Very good value car with no pretensions

‘Doctor on the Road’: Skoda Scala

Functional family transport like this may not excite the enthusiastic driver, but the similarly sized Audi A3 shares the engine, transmission and many other parts and will cost you 35-40% more. Dr Tony Rimmer reports.

There are many times when simplicity and straightforwardness win the day. For instance, if your clinic needs a new piece of equipment, then you go for something that does the job efficiently and is good value for money. 

So long as the quality is acceptable, there is no more to do. Business balance sheets work without emotions; pragmatism and practicality guide all decision-making.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, we humans use additional and different criteria when we spend money on personal items like our individual transport. We become susceptible to matters of style, performance and brand image that often means that we spend much more than is sensible for our vehicles.

So I thought that I would investigate the popular family hatchback market for a car that should do every­thing you need it to do, but costs a lot less. Do you, as a buyer, suffer in any way from making this financially sensible decision?