1.6 GLX 4x4 5dr Hatchback

Great car, shame about the gearbox

I bought a 10 plate 4x4 petrol 1.6 with 63,000 miles on the clock. It was fine for the test drive but it soon emerged that the gearbox was very notchy and hard to get into first and second gears at times. I got the cables and pivot points lubricated and the gearbox oil changed which improved it for a while. Otherwise it is all good with the pokey engine, good acceleration, good handling and it is very practical. I can move large logs for my wood burner no problem. It is also well equipped with keyless entry and start, climate control, four electric windows, etc. Comfortable and quiet on longer runs and it cruises nicely at 70mph on motorways. I got about 37 mpg overall. Recently the gear change got worse again and was also vague going from fifth to fourth gear. It seemed like the self centering effect of the gear lever had got weaker so it was harder to slot into fourth gear. This made overtaking awkward. My partner started swearing a lot when driving it so it had to go. We had put about another 11,000 miles on the clock. If you can find one with a good gearbox then we would recommend this car. It may have just been our rather worn example. I traded it in for another SX4 4wd but a later one which seems to have a different gearbox, so you can see we like it apart from the Fiat derived gearbox of the older ones. See my report on this one too.

One update point I'll make is that the engine management light came on on the way home from a holiday on Skye. My usual garage said that the cat efficiency was down to 45% and suggested a new cat at about £800 however knowing how varied petrol is in places I decided to try a tank of the excellent but expensive Shell V-Power and after driving for a day or two the light went out and never came back on. The excellent cleaning properties of V-Power petrol must have made a difference so hence I would recommend this step before taking it to the garage.

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