Faults:

Rear wiper and rear defroster worked intermittently, fixed for a song.

General Comments:

A very reliable car. Except the details mentioned above, everything runs fine. Of course, it doesn't have much that could break down, as even the windows are manual, but it is one of the reason why I preferred buying an 8-year-old car over a newer car that would also have been more expensive to buy and run. Except the front tires (and oil and filters every 10000 km, of course), I haven't changed any parts.

The seats are comfortable enough for long stretches and the fuel economy is alright for such an old diesel engine. It returns about 5.3l/100 km (about 55 GB mpg or 45 US mpg I think). During a trip across Poland while on holiday, it even returned less than 4.5l/100 in over 1500 km!

On the downside, it's a really slow car and I seldom try overtaking trucks on two-lane roads... Mountain roads can be quite a pain and the car start slowing down as soon as it SEES a rise on the highway... Anyway, I've got another car to have fun with, so it's not too much of a bother for me.

Faults:

The only thing I've had to do on the car was the cam belts, fan belt and the reverse switch (from gearbox to light). No big problems.

General Comments:

I like how this car drives, considering the first driving school car I learned in was a Diesel Fiesta. They drive nice and easy and the bite on the clutch is very pronounced. Very helpful if your like me and you've just passed your test and are still a bit iffy with clutches in general.

The car is still quite nippy for a Diesel, probably because it's a 1.8. I don't have to worry about joining a junction for example. So far I can get about 300 miles out of a tank of diesel. Is this pretty average? Please let me know.

The interior is a lovely pale purple colour, I'm just grateful it wasn't all black. The seats are firm, but quite comfortable. There's loads of space in the front even if your approaching 6ft. There's not a great deal of space in the back. But the boot is a good size, more than enough for shopping. And the all-round view around the car is good, there's no real parts that are obstructing your view if your doing maneuvers.

I just hope when the MOT comes along in January that it's not going to break my bank.

Just a shame that because of the age of the car the diesel engines tax is £90 for 6 months : (

But I've had this car 8 days and I love it ^_^ I couldn't of found a better 1st car.

Faults:

The boot does not work and also the heater blows out cold air.

It is in the garage right now having the brake shoes replaced.

General Comments:

I would like to know if anyone else has had a problem with the boot button, or is there a knack to opening it ie: is there some sort of dead lock on it. Or is it just bust.

Faults:

I needed a raley fitted.

I had a new timing belt at 60,000 miles.

General Comments:

The car is extremely quick off the mark and is good at maintaining speed.

The sport seats re very comfortable.

I love the interior of the car.

The car is very reliable.

Faults:

Both front windows needed attention when they slipped down and fell out when I opened the window. Could not get it back up again without it falling out!

Fuel sender needed changing as petrol gage was all over the place, however this did not really solve the problem.

Main problems being bad earths. First time the car had been running fine. I stopped for 5 minutes and when I went to go again, the lights flicked on and off, the petrol and temperature gages went right over to more than full and more than red! The back window wiper came on whilst the front tried to crawl up, and the fan wouldn't work whilst the window wipers were on! This was a bad connection with the earth strap connected to the gear box, which being fair, was said to be a result of a clutch change!

Most recent, earth again. Left work, again fine. Stopped for 5 minutes when I came back, the back window wiper came on permanently, no matter what I done! Front crawled up. Lights flicked on and off, temperature and petrol gages right over again, indicators wouldn't work and fan wouldn't kick in. Fans wouldn't work either. This resulted in 2 and a half days in the garage riffling through the wires. In the end it turned out to be another bad earth under the carpet this time!

General Comments:

This car is a very nippy little car and apart from the bad earths there's not a lot wrong with it. However these faults resulted in not being able to use my car whilst they were being dealt with!