Faults:

I really hate this car. Everything that can go wrong, has gone wrong. Maybe I have just been unlucky, but a few of my friends have also had the same car, and most of the same problems.

The leak in the sun roof; what's that about? I really don't enjoy taking a shower while I am driving.

I have spent way too much money on this car in the past year. The heater has packed up 3 times, the engine mounts have broke twice, head gasket went, tires have been changed twice, but that would be like any car, but this was the last straw; me and my girl went for a nice drive the day before, had a really nice day, but the next morning when I left for work, it wouldn't start. It didn't make sense. It was fine yesterday, did a few checks, couldn't work out why it won't start, so as I kept trying to start the car, it decided it would be funny to set itself on fire.

So THAT IS IT, I'm going back to BMW and FORD. Can't beat them, but for some reason I am really sad to see this car go. I have enjoyed it when it was working (not very often).

Faults:

Well, the first day I picked this little motor up from my local garage, the remote central locking packed up about an hour later whilst I was at my friends in a remote village. I had to stay the night as the garage could only come out the next day, and towed it back to the garage. It turns out a design fault caused water to leak through the sun roof, into the IR sensor for the remote locking and caused it all to short, meaning the immobiliser wouldn't let the car start. It took 2 weeks for the part to come from Renault, and even then it didn't work. The garage gave the car back to me broken, and I had to hold my key right up to the sensor to get the immobiliser to work, hence get the car to start. Sometimes it wouldn't start at all, and I'd lost central locking meaning key entry (which isn't why I bought the car) However, in a lucky turn of events, the remote central locking started working randomly one day, and I haven't had any problems yet.

General Comments:

The seats are comfortable. I owned a Golf MK3 before this, and the comparison in softness is amazing. The driver's seat has height adjustment and lumber support, which makes this a comfortable car to drive. I have even slept in the car twice after parties, and woke up not as worse for wear as expected! I traveled 400 miles yesterday in the car, and didn't feel too stiff.

The engine is quite perky, and will keep up with most cars of this size. I've had 118mph out of it, which is generous for its size and model. Relatively cheap to run and fun to drive, well equipped and cheap to buy.

Electric sunroof, windows, mirrors, front and rear fog lights, power steering and remote central locking on a 1996 small hatch? It's worth a purchase.

This car would be ideal for a learner driver, or someone looking for a competent little run about.

The styling outside however, is not to everyone's taste ('Girls car' I've heard banded about) and the interior dashboard feels dated and boxy in comparison to other cars in this sector.

First gear can sometimes be hard to get into, and the bite on the clutch is very high (however, you get used to this).