1.6 8v design petrol

Practical ,spacious but dull car

i purchased my meriva 8 years ago with only 12,000 mileson the clock.i liked the shape of the car and the easy fold rear seats which turned the car into a mini van!!.There is plenty of room for 4 people and is comfortable and practical.
The car is a little underpowered ( only 87bhp!!) and the A pillars are a poor design causing poor visibility around roundabouts.
At about 30,000 miles the engine light lit up on my dash,the car only ran on three cylinders after. Took car to garage where they diagnosed no compression in one cylinder,the garage discovered a valve spring had broke. The valve only cost about a £1 but labour costs came to over £400!!.
Also had the common EPS light problem,only on start up in the morning though but found out by fitting a new battery the problem has disappeared and very rarely lights up now...strange!! I read on another forum sometimes the EPS light comes on if the battery is not sendiing enough power to the ECU.
All in all not a bad car but not brilliant,as the MPG is not that good and the tax band is quite high.

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