My car history - Fiesta & VX220
Discussion
I've been on here a while now so I decided that I should pop my short car history up.
Back in December 2007 I passed my test 1st time with no minors (how lucky is that)at the tender age of 17. Anyway an auntie of mine had bought a new car and her old Fiesta was going spare and wondered if I wanted it so of course wanting a set of wheels I offered her trade value (what she was going to get part ex) for it and came away with this Fiesta for £350 with 73,000 miles on it. For all of you with a trained eye
you will of course be able to tell that is it a MK4 1.25 LX 5 door - hmm tasty. They say you cant polish a turd despite this I tried....Anyway as they say a picture speaks a thousand words so heres 4;
This car was a brilliant first car it cost be bugger all to run and the only modification I made was fit a CD player than I could connect an iPod to as I didnt see the point in wasting money on a car that is worth the square root of nothing, so after after 23 months and over 32,000 miles I felt that I'd grown out of the fiesta so I treated my self to a new car.
I have loved the VX220 for years and I decided that I really want one so I saved up to buy one but I would only have one if I could afford to buy it outright so if anything went wrong I would hopefully be able afford to get it fixed and not run it on a shoe string. So after a year’s hand graft of saving and researching the in's and out's of VX220's I bought one in November 2009. It’s a 2002 2.2 N/A which had 49,000 miles on.
3 Days after picking it up I noticed that the bleed valve on one of the radiator hoses was leaking (common problem) I'm sure it wasn't when I looked at it sods law huh? Anyway I replaced this with the silicon one from Elise Parts and everything was hunky dory for a couple of months....
Until the radiator started leaking (another common problem) so I booked a couple of days off work and set about removing the front clam (using the excellent guide from www.vx220.org ) which was an absolute swine of a job as the bolts were seized. Anyway I soldiered on and eventually got the clam off and then tried to remove the radiator housing using another guide from the aforementioned website but apart from 2 bolts I couldn’t get any off so I phoned up a mate and took it to his and he managed to get them off and we both fitted the new radiator and put it back together. So I now had a nice new up rated all aluminum radiator fitted and I decided whilst I was replacing this it would be a good idea to replace the pipe at the other side of the radiator with a new silicon one so it matched the other and would hopefully be an end to the coolant leaking. Also whilst I had the front clam off I re painted the (worlds crappest) towing eye as it was looking a bit rusty.
Anyway a few weeks later it was running a little bit warm and I noticed that the coolant expansion tank had seen better days so I ordered a new one along with the carbon cover off eBay to keep the UV off it (another common problem due to the crap design)
I also added HID lights as the standard ones are rubbish, and fitted a smaller aerial.
Last week it was booked in up at Pure Lotus in Wetherby for a service and the cam chain and engine mounts changing as the chain was starting to sound a bit rattly. Both the cam and side engine mounts are common on the 2.2 N/A’s for failing so I thought it best to get them changed before and damage was caused.
That’s all the negative bits and to be honest it’s been an absolute riot, yes the niggles are irritating but it’s quite nice taking the car to bits and finding out how it works and why bits are there etc.
I absolutely love this car and I think everybody should at least drive a car like this just to appreciate how they feel/handle.
In the past 4 months the car has been used rain, shine snow etc. I wish I could afford a second car sometimes but then think I’d miss driving it too much.
Anyway less of my drivel here is some pictures.
And the VX driving through a Christmas card – proof that they can be used in crap conditions.
Back in December 2007 I passed my test 1st time with no minors (how lucky is that)at the tender age of 17. Anyway an auntie of mine had bought a new car and her old Fiesta was going spare and wondered if I wanted it so of course wanting a set of wheels I offered her trade value (what she was going to get part ex) for it and came away with this Fiesta for £350 with 73,000 miles on it. For all of you with a trained eye
you will of course be able to tell that is it a MK4 1.25 LX 5 door - hmm tasty. They say you cant polish a turd despite this I tried....Anyway as they say a picture speaks a thousand words so heres 4;This car was a brilliant first car it cost be bugger all to run and the only modification I made was fit a CD player than I could connect an iPod to as I didnt see the point in wasting money on a car that is worth the square root of nothing, so after after 23 months and over 32,000 miles I felt that I'd grown out of the fiesta so I treated my self to a new car.
I have loved the VX220 for years and I decided that I really want one so I saved up to buy one but I would only have one if I could afford to buy it outright so if anything went wrong I would hopefully be able afford to get it fixed and not run it on a shoe string. So after a year’s hand graft of saving and researching the in's and out's of VX220's I bought one in November 2009. It’s a 2002 2.2 N/A which had 49,000 miles on.
3 Days after picking it up I noticed that the bleed valve on one of the radiator hoses was leaking (common problem) I'm sure it wasn't when I looked at it sods law huh? Anyway I replaced this with the silicon one from Elise Parts and everything was hunky dory for a couple of months....
Until the radiator started leaking (another common problem) so I booked a couple of days off work and set about removing the front clam (using the excellent guide from www.vx220.org ) which was an absolute swine of a job as the bolts were seized. Anyway I soldiered on and eventually got the clam off and then tried to remove the radiator housing using another guide from the aforementioned website but apart from 2 bolts I couldn’t get any off so I phoned up a mate and took it to his and he managed to get them off and we both fitted the new radiator and put it back together. So I now had a nice new up rated all aluminum radiator fitted and I decided whilst I was replacing this it would be a good idea to replace the pipe at the other side of the radiator with a new silicon one so it matched the other and would hopefully be an end to the coolant leaking. Also whilst I had the front clam off I re painted the (worlds crappest) towing eye as it was looking a bit rusty.
Anyway a few weeks later it was running a little bit warm and I noticed that the coolant expansion tank had seen better days so I ordered a new one along with the carbon cover off eBay to keep the UV off it (another common problem due to the crap design)
I also added HID lights as the standard ones are rubbish, and fitted a smaller aerial.
Last week it was booked in up at Pure Lotus in Wetherby for a service and the cam chain and engine mounts changing as the chain was starting to sound a bit rattly. Both the cam and side engine mounts are common on the 2.2 N/A’s for failing so I thought it best to get them changed before and damage was caused.
That’s all the negative bits and to be honest it’s been an absolute riot, yes the niggles are irritating but it’s quite nice taking the car to bits and finding out how it works and why bits are there etc.
I absolutely love this car and I think everybody should at least drive a car like this just to appreciate how they feel/handle.
In the past 4 months the car has been used rain, shine snow etc. I wish I could afford a second car sometimes but then think I’d miss driving it too much.
Anyway less of my drivel here is some pictures.
And the VX driving through a Christmas card – proof that they can be used in crap conditions.
Edited by flattotheboards on Sunday 4th April 21:02
Edited by flattotheboards on Tuesday 6th April 08:32
flattotheboards said:
I never really saw the point in wasting money on a car that's not worth anything and I still cant understand why people are so obsessed with having "decent" first car, I would rather get a snotter and save up for a couple of years and get a car I want.
Finally someone with the same thoughts as me on first car ownership 
VX looks awesome and definitely a car that will be on my list of next car to own - probably in that blue too 
That looks cracking, well done that man.
Insurance must be absolutely crippling at 19 (if my calculations are correct)? Especially if it's your daily driver, I assume meaning you couldn't go for a limited mileage policy. I used to have a mk2 MR2 when I was 19 and the absolute best price I could find was still £2000/yr (worth it )
Insurance must be absolutely crippling at 19 (if my calculations are correct)? Especially if it's your daily driver, I assume meaning you couldn't go for a limited mileage policy. I used to have a mk2 MR2 when I was 19 and the absolute best price I could find was still £2000/yr (worth it
)
VX looks brill !OwenK said:
That looks cracking, well done that man.
Insurance must be absolutely crippling at 19 (if my calculations are correct)? Especially if it's your daily driver, I assume meaning you couldn't go for a limited mileage policy. I used to have a mk2 MR2 when I was 19 and the absolute best price I could find was still £2000/yr (worth it )
Yep your right I was 19 when I bought it I only turned 20 a few days ago. Insurance must be absolutely crippling at 19 (if my calculations are correct)? Especially if it's your daily driver, I assume meaning you couldn't go for a limited mileage policy. I used to have a mk2 MR2 when I was 19 and the absolute best price I could find was still £2000/yr (worth it
) Yes its well over £2000 and it is definitely worth it! And that's with 2 years no claims, the mate I quoted earlier who helped me with the radiator change has an S1 Elise and he pays over £4k!flattotheboards said:
Yep your right I was 19 when I bought it I only turned 20 a few days ago. Yes its well over £2000 and it is definitely worth it! And that's with 2 years no claims, the mate I quoted earlier who helped me with the radiator change has an S1 Elise and he pays over £4k!
Well, another round of applause for you - enjoy it, and don't be silly with it. If fatherhood hadn't set in I would still be running interesting cars now (with the associated 60%+ of my wages paying for the insurance) Yes its well over £2000 and it is definitely worth it! And that's with 2 years no claims, the mate I quoted earlier who helped me with the radiator change has an S1 Elise and he pays over £4k!OwenK said:
Well, another round of applause for you - enjoy it, and don't be silly with it. If fatherhood hadn't set in I would still be running interesting cars now (with the associated 60%+ of my wages paying for the insurance)
Despite having had it 4 months, I'm still too scared of it to push it. Every year quite a few of these get written off and I dont want to add to the statistics. I am hoping to book myself on an advanced driving course with it to try and gain more experience with rwd.i remember said:
Ive just done a quote for myself on one, £2100 is alot to justify as my next car, fiesta st, mk1 frs or vx220?
They are brilliant but you have to bear in mind that they are completely different to drive compared to a fwd hot hatch and no where near as practical . Seriously, if you were to drive a VX / Elise in the same manner as a hot hatch you will be straight off the road! They are a compromise but they are brilliant fun! 
al1991 said:
Love the VX.
The Fiesta is pretty similar to my first car (which I'm still running now) - I'm pretty pleased with it and yours looks like it was a good one too
Cheers, yeah as a first car it was great - it cost me bugger all to buy and run and was reasonably fun to chuck around. It was a bit tired by the time I got rid of it though but it still looked in reasonable nick as in the above pictures of it I had spent the morning giving it a good clean.The Fiesta is pretty similar to my first car (which I'm still running now) - I'm pretty pleased with it and yours looks like it was a good one too
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff