If the Mezzo was a car it would be French..... their cars are efficient at transporting people from A to B but their designs are incredibly boring and ugly. The nearest thing to anything stylish and good looking was the old Citroen DS (which was styled by Italian sculptor).
A woman friend of mine had a Renault Savanah about ten years ago. It was the worst most unreliable car I have ever had any dealings with. It would stop in traffic for no good reason, the method of attaching the battery was truly grotesque and it would regularly fail to start because the connection was so flaky. It cost her a fortune and the RAC were sick to death of her calling them out when she was broken down somewhere with three little kids in the back. Then her mother bought a neat little Peugeot sports car thing and the moulding surrounding the gear stick came off when she changed gear one day. That was a brand new car. I wouldn 't touch a French car with a barge pole. Germans now - they know how to make a car. Check out that Audi diesel that wins the LeMans 24 hour sports car race every year now on Youtube. It is a revelation. All the other cars are screaming around making a noise that would deafen you and this thing just purrs by at about 3000 revs going Wooooorrrooooom and leaving them all in the dust.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuNtw5XbxJg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChGGWY_CwO0&NR=1
I'm a great diesel fan. I'd never go back to spark ignition having had one. I get fantastic mileage out of mine - 55+ MPG around the city. It is all about thermodynamics and the new ultra high pressure, computer controlled injection systems.