Have you thought about the citroen berlingo? Colleague has one, same 1.9TD engine as I had in the xsara, and swears by it. Looks a bit taller too.

Out of the 14 or so cars I have owned, the Fabia vRS was by far the most unreliable car I have owned.

My bog standard 1.4 Fabia had the same problem. Bought it at a shade over a year old with 19k on the clock, kept it a year and in that time it had 3 gearboxes (dealer reckoned that would solve a clunking on take-off and changing gear but didn't) and the head gasket went at 24k miles.

Was a shame because my previous favorit and felicia were perfect (I loved the quirkiness of the fav!).

Would still buy another skoda tho, something about brand loyalty!

Picasso is based on the chassis of the 306, it's a pretty relaible car and if he wants a up high, safe car for about 2.5k thats a damn good buy IMHO

You can't go too wrong with a Saab 9-3... Meets all your criteria!

Chris