General Comments:
Starting to develop rust around the front windscreen, but then it is 18 odd years old.
The three-quarter windows at the rear don't offer very good blind-spot visibility. The mid/rear pillar is a little too large.
Suspension is quite tight, so it's a very uncomfortable ride, but then that's the trade-off for sports-car handling. It may also have to do with the terrible roads around Sydney!
The steering is very heavy. Unusual in such a small light car. I have had a smaller diameter sports steering wheel fitted as well as larger width wheels, so that wouldn't be helping, but even so it is unusually heavy to handle.
Cornering it has a tendency to understeer, but nonetheless the handling is still good.
The take-off is very fast - it pulls like a V8. It is a very light car (900kg's) with quite a punchy little engine, so you have no trouble at all beating off 90% of other cars at the lights. Quite easily drags off most V6 and V8 saloon cars.
Comfortable bucket seats from the factory. The interior has lasted very well - still clean and undamaged (though I don't know whether that is due to people looking after the car well, or good build quality. I'd say a bit of both.).
13th Apr 2007, 05:25
Interesting what you've written. My Exa has only just hit 187,000km and the interior is falling apart, so it's probably more a factor of well cared for over quality parts. The interior handles are crumbling, interior door panels are popping off and water is leaking into the car in a few spots. Also a massive split in the middle of the dash is developing too.
Seems like the clutch cable snapping is a common thing too, mine went at about 185,000km.