Faults:

* The car has three horns and only one works (the one on the end of the left hand side indicator).

* The air conditioning is very weak (I think there is gunk, old leaves etc blocking it up, or it needs to be re gassed).

* Fuel gauge is faulty (this is not a problem, as on the digital display it tells you how many more KM you are able to cover on the remaining petrol).

* The temperature gauge is faulty (this is not an issue, as if the car were to overheat, a light would appear on the dash board).

General Comments:

WOW! An exceptional vehicle with such low kilometres for just $1,150 NZD. This car totally outclasses its rivals.

The ride (like most French cars) is smooth and comfortable, as if you're floating on a cloud, and the performance is very good considering the engine size. The car can easily overtake other vehicles with little effort.

I actually buy and sell vehicles (I am a student and have a passion for European cars). This is my first, and I am very impressed. The car has already been sold, but I would buy another one tomorrow. There is virtually no wear in the interior; I think that the car has held up extremely well considering the age.

The model I had was the 2.0 RXE. This model shares the same reliable engine as the VOLVO S40 2.0 and the VOLVO 850 2.0; a unit renowned for excellent reliability.

All in all, it is a very nice cheap vehicle, which provides owners with a comfortable ride and excellent reliability. I highly recommend this car!

Faults:

Heated rear window did not get warm when first bought, found and fixed defective electrical connector.

Timing belt slipped a few teeth not long after purchasing, stalled and refused to start. Compression test thankfully showed valves were OK, £250 for timing belt change.

Since then, no real problems over six years and 45k miles. Two new exhaust backboxes, front pads and discs, sunroof motor stopped working.

Radiator support tray is corroding according to the MOT advisories, but hasn't failed on that yet.

One rear wheel bearing replaced at 129000 miles.

General Comments:

Very comfortable car and easy to drive. Hatchback good for large loads with the seats down. Overall I'm very happy with it.

Paid £2000 in 2004, just been offered £200 trade-in. Seemed to offer more features for the money on a car of this age (air con, remote central locking), although of course these now seem to be more standard. Insurance (group 7) is cheap for a car of this size.

Faults:

Airbag warning light on.

Nearside rear door lock inop on central locking.

Intermittent wipe inop.

Driver's door exterior handle wouldn't open door (twice)

Driver's door wouldn't latch closed (about 4-5 times)

General Comments:

I bought this car in the motor trade for £250 as I was giving up a co. car and it came in p/x cheap.

What a buy!!

It always started first turn of the key (quicker than my wife's '05 Saab!) and never let me down once.

Good points were that the ride was fantastic (it could teach newer cars on their 18" alloys and sport suspension a trick or two), handling was a lot better than I thought it would be (ie :it actually gripped and went round corners rather than tipping over and skidding off them--owning a Renault 11 once tainted my views I think!), and it has a lot of cabin space with a big boot (essential for my dog and wife's horse riding kit)

However, by todays standards the kit count was pretty crap, a 5 grand Kia probably has more as standard, although I was impressed by the fact it had remote audio controls!

Performance was in the "you'll get there in the end category", and overtaking required about a mile of road and lots of prayer!!

Overall though about as cheap as motoring gets (bearing in mind an X-box 360 costs more!)

It averaged 32 mpg and all I put on it were x4 new tyres when bought, at £32 a corner.

My wife has now annihalated it by crashing into a parked car round the corner from our house!!

Food for thought though--she crashed offset front into an '04 Laguna (a 5 star euro ncap car) at about 20 mph, my Laguna wouldn't start, the passenger front door was hard to open, the bumper was pushed into the wheel so you couldn't turn the steering wheel, it was generally trashed. The newer car had a smashed headlamp and minor bumper damage!! Had she been going faster and smacked into a new car I dread to think, maybe spending those pennies and buying something a bit newer is a good idea (this goes for all you older Mondeo, Vectra owners as well, they all score the same 2.5 stars on Euroncap!)