Faults:

The exhaust had a small hole in it at the last MOT (but it still passed), so I bought a kit from Halfords and it's been fine since. No other issues.

General Comments:

What an impressive car this has been! I've only had it for about a year, but it's been totally reliable.

I bought it with a Full Service History, so the cambelt was done and should be good until 200000 miles.

I did a lot of research before buying, and am always completely open minded about what make and model I buy. My priorities were that it had to be cheap to buy and cheap to run, and I haven't been disappointed. It's cheap to insure, does 60mpg on runs or 50mpg in mixed driving, and is very comfortable. There's loads of room and it's very practical. All back seats can be removed, which gives it the capacity of a small van.

On the down side, it's pig ugly. It looks OK from the back, but everywhere else it's the automobile equivalent of Anne Widdecombe.

The quality of the interior feels very cheap, although, to be fair, nothing has broken and everything is very hard wearing.

The ride is excellent, but the handling is floaty and it leans badly round the bends. The gear change is loose and imprecise. It has just about enough power, but you won't get a buzz from this car. Jeremy Clarkson hates them. This says everything you need to know. It's not an exciting car, it just does what it says on the tin. It's for getting from A to B (isn't that what cars are for?). If you want excitement, get a motorbike (my other car's a Triumph Thunderbird).

Faults:

The LCD display stopped working at 40K; was repaired and became half faulty after 100K again.

Gearbox gaiter became lose and began spinning at 60K and 120K.

Turbo stopped working at 140K.

Aircon stopped working at 160K. Dealer repaired it, but unusable due to exhaust smell coming into the cabin when the aircon was used.

Gearbox became stiff and worn after 160K.

ECU blew at 180K, new one put in by main dealer at cost of 1.3K.

ECU blew again at 200K, repaired again, but problem now with wiring loom, quoted repair cost 2k.

Vehicle now not worth repairing.

General Comments:

Car is not very well put together, the plastics and interior finish overall is very poor.

The driving position is unusual, with offset pedals.

The performance was never very good, but became worse as the miles went on.

The dealer network is very poor, and the car returned many occasions to rectify unfinished jobs.

Faults:

The back of the middle rear seat came off.

The digital air conditioning has become unreliable.

The ignition key jammed in the lock.

The dash lights and speed display unit failed.

The seatbelt post jammed.

General Comments:

We wanted a cheap to run shopping car with extras for the children.

We bought the exclusive model just to get the electric rear windows because this model provides a remote window lock. It is a very useful feature to stop your children opening windows on motorways.

The suspension is a bit on the soft side which while it does roll a little on corners (especially at speed)makes the car very comfortable.

While it has plenty of power, it does suffer a bit from turbo lag which makes it feel slow on acceleration. Once moving the engine pulls very strongly and becomes quite punchy. The Picasso can be a good performer on motorways.

The fuel economy is excellent, with only high speed driving really making a lot of difference.

It has 4 stars on the car safety test which means it is good on safety.

The load space on the Picasso is good with all the seats in use and without them it is enormous. We were able to get a lot of shopping in the boot plus a dishwasher with the two kids in their seats!

If only it didn't loose so much money in depreciation! I really like this car, my wife really chose it but I'm glad she did. It is cheap to run, great to drive and does everything asked of it well.

I don't really understand the 1.6 HDi with over boost when they have a great 2.2 litre 110bhp diesel in the C5. This engine with automatic transmission would make the Picasso just about perfect.