I agree with your comment. I have run Peugeot cars since the 80's; clocking up in excess of 500,000 miles, and before that owned Fords, MG's and GM's. Peugeot diesels are the best, I have found that they only start to come on song around the 170k mark, with all of the cars I have owned the clutch lasts for at least 140k, and one of the cars was a driving schools car - no Ford would ever come close to that! Ford went to Peugeot for their superior Diesel engine to put in the the new Ford Focus, Rover did the same. No one can beat a Peugeot for handling either. French cars are no better or worse than any others in my experience in running cost or reliability. In any case Peugeot makes cars in the UK so they aren't any different from American owned Ford or GM, look at American cars - poorly finished, heavy and often use 30 or 40 year old tech. for their solutions. The 505 was the only car that could survive the conditions in 3rd world countries, all others fell apart. The cost of parts are also no different from others and who can complain about a annual main service with MOT at main dealer for £119 all in? If a shuttle spaceship can go wrong with all its Billions of Dollars spent building it, then its must be appreciated that a humble mass produced motorcar with its 1000's of individual components will breakdown or go faulty on the very odd occasion - just live with it or ride a push-bike!