A tale of two halves one quite positive and the other sheer frustrating - Here is a modern, airy and attractive 5 door hatchback. I bought it from a Citroen franchised dealer with less than 20,000 miles. A March 2005 Desire model with air con. So far so good its been reliable, economical and cheap to tax.

Where it lets itself down is the trim quality. The plastic roof trim on the roof (for the roof rails if fitted) is raising up on both sides, a plastic trim closure underneath the steering wheel can't shut properly and there is a really annoying wind noise on the driver window side when the car is going over 40 mph (probably a badly fitted rubber beading seal).

That said it is overall a well designed car and can seat 4 adults in comfort with a fifth at a squeeze. My take on the car is it is a modern version of the ubiquitous Morris 1000; which was a real practical classic of its day. The boot area is small but with the rear seats down it will take a surprisingly large amount as I found out when I had to clear my late mothers possessions.

When being driven it is relatively high up so the handling is not 'sports car' low nevertheless is quite grippy and as a male I would describe this vehicle as an ideal 'womans car' indeed it was my wife who chose it and liked the driving position and fascia layout. I don't say this to be condescending; the car looks good and as we've only owned it since late July 2007 for me the jury is still out on longer term reliability.

I want to praise this car but something doesn't let me, I have the 'r' word nagging in the back of my mind - reliability - is it going to be reliable and my suspicion is that with a Japanese car of the same mileage and year I wouldn't be feeling so apprehensive. Time will tell. However, it is like a family member; sort of cute and a bit cheeky and really quite endearing in a Gallic sort of a way; just off to buy some Bordeaux and Brie. Au revoir.