Right I have just aquired a j plate('92) xr2i 1.8 16v and have just had a quick poke and play with it and would like some opinions on the following things,

1. The gearstick is very loose, ie. like a spoon in soup what are the probable causes/solutions? is the gear linkage from selector to box a rod system like a 205 which is likely to have failed?

2. The passenger rear quarter is rusted to buggery, the fuel filler neck has gone completely and theres another few bubbles around about the area, this has been badly fixed with a patch and the whole lot now needs cutting out and replacing, is this worth doing or is it better reshelling it all? the rest of the bodywork isn't to bad really just a few bits of surface rust here and there

3. The steering is very very heavy, does the car have pas which may have failed or are they naturally very heavy? in comparison i drive a non pas clio which is no where near as heavy on the steering, also does anyone know what the tyre pressures should be

4. On the dash there is an orange light that stays on, it is a circle with a car and some lines in it, is this an engine management light? if so this this mean there is a fault and also how do i access the fault codes?

5. The engine feels very unresponsive when driven, i think this could be linked to 4. aswell as needing a good service, also there seems to be alot of induction sucking is this normal when an aftermarket filter is used or does it point to something else, i think maybe an air leak somewhere

6. Finally the mileage only shows 5 figures and i know its not only done 34k so under the speedo displau in the clocks does it have a 5th number that i could see if i took them apart?

overall the car was bought cheap for parts but im now toying with keeping it instead so need to know the above to aid the decision

cheers
chris