Faults:

Nothing since I have owned the car, and everything works perfectly on the car, and it is 11 years old.

General Comments:

I enjoy the seating position, which is quite high, and gives you a good view of the road.

The car is much roomier inside than you would think by looking at it from the outside, and there is loads of head room.

The car is automatic, and only has three gears, so does get noisy and thirsty above 60mph, but below this speed the car is quite nippy, smooth and quiet.

The only annoying thing I have found with this car is that my right knee rests against the drivers door when driving, and this starts to feel quite sore after about 45 minutes of driving.

People here are slating the brakes, but I have found them to be very effective. My daughter complained the other day because I had to brake sharply, and the seat belt caused her some discomfort across her chest as the car stopped so rapidly.

On the whole, the car is very good value for money. Quite roomy and a nice driving position.

Faults:

The lambda sensor gave trouble to dealer who sold it to me, he replaced it, no problems since owning car.

Brake discs needed changing in 2005, modern asbestos free pads are the cause of disc wear.

General Comments:

Relatively high up driving position which my wife likes - she used to have Fiat Panda 4x4s.

Quite economical, we get 45 mpg on a run.

Quality of construction is pretty good for a cheap car.

Sufficient luggage room for everyday use.

Styling? Well it's not the prettiest car on the road, new Amica is better, but who cares!

Faults:

The Water pump disintegrated.

Head gasket blew which cost a lot of money and time to repair. The local garage we use had problems obtaining a new gasket.

A few weeks later we then had problems because the car kept cutting out. We would be driving along and it would just die. Wait a while and it would start again. Eventually it stopped and would not go at all. I contacted a few garages and was told it needed to be put on to the computer to find the fault, but nobody had an adapter for Hyundai. I then contacted the local Hyundai dealer who informed me over the phone that it would be the Coil pack. The reason I was given for this was they said "Its nearly always the Coil pack". I was told that a new pack would be £180. Not being convinced of this I contacted a friend who is a Mechanic. He came with his Multimeter and discovered it was a broken wire leading to the coil pack. He repaired the wire which cost about 50p. A big difference from £180.

I felt I wanted to share this information because how many people would take their car to a dealer to be charged £180 plus labor for a part that may not be needed.

The car is now back on the road.

Faults:

Delayed acceleration (fixed by cleaning the spark plugs). Not a nice experience when accelerating off from a junction.

Engine randomly cuts out at lower revs (fixed twice; now doing it for a third time, but not so often as before).

Shuddering at low revs.

Work done on the exhaust system.

Leak from the transmission oil seal (caused by oil grade change for 20,000 mile service). Required the use of a loan car.

Worn driver's door lock.

Salt corrosion on the alloy wheels.

Creaking front passenger door.

Brake pads needed replacing at 33,000 miles (£55 + VAT). Not a big deal perhaps, but previous cars (Hyundai X2, Proton, Nissan Sunny and Toyota Starlet) did at least twice the miles on original pads.

General Comments:

I dislike the lack of steering feel and spongy brake/clutch pedals.

I don't like the engine noise at speed.

Handling is not very good; feels unstable at speed and affected by cross winds.

Body panels very easily dented; some panel fits could be better.

Limited performance when using the air-con.

Not that pretty (inside or out), but at least it's different.

Good standard specification (power steering, air-con, and electric windows) and very spacious cabin.

Excellent fuel economy, low insurance and three-year warranty, but dealer service charges are high for such a small engine (999cc).

The level of service from dealer is excellent, despite the oil leak incident.

The Atoz is a disappointing car and it hasn't been very reliable. However, our family's previous Hyundai (a '94 X2) was excellent, and so has my dad's new car, a brand new Accent.

Most problems could be because it was one of the earliest UK spec imports.