Oh and i got free floormats too....

My Ford KA is great.

She is 1.3 and nippy as hell. Sleek black, air conditioning, 2 doors and a CD player. I have now reached the 3 year dilemma. She is paid off, do I keep her and run her in to the ground or do I change her in for something shiny and new?  It is so hard to resist the pull of a new car or a new mobile phone (maybe the next blog?). I think I may have been a magpie in a previous life, oh the new shiny things!

Where do you start when picking your new vehicle. The very vehicle which will help you look cool and attract males at traffic lights. I only have a £3k deposit, not a lot but enough for what I need. I start off with Ford and consider upgrading to a new Focus. They have many 'extras' that could be useful, but they soon add up to way beyond my budget. I have since discovered my granddad bought one, the new style has a lot to answer for - yuk!

How about Renault? I could see myself nipping round town in a Clio. Speedy, sporty and reasonably priced. My boyfriend decides parts are very expensive if and when things go wrong, so I keep searching.

My friend Miriam has got a new company car, a Skoda Fabia 1.4 Diesel, 4 door in black. It looks pretty cool and I think I might want one, but am not sure I can overlook the fact it is a Skoda. The staff at the showroom are friendly, but strangely all wearing cardigans and I decide that although the word 'sport' is emblazoned on the side, I am just not ready!

I would love to have a VW Golf but they are so pricey. I pop in to look at the VW Polo anyway. It is quite pricey even with absolutely no 'extras'. When I ask for floor mats to be throw in, the sales rep nearly chokes.

A little birdie tells me the VW chassis are the same as Seats, the Ibiza being equivalent to the VW Polo. I have never really heard about Seat much, although I think everyone can relate to 'Auto Emocion' these days. I locate my nearest Seat Garage on the Kent Business Directory and take a trip to Maidstone.

The sales guy is completely useless but it doesn’t matter as I am hooked. The Ibiza is gorgeous. I can have climate control, power steering, central locking, metallic paint, CD player and ABS for 9K, bargain!

I have picked the colour and have all but handed them the keys to my Ford KA but I decide to get my friend Miriam to see what she thinks of the colour. Thank goodness she did as I would have made a very expensive mistake.

I always wanted a dark grey, gunmetal coloured car and Seat had one called grey. This should really be renamed brown or tan! Miriam and I discovered Pearl Blue, otherwise known as gunmetal grey! Perfect!

The deal was done and my new Seat Ibiza was delivered with 4 miles on the clock and I was full of 'Auto Emocion'.

Oh and I got free floor mats too!