Vaughnt I agree with what your saying apart from the Citroen bit, I worked as a salesman for Citroen for nearly 2 years and they aint as bad as they used to be, some of the technology they use would suprise you.

Iirc the Ford TDCI and Peugeot/Citroen HDI engine are the same/very very similar units, I have seen old shape Citroen C5s, Xsara Picassos and Citroen ZX with over 300k on them and only had routine servicing.

Im with you on the Alfa Romeo bit though lol!