Faults:

Steering too light, with at times very little feel at all.

Handling awful. Seen more robust jelly.

Gearbox slick, but if you graunch it, boy does it let you know about it!

General Comments:

As cars go, I wasn't expecting much from this old banger, good job I wasn't!

To be honest, it has a great Mitsubishi engine, slick gearbox, and light steering.

Which to me, makes it only suitable for town use, I needed a cheap runaround quick, so saw this in the local paper and had a test drive round town in it, showing no major defects.

However, take this thing on the open road and it shows its true colours.

In a word, dangerous. It pulls well, and drives well, but the power steering is way too vague and over powered.

And as for handling: Oh my god, I've had loads of cars, bikes and vans over the years and this is the worst of the lot. I've had mopeds that have handled better. I read another review where someone said they lost the back end on a roundabout at 10mph, I can well believe that...

It dives, it pulls, it flopsteers.

It's a mobile coffin, and the worst car I've ever owned.

As soon as the V5 comes back in my name, it's going... Other than that, I'm going to put some bags of sand in it to weigh it down.

One good point though (seriously!) you get a quality blaupunkt stereo with them, if you can still find one with it as a original fitment.

Faults:

Exhaust front pipe blew, but had been on the car for twelve years!

General Comments:

Other than the exhaust, this car has just had routine servicing, and that is all that she has ever required. She starts first time every time, and never lets me down.

Performance is very good for an engine of her size, and she tends to be able to pull away first from the lights most of the time. I've had her off the speedo and she's pulled upto 7,200rpm closing in on approximately 130mph. Fuel economy is not that great, unless driving with a very cautious right foot!

Body styling is dated, but that has never bothered me, and the interior is dated but well built. Being the top of the range model, she had thicker carpets, and velour recaro style interior with all electrics. Nothing has ever stopped working; the only problem being the back doors getting stiff through lack of use, but a bit of grease soon sorted that!

Brakes are good, but tend to fade if having to brake rapidly from high speed. The only downfall on the handling side is the soft suspension, but then she was never designed for slalom racing, so high speeds are best left for the straighter roads i.e motorways.

The bodywork has no rust, she has no rust underneath or on the sills, paintwork is polished at least once a fortnight, and is still like a mirror with no scratches or dents anywhere.

This is a dated but seriously underrated car, always go for the top spec SE model, and if looked after this car will last just about forever.

Faults:

Radiator leaking when purchased. Proton dealer wanted £250 for replacement. Had it re-cored for £50 ;-)

General service items.. cam-belt, filters, 2 tyres, plug leads.

Suspect C.V. joint or diff at current mileage. Not too loud yet... I'll let it soldier on for a bit (39500).

Can't complain for 700 quid and 23000 miles :-)

General Comments:

Bought this car for £700 with mileage of 16400. One old lady owner from new, who had it overly serviced, if there is such a thing!

It's the most reliable car I've owned.. it has never failed to start or left me stranded.

I get close to 40 MPG on average, cheap tax bracket, low insurance.

These are not cars for image conscious folk, nor people who do a lot of motorway miles. There just isn't the power or refinement by today's standards. Very basic interior and exterior is based on the old Mitsubishi Lancer. The quality of the plastics used isn't great, but I've had more mainstream brands that have disintegrated faster!

Massive boot space, but rear legroom is cramped... Plenty of legroom in the front though.

Handling is bad... skinny tyres and soft suspension.. under-steer in the wet, but it helps if you take it easy. The brakes are good, but no ABS, so there is a tendency to lock up under hard braking. Power-steering is light with not much feel to it, but handy in town. You can spin the wheel with your little finger.

I've been all over the place in it, including the hills of Snowdonia loaded with camping gear, and it did the job... just a bit slowly! It seems happiest at 60/65 mph, and will potter round at 30mph in 5th gear... quite flexible for a little motor.

If you want a cheap to run, reliable, non gadget laden motor, then I'd recommend one of these. Look past the badge on the front and find one with one careful, elderly owner. They've got Mitsubishi engines in em that just go on and on. I know I've said about the worn CV joint/diff, but I'll forgive it for that. It's a great car for my needs... would love a Rolls Silver Spirit, but this one will do me for now :-)

Just buy your parts from a Motor Factor and not a main dealer. Same for most makes I reckon!

Cheers.