There not that bad mines only had rear arches twice a whole new floor drivers door boot wing sills inner and outer. You know just the usual 😂 only defence is 160k
Miss my 1.6 one. Can tell you from personal experience that it was quicker & more refined than an MG ZR105 (my Stepbrother had one at the same time), though it did roll more in the corners. It also didn't shed internal trim like the MG too!
I learned to drive one exactly the same age, shape & colour. Now I know that colour is Pacific green. I then bought & ran an X-reg four door Pacific green one over four years. £200 off a family member & sold it for £300 after those years of faithful service. It was reliable & dull, just what I wanted. I saw them everywhere & even once tried to unlock an identical one in a multi-storey car park that I confused with my own after a day out shopping, before stepping back to see it was also an X-reg but not my number plate…my car was two spaces further along. I don’t miss it in anyway & would never feel the need to drive one again or attend FOTU in one. A-B was its only purpose. It did have fantastic air conditioning. As for Fred the Shed Rover 75 Tourer. Scrap it or save it, don’t pick-up it. Treat it as a cosmetically flawed workhorse or just give up on it. An auto diesel estate has many utilities but can you justify it when you have the much nicer 420 Tourer? I love Fred the Shed because he reminds me of my Tourer but I’m not putting a penny into restoring Fred…so if you’re consolidating the 420 is the car to keep.
Got a little too excited about the fact you were reviewing what was my first car. I can't be objective about it because I loved it. I'm surprised you say it rolled in the corners as I thought the handling was the best thing about mine! I remember the fantastic exhaust note as well. I found it really at home on the country roads. Used to drive from Lancaster to Kendal in it every day, and it was a blast. Can you tell I'm a Ford fan? 😂 it does have a grumpy face though and a grumpy sounding engine at low speed are parking because its so revy! 😂
I had a brand new 1.6 zetec s mk4.5 call them what you will back in the day it was a brilliant car it never let me down once in 100k miles I’d like another now I’m bored of my wits with my wife’s yawnable BMW that she said we needed 🤣
My mate had one - about 2004 til 2009/10. 1.3 endura. It went up and down the country every week hundreds of miles and didn’t miss a beat. Servicing was lax but it just kept going
On another side I remember coming over snake pass in it after a night out in Manchester and the driver arriving back in the Black Country and going straight to bed for 10 hours, waking up and then straight into it for the next drinking sesh. Could not do that now pushing 40. Student days eh
We had an R reg 5dr 1.25 zetec , my wifes 1st car , well second car as the fiesta mk3 we had was stolen 3 days after we got it. Anyway turned up looked at it and for 3 hundred quid i was impressed because of the lack of rust. Didnt even know it was a zetec because R reg . Suprisingly nippy , a good motorway car we went to london and back . But defiantly not as refined as some small cars today . Anyway we ran it round for 2 years and sold it on getting exactly what we paid for it , happy days. Yes a little cheese fiesta sandwich 😀. I wasnt a fan of the internal door handle or the way the surround fits to the door pannel .
I had an X reg Ghia 1.25 I bought for £300 when I was learning to drive about 6 years ago. Brilliant car, handled great, tiny so it fit through all the gaps, very lightweight. Also hilariously unsafe (see NCAP). Had to get rid when I passed and was quoted 3500 quid for insurance! Car is still going but the MOT history shows it's not really being looked after very well. Shame
@@tomhicks0588 Good to hear, yeah mine had just had the back arches welded before I bought it and the A pillar was starting to rust when I got rid of it lol
Yeah I’ve had to pretty much replace the rear sill right up to the wheel arch because it had been filled with filler and that hadn’t done it any good sadly but I love driving it around I’ve had it 2 years now and loved every minute of it lol
I don't think I have EVER heard of a car being compared to a cheese sandwich, until NOW...!!!! BRILLIANT...!!!! IF Top Gear is ever brought back; you'd be PERFECT, as one of the presenters...(if they go down the route of having "comedian" as presenters, instead of going back to the original format of having straight-talking presenters, test driving & reviewing cars that the general public might buy! 👍🙂
I love these. A cone airfilter makes the Zetec come alive, along with silly loud induction noises. Great engine, tidy handling car - it needs revs to fully enjoy.
Great review, it does have quite a rorty exhaust note doesn't it? I suppose it just does what a car like that should ie. practical for local shopping trips or taking the nippers to school etc. Not exactly a Rover 25 though eh!😊
Head gaskets aside, Rovers of the 90s were of far greater quality than the equivalent Fords. Same with the likes of the Citroen ZX, Peugeot 306 etc. Far more comfortable and with better engines than Escorts.
@@JohnnyPaton I can second this, as both a Ford FIesta mk4.5 1.3L 2001 and Peugeot 306 XR 1.4L 1999 owner the 306 just ascends the Fiesta in about every way, the fiesta's cloth seats are quite mediocre, while the velour seats in the 306 resemble a very comfortable and soft lazyboy chair, same with the suspension with the 306 offering a very comfortable but dynamic suspension with the moving torsion axle compared to the Fiesta's standard coilovers. options wise too and their quality(particularly powersteering) is noticeably better then that of the Fiesta
Wife had one in same spec when they were new. At the time i had a 205 GTi as my daily! Highlight for me was the handling - i felt it was as good as the 205. The engine was more gutless than i had expected and the brakes were terrible. It didn't prove very reliable either.
@@leonardgoldberg2879 oh yes they did, but they are a brilliant drivers car, I’m starting to look for another on, after 7 years apart from my last one.
These drive nicely but rot like a cabbage
Don't they just, mine certainly did 😂
There not that bad mines only had rear arches twice a whole new floor drivers door boot wing sills inner and outer. You know just the usual 😂 only defence is 160k
Miss my 1.6 one. Can tell you from personal experience that it was quicker & more refined than an MG ZR105 (my Stepbrother had one at the same time), though it did roll more in the corners. It also didn't shed internal trim like the MG too!
I learned to drive one exactly the same age, shape & colour. Now I know that colour is Pacific green. I then bought & ran an X-reg four door Pacific green one over four years. £200 off a family member & sold it for £300 after those years of faithful service. It was reliable & dull, just what I wanted. I saw them everywhere & even once tried to unlock an identical one in a multi-storey car park that I confused with my own after a day out shopping, before stepping back to see it was also an X-reg but not my number plate…my car was two spaces further along.
I don’t miss it in anyway & would never feel the need to drive one again or attend FOTU in one. A-B was its only purpose. It did have fantastic air conditioning.
As for Fred the Shed Rover 75 Tourer. Scrap it or save it, don’t pick-up it. Treat it as a cosmetically flawed workhorse or just give up on it. An auto diesel estate has many utilities but can you justify it when you have the much nicer 420 Tourer? I love Fred the Shed because he reminds me of my Tourer but I’m not putting a penny into restoring Fred…so if you’re consolidating the 420 is the car to keep.
Got a little too excited about the fact you were reviewing what was my first car. I can't be objective about it because I loved it. I'm surprised you say it rolled in the corners as I thought the handling was the best thing about mine! I remember the fantastic exhaust note as well. I found it really at home on the country roads. Used to drive from Lancaster to Kendal in it every day, and it was a blast. Can you tell I'm a Ford fan? 😂 it does have a grumpy face though and a grumpy sounding engine at low speed are parking because its so revy! 😂
I had a brand new 1.6 zetec s mk4.5 call them what you will back in the day it was a brilliant car it never let me down once in 100k miles I’d like another now I’m bored of my wits with my wife’s yawnable BMW that she said we needed 🤣
I had a brand new 1.25 Zetec MK4 back in ‘96. It was a bit of a revelation at the time. Had…ahem…109 out of it on the A9 and it drove like a go kart.
Naughty 😅
My mate had one - about 2004 til 2009/10. 1.3 endura. It went up and down the country every week hundreds of miles and didn’t miss a beat. Servicing was lax but it just kept going
On another side I remember coming over snake pass in it after a night out in Manchester and the driver arriving back in the Black Country and going straight to bed for 10 hours, waking up and then straight into it for the next drinking sesh. Could not do that now pushing 40. Student days eh
We had an R reg 5dr 1.25 zetec , my wifes 1st car , well second car as the fiesta mk3 we had was stolen 3 days after we got it.
Anyway turned up looked at it and for 3 hundred quid i was impressed because of the lack of rust.
Didnt even know it was a zetec because R reg .
Suprisingly nippy , a good motorway car we went to london and back .
But defiantly not as refined as some small cars today .
Anyway we ran it round for 2 years and sold it on getting exactly what we paid for it , happy days.
Yes a little cheese fiesta sandwich 😀.
I wasnt a fan of the internal door handle or the way the surround fits to the door pannel .
I had an X reg Ghia 1.25 I bought for £300 when I was learning to drive about 6 years ago. Brilliant car, handled great, tiny so it fit through all the gaps, very lightweight. Also hilariously unsafe (see NCAP). Had to get rid when I passed and was quoted 3500 quid for insurance!
Car is still going but the MOT history shows it's not really being looked after very well. Shame
Yeah I love mine i bought it as my first car and still run around in it today there also getting rare in my opinion it's just a shame they rotted.
@@tomhicks0588 Good to hear, yeah mine had just had the back arches welded before I bought it and the A pillar was starting to rust when I got rid of it lol
Yeah I’ve had to pretty much replace the rear sill right up to the wheel arch because it had been filled with filler and that hadn’t done it any good sadly but I love driving it around I’ve had it 2 years now and loved every minute of it lol
I don't think I have EVER heard of a car being compared to a cheese sandwich, until NOW...!!!! BRILLIANT...!!!! IF Top Gear is ever brought back; you'd be PERFECT, as one of the presenters...(if they go down the route of having "comedian" as presenters, instead of going back to the original format of having straight-talking presenters, test driving & reviewing cars that the general public might buy! 👍🙂
Thank you. Oddly enough I am meeting up with an ex Top Gear presenter tomorrow 😊
I love these. A cone airfilter makes the Zetec come alive, along with silly loud induction noises. Great engine, tidy handling car - it needs revs to fully enjoy.
Great review, it does have quite a rorty exhaust note doesn't it? I suppose it just does what a car like that should ie. practical for local shopping trips or taking the nippers to school etc. Not exactly a Rover 25 though eh!😊
Yeah, the Rover 25 is much more involved.
Head gaskets aside, Rovers of the 90s were of far greater quality than the equivalent Fords. Same with the likes of the Citroen ZX, Peugeot 306 etc. Far more comfortable and with better engines than Escorts.
@@JohnnyPaton I can second this, as both a Ford FIesta mk4.5 1.3L 2001 and Peugeot 306 XR 1.4L 1999 owner the 306 just ascends the Fiesta in about every way, the fiesta's cloth seats are quite mediocre, while the velour seats in the 306 resemble a very comfortable and soft lazyboy chair, same with the suspension with the 306 offering a very comfortable but dynamic suspension with the moving torsion axle compared to the Fiesta's standard coilovers. options wise too and their quality(particularly powersteering) is noticeably better then that of the Fiesta
Only the best consumer advice
🤣
What's needed is a spoonful of pickle 😅
Nah. Tomato and black pepper.
Same dashboard as my Puma and that gear knob has been taken from it!
I got a few (9....I think 💬...) of these 1'st and 2'nd Gen Festies here @The Love Shack 😮😅! Nothing like that model year though.
If u ever want to do a puma swapped zetec s let me know
Wife had one in same spec when they were new. At the time i had a 205 GTi as my daily! Highlight for me was the handling - i felt it was as good as the 205. The engine was more gutless than i had expected and the brakes were terrible. It didn't prove very reliable either.
A fantastic car to drive, rust terribly though!
My first car ❤
Thats a Puma gearknob, Fiesta Black special edition interior, and MK6.5 Zetec wheels.
most of the dash is puma
🎉
You want to get your hands on a original puma, they are a real hoot to drive
The rear arches fell off them.
@@leonardgoldberg2879 oh yes they did, but they are a brilliant drivers car, I’m starting to look for another on, after 7 years apart from my last one.
looks tidy
Nice car that rotted horribly like all fords of the era.
Great headlining, everything else was, bland.