Faults:

I have a '99 Fiesta, and I have to say I love it.

Rear brakes tend not to be hard wearing, and the handbrake cable needs replacement again. Other than that, no real trouble.

Need to change the door lock again; they just tend to wear out.

General Comments:

My Fiesta has very high milage, almost 190,000 miles, and is still flying. It still returns 60 miles on 10 euros of petrol, and cruises along at 75/80 mph on the motorway.

Handling is quite good too for a car that was designed about 20 years ago.

Service it regularly and use a decent quality semi synthetic oil, and a car will rarely let you down. Also check the levels every month, as higher mileage models tend to use a bit of oil.

Despite its age and high miles, my car still performs well and has very few rattles or squeaks.

I hope it keeps going well for another while, and hopefully it will fly through the NCT again in May.

Faults:

Brakes have given me a lot of trouble; rear driver's drum brake needed regular attention (regular MOT failure!) until the cylinder was replaced, front passenger disc caliper seized recently, requiring an overhaul of the system after the fluid boiled.

Clutch slave cylinder burst at 90,000 miles, followed quickly by the hydraulic pipe just a fortnight later. Both were engine-out repairs in the hundreds of £.

Rear passenger shock absorber burst at around 95-100,000 miles; didn't notice until the MOT came around!

Coil pack malfunctioned at 105,000 miles.

Front track rod ends are worn, but seem to be holding up 30,000 miles later.

Bodge repair from the previous owner failed, and caused the cooling system to leak.

Drum brake self adjusters *don't*.

Heater didn't work when we bought the car, but it cleared on its own, and is now the most powerful heater out of all our cars!

General Comments:

The Mk.IV isn't much to look at, but it's a superb little car. It weighs in at less than a tonne, is surprisingly spacious, practical, economical, and a joy to drive.

The 1.25L Sigma (Zetec-SE) engine doesn't sound like much, but it packs 75HP and revs like a motorbike. Feels like the valve timing changes above 3250rpm, you can feel it take off in most gears!

The suspension and handling are amazing. Sharp steering, firm ride and a very flexible gearbox combine to make this thing a road-going go-kart. Throw it into corners at high speed, it just *handles* it, very stable. The steering is responsive and provides a surprising amount of feel; all the controls give you excellent feedback, and don't feel ridiculously light from power assistance.

The interior's plain and fairly dull, but very functional and flexible. The seats seem to be hard-wearing and firm, and are comfortable for long journeys. Remove the seat bench and you can fold the rear seats flat, giving a large load space. The boot's a respectable size, too. I managed to pack up my entire university life into this car in one go, with a large roof box as well, and it took it all, and drove fine!

It's a popular car, so it's cheap and reasonably easy to service yourself. Common things are fine, but there's not a lot of room to get around the engine. Also, the light bulbs generally require the lights to be taken out to change them.

Very quiet at idle and low speed, but the low weight is achieved by sacrificing insulation, so on a motorway cruise the road noise is quite loud. The engine handles cruising very nicely, will sit contently in the 3-4,000rpm range for hours.

This car weighs *nothing*, so the fuel consumption is very good, 40+mpg up to around 50, depending on how hard you push it. The electronic fuel injection helps in this regard. I get about 300 miles out of a tank before the light comes on, then another 80 miles out of the reserve.

Stock equipment is good; the LX gets air con, passenger airbag, traction control and ABS. Radio is nothing special, replaced it with a JVC head unit and parcel shelf 6x9s, the rear glass reflects the sound all around the cabin, and it sounds awesome! Fitted a cheap 4-sensor parking kit, too, which fits really well on this car, bumper is perfectly aligned and helps a lot.

Never had a problem starting it, drive train is built to last. Reliable, agile and very, very fun to drive. Love this car to pieces, I'll be keeping it on the road as long as I can!