Well, after a couple of round trips to Scotland with one hand steering and one on the lever to stop the rattle, I finally had to bite the bullet on this one and get it checked. So, having been assessed a couple of weeks ago, it's now in the garage for up to a week for "further investigation". Now running around in a 2 (sadly, not the new one). Just hope I don't have to go too far in it...
On a separate note, noticed that my dealer (Chambers, Tamworth) has changed all it's branding from Chambers Mazda to Chambers Hyundai. They have always had those two marques, plus Peugeot, so not sure why the change - they were a bit evasive about it when I asked why? Last time I saw that happen was when I had my Forester and the dealer was stripped of the Subaru franchise.
Alan