1996 Ford Fiesta LX review from UK and Ireland

Engine blew at 70mph on a busy dual carriageway. Not quite sure why it blew as all oil/water levels etc were correct and it seemed to be running fine beforehand with no untoward problems. Maybe the mileage could have been an issue? Regardless, a replacement engine cost me £100 and it was off the road for a a few days whilst I dropped the new engine in!

1000 miles later the "new" slave cylinder i'd fitted when I changed the engine over failed. Was off the road for 3 weeks as I just couldn't be bothered repairing it!

Eventually repaired it and ran it for a bit longer and the engine started to stutter and cut out. Eventually traced to a fueling problem.

Few thousand miles later the car started to lose power and feel held back. Tried everything I could think off, MAF sensor change, fueling problem, air-box change, plug change etc, still never sorted it.

Rusty sills eventually spelt the end of this car for me as I just couldn't afford to pour anymore money into it to get it through the looming MoT!

Took it in as a taxed & tested runabout when I sold my old Mondeo Diesel as the lad didn't have enough money to buy it outright, so I agreed to take it off him. Seemed a nice car and looked good with the Escort Si alloys that were on it. Granted it was SLOW on the open roads, but I didn't let it put me off as I quite liked it. Performance was adequate around town and it was cheap to run.

Then the engine blew. Fortunately I'm a competent mechanic so it only cost me parts. Then the clutch went, again a good job I'm a competent mechanic as it's an expensive job in a garage to replace the slave cylinder as its inside the gearbox bell housing, so its quite intensive labour wise to replace!

Various other problems occurred which in the end made me lose interest in the car and it was brought to an end when it failed its MoT miserably with rotten inner & outer sills and many other problems that it was just wasn't economical to repair and put back on the road (from my point of view anyway!) as i'd spent too much on it. Gave it to my cousin whos a welder and he got it sorted and MoT'd in the end... although I'm not sure whether its still running...

Definately the most unreliable car I've ever owned, wish I hadn't sold the Mondeo!