Faults:

Nothing. It had some rust in visible places. I had a service every 15.000 kilometers, and up to now there was nothing but regular maintenance (lights, a puncture, oil etc).

General Comments:

I really like driving the Carisma. But I must admit that this is my first car. I wanted a cheap, big, very economical car for a tall man who has to drive a lot of motorway, sometimes with family and luggage, and the Carisma offers just that.

Cheap: Carisma's are - where I live - not highly regarded. Prices are low.

Big: Yes, well, it's quite big. Three on the backseat is no problem. It's a hatchback with quite some space in the back. On the downside: I'm sometimes still insecure about where the car ends, and parking sometimes gives me a problem.

Economical: so far no technical problems, so no expensive repairs. Having driven mainly highways and often about 100 kilometers per hour, the car consumes overall about 5.6 liters per 100 kilometers (17.5 km per liter).

For a tall man: I'm 1.96 m. and I'm quite comfortable in the Carisma.

Being a big car, and old and all, I don't have that much problems with aggressive drivers. They tend to go around me. This adds to the sense of safety, which makes this car also a good family car.

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong with the car.

Regular oil change at 165000km.

180000km service is VERY expensive at the dealer, due to the fact that it is combined 60000km & 90000km service (all fluids, timing belt and those Iridium plugs re replaced).

General Comments:

Car is very reliable - I've had no quirks or problems with the car during my ownership.

1.8 GDI engine /w manual transmission gives rather good performance for family sedan.

This car is far from thirsty: I've reached 5.2L/100km on Hwy with ease and my total average from past 12 months is 6.3L/100km.

Faults:

Squeal from drive belts, partially cured by replacing belts with new ones (and occasional sprays of WD40)

Idle lumpy when temperature drops below 4 degrees C - OK when engine warms up.

New front discs needed at 84,000 miles (originals badly scored by previous owner neglecting pads)

Rear washer button fell off the right hand side control stalk. Some of the controls use brittle plastics.

Cleaned up throttle body which was getting gummed up (used a specialist spray cleaner through air intake)

General Comments:

Surprisingly comfortable on long trips despite hard suspension and rattles in town - little engine noise or wind noise at Motorway speeds.

Can be driven hard especially changing manually - brakes excellent, grip good on the right tires, handles predictably.

Auto box very smooth and quiet, great in traffic, though does take a slight edge off performance when overtaking.

44mpg from a 125bhp petrol Auto? Amazing. I rarely get less than 36mpg however I drive.

Bought for next to nothing, will run it till it drops - which could be some time, some have done over 250,000 miles.

Parts can be pricey - £220 for new discs and pads, £200 for mid and rear boxes of exhaust (both are fitted prices)

Faults:

This car has been very reliable with only expected parts, (tyres, bulbs, belts etc.) replaced.

It has had an intermittent fault of the starter motor not turning, once every 2 months or so, even after being replaced with a new one. Occurs whether the engine is hot or not.

However, the BIG bugbear has been the Renault built engine. It has always smoked badly and especially when the turbo kicks in. My garage has not been able to fix it, just added jet-cleaner fluid to the diesel to get it through yearly road tests.

General Comments:

This car is a very average - having hard suspension that creates road noise and discomfort over any journeys over 20 miles.