top of my most likely reason list

my first question would be - is the rumbling related to engine speed or wheel speed

Good question !

I had the same problem with mine and i found out in the end that it is the steering columm, when the car goes in for its first service it is meant to have some grease put around the bottom joint to prevent it from binding, creaking and some times clunky while steering, its a free job under warranty but also it is a fault from ford as it is meant to last till 60,000 miles which it doesnt so i recomended you taking it back to ford and get them to sort it out as they are meant to do it on the first service. LOL :)

Finally got the creaking steering problem sorted. After four visits to the dealer who sold me the vehicle who could not diagnose the problem, I drove 15 miles out of town to another smaller Ford dealer who diagnosed the fault to the top strut mountings (part of the suspension). Apparently when they entered the VIN into the system it gave them a new part number and the parts they fitted had been revised so Ford must be aware of this problem on some Fiestas.

Now the steering is fine with no creaking. The selling dealer told me to turn the radio up and forget about it and if it got worse I had 2 1/2 years warranty so come back then!

Make a complaint to Ford about the other dealer... they wont be happy if a franchised dealer is giving awful advice!

I've just had my 19/2010 knocking noise rectified. I was told it wasnt a manufacture problem there for i had to pay for my ''less than two year old car ' to get the steering column lubricated.

How did it lose it's lubrication? Did it have any in the first place? Why is this not a Manu problem?

My car will be 2 in october so why has it needed this so early on in it's existence?