Faults:

New battery

New exhaust

New tyres

New electric window motor

One dashboard light blown

Tape on radio has broken

Timing needed changing on engine

Needs some welding at every MOT

Headlight connectors sometimes faulty

Corrosion on bonnet right at the front.

General Comments:

It's cheap, but the engine will run forever. The body has rusted in parts, as to be expected on anything this old and Japanse, but it's not as bad as similar age Vauxhalls or Fords. The steering is heavy, but it's fairly nippy from 3rd gear onwards and it looks OK from the back and side (just the front is square and boxy). Cheap to run, plenty of room. It tends to fail it's MOT every year due to some welding needing doing underneath, out of sight. It's ultra reliable and can happily sit in long queues in summer whilst the Vauxhall Corsas and Fiat Puntos overheat on the hard shoulder. Not bad for a first car and better then some of my mates' old heaps. It is happy at 85mph, it's top speed being 112mph apparently, which is pretty good for an old 1.4.

Faults:

It eats rear pads.

Driver's door has dropped on the pin.

General Comments:

This car is so quick that it sticks to the road like a train on rails.

It has Recaro style bucket seats as standard.

It does 0-60 in 6.8 seconds.

It looks a bit old fashioned.

Parts are hard to get.

This is the first Japanese car that I have had, and I will be buying another. It has proved to be the best car I have ever had. It cost me 340.00, and I have got every receipt that has ever been spent on the car, even when the car was first bought.

It was owned by a lady owner who only did 2000 miles a year, and she decided that her and her husband only needed one car, and for that I thank her, as this car is now my little baby. I love it so much.

I have had this car around Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Donnington Park. It leaves most cars standing from RS turbos to Golf VR6s.

Faults:

Exhaust system rusted badly and required renewal.

New Battery.

New front tyres.

New suspension tower on the rear right.

Slight missfire which no one can fix!

One electric window stopped working. Of course it was a wet day and the window was stuck down.

Needed new plugs and leads.

Can't really complain considering the age and cheap price of the car. None of the above items were unexpected.

General Comments:

Bought the car (3 doorr hatch back) in excellent condition for only 550 pounds and its taken me all over Britain countless times and never broken down. I did 13,000 miles in the first year commuting and holiday trips and it's been brilliant.

It's totally rattle free on the move and I can easily forgive the items above which have worn out/rusted away considering the age of the car and low value.

I'm 6'1" and there's more than enough room inside, which is a lot more than can be said for other cars costing ten times as much.

Performance is good for 1.4 litres and it can cruise at 85 mph all day (if you can stand the noise) and still return 35 mpg. Seats are OK for a days drive too.

It's no status symbol, but for this price what do you expect?