Before someone accuses me of being on an anti VW rant, let me say that infernal and persistent dashboard rattles are not exclusively VW. Look on Google and Toyotas, Fords and Honda Civics appear on the first few pages.

But my 05 plate Golf 1.9TDI is a rattle trap. I would say it is bordering on the unacceptable. My Bora, a much older car, was a lot better.

A friend of our has a Volvo. It's an 06 plate with 30,000 miles. We get regular lifts in this car. It is completely, and I mean completely, rattle free. So much so I remarked on it last night and was told that the car had never rattled since day one and neither had her previous Volvo.

So it is possible to manufacture a rattle free car.

Can anyone explain why VW cannot do this? Our neighbours hired a Polo on holiday last year and reckoned it rattled more than their 11 year old Avensis. So much so, they got the hire car company to change it.