1.6 Style

Good car with a few niggles

Overall I am impressed by the handling and the build quality of the important bits. The main down-side is the poor MPG.

I especially like the steering wheel which even in my low-spec Style model feels great to hold even with sweaty hands. There are easy-reach audio controls positioned behind the steering wheel which I prefered to the trend of locating them on the steering wheel itself.

The dash lighting isn't dimmable but I never found that a problem - it's a dull red colour and nicely shielded from reflecting in the windscreen. Allegedly some cars have a dimmer switch, though seems to be inconsistent across models and might depend on the place and date of manufacture.

Front seat passengers commented that the seats were quite firm, but I found this support made them more comfortable on long journies.

Failures:

The aircon failed at just 6,000 miles and the dealership spent several hours diagnosing and eventually replacing the condensor (thankfully under warranty) - it's been fine since.

The only other failure has been the interior cabin light which was also replaced under warranty.

Niggles:

Although the gears work very smoothly on the whole, it often dislikes engaging reverse. Sometimes I have to double-declutch or fiddle with it to get it to engage.

The rear wiper is a bit pathetic, it can cope with water but not dirty spray or mud.

The one-touch-to-open on the front electric windows doesn't seem to work - you have to hold the button down. Not sure if this is a fault or not.

I found I often had to turn the ESP off to drive at slow speeds on snow or ice without getting stuck.

The "flash main beam" and "main beam on" functions both involve pulling the stalk in the same direction. I found I often left the main beam on when only intending a brief flash. In other cars I've had these functions involved more clearly differentiated actions.

A petrol pump hose that fell off the pump managed to shatter the reversing light cover which is made of very fragile thin plastic. I had to replace the whole light unit.

After 20,000 miles the boot is a bit reluctant to spring open all the way.

Road noise on motorways could be better.

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