Faults:

Drivers seat broke. It had to be welded back.

Steering rack needed to be re-conditioned.

Radiator has been replaced in the past.

Alternator has been replaced twice.

General Comments:

This being my first car, I have grown quite attached to it. It has been driven around New Zealand without too many hassles. It is a bit of a pain though as the engine pings due to the unleaded fuel replacement so there is a loss of power. As long as it is looked after and driven properly I have found that it runs quite smoothly for an older car. It does however, have a few issues when driving up hills. I have found that parts are fairly cheap as a lot of other Cortinas have been sent to the wreckers. My Cortina is a very simple model so the interior is looking a little old and wearing out a bit faster. The radio is the original too and is getting a bit past it as well. It isn't to costly to run although with the increasing cost of fuel, short around town use is expensive.

Faults:

Radiator was replaced after 2 months of ownership. The thing is it never really overheated and then when I checked it there was absolutely no water in the radiator at all. I just hope I haven't cooked the head.

When I got it the car was pinging every time I would turned it off.

I found that the 2.0ltr engine didn't really have enough power to pull the wagon so it had a really bad take of and drove like a snail.

The air con needed fixing within a week of ownership as it had a slow leak which I supose isn't really that important, but in the middle of an Australian summer it's a luxury you would rather have working.

General Comments:

I think the car generally runs pretty smooth for a 24year old car.

The interior in the 81 Ghia Wagon is surprisingly flash for such an old car.

When the car is running properly I think they are one of the best old cars to buy its such a shame parts are so hard to find for them.

Compared to my Mitsubishi Colt 84 I had before that (which was a newer model than the Cortina) it was a limo.

Faults:

Thing that had do be done 3 days after purchase:

Front brake hoses

Front radius arm bushes

Front brake pads

Both tie rod ends

Both bottom ball joints

Water pump and cambelt

Wire spot light up to WOF standard

Steering rack boot.

One month after purchase the fuel line feel out of the carb and caught fire, the car was a write off by the time we got the fire out.

General Comments:

When your young you don't listen to your folks, if I had it would saved me a lot of money!

I save this car and just had to have it, so I did. The dealer got a new WOF on the vehicle and I picked it up. Everything was great for the first 2 days then I noticed that it wasn't handling all that well. Took it to the workshop my Dad uses and they went to town on it. Most of the stuff in the list about, the car should have failed its WOF on. After many phone calls with the dealer and the workshop that did the original WOF they finally payed for the repairs, since the car was sold in a very unsafe condition (but we had to get the Land Transport Safety people to put a bit of pressure on them)

After all of this the car was great. Not too bad on fuel, seats were good.

Unfortunately, I can't really give much more of a review of the car because a month after I purchased it, the fuel line to the carb fell off onto the manifold, and caught fire. The car was written off by the time fire was put out. I later found out that this is common on older Fords. This was a bad first car, purchased from a bad dealer, its only the fact I learned to drive in Dads great Mark 4 Cortina wagon, that I would own another Ford.