2003 Ford Fiesta Zetec 1.4 TDCi from UK and Ireland
Summary:
Great looking, spacious and luxurious car for a great price!
Faults:
Some accident damage, due to reckless driver that didn't stop otherwise nothing.
General Comments:
Performance is pretty good for a diesel, and can set off pretty good at traffic lights, and on the motorway. Handling is great too, aided by the precise steering and alloys.
Seats are all comfy enough, with good height and tilt adjustment.
Plenty of room in the back and front, very impressive. The boot is nice and spacious, and well shaped to fit the most possible. With the back seats down it helped me move house, its quite amazing what it fits in.
It has taken me on a few cross country trips being very comfortable and nippy on the motorway.
My favorite parts, the styling, outside in the Zetec styling or above looks great, body coloured bumpers, fog lights, the front and rear lights all look great. Especially the zetec five spoke alloys. Inside the front dashboard etc, isn't too cluttered simply and logically set out. And the whole interior is spacious and well built. The addition of a CD player is great, as well as the satin gear lever insert, and other satin inserts carefully placed around the interior.
The Economy is great especially because I do 18000 miles a year plus.
Also part of my work requires me to use roof bars, for this I bought the official Ford ones, which apart from being well built and sturdy, I think look great.
Gripes! Only a few small ones. first the absence of a clutch foot rest is an oversight esecially as I am on the motorway and long roads a lot. As is the absence of a rear tailgate release, both quite a bit annoying. As I bought my car from a car supermarket, I didn't get to choose the options with my car. And sadly the Zetec model in particular doesn't have that much standard equipment that the lower LX model does, a little disappointing.
Overall apart from a few little gripes, it's a great car, small and nippy, but so spacious! Great prices and running costs, and (with the TDCi) great economy. Most of all it looks great, even with my roof bars.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 15th March, 2004
24th Mar 2006, 09:09
I'm back again, I have now sold the car after completing 48000 miles, and about two and a half years. A few things did go wrong eventually, first I noticed spots of fluid on my driveway, I took the car to my father in law who's good with cars, and he found out it was the water pump leaking, not a leaky hose like I was hoping.
So I thought it'll be fine I still have 9 months of Ford Warranty left, they can fix it, however when I took it to them I was informed that the car was an import from Belgium, so only had a two year warranty instead of three, the Car supermarket failed to tell me this. After a bit of negotiation the Ford dealer agreed to cover half the £450 cost of repairing it which I accepted.
The only good that came from it was that while they were replacing the water pump, they also replaced the timing belt and tensioner's, saving me doing it at 60000 miles.
However a few months later I noticed more fluid on my driveway, this time it turned out to be Diesel leaking from a split pipe coming from the Diesel Primer Pump, I suspect this was damaged when the last repairs were carried out. Unfortunately because all the hoses were vacuum sealed on the whole primer pump system had to be replaced, I could only get this from Ford and it cost £94!, a local mechanic fitted this for £50 as it took all morning to do.
After all this my confidence in the car was a little shaken, also because of the few annoying rattles coming from inside the car. Other things that were beginning to frustrate were the performance, which was excellent most of the time, but if you're in a rush the 67hp of the TDCi just doesn't seem to be enough. Secondly the noise, while sometimes it could be OK, the motorway was fine, but around town the diesel rattle and road rattles from the stiff suspension was annoying.
On a more positive note, I did enjoy having the car, I always loved the Zetec styling, metallic silver paint and five spoke alloys, it always looked great, even when the face-lift model came out. I was quite easy to drive - the steering, handling, gear-change, brakes were all smooth and easy. The practicality of my five door model was second to none on a car of this size (the equivalent Clio, 206, Saxo are too small). The running costs were also quite good I averaged 55 mpg on everyday driving, although because the fuel tank was only 9.9 gallons or 45 litres, I could only get at most 500 miles from a tank.
The reason I decided to get rid of the car apart from the recent reliability problems was I wanted something with more performance, a smoother drive, and more toys. I now have a 1997 Vauxhall Omega 2.5i V6 CD while I decide what to get next. While it's a lot older, repairs are expensive, fuel economy is devastating (25-34mpg). I love the performance, rear wheel drive, and all the extras - electric heated seats, air con, full trip computer, electric heated mirrors, electric sunroof and four windows, traction control and more!
Anyway, before I start going on and on...
Would I buy a Ford Fiesta TDCi Zetec again? Absolutely!