Fiesta Titanium X Owner's Report

[Whizzwheels]

I collected my 2015 Fiesta in February and overall I'm really pleased with it, a five door Titanium X 1.0 Ecoboost 125. It had less than two thousand miles on the clock having started life as a demonstrator in the Channel Islands. 

I'm fussy about my cars and it is absolutely excellent to drive. I would say it is my favourite car to drive to date, spending most of it's time on short trips around town. It feels tight as a drum with sharp steering yet a comfortable ride. Suspension control and damping is as good as any car I've driven, and it's very refined on the motorway so also good on long drives. The seats are very comfortable too. It was definitely worth going for the 125 engine, feeling much more free revving and unrestrained at high revs. No complaints then? Not quite. Grrr... it rattles!

To put my experience into perspective, since 2001 all my cars have been new or nearly new. That's two VW Golfs, two BMW's and two MINI's, so this is my first Ford. Compared to my last car, a 2009 Golf GTI, the Fiesta is actually more rewarding to drive at everyday speeds. I think this is due to the more accurate steering. Driver feedback through the wheel is definitely better, feeling less inert than the Golf. The engine has a sporty rasp and it's just very well suited to everyday driving. The Golf was more of a grand tourer. 

Anyhoo, the Fiesta has been to the dealer FOUR TIMES to get an irritating rattle behind the steering wheel fixed. It's impossible to ignore and is worse when the car is cold. It seems to be coming from inside the steering wheel housing itself. There is also a sqeaky driver's seat. 

It's such a shame that such an excellent, affordable car is spoiled by A) Poor interior build/ materials and B) Dealers that can't fix the rattles. The engineering is superb especially at this price, but it's let down by the interior fittings. I hope the Mk8 fixes this. I wonder what others would recommend? I considered contacting Ford UK directly. 

PS - The two BMW's and two Golfs had ZERO rattles. The two MINI's rattled like hell and needed multiple trips back to the dealer. However to the dealer's credit, all the rattles were FIXED. Which is more than you can say for the Ford dealer...

[ChrisB77]

I have a 65 plate titanium 1.0 125 bhp. It has no rattles but is a dog to drive long distance, it needs to be flogged to get any sort of response from it and the seats are awful on a long drive. I can't wait to get rid of the piece of *****. I regularly drive from home in North East England across to mainland Europe then to southern Germany and by the end of my journey my back feels like it's spent a day being hammered on a blacksmiths anvil. Not sure where you get comfortable ride from, the fiesta is horrible on a run of more than 50 miles. Driver feedback is non existant, and seriously accurate steering? Are you sure you're driving a fiesta? And a sporty rasp? Are you drunk? That's just a 3 pot struggle.

[Soveposen]

I have had the rattle as well when it was a bit colder earlier this winter. It also sounded like coming from inside the steering wheel. I have had the car since october 2014 and the rattle started this winter. The other winters were "rattle-less". Somehow it stopped again and I haven't heard it for a month I think. I hope that it will stay this way. 
I don't know if I am imagining it, but I think it disappered after it had its 60.000km service. 

[Peteven]

I have a Titanium X 125 no rattles just done a trip to my daughters 130 miles each way, no problems at all, great little car.

[mgaking]

I have this is winter.

Put it down to tree helicopters falling from trees and collecting in the scuttle panel between the windscreen and bonnet.