1.6 TS2 4dr Saloon

A great value for money, reliable, safe and good handling car!

Updated 10/2015

Bought for £10300 (plus prep charge) from one of the main car supermarkets when discounts on new cars were large due to oversupply/strong pound back in 2005/6.

Good looking car (much better IMHO than the hatch), without being flashy. Handles well, though quite firm suspension - rides better (and quieter) if not on the original Bridgestone ER30 tyres. 1.6 petrol engine revs nicely, but not that quick, just adequate. Quite low geared, which is good for overtaking, but less so for smooth driving and as the clutch wears (still on the original though). The engine still pulls very nicely all the way up the rev range (to be fair its only done 52k miles) and feels almost as good as on day 1.

High bootline makes it difficult to reverse park, but you get used to it. On the up side it has a large 400 litre boot (larger than the hatch), but small boot aperture can be a bit restrictive to load large boxes (fine for luggage). Seats could do with being a bit more comfortable (it's generally fine), especially for longer journeys. Nicely laid-out interior - instruments and ICE all easy to operate and functional, though the trim material is the hard plastic type and not so stylish as German marques (still well screwed together though). Climate controlled A/C very good.

Very reliable even after 9 years(outside of normal 'wear-and-tear' items, only one small issue with a rear electric window button not working, fixed free-of-charge at service by resetting the software on the car) - fortunately this car was an import from Europe, so it didn't have the traction/stability control that has caused problems - to be honest, I've never needed either, even in bad weather. One or two very small spots of rust on the rear wheel arch sills, but nothing major.

Reasonable servicing costs (approx. £250 pa average) and mainly good dealers (my local one is very good). Low insurance costs, average road tax and it does about 38-42mpg if you don't thrash it. I could easily see this car lasting at least another 5 years, maybe even 10 or 100k more miles if serviced properly.

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