Faults:

Camshaft timing belt at 75,000 miles.

Camshaft tensioner bearings at 125,000 miles.

Replacement alternator at 130,000 miles.

New battery when the car wouldn't start after being parked up for three months.

Replacement power assisted steering pump at 135,000 miles. This fault was between services.

Driver's seat starting to collapse.

General Comments:

I want to emphasise that the car has done 150,000 miles and hasn't broken down once.

Obviously parts have worn out and had to be replaced at the yearly service interval, for example the alternator, the power steering pump, the cam belt and two tensioners.

Gearbox, clutch and engine are all original.

Tyres last in excess of 45,000 miles.

Servicing has been on time and parts have been replaced when advised. All servicing has been by a local independent garage, not the main dealer.

The high mileage is due to repeated trips to Spain, France and Switzerland over the past ten years, so mostly 'motorway miles'.

The car is to be passed onto another member of the family for local runs, as we don't want to push our luck with another long distance trip!

Faults:

The exhaust had a small hole in it at the last MOT (but it still passed), so I bought a kit from Halfords and it's been fine since. No other issues.

General Comments:

What an impressive car this has been! I've only had it for about a year, but it's been totally reliable.

I bought it with a Full Service History, so the cambelt was done and should be good until 200000 miles.

I did a lot of research before buying, and am always completely open minded about what make and model I buy. My priorities were that it had to be cheap to buy and cheap to run, and I haven't been disappointed. It's cheap to insure, does 60mpg on runs or 50mpg in mixed driving, and is very comfortable. There's loads of room and it's very practical. All back seats can be removed, which gives it the capacity of a small van.

On the down side, it's pig ugly. It looks OK from the back, but everywhere else it's the automobile equivalent of Anne Widdecombe.

The quality of the interior feels very cheap, although, to be fair, nothing has broken and everything is very hard wearing.

The ride is excellent, but the handling is floaty and it leans badly round the bends. The gear change is loose and imprecise. It has just about enough power, but you won't get a buzz from this car. Jeremy Clarkson hates them. This says everything you need to know. It's not an exciting car, it just does what it says on the tin. It's for getting from A to B (isn't that what cars are for?). If you want excitement, get a motorbike (my other car's a Triumph Thunderbird).

Faults:

The LCD display stopped working at 40K; was repaired and became half faulty after 100K again.

Gearbox gaiter became lose and began spinning at 60K and 120K.

Turbo stopped working at 140K.

Aircon stopped working at 160K. Dealer repaired it, but unusable due to exhaust smell coming into the cabin when the aircon was used.

Gearbox became stiff and worn after 160K.

ECU blew at 180K, new one put in by main dealer at cost of 1.3K.

ECU blew again at 200K, repaired again, but problem now with wiring loom, quoted repair cost 2k.

Vehicle now not worth repairing.

General Comments:

Car is not very well put together, the plastics and interior finish overall is very poor.

The driving position is unusual, with offset pedals.

The performance was never very good, but became worse as the miles went on.

The dealer network is very poor, and the car returned many occasions to rectify unfinished jobs.