What is your views on MkIV Fiesta?

Andy From Sligo

went to look at a 1.2 1999 Ford fiesta today - looked OK, blowing from the middle exhaust box, surface rust on rear passenger arch and sill, tapping when cold but when engine warmed up tapping went, so most prob tappets need adjusting or if hydraulic tappets most probably oil hadnt read them - so surprised how nippy the car was it went like sh*t of shovel by just putting me foot a little on the pedal, lovely handbrake held the car solid, brakes felt good - now on the speedo was 31 thousand miles and it only has a 5 digit speedo so I said has that gone round clock but the seller said she bought it off an old lady who didnt use it much and she hasnt used it much since buying it, so im wondering could that be genuine 31,000 miles. Alloys on it with some centre bits missing on some of the wheels so you could see the wheel nuts, wonder how easy to get them replaced.

The only other thing putting me off buying is the blooming tax its so dear in Ireland, i suppose it will be classed as a 1.3 so we are talking 385e per year. - Tax runs out end of this month and NCT is up feb 2014 .. anyone got any tips about this car and what to look out for been googling for the last hour but would wreck our head, some say good car and other say they wouldnt touch one with a barge pole. She's got it for sale for 800euro by the way, I said I would check out price of the exhaust and get back to her, i havent got a clue how much an exhaust for this fiesta would cost to get done.

cletus

358a year to tax. The 1.25 doesn't have tappets. Tends to idle high when cold for the first few minutes. ISCV can give trouble on these, but easily cleaned/replaced.

the heater control valve was also notoriously bad, but again easily replaced.

as you saw, suffers from rear wheel arch rust.

apart from these things, great pokey little car, very easy and cheap to work on.

only other issue is the self adjuster for the handbrake never really worked very well.

Andy From Sligo

cletus wrote: »

358a year to tax. The 1.25 doesn't have tappets. Tends to idle high when cold for the first few minutes. ISCV can give trouble on these, but easily cleaned/replaced.

the heater control valve was also notoriously bad, but again easily replaced.

as you saw, suffers from rear wheel arch rust.

apart from these things, great pokey little car, very easy and cheap to work on.

only other issue is the self adjuster for the handbrake never really worked very well.

thanks for that - good to know, yeah i thought i read something about the heater being iffy

LifeSaabItch

If it's only an Analog 5 digit speedo with no rev counter it'll be a 1.3 Endura engine, 1.25 Zetecs are digital and have a rev counter.
1.3s are a bit Tappety alright, But will run forever if looked after!


TBH you'd pick up a good rust free MK V (Late '99 to '02 Model) for €1k tops.

cletus

LifeSaabItch wrote: »

If it's only an Analog 5 digit speedo with no rev counter it'll be a 1.3 Endura engine, 1.25 Zetecs are digital and have a rev counter.
1.3s are a bit Tappety alright, But will run forever if looked after!


TBH you'd pick up a good rust free MK V (Late '99 to '02 Model) for €1k tops.

no necessarily true. I have the 1.25 zetec with 5 digit analogue.

corktina

great cars if it's a Zetec and pretty good if Enduro 1.3

Andy From Sligo

LifeSaabItch wrote: »

If it's only an Analog 5 digit speedo with no rev counter it'll be a 1.3 Endura engine, 1.25 Zetecs are digital and have a rev counter.
1.3s are a bit Tappety alright, But will run forever if looked after!


TBH you'd pick up a good rust free MK V (Late '99 to '02 Model) for €1k tops.

Thanks - definitely Zetec under the bonnet even got it written on top of engine covering spark plucs but 5 digit analog and analog rev dial on the left.

Andy From Sligo

Wonder if the bit of surface rust on the sill and outer wheel arch, will fail the NCT in february?

bazz26

Rust, rust, rust, very common on these models along with the Ka. Sills, arches and brake lines all suffer from it. You definitely need to get underneath the car and poke around to make sure it isn't rotting.

Also I would not put too much faith in the mileage, it is possible that it's the second time round but I wouldn't get too hung up on that since the car is going on 15 years old anyway. Judge it on condition but if it is was owned by an elderly person then pay special attention to the likes of the clutch, gears and general running of the engine. These can get extra wear on them even though they may not be driven much. Cars not used much either can tend to get very little in the way of servicing or maintenance too.

Old 1.3 litre engine was an 8 valve unit and mostly used in the basic LX or Encore models, it is very rough and distinctively noisy. 1.25 litre engine was co-designed with Yamaha, alot quieter and should have 16v or Zetec engraved on the engine cover. The 1.25 litre would have been fitted to the Zetec, Flight and Ghia models

JohnBoy26

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

went to look at a 1.2 1999 Ford fiesta today - looked OK, blowing from the middle exhaust box, surface rust on rear passenger arch and sill, tapping when cold but when engine warmed up tapping went, so most prob tappets need adjusting or if hydraulic tappets most probably oil hadnt read them - so surprised how nippy the car was it went like sh*t of shovel by just putting me foot a little on the pedal, lovely handbrake held the car solid, brakes felt good - now on the speedo was 31 thousand miles and it only has a 5 digit speedo so I said has that gone round clock but the seller said she bought it off an old lady who didnt use it much and she hasnt used it much since buying it, so im wondering could that be genuine 31,000 miles. Alloys on it with some centre bits missing on some of the wheels so you could see the wheel nuts, wonder how easy to get them replaced.

The only other thing putting me off buying is the blooming tax its so dear in Ireland, i suppose it will be classed as a 1.3 so we are talking 385e per year. - Tax runs out end of this month and NCT is up feb 2014 .. anyone got any tips about this car and what to look out for been googling for the last hour but would wreck our head, some say good car and other say they wouldnt touch one with a barge pole. She's got it for sale for 800euro by the way, I said I would check out price of the exhaust and get back to her, i havent got a clue how much an exhaust for this fiesta would cost to get done.

Very doubtful that that's surface rust. These usually rust from the inside out so you can nearly be guaranteed that whatever amount of rust is showing on the outside is alot worse on the inside.

Tbh if it was me id be walking away from that car as that rust is likely going to be turning to holes sooner rather than later.

nd

Would people recommend the MK VI over the mark V or IV (sorry for being a bit off topic)?

bazz26

nd wrote: »

Would people recommend the MK VI over the mark V or IV (sorry for being a bit off topic)?

The Mark VI is the current model and definitely the best version to date. The Mark V is a very good car also, my sister has one about 4 years now and has had zero issues with it despite her not really taking care of it very well.

corktina

theres a lot of confusion over fiesta marks . Basically the model was facelifted at the end of 1999 and many models got the 1.25 zetec at that time, aim for one of these if you can. The next model was the new shape in 2002/3. Same engine though

NickDunne

mk4


mk5 (sometimes referred to as a mk4 facelift)


mk6

nd

Sorry I mean the 02-08 one.

Corktina you'd recommend the 99-02 model over the 02-08? I suppose you're likely to get a better condition 99-02 than a 03 ect for the same money.

Dord

Both of my parents had Mk4s up until recently. One was the standard model, and the other was a zetec. Both had 1.25 engines. Very few problems except for some minor rust as mentioned. The zetec finally succumbed to some engine troubles and was traded for a Skoda recently. The zetec had metallic paint and I didn't see the same rust issues as the standard model.

I've been in a Mk5 (02-05 model) and found it quite a nice car. More space up front and the interior is much nicer.

Mycroft H

Rust is what kills these otherwise great little cars. Rear arches/sills are problem areas.

I still don't understand why they rusted so badly, I've an 85 MK2 Golf out back that has less rust than the 02 Ka my sister has.

corktina

nd wrote: »

Sorry I mean the 02-08 one.

Corktina you'd recommend the 99-02 model over the 02-08? I suppose you're likely to get a better condition 99-02 than a 03 ect for the same money.

No, I've had both, both fine cars . Mk6 feels a good bit bigger.Mk5 is a good bit cheaper

JohnBoy26

BX 19 wrote: »

Rust is what kills these otherwise great little cars. Rear arches/sills are problem areas.

I still don't understand why they rusted so badly, I've an 85 MK2 Golf out back that has less rust than the 02 Ka my sister has.

Poor rust protection and possibly poor quality metal. All Ford's from back then seem to rust badly.

dgt

Rust, clutch slave cylinders, failing door locks, 5 digit odometer pre 99, poor starting (dirty maf sensors/tb/oxy sensor)

Grand car otherwise

If getting one try go for a 99 one with the heated screen and digital odometer, some had a button for opening the boot too

corktina

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Poor rust protection and possibly poor quality metal. All Ford's from back then seem to rust badly.

pah, you should try a Cortina!

JohnBoy26

corktina wrote: »

pah, you should try a Cortina!

Were they bad for rust?:)

The last Cortina I remember seeing was this:D:pac:

nd

My dad has had fiestas all my life. He bought a 1992 new and it lasted him until as far as I can remember 2006. He did about 40 miles a day on it 6 days a week.

It is still down the bottom of the garden and has very little rust on the body.

road_high

The Fiesta is just one of those household names really. Reliable, cheap to run and everyone has had or had family that had one at some stage in life
Where are they on the top sellers in Ireland? I like the style of the latest one, looks great in certain colours.

hidinginthebush

bazz26 wrote: »

Rust, rust, rust, very common on these models along with the Ka. Sills, arches and brake lines all suffer from it. You definitely need to get underneath the car and poke around to make sure it isn't rotting.

Also I would not put too much faith in the mileage, it is possible that it's the second time round but I wouldn't get too hung up on that since the car is going on 15 years old anyway. Judge it on condition but if it is was owned by an elderly person then pay special attention to the likes of the clutch, gears and general running of the engine. These can get extra wear on them even though they may not be driven much. Cars not used much either can tend to get very little in the way of servicing or maintenance too.

Old 1.3 litre engine was an 8 valve unit and mostly used in the basic LX or Encore models, it is very rough and distinctively noisy. 1.25 litre engine was co-designed with Yamaha, alot quieter and should have 16v or Zetec engraved on the engine cover. The 1.25 litre would have been fitted to the Zetec, Flight and Ghia models

I had one that failed nct for rust, and it would have cost more than the car itself to get the panels replaced, so let it go. I was quite sad though, it was up to 96K miles, and there was only 5 figures on the odometer, so I was hoping to get back to zero before I let it go. Alas, the tax ran out so I had to put her down.

Handy enough car, the heater never worked on mine, replacing the fan motor did nothing, and the mechanic couldn't find what else was wrong (I think he was just not arsed with fixing it) so make sure it works before you get one.

cletus

hidinginthebush wrote: »

I had one that failed nct for rust, and it would have cost more than the car itself to get the panels replaced, so let it go. I was quite sad though, it was up to 96K miles, and there was only 5 figures on the odometer, so I was hoping to get back to zero before I let it go. Alas, the tax ran out so I had to put her down.

Handy enough car, the heater never worked on mine, replacing the fan motor did nothing, and the mechanic couldn't find what else was wrong (I think he was just not arsed with fixing it) so make sure it works before you get one.

Just zeroed mine this week, even managed to get a picture😊

the heater issue is almost always a heater control valve problem, located at the bulkhead, about €30 to replace

corktina

cletus wrote: »

Just zeroed mine this week, even managed to get a picture😊

the heater issue is almost always a heater control valve problem, located at the bulkhead, about €30 to replace

spot on there, I still have a spare on my shelf for that very reason. Quick DIY job. Rust is usually minor (compared to a Cortina or any car of that era)

Engine troubles can often be traced to the coil pack

hidinginthebush

cletus wrote: »

Just zeroed mine this week, even managed to get a picture😊

the heater issue is almost always a heater control valve problem, located at the bulkhead, about €30 to replace

Mind didn't blow at all though. It would react to the heat control, and when moving at fair enough speed you'd be able to feel the heat / cold depending on how it was set, there was just no air coming out the vents, which led me to believe it was the motor. Pain in the hole to change! Took a day of pulling parts out to get to it.