A couple of days ago, I had the pleasure of driving yet another low mileage car which had been in the same ownership for the majority of its life. Once again, I found myself at the wheel of yet another variant of Britain's best-selling car, the Ford Fiesta. This very late Mk5 version had been owned by an elderly chap in a village near Winchester from 2002 until earlier this year, and he had kept all the service records on almost a single page of a Ford Fiesta Haynes workshop manual. It has to be the strangest Full Service History I have ever seen...
The Mark V Fiesta debuted in 1999, and was an evolution of the Mark IV Fiesta (itself a derivate of the Mark III Fiesta), and thus by the time this particular was made, its lineage could be traced back around 13 years. Indeed, this was one of the last cars which had a variant of the famous Ford "Kent" engine, which was first introduced with the Ford Anglia (yes, the car in the Harry Potter franchise) back in 1959. It could be said, then, that this wasn't exactly cutting edge then, and now it certainly looks very dated. There is something about the proportions of the car, despite the facelift and newer interior, which are far more reminiscent of something from 1992 than 2002. Still, the dated appearance and relative lack of space clearly didn't stop the car selling in huge numbers, and there are lots of these still on the road.
Rather than the aforementioned 1.3 "Endura-E" (nee Kent) engine, I had made sure that this one came with the much more modern 1.25 "Zetec" engine, which had been with the Mark IV Fiesta upon its launch in 1995, and continued, in slightly different form, until the demise of the Mark VII Fiesta last year. It certainly sounds fine, and with 16 valves, twin overhead cams and modern engine management, it is still smooth and powerful. 75 bhp certainly seemed enough for brisk progress, particularly as the Mark V Fiesta is a very light car indeed by modern standards. Those wanting a bit more power than the top of the range 1.6 Zetec S have often put in the 1.7 engine from the Ford Puma (which was based on the Mark V Fiesta anyway), which do make for a zippy little shopping car...
In spite of MOT advisories for the suspension bushes, shocks and springs, this Mark V still handled really well, and reminded me very much of the reason why I like my wife's MG3 so much. Modern small cars feel very heavy by comparison, with overlight and remote feeling electric power steering. This one certainly had a positive feeling hydraulic set up, which linked with a sweet five speed gearbox, meant that it still brought a certain fun factor to travelling around roundabouts and sweeping A roads.
The interior of the Mark V Fiesta, which is barely changed from the Mark IV is quite basic by modern standards, but the LX still has air conditioning, a height adjustable driver's seat and electric windows. With similarly excellent visibility to other cars with origins in the late 1980s, it was really easy to park and to see at junctions, and it is no wonder at all that Fiestas were, and still are, very popular with driving schools.
Some bizarre details in a Fiesta of this vintage are the fact that the bonnet release is a red lever on the bottom of the steering column (which offers no adjustment at all) and that the spare wheel is not accessible via the boot, but is in a cradle underneath the floor which needs to be cranked by tools. By 2002, this was the only car which still did this. It was common in cars of the late 1980s, but with thefts on the increase, it made more sense to keep it inside the car. Maybe this was why this particular car had three different types of wheel trim on four of the wheels...
Overall, I quite like the Mark V Fiesta. It has an old-fashioned and uncomplicated charm from a design which has its roots in a model introduced almost 30 years ago, and yet still remains easy to drive and cheap to run. With prices of many examples with MOTs under £500 and a genuine level of fun to be had whilst driving one (a contemporary Vauxhall Corsa seems ponderous in comparison), as long as modern levels of specification and safety are not expected, then it is hard to go wrong! Certainly recommended, but not quite for me.
