Eeek – just bought a new car. Well, that is it’s a new car for us.. ’tis actually 3 years old, but with only 10k on the clock. We didn’t particularly want to have to buy one yet, but our poor Punto is ailing, and the good lady needs a reliable car for work.

This is actually the first time I’ve bought a car – although I paid for at least half the Punto, A. did the actual buying. This time it’s me (and in an interesting reversal, she’s paying for it). It’s going to be very sad driving the Punto to the garage tomorrow afternoon, as that’ll be the last time we drive it. It really has done us proud over the last 6 1/2 years. Many trips to London, Cornwall, and Norfolk. One or two to Wales and Scotland. Made it to 60,000 miles in all (most of which were down to us – it was a 12 month old courtesy car before and had only done a couple of thou, I think).

The new ‘un is a Renault Megan Scenic Authentic (to give it it’s full name) – one of those cars that’s a cross between a run-around and a people carrier. It’s not particularly wider or longer than a Punto, but it is taller, and better use is made of space to let it sit 4 comfortably and 5 at a bit of a squash, with plenty of boot space. The Punto on the other hand only really seats 2 comfortably, and 5 is a very friendly experience. It’s also a bit lacking on the old boot space (It is so annoying to have the take the wheels off the pushchair to fit in the boot).

The whole car buying experience leaves a bad taste in the mouth though. You feel like you could probably get a couple of hundred off if you bargained and were a hard customer – my attitude has been that if the deal seems fair I’m happy to run with it. And you basically have to trust the garage aren’t pulling a fast one in terms of the condition of the car. Still, it’s just lovely to drive, and everything works as far as I could tell.

The saddest thing of all? It cost slightly less than the Punto when we bought that 7 years ago!