Compact and bijoux ...

I've been back in the UK for the weekend and, as I do frequently, hired a car to drive home and then back to the airport.

Normally I book the car separately, but for this journey, into London Gatwick, I got a deal from Easyjet to include car rental through Europcar, a company I have had good service from when renting at Heathrow.

To keep the costs down, I booked a 2 or 4 door compact car, expecting a small Ford or similar. However, when I collected the keys, they were for a Citroen. I've not had great experience with that marque before, so was not expecting to enjoy the drive, but hey, it's only for a few hours. I was even more surprised when I went out to the parking bay and found that my ride was one of these pictured, a C4 Grand Picasso, 7 seat MPV. Compact it is not, but it was all that was left and time was pressing, so I set off.

I've joked with my wife before that with the number of cars I am renting, perhaps I should start reviewing some of them for the blog. I think, though, that might cause several readers to go and check out something more interesting. In short, this was a surprisingly good drive, the car handled very well, the diesel engine was lively and responsive, delivering around 44mpg for the weekend and, should I ever be looking for a seven seat vehicle, I would consider it. Of course, as I already have a seven seater, my Land Rover Discovery, I don't think it will be an immediate purchase.

When I returned the car, I was pleased that I had paid the few pounds extra to reduce the insurance excess to zero. Pulling into the filling station, I managed to scrape the rear nearside wing on one of the metal poles designed to avoid people driving into the pumps. Perhaps if I had been given a compact as ordered, that wouldn't have happened!