USED Ford Fiesta Hatchback (02 - 08)

My car

Overall a well thought out little car. I am the 2nd owner of this 55 plate (Nov 2005) pre- facelift version which has currently covered just over 48,000 miles. I purchased this vehicle in August 2008 with approx 10,000 miles on the clock. It is very nippy around town, has good all round visibilty especially the view out of the back window making reversing and parking easy and does not feel out of it's depth on the motorway although it can feel a bit top- heavy whilst cornering on B- roads.

Running costs are reasonable. It's cheap to insure, parts are cheap and easy to get hold of and if like me you know a local reputable independent garage (not a main dealer), service and maintanence costs are very low. Road tax is £165.00 per year but on the down side tyres (195/65R15) are a bit on the expensive side for a typical supermini. The interior is not the most exiting ever but is made of good, solid materials and is quite roomy for this class of vehicle offering a good (non- cramped) driving position, a well laid out dash board with easy to use controls and dials, plenty of leg and head room in the back and a decent sized boot.

There were no reliability issues until last month when the horn broke costing me £50.00 to repair and over the last 2 weeks, I have noticed a squealing noise lasting 2- 3 minutes coming from under the bonnet when the engine is started up from cold which I suspect may be the water pump.

Verdict: Because of the 2 recent problems, 4 stars out of 5.

My car

Overall, a well thought out little car which is cheap to buy, run, insure, service and maintain with a local very reputable garage (not main dealer) although the road tax is £165.00 per year and the tyres (195/65R15) are a bit on the dear side for this size and type of vehicle. I find this car fun to drive. It is great around town, is easy to reverse and park and does not feel out of it's depth on the motorway although it sometimes feels a bit top heavy whilst cornering on fast B- roads.

The cabin looks a bit on the boring side but is functional and made out of good quality materials including leather seats and the dash board is well layed out with dials and controls that are easy to use and understand. The driving position is not cramped and quite good, the rear leg and head room is excellent for this size of vehicle and the boot is a decent size.

This car is a 55 plate (Nov 2005) which I bought in August 2008. It had done approx 10,000 miles with the one previous mobility scheme owner but has now covered just over 48,000 miles. There were no reliabilty issues until last month when the horn broke costing £50.00 to repair and over the last couple of weeks I have noticed a squealing noise that lasts about 2- 3 minutes after the engine is started up from cold which I suspect might be from the water pump. Hopefully these are just a couple of mid life blips and not the start of a long list of problems.

A good effort from Ford which gets 4 stars out of 5 from me.

My car

The 1.3 Fiesta is disgracefully bad.. Without exaggerating I have had a serious issue once a month, literally since I drove it out of the dealership gates 11 months ago, as well as a lexicon of other smaller problems that are amounting into major problems.. Some examples are: -The car overheated driving home after buying it and had to be collected by the garage 4 miles from the dealer. -The heater, which had been fixed once a month after I bought it, no longer works which is a major issue in winter. (the cold setting on the fan also puts out luke warm air) -The drivers side door randomly swung open on the road because the latch holding it closed broke, I was going 50 mph. -The radio volume does its own thing. -The presumably fake steering wheel leather has entirely peeled away leaving a grotty looking foam under-layer. -The motor that works the front lights has malfunctioned and jammed. -The horn unit has gone (twice) -It will as of its second service, only work with ford brand spark plugs? (these cost a fortune compared to regular plugs) - There is a rattling noise from the engine, which has baffled 5 mechanics (four of whom are associated with ford) -On motor-ways the right rear door sounds like a bell chiming which does not sit well with passengers. -The tracking is consistently off. -There has been a minor problem with the electrics. -The alarm and immobilizer have malfunctioned twice and are currently broken... I won't go on, however the interior is in

My car

This is my 4th car and 3rd Fiesta (A reg 1.1 Mk2 & V reg 1.3 Finesse). I changed from a 55 reg Clio in Sept as the Fiesta looked like the best replacement......however I am a bit dissapointed. This car is meant to be lighter and better on fuel than my 1.2 Clio, but it is certainly not the latter. I used to get 400 miles out of the Clio on motorway drives at 70-75mph with just myself in the car. Although my motorway drives are somewhat shorter now (40 miles traffic free vs 75-130 miles with regular heavy traffic), I currently only get about 330-350 miles out of a tank and average 35-37 mpg through the winter and about 40mpg back in Sept when I bought it (have checked tyre pressures). I've also had to take it back to Ford and get the right wing mirror fixed as the heated function didn't work and the headlights randomly failed to work just as I was about to drive home along the motorway one night, resulting in a long recovery process....but thankfully whilst it was still in warrantee

The car itself is nice to drive and seems to have plenty of grip. Its safe, comfortable and feels roomy and there dont appear to be any other signs of mechanical problems showing up 7000 miles into me driving it (speedo @ 30k). I love the heated front window function and in general its quite a nice car. I'm not sure if its because I drive more powerful cars at work, but it feels a bit sluggish at times.

I am very dissapointed with the fuel consumption compared to its advertised mpg.