Faults:

Heater didn't work due to broken heater coil (fixed).

Serious rust on rear wheel arch.

Nothing else.

General Comments:

A very good car, as the Zetec 1.25 is one of the best engines Ford have made, with 100,000 mile cambelt intervals.

Seats are easily stained, but are easy to clean.

A full service history is important, but not vital.

They handle really well, and have very good pick up.

MPG is around 36-45.

Seats are uncomfortable for long journeys.

Faults:

Stalk on dashboard which controls lights etc stopped working. Replaced by garage where I bought the car, at no charge.

Tracking needed adjustment.

General Comments:

Driving. Very nice car to drive with good handling and grip from low profile tyres.

Excellent flexible engine that is good around town, and surprisingly good on the motorway as well.

Comfort. Overall it's good, but as I am tall, long journeys give me backache due to lack of legroom.

I don't use the air con much as I find that the engine becomes hesitant when switched on.

Reliability. So far so good, always starts first time.

Looks/image. My car has the colour coded bumpers and alloy wheels, which improve the look of the car in my opinion.

The car seems to have a "classless" image with both young and old, rich and poor owning one. (rather like the old mini)

Faults:

Nothing! Really nothing, 178.000km without any problems.

General Comments:

It's a small and very economical car, doesn't have any extra confort.

The Zetec RoCam engine is really good for a 1L engine.

Handle likes a Nascar.

Faults:

Mid section of the exhaust rotted through by 32,000 miles.

Throttle body replaced (worn out) at 44,000 miles.

General Comments:

A robust little car that has served me well for 2 and a half years.

It is cheap to maintain, though the fuel consumption isn't brilliant. Typically I'd get 33mpg.

It never let me down and always started.

Has to be pushed quite hard to move quickly, but the little engine is willing and responsive. Excellent handling and good solid reassuring brakes.

Faults:

Front brakes have needed replacing more frequently then expected.

Every thing else has been routine or expected with normal wear and tear.

Exhaust - just put on 3rd in 5.5 years.

Front near side wheel bearing and bushes at 90000 miles.

Engine is drinking slightly more oil these days, but not alarming for 98000 miles.

The seat are not as comfortable now a days.

The boot size has apparently shrunk as the family has grown.

General Comments:

A strong engine that pulls from low revs in any gear.

There's always power there for overtaking.

The top speed is well above book figure although the speedometer is about 10% out over 100mph.

Fuel consumption varies, but does respond to driving style and can reach 50mpg.

Handles great still, very responsive and feedback is good.

Many drivers of larger or more powerful cars have been shocked by performance of a standard little Fiesta.

Faults:

The first problem I had was not due to the car, but to the dealer!!! When I purchased the car, when I drove home, I opened the bonnet and noticed that he admission was not connected to the air filter case!! the car was running with unfiltered air... a luck I noticed it immediately, a bad point for the dealer... not the only one though, they did not admit their fault...

At 15000, the car had a regular service, and they noticed that the front axle was not correctly worn from the beginning, and the front tires were irregularly worn and needed to be replaced. the dealer did not accept anything... and those tyres are expensive!

At 60000 km, I had to service the brakes : front disks worn, and one rear drum defective.

At 90000 km, the heater control died, and we made a 600 km journey, in summer, with the heating at the maximum!!! I simply needed to replace it (about 40 euro).

At the same time, someone tried to force the door a night, trying to bend its upper part. the door resisted perfectly (good!), but the rubber joint, damaged, needed to be replaced. The problem is that the price of that simple rubber joint is 50 euro!

General Comments:

This Fiesta is a robust car, most of the problems I had were due to the dealer's incompetency. Except for the brakes and the heater command, nothing was defective.

The engine is really good, offers very good performance (170km/h, very good accelerations) and extremely efficient from 1500 to 6000 tr/min!

It is really pleasant to use.

No oil consumption (I use synthetic 5W40, changed every 7500 km)

The fuel consumption is simply average, about 7 liters/100 km.

The road holding is good, but the tires are too wide : 185/55 HR 14.

This car does not need so wide tires for 75hp, and this dimension is scarce and expensive (about 100 euro minimum in car part shop, much more at the Ford dealer's!!! It is useful to search better bargains on Internet)

The brakes are not so great IMHO, because the wheels are easily blocked, (much more than in my previous car, which did not benefit from ABS either).

The interior equipment is average, and it seems that the designers did not make any effort to improve it or find original ideas to make it more convenient. the quality of the plastics is simply average.

The bumpers are painted, which seems to me a stupid idea, but when I look some others Ford (Fiesta or Ka) in the streets which do not have painted bumpers, it seems not so bad in that particular case.. because the plastic used seems to be of very bad quality!

The car handles well, the direction is assisted, but not too much : you still have a "natural" sensation.

The rear seat can be folded, but it does not give as much space as you can expect because the lower part of the seat is fixed : you cannot move it and obtain a flat floor. It would have been simple though to make it much more convenient!