My 55 plate 1.25 Fiesta has now clocked up 133,000 Miles, and, I tentatively say, it drives pretty well.

Last few weeks I've had a rattling come from the front off-side wheel since I had the tyre changed, but I've took the wheel off, the garage had tightened the nuts very tight! and checked the brake discs, suspsension, joints etc and couldnt see any rattles, put the wheel back on and now its fine.

The engine has sounded a littlle more rattlely lately but I suspect thats because I've let the oil level fall a littlel lower than I'd usually let it go as I'm going to change the oil/filter this weekend. It also idles quietly and revs and accelerates nicely.

Other than that it's had the cambelt changed at around 80,000 miles, the ignition coils done around 120,000 and the thermostat housing and front suspension coils in the mean time too. All of which have been surprisingly cheap to fix.

I mainly drive motorway/ a roads so the clutch still feels fine *touches wood* and while my driving style is enthusiastic I drive relatively carefully, especially on a cold engine.

The main issue other than the clutch or gearbox I worry about is the head gasket- the car overheated last year when the thermostat housing failed and the antifreeze leaked out the car, but I think the ECU saved it by shutting the engine off? I've had no engine problems with it since.

I'm at the stage where I'm deciding whether to keep maintaing it for the foreseeable future and drive it until it is absolutely scrap, or sell it now for whatever its worth, £500 with FSH and good condition maybe?, and buy a newer car to replace it.

The serpentine belt service is due, and its starting to let me know about it on cold wet mornings, but other than that I can't think of any major maintainance that would need to be done other than clutch or gearbox.

Anyone else have a petrol fiesta with a similar mileage? If so are there any major issues you had at around this mileage? I know its a bit of a how long is a piece of string question but if there are others who have had over 150,000 miles from an engine then I might keep it a while yet.

I don't need my car as much now as my commute is much shorter than the 70 mile round trip I used to do but I'd rather stil be able to drive my car when it comes to getting rid of it, rather than have to pay someone to collect it and dump it.

Any thoughts appreciated

I know of DRIVING INSTRUCTORS (aka. abused clutches, gearboxes & engines) who have managed 165k on the original engine and its still running.

Has had multiple clutches & 2 gearboxes!

If you've had no issues since the coolant leak then I'd dismiss any worries about that for a while.

When was the timing belt last done? They're rated for 90k or 10years I believe.

Assuming wheel bearings last 60k then they may be overdue replacements.

Handbrake cable may be getting to its last legs

My last fiesta only had 125k on when I sold it. But I had no issues except a cracked expansion tank

I had a pair of wheel bearings done on the back, the others were checked and are fine for now. Cam belt was done by previous owner, and I bought it with 80,000 on the clock so I doubt I'll need to worry about that.

The clutch feels surprisingly good, once concern is that the gearbox is feeling a little rough but i have no trouble finding gear, except reverse occasioanlly.

I'm reluctant to go buy a car for x thousand pounds and still find it needs a new clutch, brake pads etc when I know exactly what condition my car is and what needs doing so might hang on to it until it falls apart.

The reverse issues are caused by the lack of Syncromesh. I believe there's not one on 1st gear either. can usually be solved by EG. Being in 1st gear, clutch in, into neutral, clutch out, clutch in, into reverse. That's what I do when it's being particularly awkward

It could also be that the gear linkages need lubricating where they pass into the gearbox :). It helped when I had issues with 1st gear being almost impossible to get into

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I've not yet driven a single ford where reverse gear works properly (and I've driven quite a few). It's because there is no syncromesh on reverse gear, nothing to worry about.