Faults:

My thermostat went, when I was taking my car for an MOT, which was not good, but only to find out that the guy at the test centre, tested my car and said that the handbrake was not efficient enough, but never told me about my car over heating, this was only stated when I took the car back and I went to pick it up and he said your car's been overheating, MOT will take a little more time to do while we wait for it to cool down. ‘git’.

Other problem at the moment, is the fact that I am having problems, I believe with the cars carburetor, due to the fact I am losing power when accelerating. Any ideas how to solve this problem please help!

Email :- nofear@tmevans.freeserve.co.uk

All in all, the car has been pretty reliable for its age, and the amount of maintenance that I have done apart from regular servicing.

General Comments:

The car performs really well for its age; I had a friend, who used to own an LX model and that did not perform as well as my XLS, my car seemed to out perform, out handle and accelerate quicker, so I think that I got the better deal.

Modifications that I have made, customised front bumper, with gill where the plastic bumper gill was, adding a Seat Ibiza front splitter to the bottom of the front bumper, sun visor strip with custom stickers placed on the car, all this because I could not find any body kits available for my car, never mind all good fun.

Faults:

The only problem I have had is on the dashboard.

My speedo/rev counter/fuel gauge and temperature gauge have all stopped working and I cannot find any fault.

General Comments:

For what I paid for it, it's a super little car and up to now so easy to keep.

Faults:

Water pump broke, and resulting temperatures meant cylinder head let go.

Engine fell out later after a particularly heavy landing. Door sometimes refused to close, oh, and a mouldy boot.

General Comments:

Uiuughhh, noisy engine, concrete seats, amusing oversteer, got me to work every day over the summer, nuff said.

Faults:

Driver's side door handle (trigger) broke, reversing lights wiring worked loose. Front left ball joint gave up after 6 years of driving on Kerry roads.

General Comments:

Doesn't appear to actually need petrol to run (well 55mpg mixed use). Very short on extras i.e. none. Seriously underpowered but what do you expect from 903cc. Wonderfully reliable and cheap to run. Will keep this car until it falls apart.