Faults:

Water pump leaked and needed changing

Handbrake cable

Fuel pump/filter filled with water

Bracket that supported gear lever broke

Radiator leaked, changed

Steering rack changed (required for MOT)

Steering rack track rod ends

Brake hoses

Nylon gaiter for steering rack.

General Comments:

Must have been a reasonably good car as it was already old (85,000 miles) and survived two years of my driving. Interesting transmission layout: Engine, clutch, propshaft with gearbox/differential at rear, so good balance. Wouldn't handbrake turn well. When the bracket holding the gear change failed, I cut the propshaft tunnel with angle grinder to access and then weld bracket (as last owner you can do these things). Suspect the official method is to remove the engine.

With carb and mechanical fuel pump rather than fuel injection, engine will run on plastic bottle of petrol with washer hose direct to carb. Inadvertently filled with diesel, so got home feeding fuel directly. Kindly note fuel pump puts unwanted diesel directly onto road, so you tend to get sideways on roundabouts at 30mph.

Brake performance and play increased imperceptibly with age compared with newer model.

The hatchback is a lot more convenient than saloon.

Judged within its period (1980's) it was a reasonably OK car. Today, 85/115bhp from a 2.0-litre engine is a joke. The 175x13 tyres made a wet road seem like driving on snow. Got airborne nicely. No street cred, so didn't attract joy riders or the plods.

Driving a relatively low performance car hard increases maintenance costs. No overheating problems (except when water pump failed). Had intermittent engine problem, finally traced to water in fuel pump. Front brake pads easy to change, rears more difficult, but they never wore out. No welding problems for MOT. Only time it went to a service station was for MOT. All servicing was straightforward with Haynes Manual.

Faults:

No faults until it blew a seal in the cylinder head (something to do with the flame trap?). I suspect I had put too much oil in it.

General Comments:

I bought this car as a stop gap and paid only £300. I loved the car dearly, it was a real wolf in sheeps clothing, it was so powerful and the sound of the large 2 litre engine in a small hatchback was excellent.

Handling was pretty hairy and you had to be careful in the wet.

The fuel consumption was pretty heavy, even on a run, about 25mpg, but the point of this car was it cost me very little and served me well for 18 months. It was reliable safe and so comfortable, I would buy another without hesitation.

The best bit was at the traffic lights leaving behind much newer cars in my beat up old Volvo, these GLT`s go like stink. Buy one.

Faults:

Needed a good service when I first bought it plus a couple of front shocks. It proved pretty reliable but on a couple of occasions it developed problems starting in the wet. Each time this problem was cured with a new distributer cap.

The rear lights played up continually. The terminals were very prone to corrode.

The interior fan motor failed and blew the resistor pack.

It rusted along the bottoms of the front doors.

General Comments:

A comfortable car that ate up motorway miles with gusto. With regular home servicing it just kept on going and although it had a few faults the only time I had to call out the AA was when I locked myself out!

The only real let-down is the handling. The rear end is prone to slide in the wet and this proved the end of mine when it spun and I ran it up into a bank of earth.