...But what's this? a white blur in the distance, the chugging sound of a mini-cooper doing 40mph in 1st gear, a hideous whaling noise, a cloud of smoke;
Is it a bird?
Is it a plane?
Is it a washing machine on wheels?
No! It's me in my Ford Fiesta!
The white blur is my lovely white ... Read review
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Advantages: Cheap, economical, cheap-did I mention cheap? Disadvantages: I hate to say it, but my poor baby is so uncool!!
...No! It's me in my Ford Fiesta!
The white blur is my lovely white Fiesta 1.1, born in the 80's, in its prime in the 90's and in the noughties it's on its last legs but this old guy aint giving up!
The chugging sound is the rattling gear box, the grind of the gears, the clunking of the wobbly bonnet...
The hideous whaling is me singing "I will survive" at the top of my voice (as the stereo gave ... ...to entertain myself somehow).
Costing £500 in 1999, this little guy had 20,000 miles on his clock and a little rust, but with a little 'T Cut', some 'Back to Black', a hoover, some polish and a lot of TLC he was the belle of the ball in the 6th form car park.
We had such happy days (when the stereo still worked) driving around with the windows down, three in the back, squashed and smokey (as it was cool to smoke in 6th ... more
Picture it, it's a sunny day, everyone's sitting in beer gardens watching the world go by, people are cruising along with their windows down, radios up full blast, shades on...
...But what's this? a white blur in the distance, the chugging sound of a mini-cooper doing 40mph in 1st gear, a hideous whaling noise, a cloud of smoke;
Is it a bird?
Is it a plane?
Is it a washing machine on wheels?
No! It's me in my Ford Fiesta!
The white blur is my lovely white Fiesta 1.1, born in the 80's, in its prime in the 90's and in the noughties it's on its last legs but this old guy aint giving up!
The chugging sound is the rattling gear box, the grind of the gears, the clunking of the wobbly bonnet...
The hideous whaling is me singing "I will survive" at the top of my voice (as the stereo gave up the ghost a long time ago and I have to entertain myself somehow).
Costing £500 in 1999, this little guy had 20,000 miles on his clock and a little rust, but with a little 'T Cut', some 'Back to Black', a hoover, some polish and a lot of TLC he was the belle of the ball in the 6th form car park.
We had such happy days (when the stereo still worked) driving around with the windows down, three in the back, squashed and smokey (as it was cool to smoke in 6th form and the back windows don't open so we got double the inhalation from our Marlboro Lights) and two in the front, having a go at racing Porsches at the traffic lights, beeping at cute guys, and generally thinking we were pretty cool.
With a full tank of petrol costing me just £28 I can pick up my "Homeys" and make the three hour journey to Manchester, doing 70mph all the way in 3 hours, and still have enough petrol to drive around while we are there.
Insurance for a "careful" "lady" driver is around £300 for 3rd party, so I needn't worry about the odd scrape if ever I was to have one.
This little guy (mine christened Simon) can squeeze into tiny parking spaces, sit out in the snow all night and start (with a lot of choke and a little pumping of the gas) in the morning, ok so the de-misters are virtually non existent and I have to wipe myself a little peep hole in the windscreen to see through, the "heaters" are totally dead but I enjoy the refreshing icy wind he pumpes out at me as I'm driving to work at 8.45 am, It wakes me up nicely.
Maybe my ass goes totally numb about 2 hours into a car journey in him because the seats have approximately 1mm of padding, and maybe I have had to start him more than once Fred Flintstone-style with one foot pushing us along and one pumping the gas, but he's still my little Simon and I love him!
This car has survived 2 crashes (one guy coming at me from the left costing Simon his near side wing bumper) and one coming at me from behind leaving Simon back bumperless with a naked rear end.
He has had 2 attempted break-ins one left him with his passenger-side lock hanging off (but little Simon didn't let them in!) and the other saw the driver-side lock being butchered and unusable (He still didn't let them in!).
He has been hit while I've been in work, leaving him with a stoved-in front bumper and a little "sorry note" on the windscreen, but he still happily starts up for me after a hard day in the office and takes me home at night.
In return I top him up with oil, keep him clean (using the rain), keep him fed with petrol and pump up his tyres. He is protected by the AA which is cheap, and new bulbs cost a few pence. Tax is about £60 for 6 months.
Alas, a company car is in the horizon for the summer, and little Simon will have to be sent to the big car park in the sky *sniff* but I will remember him forever as my first car, a faithful friend who served me well, who listened while I told him my problems, who understood my road rage, and who didn't mind when I hit his steering wheel and swore at him for being uncool.
Right now I would not be without my little Simon and I would recommend a Simon to anyone thinking of investing into a really cheap, really economical, really reliable little car of their own.
Advantages: Small, cheap, economical, comfortable Disadvantages: Sluggish, higher insurance than cars of similar size
The sheer number of Ford cars on the road today shows how popular the manufacturer is for producing cheap but comfortable, reliable cars.
The Ford Fiesta is one of the most popular and longest-running models and it's easy to see why: its a small, cheap, economical car that has more space than you'd think from viewing the outside.
I bought my version, a 1991 J-reg Ford Fiesta Quartz LX 1.1 3-door model, earlier this month for £494. It has 63000+ ... ...I think it will last for a little while yet.
The driving position is comfortable and ergonomic and although the ceiling is rather low, there is plenty of leg and elbow room. The car has the basics you would expect (heater, radio, glove box) which are useful without cluttering up the car like with modern vehicles. I love the fact the car has manual windows. I hate electric windows with a passion! It also has a sunroof, which for me is a slight negative ...
Kenaomi 23.02.2008
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Ford Fiesta 1.1
Advantages: Cheap, Simple to Maintain, erm Cheap Disadvantages: Getting older, Body Rot, Not A Great Drive for A New Driver
...however the younger guys at Ford don't seem quite so up to speed on the HCS, and may do a bit of headscrathing if you ask for a strange part!
I changed the headgasket (in one hour flat!) on one of the Fiestas due to a vast amount of "clotted cream," under the filler cap and in the rocker cover. Later speaking to a colleague who is a mechanic he pointed out that head gaskets seldom give way on HCS's and in fact the thin rocker cover, coupled with ... ...harmless. £18 for a complete set of gaskets and bolts wasted, never mind! The thin rocker was replaced with a double skinned one on the CFi HCS, and this reduced the problem a lot!
The mk3 bodyshell was radical for its time, one of the first "small cars," available in the five door body plan, I own two five doors, and they can fit three grown adults in the back, not very comfortably, but its not a mega crush. The seats are VERY comfortable, (probably ...
benham 14.01.2006
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Ford Fiesta 1.1
Advantages: Cheap and reliable Disadvantages: not that good to look at or to have a crash in!
...the even newer body style ford have come up with. I suppose I'll just have to make the decision If your looking for a reliable, cheap to run car then I would definitely recommend a fiesta. They go on and on and give you very little problems. However, they don't do all that much for your street cred, unless you get one of the sporty versions or spice it up a bit with some of the accessories that are available! It's a car that gets you to where you ...
GR-Design 30.06.2002
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Ford Fiesta 1.1
The Mark 1 Fiesta, now there's a blast from the past. Are there any left on the road - I haven't seen one for ages. Perhaps they've finally passed a law against them.
In 1992 I bought a Fiesta 1.3 Mk2 Ghia but this only lasted a short while until some low-life nicked it. Its (meant to be temporary) replacement, a 1980 1.1 Mk 1, was bought on the quick for £90. This turned out to be a much better car than I thought and I ran it for about 5 years. ... ...turned out to be the seller's wife's car, which he'd decided to 'out' due to its age and condition. Oh, how she cried when I drove 'Tinkerbell' away (don't forget those old cars had souls and feelings).
After the Ghia, the standard car felt like a complete dog with its lack of sound-proofing, proper carpets and comfy seats. It even had a four-speed gearbox!!
Anyway, Tinkerbell and me got on just fine and the car turned out to be extremely reliable ...
tel1 02.03.2005
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Ford Fiesta 1.1
Advantages: Reliable, cheap to buy and insure, nippy, fun! Disadvantages: Fuel consumption.
...times do you see a Ford Fiesta? A dozen, maybe more. If you buy a Fiesta, you do not buy one to stand out in a crowd, there are millions on the road, and unless you paint yours some obscure shade of neon pink, it really isn't going to turn heads. Then again, that's not the reason why people buy Ford Fiestas. The sheer number of them on our roads means cheaper parts and plenty of specialist garages should things ever go wrong. (Which in my experience ... ...telling you how great the Ford Fiesta is only to tell you know that I am selling mine, and that it goes to its new owner in Peterborough within the next week or so. I can also tell you that I am absolutely heartbroken to see it go, and believe me, if I could I would never part with it. I now live with my boyfriend who has a newer, more economic diesel Skoda Felicia. We had no need for two cars, but unfortunately mine drew the short straw purely for ...
Caru 24.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Ford Fiesta 1.1
Value for Money
Road Handling
Comfort
Fuel consumption
Looks
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Advantages: Easy, compact, nippy, boot space, fuel economy Disadvantages: Small leg room in back, average audio system, interior looks
and cricket bat in the back for whenver I go out.
- The seats are comfortable and relaxing for longer drives.
- The passengers side has a lot of leg room - the dashboard in front is minimalised.
- The overall car look from the exterior is nice a its has a trendy feel to it.
Disadvantages:
- The leg room in the back is limited. On the passenger side it can be increased by moving the passenger seat forward because of the larger space there. But to have 4 mates in the car is near impossible.
- The gear stick is a bit dodgey sometimes. It can be reluctant to go into 1st gear or reverse, but I've found that to overcome this you need to just move the stick around into other gears and go back.
- The car stereo is ok but I use a special casette to plug my MP3 in. Some of the songs sound awful and it needs adjustments to the sound ...
Advantages: Small, Cheap and easy to fix Disadvantages: cheap quality, very old now so will go wrong
The fordfiesta is a good all rounder but you have to make some sacrifices if your used to comfort and reliability. I've never had a problem with any Ford up until 100,000 + miles as for my fiesta.
Being very cheap to buy and look after it was a fantastic starter car, cheap to buy, cheap to run and cheap to fix if you do it yourself. I was quite lucky with my fiesta in that all that went on was the body until I have an accident in it and had to get rid. I did put wider wheels on it which improved the handling and made it look slightly better in my opinion.
The biggest problem was rust, rust gets everywhere and really cannot be stopped without replacing body parts. I never had to touch the engine apart from servicing and it was still working fine when I sold it. The only problem I couldn't figure out was that water would get ...
lostsworld 13.05.2006 (17.05.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: helpful Review of Ford Fiesta MK II
Advantages: Comfortable Seats, Good Sized Boot, Good Fuel Economy Disadvantages: Poor Rear Seat Legroom, Noisy at fast speed,
Way back in 2001, we decided that our Red Peugeot 106 Kid should go into retirement (it actually went to a universtiy student!!!!). We went to the local Ford Garage, as we'd seen an advert in the local paper for a Fiesta Finesse - the new fiesta was just about to be released, and i think they were trying to get rid of the old-style fiestas. Anyway, to cut a long story short, we ended up with a Fiesta Flight 1.3 3-door, in Dark True Blue (it's not metallic unfortunately) for £7395.
This car had a choice of black/dark grey or light grey trim, and it came with 7-spoke alloy wheels. Inside, it had power steering (the 106 didn't), and it had a casette player ( the 106 didn't even have a radio!), so it seemed really good at first. Nowadays, alot of cars have CD Players which come as standard, but you can easily buy an adapter, which you ...
