[morsing]

Originally Posted by LankyTim

I've had a few 240's and stand by what I say, the cabin is narrow

Ok, I'm quite narrow, so probably don't notice.

Originally Posted by LankyTim

and it's difficult to seat three people in the rear seats,

I've never tried fitting three adults in the rear. If that's your need, maybe you're right, it's not the right car.

Originally Posted by LankyTim

yes my 2.0 was underpowered, the couple of 2.3 powered cars I had were
much better but not what I'd call fast

There is a difference between under-powered and not fast. Under-powered means you can't get to 70mpg on a slip-road. I can easily get to 70+mph, even on the uphill ones.

Originally Posted by LankyTim

Handling... they're barge like

Maybe there's also a difference in what people are looking for in a car. My 240 drives nicely and as I would expect. I did upgrade the suspension though.

Originally Posted by LankyTim

[...] a 2001 Astra estate after one of my 240's. It had a 1.6 8v petrol engine and it was much nicer to drive and more comfortable too.

We clearly have utterly different opinions on what "nice" is when it comes to cars.

I've had plenty of new hire cars over the last 20 years, anything from Polos and Astras to Mercedes E-class and they have all been awful. The cheaper, the more awful. Seats are uncomfortable. Seating position wrong. Controls and stalks are always positioned badly with no thought put in to it.

Originally Posted by LankyTim

As has been said, they're from a previous age of motoring and things have moved on

Moved on, maybe, but not necessarily in a positive way.

Originally Posted by LankyTim

Great, if you do 20k a year and need something that has easy parts availability and will do 50mpg, maybe not.

I do 22k a year, have done since 2007, and have broken down once. Parts are getting rarer, but are available and usually many times cheaper.

The problem is that as much as 50mpg would save me 1000+gbp a year, if just one thing breaks on a modern car, that saving is blown out the water.

And over the last 6 years I've been doing a 2-1/2h commute each way, and have never felt tired in any way arriving.

Anyways... I'll keep my car as long as it lets me :-)