Faults:

Heated rear window did not get warm when first bought, found and fixed defective electrical connector.

Timing belt slipped a few teeth not long after purchasing, stalled and refused to start. Compression test thankfully showed valves were OK, £250 for timing belt change.

Since then, no real problems over six years and 45k miles. Two new exhaust backboxes, front pads and discs, sunroof motor stopped working.

Radiator support tray is corroding according to the MOT advisories, but hasn't failed on that yet.

One rear wheel bearing replaced at 129000 miles.

General Comments:

Very comfortable car and easy to drive. Hatchback good for large loads with the seats down. Overall I'm very happy with it.

Paid £2000 in 2004, just been offered £200 trade-in. Seemed to offer more features for the money on a car of this age (air con, remote central locking), although of course these now seem to be more standard. Insurance (group 7) is cheap for a car of this size.

Faults:

Airbag warning light on.

Nearside rear door lock inop on central locking.

Intermittent wipe inop.

Driver's door exterior handle wouldn't open door (twice)

Driver's door wouldn't latch closed (about 4-5 times)

General Comments:

I bought this car in the motor trade for £250 as I was giving up a co. car and it came in p/x cheap.

What a buy!!

It always started first turn of the key (quicker than my wife's '05 Saab!) and never let me down once.

Good points were that the ride was fantastic (it could teach newer cars on their 18" alloys and sport suspension a trick or two), handling was a lot better than I thought it would be (ie :it actually gripped and went round corners rather than tipping over and skidding off them--owning a Renault 11 once tainted my views I think!), and it has a lot of cabin space with a big boot (essential for my dog and wife's horse riding kit)

However, by todays standards the kit count was pretty crap, a 5 grand Kia probably has more as standard, although I was impressed by the fact it had remote audio controls!

Performance was in the "you'll get there in the end category", and overtaking required about a mile of road and lots of prayer!!

Overall though about as cheap as motoring gets (bearing in mind an X-box 360 costs more!)

It averaged 32 mpg and all I put on it were x4 new tyres when bought, at £32 a corner.

My wife has now annihalated it by crashing into a parked car round the corner from our house!!

Food for thought though--she crashed offset front into an '04 Laguna (a 5 star euro ncap car) at about 20 mph, my Laguna wouldn't start, the passenger front door was hard to open, the bumper was pushed into the wheel so you couldn't turn the steering wheel, it was generally trashed. The newer car had a smashed headlamp and minor bumper damage!! Had she been going faster and smacked into a new car I dread to think, maybe spending those pennies and buying something a bit newer is a good idea (this goes for all you older Mondeo, Vectra owners as well, they all score the same 2.5 stars on Euroncap!)

Faults:

Rear brake cylinders leaked after 156k, cost £60 to fix including rear drums.

Ignition coil went resulting in a misfire, cost £40 to fix.

Heated screen stopped working due to burned out wire, piece of cake to repair.

Failed MOT on drivers side ball joint, which cost £8 for the part then I fixed it myself, (with the help of a mate!)

Apart from that, no other faults for a car I have owned and used daily for over a year, even with the high miles!

General Comments:

This car has been great for the time I have owned it, starts first time everytime with no effort at all. The above faults didn't break the bank at all, and the car just seems to go on and on!!

The engine and gearbox are still running fine, 2.0 engine is nippy and quick when you need it to be (unlike unreliable 1.8 engines). I change the oil every 4k just to keep it sweet!!

All electrics work as they should, apart from the heated rear screen (which I hardly use anyway), but this was easily fixed with 20 minutes - two wires meet at a junction box in the boot, they had just burnt out where they meet, so I cut the ends off, and reconnected them using a block connector, job done.

The cabin is roomy and attractive with a good layout of the controls. It's a very comfortable car, so comes in handy for those long journeys! The boot is massive and there's plenty of room in the back.

All in all, a very good car, far better looking than the Vectra, Pug 406 and Mondeo, would definitely buy another.