2000 Fiesta Zetec S

[molineux1980]

I've recently bought this as a 'practical' replacement for my mk 1 MX5. I've managed to pull a face and now the MX5 is tucked up and sorn'd in the garage until I can afford repairs to the sills and arches. Reason for swapping is my daughter is now 2, and with the needs for trikes, bikes and wifey to cart along, so here we are.

I wanted something slightly interesting, and I like a car with decent handling feel, and these Fiesta's had good reviews. However, most suffer bad rust problems, and many have been less than tastefully modified.

I was browsing the classifieds, as you do, and this one popped up in Ellesmere Port. It's the fabled, ' 1 owner from new' car, with only 39k on the clock, and FSH history. Went for a look, and put a deposit down. Picked it up the following week, and all told, i'm very pleased with it.

It's not fast by any stretch, but its reasonably peppy, and handles very nicely, but is slightly hamstrung by crappy Marshall tyres. Nice gearbox and steering feel, and it's doing the family thing very well. Better econonomy than my MX5 too.

No plans for mods, barring perhaps a Puma gearknob,better tyres and maybe a filter, as it makes a reasonable noise, and i'm a fan of induction noise.

Bad bits? It's possibly been parked under tress, as the paint on the roof looks slightly bird poop damaged, and the revs hang slightly when depressing the clutch.

But all told, it's a cracking little car.

[ORD]

I had one of these as my first car. It felt damn fast at the time, but the thing I remember most is its really direct feel and simplicity. A great little car. Unless my memory really is playing tricks on me, it was fairly quick along narrow, slow B-roads. Decent gearing across 2,3 and 4, so it rewards being taken to the redline.

Also fairly practical, as you say.

A good choice.

[molineux1980]

Yep, it's more torquey tahn I expected, my wife had a 1.25 zetec a few years back, very revvy, with very little power low down. The Zetec S is good fun, i'd have been over the moon with one as a first car!