Faults:

The car always worked fine for me, not one breakdown.

General Comments:

The folk who are stating fantastic 0-60 times are either mad or can't use a stop watch, this despite the GTI tag is not a quick car, hell the old RS turbo barely did 0-60 in 8 seconds and an RS would leave a GTI for dust.

The 140 mph top speed some have quoted well, they are lying, you'd need to regear the car, even if it had 1000bhp with ten turbos the gearing would prevent it from reaching 140 mph.

All Ford did with this model and indeed the later RS2000 was damage their reputation.

Faults:

Bought the car with a blowing exhaust, which has since been replaced with a chrome one and this has been fine since.

Since having the car, the only faults have been the air flow system, which was fixed in a matter of hours, and the motor for the drivers window packed up, but was fixed cheaply; I bought a new runner and motor from a scrap yard for £35, and easily fitted it myself.

General Comments:

I find this is the best car I have ever driven. The 1.8 litre engine gives out lots of power, and when tested it gave me 0-60mph in just under 9 seconds. I have never got all of the top speed, but have experienced 110mph in it, which was very easy and still a good ride.

There is lots of room inside, which is important for me being 6ft 4 and 16 stone. The seats also are more than satisfying.

Also when driving sensibly, I get a great return of just over 40mpg.

My car has been lowered by 60mm and is riding on low profile tyres, which give it a very sporty look.

Faults:

The serpentine belt slips off when I drive over puddles.

The car is not reliable. I have changed the tensioner three times in the last two years.

Whenever I drive it over a puddle, the water splashes into the area where the belt is located and it must be stopping one of the pulleys just long enough to damage the tensioner. The belt falls off and the battery light comes on.

The car continues to run but with no alternator, power steering, or coolant going to the engine.

The only place where this car is good is in the desert. Other than that it doesn't have too many other problems except for always needing ball joints and wheel bearings.

Faults:

Start motor not working time to time (turning the key again usually does the trick, so it's nothing serious).

The radio has stopped functioning three times, but removing and replacing the fuse and reprogramming the thing (takes around ten minutes) has remedied it every time.

Some relay has failed on a regular basis (every three and a half years), so the next failure can be predicted and the relay changed beforehand.

Braking heavily has made the thing jump off second gear into neutral time and again. Most likely associated with wear and tear the gearbox has taken (the car has been used to tow a light utility trailer).

Rear view mirror fell off after 10 years of staying where it should.

General Comments:

It's kind of small for an estate.

The 1.4l engine feels underpowered especially when the car is loaded with people and junk and/or during towing (as it often is, being an estate). Fuel consumption is about 30 mpg (8l/100km). Despite unsatisfactory acceleration, top speed should be quite decent at around 170km/h (105mph).

The seats are comfortable but provide little support. Suspension's on the wobblier side and power steering's too light. This is no sports car, and was never intended to be, so these problems should not be considered problems at all.

Interior space is adequate for a driver and three not overly large passengers nicely, but you can fit a third passenger in the rear seat somehow. There isn't much holders to put your stuff into in the back. Both doors have holders, but they are shallow and thus not very useful.