Faults:

I had to replace the dash lights a couple of days after I got it, but nothing else otherwise (touch wood).

General Comments:

Although the Furio has a 1.8 under its hood, it's performance could never be described as neck-snapping. It really needs to be kept above 3000 rpm to get it to go with any urgency.

However, any performance deficiencies are more than compensated for with its quick, direct steering, great gearchange (when the 'box is warm) and a very well-sorted chassis that can make the ZX serious fun through the twisty bits.

There are a number of ZXs in New Zealand, but not many Furios (I know of 3) so some parts (eg, glass, doors etc) may be a challenge to get, but hopefully I'll never need them.

I can't fault the interior aesthetically, the seats look the part and sit even better and is deceptively spacious. There are, however, a few build-quality glitches that you would never see on a similar-age Japanese car.

The exterior looks as good, but the 14 inch factory alloys look small.

I have read of reports saying the ZX has a flimsy body, and unfortunately I found this to be true today. The wind caught the left door, striking it against a Hyundai Lantra. Not a mark on the Korean, but visibly bent steel along the edge of the door about 4 inches below the doorhandle. I was able to get it 90% back into shape.

By hand!

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

Very easy car to upgrade and make quicker. I have added a power boost valve, K&N Air Filter, De-Cat down pipe and had the head polished skimmed and ported. Recently added a high lift Kent camshaft and a Uni ECU chip. On a rolling road the car is 195 bhp at the wheels. This car rocks I blow away RS Turbos and have not found a 2.0 to match it yet. The cars body is as I got it, standard. It's a real street sleeper, scares a lot of Audi TT drivers and keeps up with a standard Subaru Impreza WRX. Bought the car for £1000 spent £1000 approximately and its well quick.

Faults:

The radio is intermittent.

Both drive-shafts replaced at 53,000 miles.

Both front suspension struts replaced at 59,000 miles.

The gearbox has always been noisy, but functions OK and hasn't got any worse.

There is a clonking noise from the front of the car when going over speed humps.

General Comments:

This car is quite nippy considering its small engine (75hp).

The ride and handling are good.

It is very cheap to run due to reduced road tax, reasonable insurance and around 40 m.p.g.

Not very happy on the Motorway ie engine and road noise at 70 MPH.

The styling is not to everyones taste ie a bit boring.

I would recommend this car to someone who wants cheap reliable motoring. It is easy to work on for the home Mechanic and has never let me down. This model is also fairly basic so there are no fancy electric goodies to go wrong. If I change the car I might go for a 1.9 or 2.0 litre version which I'm told are fast although they don't look it.

Faults:

Not a huge amount. The indicator flasher unit blew (£30 fitted from my local friendly garage), and the dashboard lights have all gone which is seriously annoying.

There's a nasty clonking noise coming from the near side wheel arch whenever you corner to the right, which I suspect may be due to a worn CV joint.

There's a strong smell of petrol/engine fumes whenever you have the fan on if the car is stationary, this is probably a broken breather.

The rear wiper assembly is dangerously loose.

General Comments:

The seats are fairly comfortable although they lack back support which you notice after about 1 hour of driving.

The steering wheel is slightly off center to the left and the pedals slightly to the right, again this causes discomfort after about an hour. Add to this an utterly crap radio, no electric anything and annoying seat sliding mechanism that doesn't lock properly meaning that you go flying backwards when you put your foot down - very dangerous!

The interior is pleasant if a little cheap and plastic, but that's a Citroen trade mark. The paint work is badly faded (Citroen seem to use cheap red paint, the other colours are OK) but as usual, the bodywork has no rust.

I find the lack of performance frustrating after the mighty straight five 2.3 litre Audi Coupe I used to own before a biker trashed it for me. However, once you get a good head of steam up, the old girl trundles along quite nicely, the engine will take a good beating with no complaints, but the gear box is crap. I find it very hard to drive the car smoothly, the accelerator and clutch are like on/off switches and the steering (no PAS) is very heavy for such a small car. Watch out for the handling though, it might catch you out.

I bought the car as a cheap run around, I do 72 miles a day in it to and from work. The poor thing gets beaten to death, but always starts first time, costs me nothing to run and is reasonably nice to drive.

I've had 4 AX's and a Saxo before this ZX and they're all the same: Cheeky, cheap, nippy and neat. For sensible boring reliability, this car is the chap.