Faults:

The rear cylinder brake unit started leaking at about 20000m.

The front window started sticking at about 35000m, sorted easily with a bit of lubricant.

The rear view mirror fell off sorted for £1.

Brand new exhaust at 38000m.

Rear suspension rubber bushes split at 45000m.

General Comments:

This car has been a very good little car, with very little going wrong on it. None of the items changed cost that much. The car is starting to rust a little, I think that this down to the fact that it spent the first part of it's life in Jersey, rather than a manufacturing problem. Would have another Ford or Fiesta no problem.

Faults:

Anti roll bar bushes shortly after purchase and they're on the way again now.

Heater control valve.

Other than that it's been perfect.

General Comments:

Lovely tight little car that handles better than most hot hatches, and has a gutsy, revvy engine that's a joy to use. I cannot believe it's the same capacity as the gutless, breathless 1.4 Polo we had before. This is one of those engines that just encourages hard use. You can feel it come "on cam" as the revs pass 3,000 RPM and it will happily bury the rev counter needle round towards 7,000 RPM if you let it.

The car was bought really as a runabout / second car, but it's really fun to thrash around the back lanes. The steering is perfectly weighted, the gearbox slick and short of throw, the engine pulls harder and harder as the revs build, there's very little body roll. It's no wonder the class leading Puma used these underpinnings - they're brilliant. Only a tendency to munch front bushes spoils it a little, although if that's the price of decent handling, I'll live with it. They're cheap and easy to do.

The interior is well screwed together (at least as well as the Polo, if not better), but looks dated. Equipment is okay - electric front windows, tilt / removable sunroof, power steering, CD player and front fogs. To be honest, apart from air conditioning, it's all you really need. Seat comfort is good, but 6 foot + drivers will find themselves wishing the seat would go back a couple more notches.

Economy excellent with around 40 mpg driven sensibly, and about 34 when hammered around. The engine is still sweet and smooth, and for a small budget car, it's wearing its 100,000 miles superbly. Ford dealers expensive and hopeless - don't use them. There were some problems around the heater control valve fitment which, had I been gullible, would have cost me over 200 quid for absolutely nothing.

Overall though, I'd have this over an equivalent aged Polo, Corsa or Punto any day of the week. Fun, reliable, plentiful, cheap to buy, cheap to run, cheap to fix, brilliant handling, and with enough performance to comfortably see off its similarly engined rivals. What more could you ask for in a small cheap runabout?

Faults:

Rear windscreen wiper failed.

General Comments:

A great car to drive, plenty of acceleration and speed! Shows up many bigger cars who think they can burn you up!

Handles very well round corners, especially round those twisty country lanes.

However, it drinks petrol only manages about 200-250 miles on a full tank depending how you drive it and is quite expensive to insure if you are a young driver.

Seats are very supportive and comfortable to drive in for hours.

Still has great sporty looks at 7 years old and looks very smart.

Faults:

I can't really fault the car much, only problem was a heater which gave out after 90000 miles, but it was easy fix. Just took the unit out and cleaned the release valve... just a simple case of it sticking.

General Comments:

It's not a family car and car sharing in work it is a bit of a tight squeeze for 4 lads, however it was and still is a cheap car, very reliable, covers huge mileage mostly on main roads and motorways and can transport my workmates and I along without any hassle. it returns approx 48 m.p.g.

Like everything, if you look after it and treat it good it'll last.