It's amazing what nice new door trims do for the looks Chris and I've got to agree, it looks brilliant
Sorry to hear about the MOT. Sounds like it was not the best place to go to if he really does have a thing against them. I stopped using an MOT place here for exactly the same reason; he declared that despite giving a pass he hated Citroens with a passion and like yours he used a number of obscure and obscene profanities in the conversation; some that would even make Chris570 blush
The garage who does my MOTs nowadays is an old-school one and the MOT tester used to own an XM and loves them.
I'll be you'll find the exhaust is perfect and that was just a bit of spite on the tester's part because he could not fault the car. On a diesel, leaks are almost always given away by soot and it has to be bad to fail outright - the MOT tester can exercise discretion for minor blows/leak in the form of an advisory.
So, I guess we won't be seeing him in the recommended garages section then...
Just a word of caution: it is alleged that some insurance companies void insurance cover if an MOT fail certificate is issued even though the current certificate remains valid.
There was a piece on it in this month's issue of the Morris Marina Appreciation Society Magazine, otherwise known as Practical Classics. I think it's a right old comic but it does occasionally have the odd shaft of wit in there. Another piece this month reports that all road tax is going on to fuel any time soon so in light of that it may be worth trying to cautiously confirm independently the truth or otherwise of the statement they made about insurance cover and MOT fail certificates.