Faults:

Inner tread of rear tyres abnormally worn and replaced at 20,000. (Front tyres lasted to 26,000. Bridgestones) Dealer could not check wheel trim, due to cost of machinery?

Constantly replacing rear light bulbs.

Engine damage preventer, cut in on dual carriageway when doing 50 MPH, slowed the car to 5MPH and 1,000 RPM.

(Engine management report read - Drive over speeding engine)

Indicators should be sawed of imeadiately you receive the car, prior to you causing a major accident when trying to turn them off. Soft touch, most annoying toy ever!

General Comments:

The car is a motorway animal and not for driving around town. The engine purrs at 2,500RPM at 70MPH, and the ride is ultra smooth.

The 2.2 Diesel engine is very low on performance compared with the Ford Mondeo DTCI 2.0.

Being short, I find the car is full of blind spots, mainly due to the high level of the boot and the cabin side high.

Faults:

Replaced front tyres at 27000 miles.

Drivers seat has started to squeak.

Drivers seat got stuck in highest position. (short Wife)

General Comments:

Other than the items listed above I have found this car to be very reliable. I think that tyre changes at 27000 miles is good for a car of this size and performance. I do not take it easy with this car and feel that it has performed very well. It even handles better than the polo GTI I had before. I would also recommend to young drivers looking for high performance as I am only 24 and pay just £400 a year fully comp! Bargain performance.

Faults:

Window Screen washer sensor failed after 6000 miles, causing the display to constantly tell me I needed washer fluid. Dealers had the car all day only to tell me that I needed a new sensor and I would have to bring the car back as they didn't have one.

General Comments:

Climate control system works really well.

Front seats are not very comfortable.

1.8 engine gives ample power.

Faults:

Nothing in the 3,000 miles I've had it.

General Comments:

I've use the car every day for four months as a hire car.

It's a good driver's car with OK performance, but nothing to write home about. There is little torque below 3000 rpm and combined with an aggressive clutch it's not easy to pull away smoothly without revving fairly high.

Once you're off though, beyond 3000 rpm the engine pulls evenly all the way up to 5500 rpm. Despite me pushing it quite hard most of the time the fuel economy hasn't suffered and this is the one thing that really impressed me about this car.

The suspension is solid with little roll, but the driven wheels do tend to bounce hard if a bit too much power is applied pulling away from a junction.

The steering is fairly lifeless, but I think that's largely because the car is a little on the heavy side.

Despite quite an elegant exterior (I love the curves, spoiler and 15 inch alloys), the interior lets it down. All the switches and buttons on the dash are black plastic making it look rather cheap and tacky. In the dark it can be hard to pick the right button since they all look and feel the same. The only saving grace is that the seats are comfortable for long drives.

The rear of the car is quite spacious with plenty of room for passengers. Lift the hatchback and you're greeted with huge boot space.