I got two slick, modern new'uns in last year, as part of my prettyfying of the house before I sell it. One is a "compact" cistern job for my own personal use off the bedroom. They are both Italian, I think, and I don't know if it's anything to do with the mediterranean diet, but they aren't as wide at the bendy bit! The one in my "en suite" has bordered on the wire coathanger treatment a couple of times. It also has this weird plastic float and mechanism thing in it, (it works on dual flush buttons from the top), and it's constantly dribbling down into the pan, even after I have had a good poke around. However, despite having a very small capacity, compared with the trad English version downstairs, it somehow mostly seems to do the job reasonably well. The other new one has a lever.

By the way, anyone worked out why the German toilets all have a shelf in the pan?

Andrea