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“This Ford Fiesta 1.1 Festival is actually my second...”

written by MadSquirrel on 05/08/2004

Good Points
Goes fast, comfortable ride, good MPG, very pokey in the lower gears

Bad Points
Takes a while to get up to speed, not much boot space, standard tyres on models below LX too narrow to corner safely, appalling sound system

General Comments
This Ford Fiesta 1.1 Festival is actually my second car, which I bought after passing my test last year. Previously I'd had a Rover Maestro whilst learning to drive, but we won't go into that!



The car is actually one model above the LX, hence comes with sunroof, velour trim, tinted windows and wider tyres (most MkIII Fiestas have 155/70R13s, this one came with 165/65R13s), hence better cornering. I've since fitted a set of Ford alloy rims and Continental Sport Contact 185/50R14 tyres, which has made the handling nothing short of amazing.



Flat out downhill with a following wind you'll get 116mph, but it'll easily cruise at 95-100mph along the level, or even a slight incline. The bad news is that being only a 1.1 it'll take a little while to wind it up to the ton, but on the plus side you'll still get 45mpg whilst doing so.



Brakes are excellent, even with the original 165mm tyres, and in an emergency the car stops with quite a jolt. With 185mm low profile tyres (these are fitted as standard to the 1.6Si model) it'll stop so quickly that if you wear glasses they'll hit the dashboard.



One word of warning - if the outside temperature is very cold, wait for the engine to drop to slow idle mode before driving off, otherwise it may cut out. This has happened to me twice when the temperature has been below freezing, and requires you to crank the starter with the throttle fully open to restart. Other than this, it's never failed to start on me. I'll be very reluctant to get rid of it, and am hoping to be able to pass it on to my better half when the time comes to change it.



In summary then, it's an excellent first car, or if you have a two-car household a great choice for a second car.