2001 Ford Fiesta Zetec-S 1.6

Summary:

Put the fun into driving

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong as yet.

General Comments:

This car makes driving fun again, with cheap insurance and relatively low running costs I'm thinking of buying another so my fiancee` and I can have a race.

The only downsides are that the interior is generally poor quality and a little bit disappointing considering the price. There isn't even a light in the glove box!

The thing I love best about this car is racing people at traffic lights. It may not have the top end speed of other cars, but at the lights its seriously quick. My personal favorite's are Citroen saxo's both VTR and VTS models, it leaves them for dead.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 1st January, 2003

2nd Jan 2003, 05:16

I have a Zetec S and love it, but I'm sorry it will NOT beat a well driven Saxo VTS in a straight line. It's nearly 20 brake down, and heavier! 0-60 time is 2 seconds slower.

I love my Zetec S to bits, but there are quite a lot of cars out there that will kill it off the lights. Mind you, there's not much to match it in the twisties.

5th Jan 2003, 15:29

I guess the VTS was either badly driven or even worse a VTR sad act with a VTS badge. :)

Anyway I have more fun going round roundabouts than straight lines lately.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

11th Jun 2003, 06:56

I have just bought a 2002 model Fiesta Zetec S and I feel that it is both stylish and quick!!

However both the Saxo VTS & VTR are nice cars, but they are becoming too common!!

28th Jun 2003, 08:12

'The thing I love best about this car is racing people at traffic lights'. Don't tell me, you wear a baseball cap backwards and play loud dance music that can be heard three miles away. If I were next to you at the lights I would just let you go in the knowledge that my tyres, brakes, gearbox and engine will last an awful lot longer than yours.

Having said all that, the Zetec-S is still a cracking looking car, but won't become a classic like my 205 GTi.

2001 Ford Fiesta Zetec-S 1.6 16v Zetec-SE

Summary:

You won't belive how good it is

Faults:

Water Leak in Drivers Door Seal, fixed at no cost by ford dealer.

Steering wheel leather began to perish after only 5k, changed at no cost again by ford dealer.

General Comments:

Great Young drivers car, pretty quick, fun, cheap to insure

Handles like it is on rails, and out preforms anything in its class on a track, also a lot quicker than it is supposed to be,

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 28th November, 2002

2001 Ford Fiesta Zetec S 1.6 16v

Summary:

Great handling, great looks, BUY ONE!!!

Faults:

Definitely something amiss with tracking / breaking or suspension at the moment with breaking and acceleration pulling to the right. Getting it checked at the moment.

General Comments:

Handles excellent grips the road brilliantly.

Looks great in Imperial blue. Alloys and integral fog-lights look hot!

V.Cheap insurance only £860 for a 21yr old with 2yrs No claims bonus and a partial blame write off in 2000!

Good response at around 3500-4500 revs. Higher revs seem not to yield as much acceleration as it earlier promises.

Good fuel economy at about 40mpg on motorways. Very poor (but fun) when thrashed round the back lanes :)

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 11th November, 2002

2001 Ford Fiesta Zetec-S 1.6 petrol

Summary:

A good all round super-mini

Faults:

The tailgate, when open hit the roof on the near side removing the paint off the roof, this was due to poor alignment of the tailgate.

There were various bits of dirt in the paint and blemishes in the paint on the scuttle panel.

Both doors were out of line resulting in poor alingment and finish of the product.

There was a rattle from the upper tailgate which tends to be very annoying.

The drivers seat lining started to tear where the leaver is to incline the seat to enter the rear seating area.

There was a lack of paint on both mirrors and the primer was still visible.

The off side front wheel had a chip out of it and had been painted over at the factory to try and cover the fault.

Most of these faults have been rectified by the dealers after having 3 attempts at most of the paint work.

General Comments:

The car is a very nippy and exciting car to drive due to its handling qualities and the exceptional steering equipment.

The car handling has been set to a tee, I have not driven another car that handles like this one, well done Ford.

The car should have been built better from the production stage so me, the customer doesn't have to suffer with the poor quality.

The car is nearly £12,000, and I expect it to be built a lot better than I had received, the faults were highlighted by myself, not by the dealer, I think this is a very poor service whereby the professionals can't spot the faults before the customer receives the car.

I have found that the gearbox has a whine to it, when in neutral it is amplified.

The car has excellent MPG, I average 40MPG on the motorway each day, this is excellent for a petrol car.

The engine is quite responsive, it comes on song after 3,500 rpm, it is very lively around the town. On a open road the slight lack of performance is noticiable, it could do with a bit more power.

The gear change is very nice and the engine eats the gears you quickly, resulting in the car accelerating very well up to 100mph.

Overall Ford can pat theirselves on the back, the car is lively and the handling matches the performance well.

I was very disappointed with the after sales, my car went in to have the mirrors painted and it came out with the bumper having a deep scratch in it, this was done at the dealers. I was pleased that they re-painted the bumper, this had to be done again due to the poor finish, which meant that I had to travel an extra 40 miles round trip to another dealer. The car returned to me with a very neat and professional job.

I had replaced the standard stereo equipment with my own, when my car was in the dealers for some work mentioned above, all my stereo equipment was stolen except the head unit, Ford accepted responsibility, but it has been going on now for over 3 months and all they have offered me is £400 for equipment that was over £2,800. I find this unacceptable, I have had to provide receipts for all my equipment, this was difficult due to me buying my equipment over a 3 year period. I have produced all the receipts except one, I am still dealing with the MD of Brooklyn Ford over this insurance claim.

Oh well, maybe I am just a little unlucky with this car, I think it might have been built on April fools day.

Generally the car is a gem, I am more pleased with it now the work has been done on it

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 10th November, 2002

10th Nov 2002, 15:43

Seems like you unfortunately had the Friday car, shame you had distraction from the fun to be had with the car. A lot of fun.