Faults:

Speedometer intermittently stopped working, fixed under dealer's second-hand car guarantee.

General Comments:

Comfortable, economical, and practical estate car, which surprises me with its drivability. The independent rear suspension makes it feel almost like a rear-wheel-drive car. The steering is fantastically responsive, and the gear change is crisp and feels good.

The interior, with its lack of right angles, is very easy on the eye, and the controls are well laid out.

The only downside with the 1.6 engine is that, on the motorway, at 110 kph, it's up around 3000 rpm in fifth gear. I'd like a "motorway" gear. Still, averaging 0.75 liters per 10 km, it's very cheap to run.

Faults:

Had to change overdrive solenoid - Ford added extended warranty for all ZX 3 on transmission and powertrain - 5 years and 100k miles, so it is a covered item.

General Comments:

Good car. Handles really well for price point. Comfortable for around town - have Volvo and Acura for road trips so unsure about comfort on longer road trip. Gas mileage is OK. Big improvement over Volvo wagon.

Very happy with car. Stylish enough, comfortable enough, great sound system - roomy interior.

Good value for price.

Faults:

Ignition switch replaced by extended warranty. COMMON & $$ problem.

General Comments:

Comfortable enough for trips, rides & drives very well for its size, well built, 32-39 mpg, easy to work on, if needed, stylish hatchback, & reliable is pretty high.

Ignition switch problem on cars with anti-theft system. Key gets stuck in switch, or hard to insert & turn. Get this repaired BEFORE it completely locks up & costs a small fortune to repair. Ford knows of this problem & replacement should be free from dealers.

Faults:

At 32,000 I had to replace the ignition cylinder b/c the tumbler would not go into place and the key couldn't turn. The tow-truck guy told me this is a common problem in this model.

At 35,500 miles I had to replace all the tires do to "wear." Dealer said this was normal after the 17,500 miles I'd put on it in 3 years, but I don't drive the car enough to have needed tires so soon... Now I'm hearing premature tire wear is common in this model.

At 36,000 miles the car starts to shake, pull hard to the right starting around 50 mph, takes bumps hard, and back-end sways. Dealer says the left rear knuckle assembly and wheel bearing need to be replaced, that it was "bent" and I must've hit something with it. This is just not true. 2000 Focus had a similar problem. I think a bolt came loose, weakening the assembly and allowing it to bend through normal use. I also think this may have caused the need to replace the tires so soon after I bought the car.

Wipers are also not very effective, but I didn't think much of it until I saw other people posting complaints about it on this site.

General Comments:

For the price, this is an okay little car. It handled well until the rear suspension started having problems and I do enjoy driving it. It's pretty zippy all things considered. However, I'm unhappy with the problems it's had so quickly. These are the kind of things you expect to deal with no sooner than 80,000 miles. I'm not going to buy a Ford again.