Ford Fiesta 1.3 Encore 5d (1997/R) Owner Review

I'm a pizza delivery driver, so i drive the car 5 days a week at least. The car handles brilliantly in the dry and corners quite well. But pretty bad in the wet, plenty of over-steer so keep the speed way down, particularaly at roundabouts.

The 1.3 engine is never going to beat any car away from the lights, more suited to back road driving. good acceleration in first and second, ok in third and a bit sluggish in forth. It's really heavy on the steering and could benifit from power steering.

I've done about 30k miles so far and the engine is solid, the rest of the parts have only been replaced due to wear and tear. I do have to top up the oil quite regularly, but that may be due to the amount of miles i do.

It's a fiesta....the lights on the front do make it look like a little old woman.

Not very good for driving more than 2/3 hours, my back is starting to hurt after that time, my opinion is to get the seats replaced by an after market seat dealer! There's not a lot of leg room behind the drivers seat and none (2 inches) if your tall.

It's a Fiesta! nobody's going to nick it! As long as you don't leave the car unlocked you should be ok!

I always did the servicing myself, then had it checked by a garage. There's not much that can go wrong with the car so sevicing only takes about half an hour, then ten mins in a garage, to check mechanics.

Engine

The idle control valve failed after 60k miles or so, and it costs about £80 to replace, only ford manufacture this part (i didn't manage to find anyone else).

Other

Once the rear brakes start to wear away, get them replaced by a professional, there's nothing more freaky then watching your car slowly roll backwards down a hill.

Did you buy the car new?

Used

Would you buy the same model again?

No

Did you buy from the same manufacturer again?

Yes