Shedding in a mk6 fiesta
Discussion
First time posting, long time lurker.
Until now I've spent all of my driving career never actually owning a car, I've always had the use of company vehicles when I've needed them and have spent the last couple of years commuting on a 2013 Yamaha Xmax 400. However a career change, an increase in commuting distance and the need to carry more equipment than the scooter can realistically handle meant that i needed to stop avoiding it and get a car.
I didn't want to spend huge amounts of money on a car that was just going to be used for commuting.
The requirements were simple -
- 1.4 or smaller engine
- Petrol
- Manual gearbox
- As much MOT as possible
- 5 door
- Not a Vauxhall Corsa
- Under £500
So I spread the word around work, my social medias and started the hunt online for something that would fit the bill. There was a lot out there within budget but they were all only fit for the scrap yard, had a few weeks MOT or the sellers were delusional about what they had.
That is when this came up, The security guard at work wheels and deals a little, thinks he is the next Mike Brewer
and had a little for sale sign in the back of this in the car park. He had only had it a couple of hours, having swapped a van for it before his shift started but wanted to sell it quicker than he thought he would to help fund the purchase of a motorbike someone else on site was selling
Its a 2005 Ford Fiesta 1.4 zetec with a little over 128,000 miles on the clock. A fresh MOT was put on it on the 7th February with the only advisory being a ball joint having some play. The car itself is tidy enough, far from perfect but not falling apart, it has some paint fade and lacquer peel, the front bumper is cracked but other than that cosmetically its ok. It ran and drove OK but the clutch is high, meaning that it will need replacement at some point in the near future.
This was my bargaining point. He wanted £495 for the car which to be fair he probably could have got if he had the time to wait but after some back and forth throughout the shift, we did a deal on £300. I ended up driving home in the car and he rode home on his newly acquired motorbike
Everyone was happy.
The plan is to have the clutch changed at the beginning of March, I've been quoted a very reasonable £225 for this to be done. The current clutch should last until then provided i am careful.
Ill use the car for the 50 mile round commute five days per week, Ill keep it maintained and spend whatever it needs within reason, Im only planning on keeping this until the next MOT, its fate will be decided when it passes or fails the next test.
Ill update the thread with what it costs to run, maintain and repair as and when it all happens.
Until now I've spent all of my driving career never actually owning a car, I've always had the use of company vehicles when I've needed them and have spent the last couple of years commuting on a 2013 Yamaha Xmax 400. However a career change, an increase in commuting distance and the need to carry more equipment than the scooter can realistically handle meant that i needed to stop avoiding it and get a car.
I didn't want to spend huge amounts of money on a car that was just going to be used for commuting.
The requirements were simple -
- 1.4 or smaller engine
- Petrol
- Manual gearbox
- As much MOT as possible
- 5 door
- Not a Vauxhall Corsa
- Under £500
So I spread the word around work, my social medias and started the hunt online for something that would fit the bill. There was a lot out there within budget but they were all only fit for the scrap yard, had a few weeks MOT or the sellers were delusional about what they had.
That is when this came up, The security guard at work wheels and deals a little, thinks he is the next Mike Brewer
and had a little for sale sign in the back of this in the car park. He had only had it a couple of hours, having swapped a van for it before his shift started but wanted to sell it quicker than he thought he would to help fund the purchase of a motorbike someone else on site was selling Its a 2005 Ford Fiesta 1.4 zetec with a little over 128,000 miles on the clock. A fresh MOT was put on it on the 7th February with the only advisory being a ball joint having some play. The car itself is tidy enough, far from perfect but not falling apart, it has some paint fade and lacquer peel, the front bumper is cracked but other than that cosmetically its ok. It ran and drove OK but the clutch is high, meaning that it will need replacement at some point in the near future.
This was my bargaining point. He wanted £495 for the car which to be fair he probably could have got if he had the time to wait but after some back and forth throughout the shift, we did a deal on £300. I ended up driving home in the car and he rode home on his newly acquired motorbike
Everyone was happy. The plan is to have the clutch changed at the beginning of March, I've been quoted a very reasonable £225 for this to be done. The current clutch should last until then provided i am careful.
Ill use the car for the 50 mile round commute five days per week, Ill keep it maintained and spend whatever it needs within reason, Im only planning on keeping this until the next MOT, its fate will be decided when it passes or fails the next test.
Ill update the thread with what it costs to run, maintain and repair as and when it all happens.
Edited by fez95 on Monday 24th February 19:51
A500leroy said:
Smart purchase op, whats the insurance like?
At 24 years old, licence held 1 1/2 years with no NCB but use of two other vehicles, high risk area - £625 for the year comprehensive with all of the extras which considering other quotes ive had (£1,200+) im very happy with. It is my first time insuring a car so I expected it to be a little expensive, Hopefully once I've got a year NCB behind me and as soon as i turn 25 it should drop considerably. Edited by fez95 on Thursday 13th February 16:44
RazerSauber said:
I don't want to rain on your parade because this looks like a little bargain but I absolutely despise the interior on these. Cheap plastics and feels awful (Well, my mates peasant spec car was anyway). However, they do seem to be fabulously reliable, economical and cheap to repair if something does go chips. £225 for a clutch job is an absolute bargain, I'm used to them being well up in the hundreds and heading for 4 figures!
Looking forward to this thread
Well, anything is better than the freezing cold and rain that im used to Looking forward to this thread
it does feel cheap inside but its all there and together. I was pleasantly surprised at that quote, Ill probably end up spending another £25 and having a clutch specialist who is closer and quite reputable do it. I use who can fix my car, have used it quite a few times for the MILs car and always had good luck with it.
250 miles in so far and all going well. Very impressed with the fuel economy so far, I've only had to top the tank up with £10 since I've had it. Driven right it can be quite fun too, I took the long way home this morning down the country back roads instead of getting on the dual carriageway, it grips really well and i love how tight the gearbox feels. Though this could just be me, I've only really driven vans since passing my test
Ive finally driven it during day light so heres some better pictures
The paintwork could do with some attention, fairly typical stuff for a red ford though, Im looking at cheap DIY solutions to sorting the paint out myself...
Hopefully you can see the laquer peel and the paint fade..
The worst bit, im thinking a touch up with a touch up pen should make this a bit more presentable.
oh and just ticked over 129,000 miles... drives like a 50,000 mile car!
Really happy with the purchase so far.
The paintwork could do with some attention, fairly typical stuff for a red ford though, Im looking at cheap DIY solutions to sorting the paint out myself...
Hopefully you can see the laquer peel and the paint fade..
The worst bit, im thinking a touch up with a touch up pen should make this a bit more presentable.
oh and just ticked over 129,000 miles... drives like a 50,000 mile car!
Really happy with the purchase so far.
Edited by fez95 on Monday 24th February 19:55
VR99 said:
Perfect first car imo. I spent the best part of £4k on my first car (it looked like someone had taken a baseball bat to it by the end of my ownership) and still think to this day that was too much outlay lol
As an aside I also had a skewed view of Fords after my family used escorts, fiestas, Sierra's and Granada's in the 80's that all had issues...but from the 00's Fords have been solid..IMO and I'm.still running my 54 plate focus into the ground!
Hope the fiesta serves you well!
I looked at buying more expensive cars, even looked at leasing but it just didn't make sense to me in the end. At the end of the day, when im done with this, as long as its still running i should be able to recoup most of what i will put into it. Ill upgrade in a year or two when I've got a bit more road experience on 4 wheels. As an aside I also had a skewed view of Fords after my family used escorts, fiestas, Sierra's and Granada's in the 80's that all had issues...but from the 00's Fords have been solid..IMO and I'm.still running my 54 plate focus into the ground!
Hope the fiesta serves you well!
Edited by VR99 on Friday 14th February 19:05
I did similar when i started riding, I spent 12 months on a £300 Yamaha YBR125 after passing my test and then upgraded to the Xmax which ill probably chop in for something newer next year.
njw1 said:
That looks identical to my missus old car, they're a good drive these Fiestas and as you've found handle very well. The only complaint we had of hers was that it did like a drop of oil. Regarding the interior quality I found it pretty good, they're leagues ahead of a similar age Corsa or anything French and more solidly put together than anything Japanese. When my missus had hers my mate had a similar age A3 that had more rattles.
Oh, and I think Ford had it sorted before your cars year but make sure that the windscreen washers aren't allowing water to leak onto the spark plugs as this can cause misfires and a blown coil pack.
Have been keeping an eye on the oil, seems to be fine so far but will be checking it weekly anyway. As for the windscreen washers, seems ok so far too but will check each time i check the oil level. Oh, and I think Ford had it sorted before your cars year but make sure that the windscreen washers aren't allowing water to leak onto the spark plugs as this can cause misfires and a blown coil pack.
MC Bodge said:
Excellent choice. We have a similar one, a facelifted 56 reg.
Brilliant little cars. The chassis is fantastic.
Ours get used daily and passes its MOT every year.
There are actually three of these cars in our road, along with the various typical modern German and Korean SUVs and saloons.
Funnily enough, theres six of these in the work car park every night. Dont know how it started but they all seem to park in a group near mine now Brilliant little cars. The chassis is fantastic.
Ours get used daily and passes its MOT every year.
There are actually three of these cars in our road, along with the various typical modern German and Korean SUVs and saloons.
Quite funny when the rest of the car park is full of BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Mercedes and the typical SUVs. Big Tomm said:
Excellent shedding.
I had a 2007 one when it was about 3 years old. It was the ST model in imperial blue, it replaced a Mk5 ZS I had in the same colour. The ST was by far the most unreliable thing I had ever owned, and coincidentally the newest. I had constant problems with it and only had it a few months before selling it on. The buyer still has it now.
However please bear with me this isn’t all doom and gloom!
I bought the St because my girlfriend had a 1.25, a facelift mode again and it was the most reliable thing in the world! The thing never got serviced, against my advice, and only posed silly little problems. Spring snapped at about 125k, exhaust needed welding up at around 100k, things that are to be expected really. She had the can for about 100k and would still be driving it now if a taxi driver hadn’t written it off when it was parked in the street.
Good luck shedding in this. I suspect it will do perfectly!
Ive heard good and bad about these but the 1.25 and the 1.4 petrol seem to be the best engines from what i can gather. I had a 2007 one when it was about 3 years old. It was the ST model in imperial blue, it replaced a Mk5 ZS I had in the same colour. The ST was by far the most unreliable thing I had ever owned, and coincidentally the newest. I had constant problems with it and only had it a few months before selling it on. The buyer still has it now.
However please bear with me this isn’t all doom and gloom!
I bought the St because my girlfriend had a 1.25, a facelift mode again and it was the most reliable thing in the world! The thing never got serviced, against my advice, and only posed silly little problems. Spring snapped at about 125k, exhaust needed welding up at around 100k, things that are to be expected really. She had the can for about 100k and would still be driving it now if a taxi driver hadn’t written it off when it was parked in the street.
Good luck shedding in this. I suspect it will do perfectly!
Update time.
I've been driving the car to/from work most days and its been fairly good. I put £30 petrol into the tank on the 15th and ive done around 300 miles since. As it rolled onto 129,309 miles this morning the fuel light finally came on. I put £10 in as soon as it came on and its showing 1/3 tank. That should do me for the next few days with the little running around I have to do.
There has been a couple of issues, The backbox dropped down on the way home this morning and the car became quite loud. I got underneath at the side of the dual carriageway and tied it up with my work tie I haven't bothered investigating it properly, just got it home sounding like a battle tank. Ill get underneath it properly tomorrow and sort it out.
The clutch has finally started to slip here and there. Its booked in to be done at the beginning of next month. Ill keep on using it until then or until it gets REALLY bad. Then ill just use the scoot for a few days.
Im currently working on taking my personalised plate off of my scoot and putting it on the car for a little while.
Ive been offered some facelift headlights and tail lights at a very good price, so ill probably pick those up in the next week. Wasnt really planning on modding this car but when a bargain turns up and its something subtle, I just cant refuse.
I've been driving the car to/from work most days and its been fairly good. I put £30 petrol into the tank on the 15th and ive done around 300 miles since. As it rolled onto 129,309 miles this morning the fuel light finally came on. I put £10 in as soon as it came on and its showing 1/3 tank. That should do me for the next few days with the little running around I have to do.
There has been a couple of issues, The backbox dropped down on the way home this morning and the car became quite loud. I got underneath at the side of the dual carriageway and tied it up with my work tie
I haven't bothered investigating it properly, just got it home sounding like a battle tank. Ill get underneath it properly tomorrow and sort it out. The clutch has finally started to slip here and there. Its booked in to be done at the beginning of next month. Ill keep on using it until then or until it gets REALLY bad. Then ill just use the scoot for a few days.
Im currently working on taking my personalised plate off of my scoot and putting it on the car for a little while.
Ive been offered some facelift headlights and tail lights at a very good price, so ill probably pick those up in the next week. Wasnt really planning on modding this car but when a bargain turns up and its something subtle, I just cant refuse.
Edited by fez95 on Monday 24th February 20:35
I've been using the scooter for the past few days just to keep it charged and in good order. Fired the car up today to go and collect a new fire bin, it'll be doing a tip run tomorrow and then get laid up again for the weekend. I love how convenient it is having a car, even if it is small.
The clutch slipping has been getting worse so im trying not to use it for anything more than a couple of miles. It is booked in with a small two man operated garage to have the clutch changed on Monday, they'll be fitting a LUK clutch kit for the cost of £226.
I got underneath the car to investigate the exhaust issue, It looks like it was a cheap replacement exhaust system and it has rotted at the join to the silencer. The rubber hanger has perished too and is only just holding the silencer up. A new hanger rubber is only £3.65 from the local ford dealer so ill be picking one up tomorrow. For now, I've done what i can with some JB weld with the silencer so it is near silent once again. Though it probably wont last long.
The clutch slipping has been getting worse so im trying not to use it for anything more than a couple of miles. It is booked in with a small two man operated garage to have the clutch changed on Monday, they'll be fitting a LUK clutch kit for the cost of £226.
I got underneath the car to investigate the exhaust issue, It looks like it was a cheap replacement exhaust system and it has rotted at the join to the silencer. The rubber hanger has perished too and is only just holding the silencer up. A new hanger rubber is only £3.65 from the local ford dealer so ill be picking one up tomorrow. For now, I've done what i can with some JB weld with the silencer so it is near silent once again. Though it probably wont last long.
MC Bodge said:
Holts Gun Gum works much better on exhausts than JB Weld.
Clutch replacement sounds like a good price Co pared with many cars.
Will keep that in mind for any future repairs, JB weld was just what i had in the shed for a quick temporary solution. Hoping to get a new silencer section sometime next week. Clutch replacement sounds like a good price Co pared with many cars.
I thought that too, I had 30+ quotes on the site i used to sort it ranging from £200-£600 so its not the cheapest quote i had from the lot but its the lowest with reviews of the garage that are quite good. I know the MILs car had the clutch done last year and it cost £350.
MC Bodge said:
With a hands free phone kit and a plug in DAB, it is modernised enough.
marksx said:
That's the only bugbear with mine now. Lack of Spotify/dab.
Easily remedied, but I'm lazy : hehe:
The head unit is actually something im looking at changing, the lack of bluetooth/aux connectivity and having to listen to Radio1 to/from work instead of my own music because its the only station that has consistent signal has been bugging me. I've never liked listening to radio stations. Easily remedied, but I'm lazy : hehe:
£20 for a double din cage/fascia kit and ill probably end up going with a £35-£40 cheapo head unit from ebay. Not the best out there but would solve that issue for me.
Munter said:
Easier solution: https://www.amazon.co.uk/VICTSING-Transmitter-Hand... The stepson and OH both have units that look like this in their cars. Work perfectly. Plus...easier to swap into another vehicle if needed.
Didn't think of that. Just found one with good reviews for £5 and ordered it. Saved me £45 Nice little update.
My plans to lay the car up for the weekend didn't go to plan, The scoot developed a worrying rattle and had to be picked up by my bike mechanic for diagnosis/repair. Short of it is, Im having that repaired and im getting rid of it for something else, it did its job for a few years but now it seems to have one problem after another so its time for change.
I had to drive the car to and from work all weekend and apart from the clutch slipping every time i got on and off the dual carriageway it wasn't too bad. This morning i left work at 07:00, got home for 08:30, emptied the car and dropped it off at the garage for 09:30
Didn't sleep all day even though id been up since 15:30 yesterday and got the call to pick it up at 16:45. I was shown the old clutch and was told it was definitely at the end of its life. I've kept it for a little welding art project ill be doing soon.
£226.73 total for a new 3 piece LUK clutch kit supplied and fitted. Have to say that the two guys at Hayers Auto Repairs in Wednesbury definitely know their stuff and did a top job for the price. very happy.
The only issue i now have is that i need to find the radio code as the battery had to be taken out, not a huge deal just get the head unit out for the serial number and ask a mate who works for ford to find the code for me
The car drives so much better already, its nice being able to join the motorway and dual carriageways doing more than 40mph and without the engine revving its tits off
So current total spent on the car is £526.73.
My plans to lay the car up for the weekend didn't go to plan, The scoot developed a worrying rattle and had to be picked up by my bike mechanic for diagnosis/repair. Short of it is, Im having that repaired and im getting rid of it for something else, it did its job for a few years but now it seems to have one problem after another so its time for change.
I had to drive the car to and from work all weekend and apart from the clutch slipping every time i got on and off the dual carriageway it wasn't too bad. This morning i left work at 07:00, got home for 08:30, emptied the car and dropped it off at the garage for 09:30
Didn't sleep all day even though id been up since 15:30 yesterday and got the call to pick it up at 16:45. I was shown the old clutch and was told it was definitely at the end of its life. I've kept it for a little welding art project ill be doing soon.
£226.73 total for a new 3 piece LUK clutch kit supplied and fitted. Have to say that the two guys at Hayers Auto Repairs in Wednesbury definitely know their stuff and did a top job for the price. very happy.
The only issue i now have is that i need to find the radio code as the battery had to be taken out, not a huge deal just get the head unit out for the serial number and ask a mate who works for ford to find the code for me
The car drives so much better already, its nice being able to join the motorway and dual carriageways doing more than 40mph and without the engine revving its tits off
So current total spent on the car is £526.73.
A500leroy said:
RE; the scooter, did you know the chine are doing 300 scoots now that are pretty decent, if you can get away with a 125 the chinese one will last 3 years and are priced to be disposable after that time, you could do worse.
yeah, a guy at work has a lexmoto chieftain 125 thing and a 300cc thing that i cant pronounce the name of, they dont seem bad scoots to be fair but i couldn't put up with a 125 after being on the 400 for so long. Now that im not so bothered about the practicality side of it because ive got the car for work and ive got a few years NCB on the bike i wouldn't mind something a bit bigger with a bit more power just to have around for a bit of fun, ill see what i get for the 400 once its fixed and go from there though. Dont know how those appeared in my boot 
I really need to stay off of facebook marketplace
£30 spent on headlights and mirrors.
Also picking up a bumper later tonight.
Current spend now at £556.73.
Im really bad at this shedding thing but in my defence, i did need new mirrors.
I really need to stay off of facebook marketplace
£30 spent on headlights and mirrors.
Also picking up a bumper later tonight.
Current spend now at £556.73.
Im really bad at this shedding thing but in my defence, i did need new mirrors.
Edited by fez95 on Tuesday 3rd March 16:41
DevonLad said:
Are the mirrors from a facelift car and are they electric? If so although they will fit the loom plugs are different on the face lift cars so they won't plug into the pre facelift loom. I know this from experience as I have changed mine. The facelift headlights are a simple swap, however the tail lights will require a bit of extra wiring.
No they're from a pre - facelift car, The lad breaking the car they came from was half way through facelifting/ST replica converting his car when the engine blew (or something along those lines anyway) so they should just plug and play, my mirrors are currently wedged where i want them with folded up envelopes I didn't bother buying the rear lights as he had badly tinted them and i couldn't be arsed sorting them. I've done a little research on wiring the rear lights if i do decide to fit facelift ones, doesn't seem too hard. I just dont want to pay the prices everyone seems to want for a decent set. picking up these parts as/when they come up cheap.
MC Bodge said:
I don't know what the pre facelift headlights a re like, but the big, round reflectors in the facelift headlamps give off a very good beam compared with many more modern smaller lamps or projector lenses. I fitted some Ring Ultra Xenon bulbs and they work well.
MC Bodge said:
Driving ours last night, I appreciated the throttle response of a naturally aspirated engine. It is not powerful, but it is responsive.
They're not the worst I've ever driven on but they arent that good either. Ill try to get some decent comparison pictures/video when i get around to fitting them. Ill probably fit some OSRAM nightbreaker bulbs if Im not too happy with standard type bulbs. BIL has been trying to get me to fit Nighteye LED bulbs like he has on his MK7 fiesta but im not too keen on the idea of LED headlight bulbs when they arent standard on the car from factory. Not powerful or fast by any means but very nippy and easy to have some fun with when you want to. Ill wait until I've done the 200 miles gentle driving the garage said to do on the clutch before i take it the long way home though
strain said:
Love a good fiesta, had one in 2007 (54 plate) and after using public transport for 2 years the wife got me one as a shed, I wasn't going to modify mine either
(RCL, electric facelift mirrors facelift lights, half leather ZS interior & steering wheel, 17' focus alloys so far)
I definitely don't have the full ST kit or lowering spring sitting in my garage either!
They're cheap and cheerful but you have to love them, I bought mine on 72k and its now around 88k, nearly 3 years, 1 clutch (cost me £50 all in) rocker cover gasket, core plugs and a backbox has all its cost me!
Are you facelifting or just ZS/ST bumpers? Mirrors do make a huge difference
This one is quickly turning into a bit of a project (RCL, electric facelift mirrors facelift lights, half leather ZS interior & steering wheel, 17' focus alloys so far)
I definitely don't have the full ST kit or lowering spring sitting in my garage either!
They're cheap and cheerful but you have to love them, I bought mine on 72k and its now around 88k, nearly 3 years, 1 clutch (cost me £50 all in) rocker cover gasket, core plugs and a backbox has all its cost me!
Are you facelifting or just ZS/ST bumpers? Mirrors do make a huge difference
At the moment Im just face lifting the front end. I was supposed to be buying a ST front bumper in colorado red last night but the seller has since disappeared off the face of the earth
Im just buying parts as and when they come up cheap at the moment, a bumper and a set of wheels are definetely priority now though. Im getting sick of looking at a smashed front bumper
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