What Is The Zs Like ? Comments Please

[Darylboyy!]

hello everyone , been a member for a while as i am waiting on my zs lol , had to wait 10 weeks for ti and now i collect it on wedensday so whats ur reveiws about the smart little cars :D?

[Chris Ecc]

You'll love it! I was surprised by how nippy it is for a 1.6 being a light car and I think the handling is awesome. Had mine a year now and people are still saying to me what an awesome car it is! Did you get any extras?

[MarkyR]

Well, before it had a fight with a deer. F*****g FANTASTIC!!!! A tad underpowered with the automatic air con on but by God it handles like an utter dream and puts a smile on your face and it's cheap to run. I have never regretted my choice to buy the car and I feel it's the best value for money, sure it could be better quality but for the handling and design it's unbeatable. I keep looking at the Audi A1 and just think how utterly overpriced it is compared to the ZetecS.

Oh and I should be getting mine back this week at some point, gotta go and check on her tomorrow and to show the garage what's wrong with my boot. It can just be a bit useless in the 'rare' snow we get, but for the over 51 weeks of the year............ :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[sussex]

I absolutely LOVE my ZS

[Chris Ecc]

I had a look at the A1 too, ridiculously overpriced

[sussex]

Isnt the A1 basically a polo with an audi badge?

[Smett72]

Love mine. Looks great, handles well, is reasonably nippy. Only quibbles I've got are no heated front screen (think it became standard equipment a few months after I bought mine) and it's shocking in snow.

[kenny.c]

Quite a few people say they are not very good in the snow/ice......but we have found ours to be pretty dam good...Ive no idea why our car is so differant in snow/ice but our car has 16" wheels and ESP...what wheels and spec do people have that dont think they are very good?

As other have said they are great looking cars and the build quality is pretty good aswell. Throttle response on the TDCI cars is fairly poor and the steering is abit light for my liking...but the handling is very good.

Ken

[Smett72]

Quite a few people say they are not very good in the snow/ice......but we have found ours to be pretty dam good...Ive no idea why our car is so differant in snow/ice but our car has 16" wheels and ESP...what wheels and spec do people have that dont think they are very good?

I've got the 17's (with Bridgestone Potenza's), ESP and the petrol 1.6. My car seems to cope OK with fresh snow, but once it's compacted it really struggles. ESP only seems to make a difference on the flat, any slight incline and it doesn't seem to have enough grip to maintain momentum. If anything it copes better with hills if I turn the ESP off. I have found that my tyres don't grip as well as a I would expect in the wet, so maybe it's as much a tyre issue as wheel size.

[iNath]

Quite a few people say they are not very good in the snow/ice......but we have found ours to be pretty dam good...Ive no idea why our car is so differant in snow/ice but our car has 16" wheels and ESP...what wheels and spec do people have that dont think they are very good?

15" steel wheels with Continental winter tyres and ESP left on = snow, what snow? :P

When work's carpark/ice rink was empty one night last week I purposely went up & down slamming on brakes to try and skid. Very impressed! (ABS only kicked in in the last second as car was almost at complete stop and I didn't slide anywhere)

[kenny.c]

Interesting...

I did a similar thing in a enpty Tesco carpark last week.....maybe a combination of wheel size/tyres plus the extra 41kgs over the front axle in a 1.6 TDCI makes the differance...

Ken

[MarkyR]

I've got the 17's (with Bridgestone Potenza's), ESP and the petrol 1.6. My car seems to cope OK with fresh snow, but once it's compacted it really struggles. ESP only seems to make a difference on the flat, any slight incline and it doesn't seem to have enough grip to maintain momentum. If anything it copes better with hills if I turn the ESP off. I have found that my tyres don't grip as well as a I would expect in the wet, so maybe it's as much a tyre issue as wheel size.

It's the tyres, they are crap in the snow. Looked into it a fair bit but the trouble is they are awesome in the dry! So do you change them or not? Kinda hard choice. I'm thinking of getting some snow socks.

[Focus_ST-3]

Mine is great in the snow (im the only non 4x4 to get up my street!) Ive got ESP and 17" alloys with Continental ContiSport 3 tyres

[zetecpete]

I've got the 17's (with Bridgestone Potenza's), ESP and the petrol 1.6. My car seems to cope OK with fresh snow, but once it's compacted it really struggles. ESP only seems to make a difference on the flat, any slight incline and it doesn't seem to have enough grip to maintain momentum. If anything it copes better with hills if I turn the ESP off. I have found that my tyres don't grip as well as a I would expect in the wet, so maybe it's as much a tyre issue as wheel size.

[zetecpete]

Had my zs for 2years now,notched up 16,500 miles,just changed my front tyres from bridgstone to mohawks(made by yokohama!)great in the snow.

Just had drls fitted under headlights,wired to a remote key pad,so separate from side lights etc.Overall great car,would i buy again-YES!

[MarkyR]

Mine is great in the snow (im the only non 4x4 to get up my street!) Ive got ESP and 17" alloys with Continental ContiSport 3 tyres

What sort of snow are we on about? Are we talking compacted snow or fresh snow? Just curious as these are regarded as summer tyres but they get good reviews.