Faults:

Nothing so far.

General Comments:

Very spacious for such a small car, 4 adults sit comfortably with plenty of legroom both in the front and the back.

Comfortable dirver's seat, adjustable in height that make even longer trips on the highway reasonably comfortable.

The rear seats can be folded to create a completely flat surface from the trunk all the way up to the front seats. Which gives you enough room to even make a shopping trip to IKEA feasible.

The airco is a godsend in the summer, could not imagine the Getz without it. Execellent standard feature for this price range!

The 1.3 litre engine copes well on both the highway and in the city. It's a nice combination of performance, low noise and "reasonably" low fuel consumption.

Fuel consumption is with non-agressive driving usually about 14km/l for mixed city/country road drives. There are many other small cars that consume less than the Hyundai and fuel consumption stated by the manufacturer cannot be expected to reflect real life driving experience.

The car excels on non-highway country roads where the engine can smoothly purr at around 2000-3000 rpms and the (for the city quite soft) suspension feels just right.

The Getz is a "grown up" car, it's not a recreational toy or an extreme "budget" car. It's a serious work horse made for every day use.

Overall I'm very happy with the car, it is reliable and keeps up with more expensive cars in terms of standard features, handling and performance.

An excellent car for those who need a low price small car that always works, provide comfortable driving on all roads, has enough space to take your family on a trip or do your holiday shopping.

Faults:

At about 9,000 miles, it 'stuttered' (lost power) on my commute one morning, and the 'engine check' light came on. However, it picked up again after a couple of seconds and has been OK since.

There is an occasional creak from the nearside dash / wheel-arch area which I cannot trace. Annoying, but not that bad!

Neither reported to dealer - you know they won't believe you, don't you?!

General Comments:

Inoffensive, modern-looking exterior. Smooth, easy shape to clean!

Interior about what you'd expect - some cheap-looking plastics, but all works well. Good stereo, and some nice little touches, like the headlights that switch off when you exit the car - you can't leave them on accidentally.

Roomy, but with a word of caution: If you want the auto (like me), and the dealer doesn't have one in stock, make sure you test-drive a manual CDX with factory sunroof. This sunroof - which isn't even a proper one - steals headroom to the extent that even I find it tight (I'm 5'10"). Yes, the seat adjusts (nicely) for height, but it's as low as it'll go! So make sure you fit before you buy! I didn't, because I didn't know about the sunroof issue, and it's the only aspect of this car with which I am really dissatisfied.

Also, the clutch footrest (?!) is huge. I removed it!

Otherwise, adequate space for people and luggage (for a supermini).

Power-wise, with 4-up there isn't much! Much worse than my old Suzuki Ignis, but that car was over 400lb lighter, so it's obviously a power-to-weight ratio thing. It's OK provided you're usually alone or only carry one passenger, and you're not in a hurry!

Mpg has improved from poor to reasonable in 10,000 miles. Around 32mpg on my commute (see below), over 40mpg at 60mph cruise, approaching that at motorway speed.

The auto box is quiet, smooth and impressive. Takes about 7-8 miles to warm up enough to change into top, which is a very high gear. About 27/28mph per 1000rpm. Also doesn't hit that top gear much under 50mph, so sometimes never gets into it on my commute (14 miles). But you wouldn't know it - the car is quiet provided you don't hammer it. And if you want to hammer it, you don't buy an automatic Getz, do you?!

I find it handles and rides well, provided the tyres are not inflated to car-dealer levels (40-plus psi...!!!). 30psi all round seems about right. The steering's quick, and the car's easy to place on the road.

Don't suppose residuals are up to much, and as I paid 10k for what is perceived as a budget car, I'm not expecting much in Dec.2006. However, I'll have had free servicing, and the 5 year warranty might help a bit. I'd expect to get £3k - 3.5k, which is no better or worse than various other similar cars.