2003 Ford Fiesta LX review from UK and Ireland

The seat-tilt handles in the 3dr version tends to break very easily, so people wanting to sit in the back need to climb between the seats. Ford charged me 92 pounds to replace just one!!

Recently an electrical fault has arisen in the fusebox, where the fuse for the left sidelight/tail-light keeps blowing every time I replace it. Shouldn't be more than 50 quid to fix.

As my first car at the age of 17, (in ink blue) both me and my dad knew this was not going to be looked after very well anyway. After all, I had pretty much no idea how to look after a car. To this date, it hasn't been serviced or oil changed for about 2 years and about 20,000 miles. (It's still going strong before you ask) It's had a new clutch at about 30,000 miles and that's about it... Add to this a 17 year old driver with a heavy right foot and you get what it takes to wreck an engine. Since I've had it, it's never cut out and I've never seen any warning lights on.

Then in the summer of 2005, racing a pug-206 in the rain caused an almighty smash down a main road. (I went into the back of him) I was shocked to see the state of the other car, there was absolutely nothing left of it. My car had a slight crack on the front number plate, the rest of the body was perfect. At least Ford give a true statement about its Fiesta - It's Rock Solid.

The beige interior is almost impossible to keep clean (If you're always eating McDonalds/skinning up in the car that is) and stains show up and don't go away. This was justified by its beefy exterior looks, especially when rolling on its 17's that I bought for it. Ford have put flared wheel-arches on all Fiesta models, which look great.

Right now for the performance bit. It has its nice bit of pace in gears 1&2, and definitely gives you plenty of confidence. Enough to amuse the new driver anyway. The 17's did dramatically reduce the top speed it gave though. (110 down to about 90, originally had 14' steels) Not a good choice if you're a motorway driver. It runs out of puff at about 70 and the needle crawls at snail pace to about 85. Corners and roundabouts seem to be its favourite spots though, getting stuck right in with no nasty snap at the apex. Good brakes too. Fuel consumption is definitely affordable though, as is insurance. I would highly recommend this as anybody's first car.

However the time has come for me to move on, and I'm now looking forward to collecting my '04 Ford Sportka. Then 18 months later, its me in an ST150 I think. Ford have won me over.