Faults:

Clutch cable snapped.

Accelerator cable snapped.

Rear brake cylinders needed replacing twice in two years.

General Comments:

The Samba was a reliable, comfortable, fun and "different" car which I enjoyed owning. The gearbox wasn't brilliant (in my experience PSA gearboxes of the 1980s were generally horrid), requiring a bit of fishing about to find 4th if you tried to snatch the change from 3rd too quickly.

Driving was simple and fun, good visibility all-round and direct steering. I imagine the 1.3 engine would have made the car fairly sporty; as it was my 954cc engine was ideal for the car, and the fuel consumption was exceptionally low around town.

Despite being kept outdoors and run in all weathers near the English coast, the car still had no structural or surface rust when I traded it in, and I saw it running about town as late as 2002 so it was obviously one of the better-made ones, and the paintwork was beautifully done (unlike many other cars of the same era that I drove over the years), albeit in dark brown with orange "go faster" stripes down the sides...

The problem with the brake cylinders leaking was the only consistent thing that went wrong - it twice failed the MOT on it - no idea whether it was a regular fault for this platform or just bad luck with a poor batch of cylinders.

All in all, a lovely car which I have fond memories of.

Faults:

Rust was a bit bad on the front sills of the car.

Other than that, it was reliable until the engine packed up at 63000 miles.

General Comments:

This was my first car; wanted a small Volvo but the money won't go that far.

I remember doing 105 mph downhill in this car near junction 8 on the M25. It could have gone faster but I had to slow down as I saw a police car in the inside lane.

This was not the prettiest car that I have ever had, but was reasonably comfy from what I remember. One thing I do remember is that when you went over 70 mph you had to turn the radio up loud or the sound of the engine was deafening.

The best thing about this car was it was very reliable and cost next to nothing on petrol.

I must agree with other reviews that it rusted on the front something rotten, but it kept on running.

It finally died after my little brother had it in '96.

A lot of fond memories from this car.

Faults:

Rust.

Flat spot on acceleration which I was never able to fix.

More rust.

Gearbox sychromesh on its way out when I got rid of it (driver abuse suspected).

Did I mention rust?

General Comments:

My first car! Heaven knows why I'm writing a review of it now, it's not like you can buy one however hard you try! Apart from a few Cabriolets left, most of them have rusted away long ago.

This car had the thinnest steel used for its bodywork that I've ever seen. The slightest impact would cause a dent, and if the paintwork was scratched in the slightest, rust would set in in no time. I've never seen a car rust away so much in the year that I had it.

The interior was actually quite nice. I'm very tall and I found it very comfortable.

Despite the massive ground clearance, the car's handling wasn't bad at all and never misbehaved.

Let's not talk about the performance, though the engine was bombproof. Despite my greatest efforts, I just couldn't kill it.

No one forgets their first car, and this car had plenty you'd want to forget about. But if I could buy another I would, but purely for nostalgia!