Faults:

Rear wiper and rear defroster worked intermittently, fixed for a song.

General Comments:

A very reliable car. Except the details mentioned above, everything runs fine. Of course, it doesn't have much that could break down, as even the windows are manual, but it is one of the reason why I preferred buying an 8-year-old car over a newer car that would also have been more expensive to buy and run. Except the front tires (and oil and filters every 10000 km, of course), I haven't changed any parts.

The seats are comfortable enough for long stretches and the fuel economy is alright for such an old diesel engine. It returns about 5.3l/100 km (about 55 GB mpg or 45 US mpg I think). During a trip across Poland while on holiday, it even returned less than 4.5l/100 in over 1500 km!

On the downside, it's a really slow car and I seldom try overtaking trucks on two-lane roads... Mountain roads can be quite a pain and the car start slowing down as soon as it SEES a rise on the highway... Anyway, I've got another car to have fun with, so it's not too much of a bother for me.

Faults:

The first problem I had was not due to the car, but to the dealer!!! When I purchased the car, when I drove home, I opened the bonnet and noticed that he admission was not connected to the air filter case!! the car was running with unfiltered air... a luck I noticed it immediately, a bad point for the dealer... not the only one though, they did not admit their fault...

At 15000, the car had a regular service, and they noticed that the front axle was not correctly worn from the beginning, and the front tires were irregularly worn and needed to be replaced. the dealer did not accept anything... and those tyres are expensive!

At 60000 km, I had to service the brakes : front disks worn, and one rear drum defective.

At 90000 km, the heater control died, and we made a 600 km journey, in summer, with the heating at the maximum!!! I simply needed to replace it (about 40 euro).

At the same time, someone tried to force the door a night, trying to bend its upper part. the door resisted perfectly (good!), but the rubber joint, damaged, needed to be replaced. The problem is that the price of that simple rubber joint is 50 euro!

General Comments:

This Fiesta is a robust car, most of the problems I had were due to the dealer's incompetency. Except for the brakes and the heater command, nothing was defective.

The engine is really good, offers very good performance (170km/h, very good accelerations) and extremely efficient from 1500 to 6000 tr/min!

It is really pleasant to use.

No oil consumption (I use synthetic 5W40, changed every 7500 km)

The fuel consumption is simply average, about 7 liters/100 km.

The road holding is good, but the tires are too wide : 185/55 HR 14.

This car does not need so wide tires for 75hp, and this dimension is scarce and expensive (about 100 euro minimum in car part shop, much more at the Ford dealer's!!! It is useful to search better bargains on Internet)

The brakes are not so great IMHO, because the wheels are easily blocked, (much more than in my previous car, which did not benefit from ABS either).

The interior equipment is average, and it seems that the designers did not make any effort to improve it or find original ideas to make it more convenient. the quality of the plastics is simply average.

The bumpers are painted, which seems to me a stupid idea, but when I look some others Ford (Fiesta or Ka) in the streets which do not have painted bumpers, it seems not so bad in that particular case.. because the plastic used seems to be of very bad quality!

The car handles well, the direction is assisted, but not too much : you still have a "natural" sensation.

The rear seat can be folded, but it does not give as much space as you can expect because the lower part of the seat is fixed : you cannot move it and obtain a flat floor. It would have been simple though to make it much more convenient!

Faults:

The cassette player gave out at 15,000km. However, it was covered under the warranty.

General Comments:

A tremendous joy to drive. I am actually an American graduate student living in France, and since my previous car had been a 1997 Ford Taurus (re: big, heavy V6 22 m/gall), I stuck with the American mark over any French or German car. Although 1.25L is tiny compared to cars back home, I took that car all through Germany, Alsace, Lorraine, Switzerland (up the Alps), and Italy. Not a lot of "go" on the auto-routes, but certainly adequate. Since where I live is noted for car thefts, even a new Fiesta does not attract much attention.

My only serious complaint is that the city 9 litres per 100 km should be better. The performance of the first three gears can certainly smoke the Polo, Saxo, Peugeot 206, or the Bravo. However, to run the car at 4000 RPM at 120-130 km/hr is a little excessive. Fuel economy plummets if you are driving over 130 km/hr. That may sound like a lot, but driving in Germany and France is much quicker than England and the U.S.!

I just sold mine, and I have noticed that Fiestas tend to fall in value very quickly (but maybe that is because there is not as much demand for them in France). It had the reputation here as being a woman's car, but that was no problem.