Faults:

Coolant leaked, causing the engine to overheat and burning off engine oil. Changed the oil and added the coolant.

Nothing else so far.

General Comments:

The car rattles like hell sometimes. It happens with the first 3 gears, at around 1500-2000rpm, e.g. crawling in town traffic in 2nd gear. I think it is the plastic bits knocking against each other and the car seems fine. Irritating since the radio/cassette is crap and you have nothing but the rattling to listen to.

Faults:

Gear-box linkage went at 78,000 miles.

Electric windows are slow.

Unexplained overheating at 83,000 miles, no explanation, thermostat was OK but it hasn't done it again since, weird.

Radiator went at 98,000 miles.

Just started to be difficult to start, possibly an electrical fault.

Needs a new head gasket when I get round to it.

General Comments:

Standard stereo is awful despite half decent speakers.

Chairs get uncomfortable on long trips.

Very economical, I get around 50mpg on average not even trying.

Avoid nasty beige trim like mine.

Seems to consume a lot of oil against other cars so you have to check it often.

Makes you wonder why people buy Escorts and Astras of the same age, they're dogs especially the Escort.

Faults:

The car ate brakes, suspension and exhaust components.

Heater blew only cold air.

Driver's side window leaked and wouldn't close properly.

Interior trim very tatty.

Engine revved heavily at idle.

General Comments:

This car was basically a poor quality heap. The engine was good and strong (if you revved the nuts off it, at which point it sounded like a sewing machine on E).

Interior space wasn't too bad, but ride, handling, refinement and general build quality were poor. On top of that it constantly needed new parts - at a rate of around £80 per month over the four years I had the car.

Paid too much for it and sold it away (in superficially good condition and with all major problems fixed) for £700.

Faults:

2 modules have gone faulty on the distributor, costly at £90.00 a piece but that's all.

General Comments:

Very good, not as punchy as the 2.0 GTI, but with a redline at 7200 you need to race the engine up to 4000 to 5000 rpm to get the real performance. Raw engine sound, typical Honda engine trait, sounds great at hi revs.

A very reliable car packed with goodies, such as electric windows, electric sunroof, central locking, PAS, and half leather interior.

A bargain as they have fallen in value, you can pick up a decent one for about £1000. Make sure you pick up the Twin Cam model (badged) 3 door, or the DOHC (unbadged) 5 door if you want the performance.

Faults:

Rocker cover gasket.

CV boot.

Secondhand replacement gearbox for £150 as Rover said "Sorry mate, you need a new box, we'll get you one for £2500"!!

General Comments:

Excellent car, better than the usual rusty Rovers, saving for a turbo :-)