i bought my focus one year ago . 1.8 zetec 5dr hatch back . car is nippy and fuel wise its good esp when towing caravan . but i spent so far £980 on it . so far its got new clucth new discs and pads new anti roll bushes front and back new cv joint wishbone . they rust under back doors badly . new back doors .when towbar fitted it banged off exhust and tore hole thru it .new handbrake cable . curse to fix £140 to replace.buy a good one . check all bodywork .and make sure you ask when was timing belt replaced please .

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (14/9)

most reliable car ever owned..has,t needed a part in 2 years i,ve owned her..only slight bad thing,the sport a bit on hard side..37 mpg..

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (6/1)

fantastic car great for a little fun when wanted plus easy goin on the pocket and looks great. great interior and comfort through traffic or rough roads

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (27/3)

We have 3 VW Passat TDI's in our family. Not sporty, but very reliable.Cheap road tax. Easy 50-55MPG average. Full Service History preferred. Only the Timing belt changed & new clutch/flywheel needed at 120,000 miles. Now 180,000. No problems. Noisier than our 2006 Passat TDI, but we are impressed. Never broken down.

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (23/0)

This vehicle is a pleasure to drive, it has high spec, does 49 mpg and it is the best I've ever driven.

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (25/5)

HAVE TO SAY HAS BEEN AN BRILLIANT CAR TO OWN.NEVER LET ME DOWN.SOMETHING DIFFERENT THAT GETS LOTS OF ADMIRING LOOKS.MAKES A GREAT NOISE TOO. EXCELLENT SPORTS SEATS.HAS ALL THE TOYS.ITS A POOR MAN,S ASTON MARTIN.

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (3/0)

Hi there, I have a Nov ’07 Peugeot 207 1.6 HDi 90 Sport.
To drive, it is very comfortable, there’s lots of adjustment in the sporty bucket seats that feel like they’re hugging you. It’s pretty smooth on the road, no unwanted wind noise although on poor surfaces there’s a bit of tyre noise, though this is probably because I am using cheap tyres which means the rubber is very hard. The car handles neatly, quite a bit of fun on a twisty road infact and the steering sends good feedback to the driver. I can’t really complain about the car in this area.
Running costs are superb, I easily get 650 miles to a full tank of diesel and my right foot is fairly heavy at times. Cost’s me 78 euro to fill up over the border in Monaghan (1.54.9 Euro per litre), although I remember when I first got it I filled it for 45 Euro! The VRT is really cheap, £30 a year! On a trip from Armagh- Newry- Belfast- Newry- Armagh it’ll average 60 MPG all day long!
Reliability and Build Quality haven’t been an issue, I never needed any work done under warranty and it still hasn’t required any work apart from servicing every 12.5k miles and the timing belt which I had done at 70000 miles, even though Peugeot told me it didn’t need done till over 100k. The cabin is well screwed together, a few wee rattles which come and go but nothing has fallen off inside or outside.
I must say, after driving 95000 miles over the past 5 years I really have grown a bond with it. Never once has it let me down, the spare wheel hasn’t even been used! Once the new 208 is launched I’ll be parting with my 207, will really miss it! I definitely recommend one as long as it isn’t the 1.4 8v 75bhp engine, I had one as a courtesy car when mine was being serviced and it was dead as doornails, the 1.4 VTI 95 is much livelier! Had a 1.4 HDi 70 for a day, was also dead as doornails but scarily economical, I averaged 67MPG on a 120 mile round trip!

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (43/6)

Just bought one of these recently. Great smooth drive and really comfortable. Not that easy on petrol but I guess that is the thing with automatics.

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (27/5)

Ball of dung!! I had a black 03 Focus 1.8 TDCi 115 Zetec which I bought with 93k on the clock, F.F.S.H and one lady owner. Ok it was a nice enough driving car and it was pretty nippy but that's where the good points end. Thank god the fella I bought it from was dead on and his brother was a mechanic, he always got any problems fixed for me. Though at one stage not even Lindsay Ford in Craigavon couldn't find the fault with it. On a normal summers morning the car would struggle to start after new injectors and battery and when it did start, a lot of black and blue smoke came out of it. Anyway, the gearbox was done after 110k and the clutch was on its way out too. Thankfully I wrote the car off and got exactly what I paid for it 2 years earlier through insurance. My neighbour has the exact same engine in his 2004 MK1 Focus and it's giving huge problems, I only thought mine was bad.. Stay well away from Ford!

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (17/15)

We owned a zafira for four years and found it to be a very reliable, comfortable and economical car with loads of room. We will definitely buy another Zafira.

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (9/4)

I bought the car in 2006 after agreeing to test drive a forfour. While we waited for the demo car to be refuelled, I joked about trying one of the 2 seater smarts. The salesman said why not and took me out in a roadster. It took a while before a coupe became available but it was worth the wait. The car is a pleasure to drive, full of fun and thrills at road legal speeds. Despite its size, it's very practical too which has allowed me to keep it for 6 years now. A thriving and knowledgable online community at TheRoadster.net is an asset to this car. Other manufacturers and model clubs would do well to try to follow in their steps. It's economical to own too with great MPG, low tax band and a low insurance group.

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (12/0)

Of course yoy will say this car is a piece of shit if you buy a 2000,manual,petrol
BUT DRIVE ONE OF THESE AND ITS A WHOLE DIFFERENT STORY
Voted best in its class, and rightly so.
An absolute pleasure to own and drive,with more than enough power to satisfy anyone(AND ITS DEISEL)
Running costs obviously a little higher than most cars, but hey,what do you expect from a BMW 3 litre turbo deisel.
All in all a great car with a bullet proof engine that will be the envy of all your friends!

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (14/9)

what can i say got e60 bmw 530i se what a bit of shit this car is crap oil leaks every were air bag light comeing on all the time i have this car 3 weeks and have drove it for 2 days it will do 20 miles to the gallon i hate it

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (8/12)

Lovely car to drive , has plenty of performance acceleration when required. Road holding is leech-like and handling is nicely weighted balanced with good feedback through steering and Sports suspension awith 17" Alloys. Braking is easy and assured , no hysterics , no fadeout , nicely weighted pedal feel..Handbrake is not as impressive , just about does its job! Careful parking on a slope!
Fuel economy (when you consider the performance) is really good working out at(58mpg)overall..63+mpg on motorway at 80mph , around 52mpg in urban/town traffic!
Alternator burnout is common between 90-120K
miles..as is , Dual-mass Clutch failure a well known problem , also the EGR valve jamming/failing and Injector wiring loom problems(there was a recall to remedy)
Heater Fan/Blower thermistor failures are common too.. Water pump & Timing belt replacements are crucial , not to be neglected!
Other wise car is 100% reliable and requires only regular servicing , ie Oil & Filter every
20K miles if using 05-30W fully synthetic Castrol or Mobil..
Love the car , has ample interior space with good boot , good supportive seats.
Dash is typical Germanic/functional but everything works!
a Value for money car! :)

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (17/2)

I bought a 2002 Golf 1.6s with 70K on it. I paid what appeared to be the market value £1700.
The car is very heavy on petrol and running costs are high. The ride is fine, good confortable driving seat with adjustable stearing. The model has a number of well known and documented faults (which i didnt research before purchasing) - the most worrying of which is problems with the gearbox. It appears that Volkswagon engineers made a very basic design error in the gearbox wherin a component breaks and wrecks the entire gearbox. The cost of a replacement can be more that the value of the car. Another well documented complaint is with the rear axel bushes - depending on where you go to get these replaced it can cost from £90 to £350. Dont get ripped off with mechanics claiming that this is a big job requiring the axel to be removed - its a relatively simple job for a skilled mechanic (who has the right tools) and should cost no more than £90 to replace the two rear bushes. Another common issue is with erratic tick-over and engine cutting out - this can cost loads to get repaired and most mechanics will baffle you with talk about MAF sensors and rubbish when a good service will resolve the issue without the need for expensive sensor repairs. The biggest eye opener for me was when i tried to trade my car for another and found that the trade value was £500 from a number of dealers. My car is immaculate inside and out with a full MOT and this was a real eye opener. Id rather drive it until the engine falls out of it rather than be ripped off by NI car dealers. Happy Motoring!!

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (34/14)

I had a mark 4 golf 100 bhp tdi and it was one of the best cars I ever had. It was handy run and insurance wasn't to bad either. Running costs weren't that expensive. Overall I thought it a good car and I would buy another one.

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (6/0)

The joy of open top motoring in a stylish British Classic. Very comperable to an MX5 but with much better panache, and the values are going up as a rare classic. The Isuzu engine is a wonder, very reliable, very smooth at low power, and savage at high revs. The handling is the Lotus part, like a go-cart. It has the usual Lotus character with some quirks like a leaky soft-top and poor handbrake, but all easy to live with.

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (4/0)

Very good car, very quick, reliable and can transport the children. Done 60000 miles with no issues. Can be expensive to run high road tax and insurance but its a GTI so have to expect that. Looks are good on 18" wheels, leather interior and sunroof

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (6/1)

I bought my C4 from a family owned Belfast dealer about 14 months ago, trading in my trusty mk4 derv Astra for something that looked and felt fresher.

First off it was the looks that sparked my interest. The floating steering wheel, dash mounted digital speedo, angled rear window and daring styling (at least when it was released) and special edition interior made this stand out.

Mine is the 1.6hdi 110hp engine, recommended to me over the petrol variants due to reliability but I'll come to that. Driving wise, it's quick enough for most overtakes with good torque low down. The balance between power and economy is spot on, it's a warm hatch that'll give 600+ miles to a tank if driven right. I've managed 670 being careful before repeatedly being told by the computer that fuel was too low! Handling's not great, suspension is rather high.

Unfortunately the car was off the road for 3+ months after timing belt failure and subsequent damage, all before 55k. Recommended change at 130k! Do it before that I warn you. Cost me £1300 before mine was running again but she came back looking more beautiful than ever so I can forgive. I did by the way have a full service history prior to this. Oil changing is paramount so I've been told.

A good daily driver, that has the looks and practicality required, excellent economy but beware, no car is flawless!

Did you find this review useful? Yes  No (39/0)