I need a cheap car for £1000 or less and am thinking about buying a late 1990s Ford Fiesta or Escort.?

Question

recommendations, advice and opinions please, preferably from first hand owners

many thanks

please be aware that all abuse will be reported.

Answer 1

I've owned both fiestas and escorts. They are cheap to work on, easy to get parts and pretty reliable. Insurance is also cheaper than say a japanese car. Two of my fiestas developed gearbox problems and one blew a head gasket but hey thats probably down to the way I drive. Look for leaking sunroofs in both models and escorts can let water into the boot through the tail light clusters. Lift the carpets and look under. If I had the choice Id go for the escort as it is slightly bigger and more practical. good luck.

Answer 2

fords are reliable, but I bought an Escort for working in, and it was reliable, but wanted to kill someone. They have very poor brakes. For less than £1000 you could have a Ford Scorpio, possible with a Cosworth engine in, that WILL run rings around any standard Fiesta or Escort. That's what I upgraded to for working, brakes are fantastic, ride is excellent, handling very good, lots of equipment and reliable. I won't deny its an ugly thing, and I did only buy it for working with, but I paid £300 for a 97 2.3 Ultima, with all the toys. It manages 24MPG around town, 40MPG on a run, which is not much less than the Escort will get you (don't believe the books they're very inaccurate). The Escort I had was a 1.8 I ghia and it managed 26 around town, 40 on a run. The little extra isn't worth the price you pay.

Also I had a Cosworth one a few years ago,. that you probably would get for £1000, and thats fast, more than 200BHP, and a very stiff chassis. You obviously could get better but not for the money.

Answer 3

heyya dear..... go for ford fiesta I have to say this - the Ford Fiesta 'Go Fida' ad is pretty lame. In the advertisement, at 1 a.m., a fida Abhishek Bachchan wakes up two people in lab costs, who give him a Ford Fiesta for a test drive. The female labcoat tells the male labcoat, "This is crazy!". The male labcoat responds, "No, fida!" and the female labcoat laughs, wonderstruck, "Oh, Fida!!" Like that explains everything. And then basically the car drives through the darkness to forgettable music. And you really can't see the car well. If this was a cartoon strip, the next frame would have a person kicking the TV set in frustration. THWACK. Maybe the idea is to get you curious enough to drive your Zen to the Ford showroom just to see it, as the ad definitely doesn't show you what the car looks like. I've been dying to see what the Ford Fiesta looks like in profile. You see, there are the blob cars and the wedge cars. The Indigo is a blob car in profile. Fiat petra is a blob car in profile. The Octavia is a wedge car in profile, and so is the Chevrolet Optra. The Honda City is a blobby cockroach car in profile, with scales and all, but still a blob. I can't decide whether I like a car or not, till I know if it's a blob or a wedge. the ads of the Fiesta in the paper are from the third three quarter view, and from that angle, you can't decide if a car is a wedge or a blob. You can't decide from the TV ad spot either; but Abhishek bachchan, for a change, doesn't look like he has a wedgie as he usually does. Okay. Who should take another look at the Ford Fiesta? If you were considering the Honda City versions or the Chevrolet Optra, or the Hyundai Accent, you should consider the Ford Fiesta. Remember that neither the Honda city or Optra offers you diesel engines. And for that dull looking (but well-performing) Hyundai Accent or Viva CRDi, now you have an option. For those of you who have been wondering about the Skoda Octavia diesel, you may have a better and faster diesel engine here, and at several lakhs less. Let's come to the pricing. The base model of the Ford Fiesta petrol is priced at 5.59 lakhs. The Fiesta 1.6-liter petrol (ZXI model) would be priced at Rs 6.29 lakhs and the 1.6-liter petrol Fiesta (SXI model) at Rs 6.89 lakhs. The diesel Ford Fiesta with a 1400 cc engine would be available at Rs 6.99 lakhs (ex-showroom). Very confusingly for me, Ford has also said that they plan to sell equal numbers of the Ford Fiesta petrol and diesel versions. What the..? If the diesel is priced close to the petrol and the performance and fuel efficiency is decent, the Indian auto buyer almost always go for the diesel. Everyone and his dog knows that. Does Ford know something we don't? Anyway Ford India has announced that they have received 2000 bookings for the Fiesta so far. Pretty good. And 65% of those are for the diesel version. So much for that statement. The 1.4 liter diesel engine for the Ford Fiesta is being imported from Europe. This particular turbo diesel engine has been developed in association with Peugeot-Citroen. We haven't come across any road tests of the Ford Fiesta - diesel or petrol - by any of the Indian automobile magazines so far. Most of what I have seen are driving impressions and it is too early for us to pass any kind of verdict on the engines on offer, or the car itself. We will keep you updated on any more information such as road tests or other impressions of the Ford Fiesta as they come by. Ford India now has its fifth product in the Fiesta. The others are Ikon, Mondeo, Fusion and Endeavour. There is also a bit of vague information we have come across via PTI that Ford may consider making hybrid cars in India. Let's not pin any hopes on that one.

Answer 4

I wasn't aware they made Fiestas in the late 1990s...at least they didn't in the States. Escorts are a cheap ride that can be easily repaired due to their popularity.

Answer 5

I would avoid Ford, Rover and any European cars. For the money you are willing to spend i would go for Japanese car. Their realiablilty is second to none. I would even prefer to choose a slightly older Japanese car (mid 90's) than a mid ninties Ford or Euorpean car. You have not been very specific in what type of car you require but for £1000 you could pick up nearly any type of car you need. egs are:

Small hatchback - Honda civic, Nissan Almera, Nissan Micra
Family Hatchback - Toyota Corolla, Honda Accord
Sports - Toyota mr2, Honda crx, Toyota Celica

All of the above cars could be bought with under 100K miles on the clock with good service history and will out last most Fords.

Answer 6

Don't buy an escort, im in the market for a new car and several salesmen have told me that the escort nearly ruined the ford name...good luck!

Answer 7

If you want a ford fiesta or escort, for that price and year then i would go to www.loot.co.uk and go into the used car section.....
I have a 1995 fiesta, 50,000 on the clock (genuine) TWO HUNDRED FIFTY QUID, excellent condition and one previous owner.

Answer 8

As good a choice as any, try and get one with the zetec engine as they are far better. Fords get an undeserved bad name for some reason. I often think its snobbery as they are so common. That of course has its advantages where repairs and parts are required.

Only advice i can give is change the timing belt if you dont know the history.

Good luck in your hunt.

Answer 9

If you go to your local car auction you will get an excellent deal for your money, however take a mechanic or someone who knows about cars with you, you stand just as much chance being ripped off privately as you do from an auction.I bought a van from EBAY and so far have had no problems.
Good Luck, hope this helps.

Answer 10

id go for an 98 or 99 escort great value for your loot i own one and its never let me down touch wood and dnt beleive all de negative s..t u hear. some like dem some dnt. one things for sure if it ever needs repairing u wnt have to take out a loan to fix it