1996 Ford Fiesta Encore from UK and Ireland - Comments

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.

Did you actually pay all that for repairs (£750 for cam, etc???), especially on an old Ford? I don't like Fords, I'll only buy Japanese cars, who needs the headache?

I have had the same car for about a year, I needed a car asap so wasn't even looking for anything special. The little fiesta has been a god send. I have had no problems at all, not even a squeaky break, and considering I bought the car at 86000miles for £700, it's a right little bargain. And to top it all off, I drove from Telford to Norwich and back (about 10Hr round trip) on less than 1 tank of fuel. Its always started first time even after been left for two weeks outside in the freezing weather. Plus as a little bonus, the handbook says it will do 98mph, I have got it to 106 with more to give. so if anyone is after a small economical car with a little bit of go, I can't fault the fiesta.