Faults:

Only actual repair done so far was a hole in the exhaust, which made the car a little noisy.

Brakes will probably have to be looked at soon as they feel weak.

Engine temp gauge shows the engine gets very hot for some unknown reason. Only happened twice. Once in a car wash and once after idling in a parking lot for a while. Not really a problem once I start driving; the temp goes back down, but I will have to get this looked at.

Dash makes a squeaking noise, which comes from 2 pieces of plastic rubbing together. This is annoying!

...So as you see, only one small repair so far (exhaust, which was under $300 cdn to fix). The car does have other little problems that need attention, but nothing major yet.

General Comments:

Had the car about 8 months now with no major problems. Bought it as my first car.

Seats are comfortable, plenty of head room for me (over 6 feet), but would prefer a bit more leg room for longer road trips.

Love the style; it has a spoiler and fog lights, and some nice looking 15 inch alloys.

Quick acceleration off the line, and plenty of power to pass on the highway from the 130hp Zetec.

Handles nice! Corners easily, and turns tight in parking lots.

Trunk space is good. I currently have 4 winter tires mounted on steel rims in my trunk waiting for the cold weather.

Rear seat room (sedan) is "okay". I think it could be better.

I also think the fuel consumption could be better, but everyone tells me it's doing okay, so maybe I'm just being greedy.

Faults:

The previous owner put crappy aftermarket spark plug wires on it and one failed; the car started idling high because one of the wires was arcing. Changed the wires and that is literally all I have had to do.

General Comments:

I enjoy driving this car much more than my GF's 98 civic, it handles better and has required less maintenance. In the 50k miles or so I have owned it, all I have had to do is change the oil and tires. It handles better than any other small car I have driven. Really solid deal.

I guess there was a reason it was the number 1 car in the world for a while. If they had the hot rod version in the US, I would buy it in a second.

Faults:

Only particular fault I had with the car was complete electrical failure on two occasions in wet weather. This was obviously potentially hazardous and fault was never really found. It never re-occurred though...

General Comments:

There is a reason there are so many on the roads - it's an excellent car in almost every way.

Styling is love or hate, but you gotta applaud Ford for being a bit adventurous back in the late 90s.

The handling of the car, especially on the stiffer sprung Zetec is absolutely superb. You always feel in total control, and there is very little body roll, so the grip levels are amazing, especially with some half-decent tyres.

Performance-wise the 1.6 is surprisingly quick, though it does need lots of revs to overtake or accelerate swiftly. There is good torque low-down too, and the engine can be very economical (42mpg everyday driving, more on long cruises).

The cabin is comfortable, and build quality is excellent - very few rattles. Everything is laid out logically. Seats are maybe a bit hard, but good support.

A small complaint is Ford radio is a double DIN, so you need a slightly ugly blanking plate for fitting an aftermarket unit. Plenty of room for 5 adults, boot is good size. Load capacity with seats down is enormous!

Running costs are excellent - can't comment on main dealer prices, but probably best to get independent garages to use Ford parts for cheapest repairs. Insurance is cheap, tax is fairly low bracket too.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy another if I needed a bog standard hatchback. I would be very interested to try the 2 litre ST170 for a combination of practicality and performance!