I've posted a few messages already, but thought I'd pop in here and introduce myself officially

I currently drive a Vauxhall Zafira 1.6 motobility lease hire vehicle - My daugher (now 22 yrs old) is severely mentally and physically handicapped, so although the Zafira is a gutless wonder (o-60 in about 3 months), it does everything that we need.... But I'm getting sick and tired of motobility finance constantly wanting repairs done immediately, rather than leaving minor stuff until it's near the end of the hire agreement - My car needs a lot of minor scratches sorting, which I'm happy to do, but would prefer to leave it until a month or so before the vehicle was due for change as mine seems to attract the dumb supermarket parkers like flies! You know the idiots that prang your car when it's parked and the promptly drive off leaving you with the bill!
Anyway, because of all that, I've been giving serious consideration to buying my own car again after a break of 15 years.... Only two cars really appealled to me in my £4000 maximum price bracket, the Vauxhall Omega and the Volvo V70.
The V70 is a lovely car, but my £4000 would only get me an early one, and the front tyre wear and other issues put me off it - Reliabilty is my prime concern, so why go for a car thats 10 years old when I can buy an Omega that's only 4-5 years old?
So it looks like the decision is made, thanks to the people on here who have been extremely generous in answering my basic questions - Cheers guys!
I have a year to find the car I really want, so I'm not in a position of having to buy the first one that comes along - I have the luxury of being able to take my time and choose the best I can find in that time....
Anyway, enough or this will get boring!
Thanks to everyone for the real welcome I've received in the few days I've been here..
Regards
Eddy