I used to drive a mates a lot and my brother in law owns one and was a nice car to drive. But that was the problem with it, it was just 'nice'.

It handled well but felt crashy around town.

Car felt underpowered and, as said, close geared to make up for it. Made the car pretty poor to drive on the motorway, high revs, noisy and thirsty on a run as well as around town. My 220 mile commute I can do on £20 of diesel in my Golf, £30 of petrol in my old Clio but the ST was nearer £40, and that wasn't thrashing it either.

They are cheap enough to buy, though, and nice looking, but I don't think I'd ever own one.

Other things to look out for;
Centre caps always get stolen.
Front bumpers are easily removed and stolen.
Springs tend to break a lot. I know this seems common on a lot of cars but both the ones I've had experience with the springs have snapped.