There were three fixed requirements for the new car. In order of importance
1/ The right seat height and width from seat edge to sill to let the wife get in and out without too much pain.
2/ Automatic (the wife can't drive a manual)
3/Enough space in the back for the dog (Alsation Huskey cross).
Unfortunatly Fiat don't have anything in the UK that meets 1/ let alone all 3.
The Fremont would be perfect (I had a Dodge Journey) but they don't sell it in the UK and an antipodean personal import did not seem viable.
The Outlander ticks all three boxes and has the additional advantages of being a plug in hybrid and all wheel drive. It's quite long but actually 25mm narrower then the wifes Focus estate.
We hae been quietly looking at various cars, not just Outlanders for a few months. This one looked good apart from the colour, white. It was at a prestiege car dealership and priced about average. They then dropped the price £3000 and it became the first choice.
It's a 2016 model year on a '65 plate with 28,000 miles, not ex-lease and pretty much fully loaded, leather, LED headlights, winter pack, 360 cameras, sunroof, MMC (audio and Nav) trim pack etc. My commute is 11 miles each way and I can charge it for free at work so my commute fuel cost has droped to zero. Long distance motorway fuel consumption looks like it will be about the same as the Focus (2.0 petrol automatic).
The Outlander drives very nicely and all in all I'm very pleased with it.
Robert G8RPI.