Bought my MK4 Zetec Lx a year ago now, and i love it with a passion, its purple and I'm an 18 year old lad! incredible torque,great pick up in it, never put a foot wrong, needed a new fuel pump at one stage but it still didn't leave me down, could almost hear it willing it self on, i loved the handling, takes sharp corners at speed very well, i can honestly say there is not a single thing i don't like about this car! i recently put spot lamps on and they took me all of an hour, very easy to modify, i would leave the body alone though, thinks it suits her personality! i mad ensure i had a good through loom at the car when i bought it, have no signs of rust anywhere, keep her in the shed if ya have one, make sure that the rear wiper works if you are thinking of buying they can be funny sometimes, but a new motor (i did, round 20 euro) and it should work perfectly, i fully recommend this car to everyone, and its good on petrol as well. i will fill that tank on me for about 50 euro. (prices vary due to high fuel price in Ireland)

Great little nippy car. Wouldn't recommend long journeys in it, 5th isn't very powerful at all, but as a town car for every day use it's perfect. Mines a 51reg, usual faults heater gets stuck on, back end a lil loose at times,but mine has brake issues too, copper brake pipes and flexy pipes replaced and now has developed a small brake fluid leak, am puputting it down.to age though cause i love it

ive had my mk4 fiesta a year (i brought it in october 2009) its not a 1.25 zetec its the 1.4 zetec s. its a blue one. its a great little car that zetec engine is really smooth and pulls well. ive only had 2 things go wrong with it this year first of all the rear wiper sometimes doesnt work but i have been told its a fiesta thing all the mk4s do it and second thing is the heater got stuck on hot even when the dial was on cold but again apparantly its just a fiesta thing so not bothered really. its my first mk4 and i can def recomend one they are great.

First getting into this car it felt very uncomfotable, the seats dont hold you in at all.. going round a roundabout it feels like its about to tip over, its to slow... 70mph-80mph in 5th takes about 11 seconds, so not good on the motorway at all, its so dull, the gear change is ok and simple to slot in, and visability is good, cheap to run,insuure ect... but overall not my cuppa tea.

I was aquired my 1.25 Mk4 Fiesta from my parents a few years ago as my first car and have been driving on an everyday basis since. It is an excellent little car which performs well on local drives but also long trips. More recently I drove it from SW Scotland to the South coast of France (around 2,500 miles round trip) twice and it never missed a beat! Currently , at 13 years old, it has 116,000 miles on the clock, so even with the trips to France the milage is fairly low for the age .

Reliability is excellent and it really is just a "get in and go" sort of car. It will run for months and thousands of miles with no work required, but being a 13 year old car it has needed a few things done. Fortunately I worked for a while in a garage so I have the necessary experience and tools to carry out most jobs myself, but there are one or two that I have had a more experienced mechanic do for me. Standard things such as timing belt, front and rear brakes etc have been replaced progressively, following Ford's guidelines. The original 1997 Motorcraft battery lasted until earlier this year (2010) which is incredible! However, a more major job was the replacement of the skin sills, which rotted last Winter. Lots of salt on the roads was just too much for them and lovely rust bubbles came up all along the rear 2 feet of both sills, which crumbled under a hammer. I replaced them myself, which is a pig of a job and would have been very expensive to have done in the garage. There have been other bubbles of rust come up, particularly around the wheel arches, but I am careful to catch these before they spread, by properly buffing and repainting. Engine wise - mine does burn a bit of oil now, mainly on long motorway trips. So long as you regularly dip, top-up and also change the oil at the recommended time then you should be fine.

Also, the 13" tyres for these Fiestas are super-cheap, even for quality brands such as Firestone and Goodyear.

Performance wise it is an excellent car and is pretty nippy on the road. I have found myself accelerating much more quickly than some lumbering modern cars, which is helped by the Fiesta's lightweight body and lively Zetec S engine. The 1.25 engine is very economical too, and I generally get around 45 mpg on long drives, a bit less on short trips in town. Handling is great - mine doesn't have power steering but this is barely noticeable during ordinary driving, but I am used to it I guess! Others who have driven my Fiesta have commented on the highly responsive drive quality of the Fiesta compared to more modern cars. It really is very enjoyable to drive, but also practical.

If you can find one of these that has good bodywork and has been kept up with service-wise then I would highly recommend it. They are great cars, cheap to buy these days and will not disappoint!

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'

Really nice car, done just over 60k miles and still drives like new, just bought a newer diesel fiesta, as will double the MPG, but yes very quick have taken golfs, clio's, corsa's on and won, mint car just need someone to buy it now.

I bought my 1.25 Zetec Freestyle way back in 2003. My 5th Fiesta in 15 years!! I started with the XR2. It was a year old with 8,000 miles on the clock, and just as nippy as the old 1.6
In March 2010 I'll have had it six and a half years. It now has 85,000 on the clock. At 45,000 it needed a new wheel bearing on the back, at 62,000 I had a new cambelt fitted for peace of mind. So reliable, I am reluctant to trade it in. Still on the original exhaust for gods sake!!
Can't fault it, just had it valued at Ford for £1,500 Less than a £1,000 a year depreciation for such a reliable, nippy, all the extras, car... I am and always will be a Ford driver...

Must have car!, had mine since i passed been driving for 2 years, the 1.25i zetec engine pulls very nicely!,
ive taken out polos, corsas astras, clios, at the lights, wheel spin in 2nd and 3rd in the wet!!! this car is one of the best cars by far much better than all those other hatches,
extremely reliable never ever let me down once, good on petrol,
very practical, brought home cupboards, beds, doors tvs pretty much everything in it!

great car! once you buy youl never look back

I have had my 1.25 Zetec fiesta for 4 years after buying it from my mum.
My brother has a 01 plate fiesta with a 1.3 engine and he sais that the zetec is by far the better engine to have. It's currently done just under 50k miles and is going like a dream.
I change the oil, filters and plugs once a year and in return she gives me no problems.
I changed the strereo from a tape player to a 6 disc changer and added some speakers to the rear parcel shelf.
I did fit Lexus style lights on the back and Angel Eye headlights, but these soon came off when I reminded myself that I was 27 and not 17!
She is a great little car and other than a few prangs where others have clipped her, she's in good nick for a 10 year old car.
There's no rust apart from a speck the size of a grain of rice on the window frame.
A brilliant car for both the learner and every day driver!!!

amazing performance especially at traffic lights!!no wonder its called flight it takes off.must do a 1-60 on it should be interested

I've had the ford fiesta 1.25i 1997 for around 11 years and drives perfectly well. I've now done 162,000 miles and haven't replaced the clutch or timing belt. I'm thinking of doing that very soon. It can get rusty underneath but apart from that its cheap to run. As long as you keep servicing everything 6 months the engine will last you a long time. Its easy to service yourself.

I was given the very first Series of the MK4 Zetec s 16v 1.25l.
Before this i had a p-reg Astra 1.4 8v Single point njection.
The Fiesta I a nippy car. The acceleation is Rapid! Kills astras, 306', even the 316 BMW's! It Flies! definately a car for the young. The torque is unbelievable.
In the slightly wet if you Boot it infirst to bout 4500RPM then Shift to nd With a lot of gas it Sins and spinsand pins, he Torque is Brilliant! Definatelya Wonderful car if you havent got one, GET ONE :D SIMPLE.
Directline are insuring me for £10 a month! Im only 18! 3months of having a license! Thank you very much.
The only problem is, the standard 155/55 r13 wheels are s**t! I had to put the 185/65 R14 escort RS wheels on it before i could Torque steer!

The Ford Fiesta Mk4 1.25 Zetec is a wicked little car, its my first one but it shocked me with its nippyness. The customisability of it is also another upside, i've put some speakers in the back either side of the parcel shelf, new front ones and a sub and it sounds awesome. I've also installed my own remote central locking system in it which is ace.

1997 Ford Fiesta Zetec-S Ghia

My Ford Fiesta has done 66,363 miles and is still going strong, be that with a few problems.

Its M.O.T is due on the 13th of October and it ain't going to be cheap. It needs new brake pads and disks, the bushes are splitting, the rear brake bleed nipple is corroded and the back section of the exhaust is not worth having its so rusted and corroded.

YES! Theres more! The drivers side electric window sticks when its almost fully up bacause the motor needs changing (not a M.O.T failure obviously), the passenger side one's fine though. It ALWAYS starts first time.

I've had her for nearly a year and she only hasn't started once. Not bad for a 11 year old motor!

On Friday last week the battery bit the dust outside Summerfield (a grosery store in Buckie Scotland).

We got a new one fitted and she's back on the road now!

There is A LOT of clunks and rattles from the engine and other things but what can I say, I love the little Ford!

When you are driving her, if you ignore the clunks and rattles it's like driving a Mercedes. You can feel the luxury. Its got the 1.25 inline 4 cylinder engine producing about 75 BHP.

It ain't the fastest thing on the road by far but she is a good relaible runner.

She has the usual rusting around the rear arches but thankfully it isn't that bad yet. Hopfully it will not cost too much to pass the M.O.T.

If it does then we will have to say a sad farewell to the Fiesta.

Anyway, that is it for my little review of my Ford Fiesta 1.25 Ghia.

Ford Fiesta Mk4 1.25 Zetec is a fantastic car, its my first car and i couldn't be happier brilliant to learn in. its got very little rust in two places (But you can hardly see it) everything else works, starts fine though after 2 weeks on holiday it did struggle but it does have an old battery but after that it got charged and now its fine! A/C is fantastic works nice and cool and quickly too! and warming up to a nice temp is quick and good! The standard stereo is okay, only a tape but i don't need a cd player as i buy my music on itunes or get music off my friends , so i'm looking at getting a new stereo with line/Aux in to plug my ipod in, i would also replace the speakers as i want a bit more bass. the engine runs well for a 1.25 quick enough (I'm not some boy racer[they annoy me]) and cheap enough which is perfect. comfy though if your over 6:4 you might have slight issue with head room but the drivers seat you can move up and down tilt it and move it around the usual way, rear legroom isn't special but for kids and a couple or adults its fine. The boot its very big! like some tardis, fits a weeks shopping for a family of 6!!! ,nothing more said. only thing which would be nice to have would be alloys, but I couldn't complain one thing about my car, so i advise it very much to everyone for a cheerful, and all-round great car.

I have owned two 2002 ford fiestas, a 5 door and now a 3 door.
I got the first one back in 2007 as a cat D and repaired it to a high standard. I felt the car was really nippy, it got me past tractors and slow wagons like i was goin round cyclists. Both of mine are the "freestyle" trim, which is well equipped, CD radio, Power windows, A/c, Front foglights, digital trip and other toys.
I bought my second fiesta 1.25 Zetec SE. This car has 145,000 miles on it and has just passed its MOT with some easy to repair advisories. I look after my car and it looks after me.


A great first car, if you want for more power buy a 1.6 Zetec S but be prepared to end up with a dog thats been flogged.

I had purchased the mk4 zetec 1.25 as my first car as was rather impressed with what i was getting. It is a very nippy car when driving down hill but uphill, its performance is pretty awful. Steering is very light. Quite a gready car petrol wise. Electronics were sound. Known as a lasting car and very cheap to maintain. Modifications can be easily added to the car such as new sound system which i did (ghet the correct removal kit, cables and bracket/fascia)

Unfortunately i ended up writing the car off. A quietly known fault is that the back end kicks out on some of them. The car loses grip and the rear end swerves heavily and unfortunately i became a victim of it and smashed the front up.

Be that as it may, i got unlucky.

I have bought a ford fiesta mk4 zetec for the WIFE as a FIRST Car. Its the 1.25 zetec AUTOMATIC! I drive it more than my CLIO RS 2.0 Sport!! It has a great feel good factor. Electrics are good, radio is strong, steering is light and tax is low. ideal first car. very easy to modify if wanted to, and imprtantly, you can work on the car without the fear of taking it to a Garage to fix (via plug in to a computer) Highly recommended.