Residents of the UK will know Stelios Haji-Iannou...or simply "Stelios" very well. He's the man behind EasyJet, EasyCar, Easythis, Easythat and (the real thing) Easyeverything. Dot Com. He's deservervedly very rich, but he is also Captain Cheapo - or Mr Nice guy. He speaks good value, at any rate. We just tend to dislike EasyJet, however often we might tend to use it. Personally, I'm not guilty in that respect and, anyway....this is a review of his car rental business, which - in my humble opinion - is really superb. Read on!

EasyCar are cheap. Extraordinarily cheap! 5 days' hire of a Mercedes A-class (a really superb compact car) with fewer than 5,000 miles on the odometer surely ought to have cost more than UKP 48. A LOT more. (I guess that's about $70). I booked on-line. I blinked in utter disbelief, but it was true. We're talking about a very high-quality car at an absolutely unbelievably cheap price.

As long as you spend a few extra bucks on their extended insurance, there really isn't a catch - but you really MUST do this if you want to sleep at night.

There was apparently NO WAY we could pick up the car 45 minutes early. The car was sitting there, amidst hundreds of others, but the computer system just wouldn't allow it to be released a minute early. Blame a combination of Stelios' business acumen and Bill Gates' technology. We were told to wait. Silly, really, but no great problem. We strolled around the compound with baby Josh in his stroller, where there were literally hundreds of clean Mercedes A-class cars of every description. Some of their bases offer rather cute "Smart cars", but otherwise you'll always get a Mercedes A-class of some type, and there's really nothing at all wrong with that! From the basic "Classic" to the up-market "Avant-Garde", petrol....diesel, red, green, blue, silver......every variant you could ever think of, they have it. What you actually get allocated is, however, something of a gamble. The A-class is a really nice, trendy car (OK, it once failed the infamous Scandinavian Elk-test but (a) that problem has since apparently been corrected and (b) we didn't even once encounter any wayward elks, even in the highlands of Scotland) and it's great fun to drive; it is extremely comfortable and it suits young children just fine. It's small on the outside and big (comparable to the C-class) on the inside. It's a driver's car...and a passenger's car. The access to the rear seat is at a high, easily accessible level and makes installing a baby-seat an absolute doddle. We had brought our own baby car seat - EasyCar simply don't supply them - take note if this is important to you. Far better than my own Peugeot 206 GTi as far as child-friendliness is concerned, if a lot less gutsy.

And what was the question they asked first in the allocation process? You'll NEVER guess! Well, here goes...."What colour would you like?" Ye Gads! I stuttered, disbelieving....."It really doesn't matter......no....green". I'd gazed through the window and seen one in green. It looked nice. The clerk in the bright orange shirt that typifies the Easy Empire typed this information into the computer and my fate was instantly sealed. "Could I possibly have an Avant-garde version with a reasonably large engine?" (translates as "please give me the best car you've got"), I whispered. Nope! The only car they had in green was the basic A140 Classic, and the computer had already allocated it. Lovely to look at, but seriously underpowered....as we soon found when we climbed up the beautiful, but steep, mountains in the highlands of Scotland at a snail's pace, en-route for baby Josh's great-grandparents' home. I don't really know what to advise fellow customers in this respect - once you define a colour (and how very, very silly is that?) your choice seems to be pre-determined. Try going for red! Or, maybe, silver.

Bottom line: Great car. Clean car. Efficient, if slightly bizarre, business operation. Absolutely incredible price. If you intend to put a million miles on the clock, you'll pay through the nose; mileage allowances are certainly not generous. We had planned our tour carefully and got a great price for the convenience. As long as you pay extra for the insurance you'll have a great time in a fantastic, clean, new car. If you don't, you'll spend your time worrying about the huge expense of paying for a potential accident, whoever happens to be to blame. Remember that we drive on the left in the UK; all the more reason to insure yourself if you're not used to that! And - NO - I didn't crash the car; nor did I worry about it; I had insurance!