Thank heavens for sensible wives and girlfriends eh? If it wasn't for my own long suffering girlfriend, I may have bought a 2000 Ford Mondeo 2.0 Ghia X with a partial history - rare in itself at this end of the market - featuring leather, electric and heated seats, climate control and so on. Pretty much all that the Lexus has, just that bit more involving to drive. With an NCT until February 2013 and tax until the end of the month, plus four new tyres, it's incredible value at €500. This is a automobile that would have cost over…

After the fiasco with the Fiat, this week has been divided between the Lexus and the Renault. The Lexus has reminded me just how refined it is. It is not perfect, not by a long way - in fact at motorway speeds some irritating wind noise creeps in through the passenger side rear window rubber. While it is an annoyance one can either slow down a bit or turn up that high powered premium sound system.

But shock horror - something is not working on this paragon of reliability. The cigarette lighter that powers my satnav system has stopped…

It passed! First time. Straight through and no advisory whatsoever. The few checks beforehand to make sure all the lights (including the often forgotten rear number plate lights) were working probably helped to ensure it wasn't going to fail on any silly points such as a bulb out or no screen-wash in the reservoir.

I also put on two new front tyres at €40 each as they had about 1.6mm of tread depth left - the limit - so better safe than sorry there and it would be a false economy to leave them while that worn anyway. They…

I couldn't resist getting behind the wheel of the Seicento and giving it a run over this last week to see how it performs as a second or starter automobile for someone motoring the bangernomics way. I have to say it is actually surprisingly nippy - especially in the lower gears and up to 80km/h.

Hard cornering, should you get too enthusiastic, does result in understeer, but it is easily controlled. The brakes are fine around town, but do require a bigger shove to stop if you are in more of a hurry and are probably the one area…

While much of the motoring world's attention will soon switch to Paris for the biennial Mondial de l'Automobile much of Ireland's attention will instead turn to Heathpark in New Ross, County Wexford for the National Ploughing Championships.

The two-day event has grown from strength to strength in recent years and now forms an important part of the automotive as well as agricultural calendar. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles will again act as the official motoring sponsor of the event with 15 Amarok double-cab pick-ups on hand to ferry organisers and personnel over the 700-acre site the Championships take place on.

Imagine you are two days away from starting your holiday. A holiday that will see you travel a total distance of over 2,000km in a week. Now imagine returning to your automobile to find that, since leaving it parked up for just a few hours, someone has reversed into it, smashing a headlight, pushing out the wing and marking the corner of the bumper. Yes, that's how I returned to find the Clio. I probably did use up my vocabulary of expletives at that moment.

With it being a weekend and my departure being a 4am start I had…