1994 Citroen ZX Reflex review from UK and Ireland

Not a huge amount. The indicator flasher unit blew (£30 fitted from my local friendly garage), and the dashboard lights have all gone which is seriously annoying.

There's a nasty clonking noise coming from the near side wheel arch whenever you corner to the right, which I suspect may be due to a worn CV joint.

There's a strong smell of petrol/engine fumes whenever you have the fan on if the car is stationary, this is probably a broken breather.

The rear wiper assembly is dangerously loose.

The seats are fairly comfortable although they lack back support which you notice after about 1 hour of driving.

The steering wheel is slightly off center to the left and the pedals slightly to the right, again this causes discomfort after about an hour. Add to this an utterly crap radio, no electric anything and annoying seat sliding mechanism that doesn't lock properly meaning that you go flying backwards when you put your foot down - very dangerous!

The interior is pleasant if a little cheap and plastic, but that's a Citroen trade mark. The paint work is badly faded (Citroen seem to use cheap red paint, the other colours are OK) but as usual, the bodywork has no rust.

I find the lack of performance frustrating after the mighty straight five 2.3 litre Audi Coupe I used to own before a biker trashed it for me. However, once you get a good head of steam up, the old girl trundles along quite nicely, the engine will take a good beating with no complaints, but the gear box is crap. I find it very hard to drive the car smoothly, the accelerator and clutch are like on/off switches and the steering (no PAS) is very heavy for such a small car. Watch out for the handling though, it might catch you out.

I bought the car as a cheap run around, I do 72 miles a day in it to and from work. The poor thing gets beaten to death, but always starts first time, costs me nothing to run and is reasonably nice to drive.

I've had 4 AX's and a Saxo before this ZX and they're all the same: Cheeky, cheap, nippy and neat. For sensible boring reliability, this car is the chap.