Report Abuse

“I have now retired and coincidentally very expensively...”

written by on 04/07/2010

I have now retired and coincidentally very expensively divorced so continued ownership of my ex company Peugeot 406 Coupe SE was out of the question - that had to go! Quite by chance I spotted, just up the road, a 'For Sale' notice in a very clean 1.25 Zetec Fiesta Ghia N plate for £895. On enquiry it transpired that this car had initially been bought by one of the MD's at Ford for his daughter and had been kept in the family ever since. The paperwork confirmed that it had been regularly serviced; mileage was ludicrously low at 28k and the stack of MOT certs verified that the car had regularly covered less than 1000 miles per annum for many years!

In my working days I had the privelidge of test driving many (some pre-production)vehicles but it is fair to say that the handling of this car is still up amongst the best of the small hatches; turn in is almost as rapid as the original and brilliant Alfa 147. Performance is not astonishing as one would expect from a little 1.25 engine but it causes no embarrassment at traffic lights or on the motorway. It does however struggle on even fairly moderate inclines esp when loaded. Technology has moved along quite considerably in the intervening 14 years so the overall mixed driving of 42mpg is not wonderful in this day and age.

I still pine for a bigger more powerful car but for the moment and until an unknown, wealthy relative includes me in his will, I'm quite happy to carry on with my (nicknamed) 'Fester'