Good Points
Reliable and good fun to drive, nice exhaust note and good acceleration once you hit the vtec point, fantastic road holding.

Bad Points
Thin metal on the body, dents when a bird lands on it, sluggish response when you have to get going quickly, you have to be feeding the revs to get a good blast of speed, change to 2nd then put your foot down.

General Comments
This car has strong acceleration and its handling is reasonable: it's good for country roads and the Autobahn, and refined at at very high or mid to low speeds - except on motorways at the all-important 70mph, where road roar is apparent. For some reason, 95mph is no louder than 70mph.

It’s capable of better fuel economy than the equivalent VAG diesel, but requires a careful hand to achieve this. It is capable of faster acceleration, but because of the size of the engine, at a greater cost in fuel than VAG cars.

So if you’re the average Joe who zooms up to the red lights and accelerates fast away from them, drives on the motorways at 85mph overtaking and subsequently being overtaken by drivers doing the similar speeds, braking for speed cameras at the last second, then accelerating away from them, I would then recommend a Vauxhall, VAG or BMW - this is their territory.

All are more refined on UK motorways, and their diesels are more frugal in 'start-stop' driving than the 2.2 CTDI.