Faults:

What an idiot I was. I fell in love with the exterior body design, such that I did not do a thorough inspection. I would normally not write a review so early on a car, since I have just bought it, but this car is my exception. To be fair, I will update this thread as the KMs go by to give a better balanced review.

My main gripe is its interior design. Number one is the distance separating the accelerator and brake pedals. When I test drove the vehicle, I was wearing running shoes, but after taking it home and putting on my work boots - the pedals are too close! My boot hits both pedals at the same time. This is a design fault - no doubt in my mind. Or it's not designed for Aussie size 12 work boots.

Maybe I am too rough, but within 1 week, I have pushed the radio button into the dash, broke off the seat back release lever, and within 200km burned out the clutch.

The clutch repair will cost me $300 for parts and $600 for labour (a tight job apparently).

That said - I still like the aggressive stance this little Ford portrays!

General Comments:

Only available in Manual in Australia, which would explain why it was not a great replacement for the Ford Festiva. Essentially a European Ford with some weird design features. For example, the bonnet release lever is located under the steering column exactly where you would expect the tilt steering adjuster to be. The indicator stalk is on the left side, and the spare wheel is stored under the car.

Faults:

No faults has run well since bought.

General Comments:

It is a very cute car, has many quirky features within the car.

Mirrors are quite small, creating a larger blind spot, however they are easy to adapt to.

Starts every time, and has a quiet motor.

Perfect for a learner or P plater, as it is quite hard to stall.

The cabin is quite small; tall people will possibly hit their head in the front seats.

Faults:

Bushes needed replacing at about 80,000 kms.

Clutch needed replacing at about 83,000 kms.

Steering rack needed replacing at about 87,000 kms.

Suspension repaired + 2 new tyres at about 90,000 kms.

Stereo needs replacing at about 90,000 kms.

General Comments:

This is a comfortable car to drive, and economical petrol wise, BUT repairs are very expensive.

I've had this car for around 5 years and it was fine for the first 3 years, but in the last 2 years, in addition to the 6 monthly service and WOF, I've had to have the bushes ($NZ400), clutch ($NZ1,000) and steering rack ($NZ1,000) replaced.

Just had the suspension repaired + 2 new tyres ($NZ700), and now, 2 weeks after that, the stereo needs to be replaced (estimated $NZ400) and the car is only 7 years old.

I've never had this happen in any other car I've owned (and this is the latest year manufactured I've owned). Other than tyres, brakes pads and normal service, my 1984 Honda City needed few repairs until it failed a WOF because of rust and would have been too expensive to fix (I had it for 8 years or so), and it was the same for my last car, a 1989 Mazda Familia (aka as Mazda 323) until the automatic transmission went and again would have been too expensive to fix (I had that car for about 6 years or so).