A car that I generally forget that I own met its maker a couple of weeks ago.
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With only two owners and 28,000 miles from new, some Ford anoraks will be mourning their loss. A 1997 Fiesta Ghia 1.3 that I inherited from a Great Uncle about five years ago (with only 1,800 miles!), I drove it around for a few months until the novelty wore off, then left it at the office as a pool car.
A new member of staff started commuting in the M25 in it while I was on holiday, and my business partner failed to educated him on cars without ABS...
What always surprised me whenever I used it was how much better it was as a city car than most new city cars. The ancient 1.3 was good on fuel at low speeds, the steering was light and direct, giving a fair amount of information on what the skinny 13" tyres were doing, and the suspension was perfect for speed bumps.
Great visibility made it simple to park without sensors also.
Everything still worked, other than the remote locking loosing memory within a couple of days of programming. It still had the original back box on it until last year, and no rust on the body anywhere...
EOTR M140i
Factory ordered to my spec with a crazy discount giving £1900 down and £340 monthly on a 36 month PCP.
Sold after 29 months and 12,000 miles with two kerbed wheels and minor lower wheel arch damage leaving £1700 equity.
Fitted a lower rear strut brace straight away, but never got round to doing the M4 LCAs, which sat on the stock room shelf until last week.
Loads have been written about these so I’ll keep it brief.
Had a great drive to Barcelona two months after getting it. For road use the brakes were good and while the engine might not zing like my old Z4M, on the same roads in the Pyrenees the punch of this one more than made up for it.
It never felt like a true sports car; just a competent hot hatch that has rwd balance and ample power.
Being stuck with the heavy steering mode when the stability is switched off was annoying, as it feels more natural in comfort, so on interesting roads I found myself cycling between the semi-configurable ‘sport’ mode or all-off.
The adaptive suspension option was worth every penny.
Fitted a JB+ boost box for some of the time, which makes it slightly lairy in the dry, but irritating without an LSD when wet.
At one point I thought I’d keep it long term, do the suspension mods, fit an LSD and get a Lichfield remap, but once our second kid was here (14 months ago) there were so many occasions when the extra space of our Disco was required that this just sat on the street.
I’m glad and sad to have owned a car that concludes the era of big engined hatchbacks, but it never really got under my skin like some older BMWs. I realised today that I’ve owned ten in the last ten years...
I’m not replacing it straight away. Family and a larger home need to take priority. I’ll probably put my Mini or one of the Land Rovers into more regular use for a bit, and get myself back into a more interesting car that can squeeze two kids in occasionally (911 or Evora are the most likely).
In forum fashion, here’s my effort of a crap photo.
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