ABzstilo - the route to madness

OK, so 2010 is now well under way and the silver beastie did bloody well in the 'big' weather - there may be more of that, so I won't say it's done yet! - those nice Vredestein Quatrac 3 tyres I bunged on did a grand job and I didn't get stuck in the snow.
Having now tempted fate the next time the snow comes I'll doubtless get stuck
Anyway, I think I've got a bearing on the way out..... there's a nasty noise coming from somewhere on the car which makes that expensive ...

Ahhh yes, the Stilo. Nice car, fiddly to fix though - well, some of it.
It was brought home to me yesterday (whilst stuck at Liverpool airport with time to kill) that, on the whole, I don't really like most of the hire cars I've had of late.
The list in the last 12 months include Ford (Focus), Vauxhall (Astra & Insignia), Volkswagen (Golf TDI), Peugeot (308) and a Toyota whose name I forget. Arseis or something.
They were dull, very dull and just plain pants.
Yesterday ...