently he wants everyone to know what a superior car I have, so I had to take my driver's licence to a Police Station to be sent away to have some points put on! (They're not free points either - they're

BMW's are great cars with great engines, specially the diesel. However, so many BMW 3 series drivers are sadly lacking in road sense or good manners that the brand is being debased in the eyes of many. You just know that the car sitting 2 inches from your back bumper is a BMW 3 series with a young thrusting (i.e. bad) driver. WHY??

I could answer that one (dad drives a 320D......) but I've found the best wy to deal with them is to have the PD130 remapped and then leave them choking on your soot. Soon shut my dad up anyway....:P

Can't grasp why they gave it to the 3 series. Looks terrible outside and in.

It's an image thing with the **** and Yuppy class all show, some money and not a lot of sense, which is why they pay over the odds for it.

Then you have the Merc in its various disguises used by people who have come into the money and have fallen for the story of great German engineering and steeped in quality, which is why the pay over the odds for it.

It is a great sales hype carried out by these two companies and to a lesser degree by the other pure bred German auto companies, but they do not warrant the accolade when you look at the reliability stakes and pound for pound value.

We see the same thing with Honda who command a premium for what is a very, very reliable vehicle, but you can get other Japanese makes almost as reliable, just as innovative and a good deal cheaper.

SAAB and Volvo the same myth all done by good sales hype.

That is why I went Skoda pound for pound it gives excellent value, its reliable, but not yet to Japanese standards and it is not a bad vehicle. I considered the Honda Accord Estate diesel, but you can not justify that extra cost just because of an image.

Have seen a lot of the new 3 series about, the thing that always makes me smile is the lesser models the wheels aren't wide enough to fill the arches!