Faults:

Exhaust pipe rattling in reverse gear.

Sun roof leaking so bad that once in heavy rain the passenger foot-well was almost 1/2 inch deep with water. Dealer sorted it same day which was good. Also glad to see other Saxo's have similar sun roof problems.

General Comments:

A very quick car that handles superbly possibly as its been lowered.

Gold alloys fitted make it look sexy and have had plenty of admiring glances.

Faults:

Car needed an MOT when I purchased it.

Failed on small number of things, 1 of these being it needed new front brake disks.

About 6 months later, it needed new back brake disks.

Both of these problems were caused by corrosion as opposed to excessive wear.

Then the catalytic converter broke - this also was corroded.

Then some kind of support arm on the near side front steering rack broke.

It has recently obtained a hole in the radiator - again through corrosion.

The alternator has always knocked - it took the mechanic 4 months to establish this - up until that point he had told me that the car had probably done more than the 30,000+ miles the counter read, & that the knock was probably a piston on it's way out.

The sunroof leaks after a summer of having the thing open (the rubber seal dries out & moves out of place).

There's an air bag warning light come on recently.

It goes through oil at a heck of a rate.

General Comments:

It's unbelievably quick - but you need to keep the revs high.

It handles like a go-kart (once the steering rack is fixed).

It looks cute.

The seats are bloody uncomfortable after a couple of hours.

The pedals are not designed for anyone with a shoe size bigger than about a 7 (I'm a 10 - it's a nightmare).

I took it to Ireland last year for a fortnight - driving through the country lanes was fantastic.

Faults:

Nothing to signal. Just the routine maintenance.

General Comments:

Seriously fast, this tiny car gives nightmares too many larger engined cars... it's not an M3 though.

Engine eager at high revs, even inside the red zone.

Great agility and handling, but a bit tricky for inexperienced drivers.

Terrible comfort! Hight cruising engine noise (about 3100 RPM at 100 KPH in 5th gear). Poorly adjustable driving position: I'll soon be suffering from back pain!

Cute sporty looks expose its performance.

Don't forget it's a small car!

Faults:

Air bag light flashing when I bought the car new, dealer sorted 3 times, but still have the problem to date, so I can't be bothered with it.

Sqeaking from the front right side shocks after 20k.

Knocking noise from the suspension after approx 30k.

From new the engine always coughs and splutters when you first touch the accelerator, main dealer plugged the laptop in on three occasions with no fault found, although if you remove the air filter this cures it.

Seats keep loosing fluff.

Driver's seat has now split at around 55k.

Constant problems locating reverse.

Third gear aways crunches even from new.

Infer red key fob works when it wants from new, but I still have the same batteries in it.

On my second set of front and rear disks with the 4th set of front pads and second set of rear at only 62k.

General Comments:

Very, very good handling when pushing it hard into corners.

Braking is very good.

Good on fuel.

Faults:

ABS wheel speed sensor - £130

Leaking tail light cluster.

General Comments:

Very quick off the mark and corners very well.

Reasonable fuel economy, but VTR does much better for a small performance drop. Does start to use a lot of petrol at high speeds on the motorway, but stick to 70 and it remains OK.

Tyre prices are reasonable and the car doesn't wear them out too quickly either.

Interior is basic and the seats could have been better (no lumber support at all).

Pedals are very close together, but even those with large feet can eventually get used to them.