thanks for the comments positive and negative guys !
St3ph3n, to answer or discuss your comments... tbh one of the purposes for the Leggy is towing a horse trailer (since the good old Saab went to the big scrap yard in the sky) as well as a bit of fun for me, taking the dog out, getting the bikes into and possibly towing a speedboat in the summer something "a bit turbo" was out of the question overall £'s wise. The sale of the forester had to buy 2 cars.
Another HUGE factor was the very very cheap price for a 2001 car with 54k and FSH (and all the toys) that I bought it for, was an opportunity I grabbed with both hands.
The 2.5 NA is actually very very capable and other than possibly an Audi A4 estate (which would have been well out of the budget) is by far one of the best estate cars on the market IMHO particular with the level of equipment v £'s purchase price and reliability factor( I have had one previously and put 80k miles on it in two years without fault) so had something to base the purchase on .
Anyway, as you say if i'm happy who gives a Falkirk what others think
Cheers
Gus