Buying A Fiesta Mk4/mk5 ...

[Nug878]

Right a few of you probably know later on this month I'm buying a Mk4/Mk5 Fiesta. I've decided I'll be going for a 1.25 Zetec engine.

My uncle said don't go for an LX or lower because they had less coats of paint and are more prone to rust ... Any clarifaction on that?

So by that I'm looking for either a Ghia, Ghia X or a Zetec (No Zetec S, I don't think Mr. Endsleigh will be very happy!)

I've only ever had one Ford and that was a Focus so can any of you Fiesta owners give any tips or any certain weaknesses that should be looked out for on these Fiestas? Or are they pretty much standard practice when buying a car. From the reviews I've read they are pretty much reliable engines if looked after well, which isn't an issue for me because it will be serviced within the next few months anyway by myself.

Also, Mike P. You mentioned these engines are quite thirsty earlier on. What do you get out of yours?

Thanks.

Luke.

[Michael P]

Hello! A thread i can be of some use on, doesn't happen often!

Fuel, i get around 300 miles out of a tank, that's driving normally.

I have an Encore spec car (boggo, boggo spec) and it's alright. Has no toys whatsoever, but i see it in the light of that there is less to go wrong as there isn't alot of electrical things inside.

Mine is just about to reach 80,000 miles and the engine is sound.

One thing that happens on mine is the door locks tend to seize a bit, a bit of GT85 sorts that out though.

Boot space is more than adequate, ill finish this off when i get back from my errand!!

[Nug878]

Hello! A thread i can be of some use on, doesn't happen often!

Fuel, i get around 300 miles out of a tank, that's driving normally.

I have an Encore spec car (boggo, boggo spec) and it's alright. Has no toys whatsoever, but i see it in the light of that there is less to go wrong as there isn't alot of electrical things inside.

Mine is just about to reach 80,000 miles and the engine is sound.

One thing that happens on mine is the door locks tend to seize a bit, a bit of GT85 sorts that out though.

Boot space is more than adequate, ill finish this off when i get back from my errand!!

Thanks Mike. :)

[Nug878]

Omg look at this one! Immaculate! :o

If only I had the !Removed! money now!

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201009353991321/sort/priceasc/usedcars/model/fiesta/make/ford/page/3/keywords/zetec/postcode/np263su/radius/1501?previous=%2Fsearch%2Fused%2Fcars%2Fford%2Ffiesta%2Fpostcode%2Fnp263su%2Fradius%2F1501%2Fkeywords%2Fzetec%2Fpage%2F3%2Fsort%2Fpriceasc&logcode=p

[Michael P]

Very nice!!

I'll have 3 mk4 zetec alloys up for sale in a few weeks.... ;)

[Michael P]

Oh, and i have a 5 door which proves to be quite useful. The space behind the drivers seat (if your are tall - i am 6" somethingorother) is pathetic, but the passenger front seat can be pulled right forward and still leave adequate legroom for both front and rear passengers.

If you wanted me to take any pictures of anything in particular of the car i'm more than happy to do so :)

[Nug878]

Oh, and i have a 5 door which proves to be quite useful. The space behind the drivers seat (if your are tall - i am 6" somethingorother) is pathetic, but the passenger front seat can be pulled right forward and still leave adequate legroom for both front and rear passengers.

If you wanted me to take any pictures of anything in particular of the car i'm more than happy to do so :)

I'm only 5'7" so that shouldn't be so much a problem!

5dr would be a preference but I'm not bothered. Overall, by looking at my mate's Fiesta I'm alright with the size of it. :)

[audicab26]

Hi,

I used to sell these new.

You should check for water ingress, we had a lot if these with water getting into the boot and behind the dashboard on the passenger side, if it was fixed propoerly early on then you've nothing to worry about. The other thing is a lot of these have noisy thrust bearings (the noise goes when you dip the clutch) not enough to worry about, but a good haggling point!

I am not sure that the lower spec cars had less paint on them? Though you may find that the higher spec cars will have been private owner cars and therefore better cared for? I'd avoid the 1.3i stick with the 1.25 or 1.4i and find one with power steering etc. The LX, Zetec and Ghia models are fine. There was also a model called the Flight from 1997 which was an LX with a few extras (all of which were made standard in 1998 on the LX). They were facelifted at late V reg (I think).

The later Freestyle is also worth finding, based on the Zetec but with CD player and most had A/C.

Good car, and a better drive than most of it's contempories. They are not in short supply so I'd hang out for a good one with service history etc.

Hope this helps, good luck.

[Michael P]

Also, don't be put off about lack of power steering, once you're driving its fine. parking can be a bit of a !Removed! but is all gravy :)

[Nug878]

Thanks for that! Very useful stuff. Didnt realise how many more trim levels there were.

I'm not really bothered by power steering, I find it a bonus if I have it but my first car didn't have it so I'm used to not having it. :)

[SteveThePirate]

I dont know if this is much interest to you but the 1995-1998 fiestas are more powerful compared to 1998 onwards.

1.4 Zetec-SE 1998- 1,388 cc 74 hp@5000 124 N·m (91 lb·ft)@3500

1.4 Duratec 2002- 1,388 cc 79 hp@5700 124 N·m (91 lb·ft)@3500

1.4 Zetec-SE 1995- 1,388 cc 89 hp@5500 123 N·m (91 lb·ft)@4000

Its from wikipedia for the zetec se engine

[coysht]

Good choice! Good little cars with a great engine!

I had a 98 1.25 LX for 5 years (only got rid of it due to the scrappage scheme) and tbh nothing much went wrong in that time.

The engine is brilliant (and pretty much the only reason I bought the car) and I regularly surprised people on the road who just assumed it was some old dear in just a 'Fiesta'. I also had quite a few comments from passengers along the lines of "what size engine did you say this car had again?".

Rust can be a problem, but if you can find one thats pretty sound, chances are it'll stay that way if you look after it - mine had a few spots on the rear arches but that was it after 11 years and 100k+ miles.

Main things to look out for are (well from my car and the very similar one my Mum had...):

Front control arm bushes - when they go the steering will pull significantly to one side - about £50 to replace either the bush or the arm, but its quite likely that every car will need atleast one doing between 50k and 100k.

Clutches going tend to show first as the car being harder to engage 1st, 3rd and reverse (although reverse can be a pain even if the clutch is fine) so keep an eye on that when you drive one.

Heater controls - seems that there are some fuses and bits of wiring that go and cause you to only have the highest fan speed. This isn't expensive to fix, but can be a pain to diagnose the exact problem.

Some cars also have a high idle speed. Apparently this is a common fault with the 1.25 engine at the time - generally its just a little annoying rather than a problem, but it can be fixed by decent garages if really needed.

Door locks (as mentioned) - the passenger side lock cable died on my car and the whole latch assembly died on the driver's side of my Mum's - both were sorted by pulling off the trim and either swapping out bits from eBay (£8 for a new latch) or just bodging the bits back together in a Blue Peter styley.

...and finally

If you want a set of mudflaps for it when you buy it, I've still not got round to selling mine! ;)

(I also have loads of other random bits of interior trim which I couldn't shift onto Michael because the Encore has a different colour interior! )

[Jcoventry]

Biggest problem on Fords of this age is rust, they rust everywhere. Sills are often bad, they rust where panels meet, along the welds, bottom of B pillars can be bad, bottoms of doors can rust, underneath (floor pans) can be bad for rust too. Just check it out thoroughly!

[FreqFace]

Clutches going tend to show first as the car being harder to engage 1st, 3rd and reverse (although reverse can be a pain even if the clutch is fine) so keep an eye on that when you drive one.

Sorry to hijack the thread but I asked this question in my own thread and never got a reply. This is the exact problem I have on my MK5, how much am I looking at to replace the clutch, bearing in my mind I'll be going to a garage?

[thesilverfox]

I had a 1997 1.25 Fiesta Chicane MKIV.

Things I would look out for:

Suspension arm and bushes (as above). These are possibly the most common thing to go on Fiestas it would seem, as almost every person I know who's had one needed this work done.

Uneven wear on brake discs/pads. Cheap to replace, but they can wear a bit unevenly on some examples that are not as well looked after.

Electrics: window motors can be a bit temperamental. bulbs dead easy to replace though, compared to the more modern Fords.

Rust - the usual suspects, though the MKIV has fared far better over the years than the MKIII, which you still see plenty of out and about.

Blowing exhaust - back-boxes are cheap to replace, but prone to getting knackered a fair bit.

Listen for an excessively rattly tick-over. A huge number of 1.25 and 1.4 engines in the MKIV and V tended to last for only 65-70k miles, as the oil + filter changes were not frequent enough. I did mine every 6 months, but when I left one change a bit too long, the oil level did indeed drop to practically the minimum level on the dipstick.

As pointed out, front leg room is excellent - rear is poor if you have the seats back - which is understandable to be honest. Boot space is good, esp with rear seats dropped. I managed to fit INSANE amounts of my life into my Fiesta going to and from University. My dad was gobsmacked too.

Overall, the best car I've owned so far. Paid £3100 in 2003 with 22k miles on the clock, sold in 2007 for £1500 with 50k miles on the clock. Nothing major other than bushes, discs and pads needed done. Take your time and hunt out a decent one with PAS and electric windows if possible - you won't regret it. If you can't get the Z-S, consider the Si maybe?

[fiesta_lad]

Omg look at this one! Immaculate! :o

If only I had the !Removed! money now!

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201009353991321/sort/priceasc/usedcars/model/fiesta/make/ford/page/3/keywords/zetec/postcode/np263su/radius/1501?previous=%2Fsearch%2Fused%2Fcars%2Fford%2Ffiesta%2Fpostcode%2Fnp263su%2Fradius%2F1501%2Fkeywords%2Fzetec%2Fpage%2F3%2Fsort%2Fpriceasc&logcode=p

£895 that is a !Removed! bargin gutted for you m8.

[Nug878]

Thanks for all the advice guys!

I can relate to the clutch problem. Had it on my old Focus, started to make 3rd gear get a bit moody and would grind when you wasn't gentle with it. Found a clutch on the internet for £81 (+£15 P+P) and found someone who'd fit it for £60 for me (Dad's friend of a friend). Shame I crashed the car on the day the clutch was going to be fixed. Still got the clutch here.

[coysht]

Sorry to hijack the thread but I asked this question in my own thread and never got a reply. This is the exact problem I have on my MK5, how much am I looking at to replace the clutch, bearing in my mind I'll be going to a garage?

It was a good few years back that we had a clutch done on one of the two 1.25 Mk4 Fiesta's we've had.

Think it cost £300 - £350 at a local independent dealer. Parts were only about £100 to £150 of that if I remember rightly.

Probably worth shopping around if you can.

[Michael P]

It was a good few years back that we had a clutch done on one of the two 1.25 Mk4 Fiesta's we've had.

Think it cost £300 - £350 at a local independent dealer. Parts were only about £100 to £150 of that if I remember rightly.

Probably worth shopping around if you can.

I !Removed! hope my car doesn't need a new clutch any time soon, i wouldn't even bother fixing it!!

[coysht]

I !Removed! hope my car doesn't need a new clutch any time soon, i wouldn't even bother fixing it!!

If its not showing any signs of going, it shouldn't be a problem. I wasn't hugely friendly to my clutch and it still lasted the whole 5 years I had the car and was probably the original - so it did over 100k with no real signs of needing replacing.

[Michael P]

If its not showing any signs of going, it shouldn't be a problem. I wasn't hugely friendly to my clutch and it still lasted the whole 5 years I had the car and was probably the original - so it did over 100k with no real signs of needing replacing.

Goooooooood good good good!

[Nug878]

Nah treat the clutch well and it should last for a while. :)

Loving the new sig Mike!

[Michael P]

Nah treat the clutch well and it should last for a while. :)

Loving the new sig Mike!

Cheers matey!!

When do you get your bonus then?? i want a partner in crome on the MK4 front to beat off all these well-to-do people and their 59 and 10 plates! the closest thing i get to a 10 plate is my kitchen cupboard!!

[Nug878]

Cheers matey!!

When do you get your bonus then?? i want a partner in crome on the MK4 front to beat off all these well-to-do people and their 59 and 10 plates! the closest thing i get to a 10 plate is my kitchen cupboard!!

Um well, payday is officially the 26th of every month but it's always a day early. We find out the percentage of our bonus on Thursday but rumours flying around the Waitrose management that it could be 16%. Which means I could get about £1,500 (inc. wages, before tax). But as soon as I get that sort of figure in my bank account I'm going on one hell of a car hunt and then I'll be keeping a really close eye on this forum for an update for the next meet! :D

[Michael P]

i would have already found 3 by now!! sooooo impatient