Faults:

Ignition lead fell out and set distributor on fire (not the car's fault).

Drive shaft oil seal.

Rusty rear brake back plate.

Various electrical problems when bought (mainly due to corroded connections).

Central locking was intermittent when bought.

Seats were split.

Clutch actuation arm cracked and then bent.

Some bush in the front suspension has worn out (to be fixed...).

General Comments:

This is my first car, so naturally I view it through rose-tinted spectacles :)...but I think that these are very pleasant, cheap and reliable cars. I paid £225 for mine, and so far nothing major has gone wrong with it in the year that I've been running it.

There were the few faults as outlined above, but these are all just little niggles, which I have all sorted (apart from the front suspension which keeps knocking at the moment). I managed to sort all of these problems with minimal expense - mostly it was just cleaning up components.

A lot of these, and 205's seem to suffer from intermittent central locking, especially the ones like mine that aren't the remote control ones. Despite what the Haynes manual says, there is no central control unit unless it is the remote control version. The problem was a dry contact inside the actuator in the driver's door.

Despite only being a 1.3, these are still reasonably quick (probably because they only weigh about 850kg), and the handling is very good, and very neutral - I haven't had any problems with lift off over-steer except when deliberately lifting off in the wet :)

The interior does rattle a bit, though I've managed to quieten things down with strategically placed bits of foam behind certain panels and mouldings. Other than that, it's a pleasant place to be, and the seats are comfortable enough for long journeys.

These cars are pretty robust, but when things do go wrong, the parts are generally available, and are dirt cheap. They're also quite good on fuel asw ell, making these very cheap to run.

Faults:

Hand brake cable snapped whilst doing handbrake turn.

Headlamp and fog light bulbs blown.

Indicator lenses fly off at 110mph!

A few rattles here and there.

General Comments:

This car is built for country roads, with its superb handling and more than ample speed it will give most other hot hatches a run for their money.

This is truly a wolf in sheep's clothing and is a very understated car.

It develops about 130bhp as standard which you will have a job to use to its full on country roads, but a bit more power would be nice to use in a straight line.

Having said that it will keep up with a Astra 1.8 GSI up to about 80mph, and will eat Novas and Saxos for breakfast.

One of the cars best features is the handling which is excellent, and a good set of tyres will be needed to take full advantage of this.

It has plenty of extras and gadgets, such as air horns, a power boost valve, pressure/temp gauges, etc.

I would recommend one of these cars to anyone.

Faults:

Absolutely nothing "went" wrong with the car. I bought it cheap with faults (worn clutch, body corrosion, torn seats, leaking sunroof), some I fixed, some I didn't, as it was a "disposable" cheapie.

Oh, just the one extra thing broke while I had it, the towing eye came away, but that's what you get for dragging a friend's broken-down Sierra up a steep hill!

General Comments:

As a disposable car, absolutely fine. As a car to keep for a long period of time, check it out well die to the model's age.

The 1.7 Diesel lump is very economical, returning decentish performance at a low cost. Not quite as good as the 205 (which this car is based on) but approaching it.

Trim level is basic and typically French '80s car - plasticky and a little on the rattly side.

Comfort is French too - way above other similar class cars. Handles pretty well too.

I do miss this car - it had to go, it wouldn't have lasted too much longer (as mentioned I bought it as a throw-away banger), but it was one of the most pleasant and economical drives I have owned.