Rattles from dashboard.
Engine pinks a little at high revs.
The 1.8 litre engine is gutless and barely able to haul the car to the national speed limit. The economy however is decent at 35-40mpg. On a long, slow, fuel-saving run it crept up to 45mpg.
It's roomy, but slightly claustrophobic inside (the windows don't let in much light), and the dashboard isn't very well thought out. Thanks to the centrally located instruments you have to look away from the road longer than you would with conventional instruments. The menus for the climate control, radio, etc. are difficult to use on the fly too.
The handling is fine and it hangs on gamely enough, but the rear beam axle makes the ride somewhat uncultured (my 8-year old Rover with independent rear suspension rides and handles a lot better) - and it is most definitely not fun to hustle.
The styling is excellent, though. Who'd have thought fins would look cool on a modern car?
Specification is good for a base model - remote central locking, plenty of airbags, steering wheel radio controls, all round electric windows, climate control etc.
I had one of these as a hire car, and I was able to cruise at 95MPH very easily. It was also very quiet at this speed. The stereo is not that good and sounds 'plasticky'. My only real niggle was the steering does not stay central, so on a motorway you have to constantly adjust the steering to stay in lane.
I drove this today for the first time, Appalling car pretty much like driving a tug boat horrible and cheap plasticky inside over complicated central mess up of a control, Speedo off centre and akward. Performance poor accelerated like a two legged tortoise on sedatives. Never again please. Stick to German cars.
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