Faults:

Replaced muffler/back box.

Replaced rear shock and mount (broke right through from underneath)

Replaced rear wheel bearing.

Front sway bar bent, probably from a crash before I owned it.

Rust a major problem, eventually forced me to sell it.

General Comments:

I was the 11th owner of the 'Silver Bullet' and definitely not the first to rag it around the country lanes! The performance from the engine was really good, enough that I explored the option of putting the 1.8 Zetec EFI engine in another Fiesta, but this proved impractical.

My car was lowered by a previous owner and fitted with low-profile 15-inch tyres, which made for great handling, but high tyre costs as the front arms were still stock, making the inside of the tyres wear out very quickly.

While seemingly small inside it could hold quite a lot of equipment or gear, the hard plastic backing on the fold-down rear seats helped getting things in and out. The only problems came when I put a speaker box and a box of 'car things' in the boot, then it became a chore to try to fit anything in the back.

This was cheap thrills and a great drive for just about any journey. Able to keep up with just about anything in the fast lane, yet good enough torque in 2nd to putter around town.

Faults:

- Front suspension arms needed replacing every 2 years (for MOT)

- Main crankshaft oil leak fixed at 50k (new clutch inserted at the same time)

- Tick-over went a bit crazy towards the end.

- Rusted around petrol cap which needed patching every year to keep it looking nice

General Comments:

Owned this car for 100k miles, and really nothing went wrong with it.

Front suspension arms every 2 years was a pain, but I think garages used that to get £100 per side out of you.

Acceleration was poor, but consumption was not.

Was fairly comfortable - did several 300 mile+ journeys in it with no problems.

Had it Ford dealer serviced once - worst service it ever had! Got Haynes manual after that, and did it myself.

Faults:

Well, I've only just acquired this car as part of an Ebay deal, and (well remembering it cost me under £100) its okay however it does have one major problem.

It can't idle.

I repeat, it cannot idle, at all.

So as soon as the foot is removed from the right hand pedal, that's it, gotta hope you had some speed so you can slip the clutch up and drive out of it, otherwise its "handbrake, neutral" and restart... :)

Trying to get round Cambridge in rush hour is quite funny...Shall I point out now the brakes are shot too...

Serviced it, hasn't made a difference I think the fuel pumps knackered, I work in car parts, really should be bothered to get one and give it a go!

Apart from that the cars solid as a rock, cheap as chips to run, the area around the fuel cap has rotted, but that goes without saying on these mk3 Fiestas.

General Comments:

If your ever stuck behind a "J" reg blue Fiesta. Who is having trouble at traffic lights... give him a break!!!

Fairly light to push.

Only a four speed gearbox, but I wouldn't dare take it quick enough to need a fifth gear!