Faults:

Only thing so far, is for some reason the gearstick gaiter surround broke off??? No idea why, but easily fixed with a nicer one.

General Comments:

Just stepped up from a 1.2 Punto, which rattled and rolled all over the damn place to this, a fast responsive car that is reliable and starts every time.

The handling is superb, although it does catch you out. 30mph seems like you're walking through wherever you're going, and a gentle tap on the go pedal will see you at 40 in a click of a finger.

When you get on the motorway though, and truly open her up, you soon disappear down the road, and the car doesn't struggle hitting 80 in third. It goes more, but that's down to the driver.

The interior is OK. Would be nice if it had a leather as standard, but we can't have it all. The dials are perfect. Showing up white in the day, and by the night, black with white numbers.

I haven't had this car long, but it's lost no oil, has made me endlessly happy, and has caused the girlfriend to go green on several times.

Anyway, if you want something you'll rarely see out on the road, this is it. Make a Golf GTI driver jealous, and get a car that isn't everywhere and shoved down your throat.

Faults:

Brake Pads replaced at 89,000 miles.

Apart from that nothing!

General Comments:

This car has been in my family since new. My father ran it for 3 years and I have for the remaining 4 years.

The car was pre-registered with 5 miles on and cost £10,500 new and is probably worth about £1000 now with 100,000 miles.

The 1.4 litre engine is quite perky around town and adequate for the car. It is certainly better than the 1.6 8v engine in the equivalent VW Golf. Most of the power is at the high end of the rev range, but it is easy to access as the engine revs freely. On the motorway it is fine up to the legal limit. Exceed that however, and it starts to get quite noisy. There also seems to be a 'flat spot' between 70 and 80mph where the car doesn't really want to accelerate. The car also doesn't like to be loaded with people, which to be honest is nothing different to any other car with the same size engine.

The gear box is very 'precise.' My previous Vauxhall Corsa's gearbox was very slow and forgiving, whereas you can easily be selecting 5th when you want 3rd in the Almera. The clutch is very light, and again more 'precise' than the one in the Corsa.

Fuel economy isn't great considering it is mostly only me in the car and mainly motorway trips. A mix of about 70% motorway (at about 85mph) and 30% town and dual carriageway driving I get an average of 35mpg.

The seats and quite firm and on a long journey you sometime end up with numb behind, although this isn't really a problem in daily driving. The ride is quite firm, but in no way uncomfortable.

The interior is an expanse of boring black plastic; however, it is well laid out and after 100k miles, has no rattles and squeaks. Despite looking much better my mothers Golf of the same year has an abundance of rattles after 68,000 miles.

It is unbelievably reliable. Touch wood, nothing has gone wrong with it - it's still on it's original battery, although with the cold weather we're having now it may need replacing.

I didn't choose this car. I had a Vauxhall Corsa for 2 months before it was written off (someone elses fault I should add) and was given this by my father. To be honest, I would have never have chosen it. As a 21 year old it is not the kind of car a young person would have. I would like a Golf, but after my mothers experience with hers, I will look elsewhere.

However, if all you are after a no nonsense car that will get you from A to B with the minimum of fuss then I would recommend it.