My mates just bought one of these, and I got to have a drive of it. Here are my impressions.

The first, and probably main thing to hit me about the driving experience was how flat this thing cornered, impressively flat I'd say. Less body roll than my Golf. However, there are a few disadvantages to the way this car drives as well. The firmness means it hangs on through corners very well, but the trade off is a firm ride. It crashes and bangs over every bump in the road. Also, I find that the Golf was perhaps more confidence inspiring, because the Golf at its limits just begins a gradual and progressive slide, but the Saxo feels like it has pretty high limits, but I didn't quite feel 100% comfortable exploring them, it felt as if it could potentially bite when taken beyond its limit at high speed.

Brakes seemed ok, could do with a little more feel, I'm used to the more weighty controls of the Golf. Pedals were not only too close together, but lacked feel, weight, and were simply too small - the top of my foot seemed to be almost above the clutch pedal, often preventing me from fully pressing the clutch. The driving position was poor. The gearshift is typical citroen - notchy, and the ratios seem to be crammed into quite a small area. The steering is very communicative considering it has power steering, much more so than the Furby. The car turns in quickly and crisply, however, the weight of the steering did not increase as much as I would like under loading up, always felt too light.

Finally, and the bit most people are more interested in is the performance. Well yes, I did thrash it, and I have to say its a decently nippy car, but fast it doesn't seem to be. I can believe the claimed 9.4 seconds time, but its no quicker for sure. The engine makes a pleasingly rorty sound when pushed, and typical with an 8v car, the power seemed to be mostly in the midrange, 3,000 to about 5.5 - 6k rpm seemed to pull the strongest.

I would like to ask this, how much quicker do you think my Golf would be to this? The reason I ask is because, subjectively, to me, the Golf feels a fair amount faster, but perhaps not massively so... and because the Saxo did not seem overly sporty in terms of "noise", I wonder if its just the fact the Golf is *VERY* loud in comparison to the Saxo? Maybe its not really any quicker at all... but it does feel it.

Hope this is of interest to somone :P

try the vts mate, very different performance

ahhh i thought it went round pritty well trying to follow one my back end went a bit wide lol :P

try the vts mate, very different performance

I can imagine the VTS being significantly faster. In fact, with its chassis the way it is, I can imagine the VTS very much to be a pin that throttle to the floor, wait till it hits the red line, change gear, all while holding onto the steering wheel with white knuckles!

In some ways, despite the fact it wasnt all that quick, I'd say it pretty much felt quick enough for its chassis.

your golf should be around a second quicker to 60. in real life driving i cant comment. have never driven a little saxo.

my octy did have a few run ins with vts's

The main thing to me seems to be the Golf responds more quickly the throttle, more eager to pick up its skirt and run, and in the midrange, feels more urgent. Top end on both seems to tail off at around about the 6k rpm mark, and both have similar gearing. Both are drivable, but the Golf seemed better in this respect as it just seems to have a bit more torque to it.

What broke on the Saxo though when you drove it?

What broke on the Saxo though when you drove it?

Nothing as yet

However I would like to comment a little on its build quality. Subjectively, the build quality seemed poor to me. Reminded me of the citroen berlingo vans i drive at work in that respect - i remember once abusing one by racing to the redline and slamming it through the box, i managed to seperate the gear lever from the engine, the result was the van stuck in third gear with the gear lever flapping around all over the place. That was interesting... but I can honestly say that if you were rough with it, the same thing feels like it might happen to the Saxo as well... but suffice to say, its my mates new car, and I did treat it with respect (even though I was revving it out).

From what I can remember the big thing that let down the Saxo was the poor driving position. Spoiled a fairly quick little motor. Wouldn't fancy being in an accident in one though.

Yes, its driving position would definitely grate on me after a while.

i remember once abusing one by racing to the redline and slamming it through the box, i managed to seperate the gear lever from the engine, the result was the van stuck in third gear with the gear lever flapping around all over the place.

S-I-L managed to do this to her Saxo a couple of weekend's back...don't think she was thrashing it or anything though, just a pin dropped of of the connector or something...

Rob.

S-I-L managed to do this to her Saxo a couple of weekend's back...don't think she was thrashing it or anything though' date=' just a pin dropped of of the connector or something...

[/quote']

When I called out the councils mechanics when this happenned, he said that he deals with about 2 such faults every single week, just within the council! :eek:

Clearly build quality aint their fort

I've driven a Saxo VTS with cam and head work pushing 160 bhp. Now that was mental, and the cornering really was something else.

I can imagine...

yeah, bloke at work managed to disconect his gearbox from the lever too

15 miles home through traffic up hills on country lanes in 3rd

Not had a drive of one (but have wondered about the driving position since I sat in one!) but had a passenger ride with my mate and was very impressed with the car's performance and cornering. He's had it for 4 years, covered the best part of 70k miles and only problem has been a corroded radiator

Was considering one for SWMBO as a runabout but the driving position and NCAP ratings are not inspiring me with confidence!

Chris

From what I can remember the big thing that let down the Saxo was the poor driving position. Spoiled a fairly quick little motor. Wouldn't fancy being in an accident in one though.

swmbo has a saxo and i totally agree with you, the driving position is terrible. it's as if the seats are too high OR the entire dash is too low, and don't start me on the tiny pedals.

edit: I don't even feel comfortable sitting in the passenger seat, incredibly claustrphobic cabin IMO.

I was actually really surprised at how the saxo differs from my xsara - driving position is excellent in that

The ZX I had I bought for 800 quid, high-mileage, 1.4i petrol. Was very comfy. The 2.0 liter version was a lot better in many ways, mind you, but it was excellent for the rest.

The Saxo is/was (?) a bargain motor, with it's faults, true. It's not really a family hatch IMHO, but it's light, the sporty ones go well, and it sounds fast. And yes, you can 'tart it up' - again, target market

The Xsara is a bargain as well, but let's face it, that's more an MPV than a 'straight car' - tons of space, etc. What's the fuel economy like in that, on a totally OT tangent ?

With the right driver the vtr/vts/106gti are pretty much the best handling hatches out there - wipe the floor with the clios etc.

My mum had a vtr and I was always extremely impressed with the handling - had to didtch it in the end due to reliability issues - she's got a Furby vRS now

With the right driver the vtr/vts/106gti are pretty much the best handling hatches out there - wipe the floor with the clios etc.

I disagree. I have friends with a VTR and Clio 172 respectively. Think they're both 2001 models, or thereabouts. I'd pick the Clio for handling every time.

Even today, a Clio 182 Cup probably still holds the hot-hatch handling award, even against Cooper-S et al.

Steve

Who cares about Clio/Saxo? They are both made by French people who really don't know how to bolt a car together properly!

I wonder how many breakdown just getting onto the ferry to get here?

Who cares about Clio/Saxo? They are both made by French people who really don't know how to bolt a car together properly!

There's more to a car than just how well it's bolted together...which I suspect would explain the interest people have in French cars...

Rob.

The ZX I had I bought for 800 quid' date=' high-mileage, 1.4i petrol. Was very comfy. The 2.0 liter version was a lot better in many ways, mind you, but it was excellent for the rest.

The Saxo is/was (?) a bargain motor, with it's faults, true. It's not really a family hatch IMHO, but it's light, the sporty ones go well, and it sounds fast. And yes, you can 'tart it up' - again, target market

The Xsara is a bargain as well, but let's face it, that's more an MPV than a 'straight car' - tons of space, etc. What's the fuel economy like in that, on a totally OT tangent ?[/quote']

Xsara hatch mate, not the picasso mpv version.

S plate motor acquired at an auction in june, 1.9td engine with 205,000 on the clock. runs like a dream, handling could be better tho. i get 55 mpg on the daily commute

With the right driver the vtr/vts/106gti are pretty much the best handling hatches out there - wipe the floor with the clios etc.

My mum had a vtr and I was always extremely impressed with the handling - had to didtch it in the end due to reliability issues - she's got a Furby vRS now

:iagree:

I seem to remember that a TV show (5th gear rings a bell, because I'm sure VBH and Jason Plato were involved) once voted this the 2nd best handling car in the world at any price. The winner was a Ferrari 550 so it shows the company it can keep.

moose there is more to a car than reliability and mpg mate, i had a 106 for a couple years and although only a 1.1 it was a good fun car to drive and did handle well, the lift off over steer was a night mare at times but other than that they are pretty good.

i did have trouble with reliablity at times but the thing wasn't built that badly and did handle well

would have loved a gti and only sold my little car because i neded a bigger car for work, only to be given a works van about a week later :mad:

would never have bought the focus and mabe not the skoda if i hadn't sold the 106 when i did, probably would have moved up to a gti tbh