1996 Ford Fiesta Encore review from UK and Ireland

The engine lost power at 60,000 miles, The cam shaft had to be repaired. Cost: 750 pounds.

Scary rust-away on back wheel arch, which is supposed to be a common problem with older fords. Cost: 400 pounds

Never ending loss of oil, probably being burned (no leaks). I had to buy around ten gallons a year.

Suspension pads wear out quickly and need to be replaced every 2 years. Same about break tablets and disks. (I don't tend to drive cross-country, but still they wear out fast). Cost: around 200 a year.

One cylinder started to give problems, so the engine sounded as if going only on three. Estimated cost: 250 pounds for repair

Problems with the seals, which produced coolant and oil burning.

Electrics giving problems everywhere.

And last, emissions beyond road legal, so I had to SORNed it.

Overall, I had so many problems with the car, that it had become a non stop headache. This means it has been a BAD car.

Being a second hand car, and being bought in fairly good conditions, it turned to be too expensive to maintain, almost doubling the cost of it.

Nevertheless, it is sturdy and refuses to die. Like weed, it keeps going and going, even when you had said the day before: "that's that then, it's gone for good".

So, it has demonstrated to be an old bag of problems, but it's a die-hard.

The silly thing still goes, but only off road, as it is not legal anymore.

A good car? NO, not at all, but interesting indeed.