1997 Citroen ZX SX from UK and Ireland - Comments

Idle control actuator faulty when I bought the car.

Rear light bulbs go fairly frequently.

This is my first car, and what a first car. Although not startlingly fast, its performance is more than adequate for me, as I'm only 17. It still surprises some people, and sounds great too. Needs revving to get the best out of it, though, which isn't a problem because it sounds good up the rev range.

The seats are very comfortable with good support.

The ride is not as refined as some, but is better than most cars of this size. Not as smooth as hydro-equipped Citroens, but it's still very impressive.

There is lots of body roll in the corners, but the car grips and grips, and lets you push on very nicely. Tendency for the back end to go slippery if you lift off mid-way through. But generally the handling is brilliant - it's a fun car to drive.

Equipment is excellent for what I paid, with PAS, electric front windows & electric sunroof, body coloured bumpers, front fog lights and an airbag.

Engine can run out of puff on the motorway if there's a few people in the car, needing a change down, but other than that it's a great cruiser, there's no shake or body vibration and the car will mix it with the big Audi's and BMW's in the outside lane. With just me on board she accelerates from 60-80mph quite quickly (not that I've ever done that sort of speed on our British motorways ;) )

Very good value - bought the car for £2700 and it still only has 27k on the clock with a full service history. I don't know of many other cars which can offer that sort of value.

The best bit is this car is so underrated. It's nippy, comfy, fun to drive, good value for money, and well equipped, if a bit dated to look at. The problem is its image - but if you can't see past that, you'd be missing out on a heck of a lot.

Just an update: the car has now done 34k miles, I've owned it for 9 months and I'm now selling it for a bigger car. In the time I've owned it it's never let me down once, always started first time, never broken down, and always impressed. A good car, I would buy another without hesitation.