2012 Ford Fiesta Edge 1.25 petrol from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Very basic but reliable car

Faults:

Really nothing beyond the wear and tear expected of the age and mileage (brake discs and pads, suspension parts, etc). I have never had any major expensive problems with this car, and I keep it serviced by the book, plus cleaned and garaged, and I only do about average mileage each year, the car has an easy life cruising on motorways and A-roads.

General Comments:

2012 Fiesta in white, very basic car, and very boring, but I like it. Edge model is the lower range spec, but once I put alloy wheels on it to sharpen things up, it is a much nicer car to look at and drive thanks to good tyres as well.

Air con and front electric windows are about all you can expect from a basic Fiesta, but I would say that is all I need, and if you are after basic transport, this car will do fine.

Cannot recommend the 1.25 petrol engine though - yes it does around 45 - 50 MPG which for petrol is amazing, but you pay for that with unbearable slow performance. Merging on motorways takes guts - this car takes 16 seconds to get to 60 mph!

Minor criticisms aside, I cannot fault this car, it is 10 years old and still feels very modern and has provided me with very cheap and reliable motoring over the last few years, so cannot complain.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 16th April, 2022

2nd May 2022, 20:16

Quite surprised about the performance.

I hired quite a few of these around the time yours was made and thought they were quick enough.

In reply to 2nd May 2022, 20:16

3rd May 2022, 19:14

Depends which version - you probably drove the 90bhp 1.25 engine, and the reviewer most likely had the older 60bhp 1.25 (still being produced in 2012) unit which according to the specs on AutoTrader, does take over 16 seconds to get to 60 mph which is poor.

Either way the 1.25 petrol is not the best; in any Fiesta from this time period onwards you are far better off with the 1.4 or 1.6 petrol. Surprisingly, the later 1.0 ecoboost engine is actually pretty decent and a bit faster than the 1.25, probably due to being turbo charged.

Vauxhall Corsa is much the same - I drove a 1.2 petrol and it was awful, then drove the later 1.4 - much better.

2012 Ford Fiesta SE from North America

Summary:

I really wish this car turned out more reliable than I was lead to believe

Faults:

I have had quite a few things happen with this car. I had to return it to the dealership to get repairs done and to find out that there were recalls for those repairs.

The transmission slips (recall), the door hinges can randomly stop working (recall), my radio/dashboard randomly blew out, and the A/C system completely destroyed itself without warning. The amount of money that I have had to put into this car has not been worth keeping it; currently looking to get it replaced.

General Comments:

It drives comfortably.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 18th May, 2018

18th May 2018, 17:52

Great review. Ford hit a tough patch with that great looking small car between 2011-2015, and broke a lot of hearts. Not sure what happened. But lawsuits against Ford are slowly working their way through the courts on that model. So hopefully fixes/or/and money might be back on the way to customers that bought those cars. Some cars are now built in Mexico and the new plants have had some issues. Not sure if the Ford Fiesta is built down there. The average wage for a Mexican auto worker is about $5.00-6.00 dollars an hour, and with benefits brings it up to about $8.00 an hour. Compare that to an American auto worker making about $50.00-60.00 an hour including benefits. So sometimes there is a price to pay for new plants and newer, lower paid auto workers building your brand new car.

20th May 2018, 03:33

Thanks for the review.

Ford is now backing out of the passenger car market. The focus will be on SUVs from now on.

Given your experience, that may be a prudent move.