Mk2 XR2 back in 1985 then a Mk7 ST both in white a few years ago. An absolute hooligan of a car although the ride was a bit harsh to say the least 😳
A mate had a 1300 Supersport back in the day that was regularly airborne at the slightest opportunity.
the windscreen washer pump was a foot operated thing
Ah, yes - that brings back memories!
Looked mine up on Gov.uk, turns out it was an '83, not an '81.
I er found mrs DoD a MK2 XR2 just like that white one back in the day when she needed a car.
Drove it home in the dark with all the dash bulbs gone so couldn't see the speedo 🙂
Really a nice little go-kart as opposed to the standard bogo shitebox basic ones which were cheap and nasty.
It seems many manufacturers are going ‘upmarket’ and SUV styleee.
TBH with the whole popularity of PCP(possibly previous), there was probably more takers for nicer stuff than going for the basic stuff and I expect that the specs/requirements(airbags/safety features) of the basic model had crept up so the boggo dirt cheap fiesta wasn't that cheap to make/buy enough to make its production worthwhile.
the windscreen washer pump was a foot operated thing
Same, it was a bulb on the floor. It was great because you could aim the jets depending how hard you pressed it.
As well as being pretty cool, the XR2 is also the subject of one of the best car-related songs of all time. Needs proper speakers, preferably with a sub-bass that fills the entire boot.
Was expecting a different thread about builders arse cleavage...
*walks off in disgust*
My mates XR2 felt like a totally different car.
Yep, I Like the XR2 and the MK3 RS version was a fun box I never got to drive , I'd er not want to drive the boggo grotboxes thou 🙂
bigdaddy
I can’t believe starter motors were still sticking in the 90s , I learnt to drive in 72 first two cars were Anglia's and both of them suffered, Sometimes whacking the body with a spanner didn’t work so I had to take the starter motor and spin the armature 🙄 always allowed 10 minutes extra to get to work 😬
This is not a happy trend.
No, it's really not.
Between them they only make one non-SUV.
Dacia Sandero
MG 3
MG 5
My memory is of my next door neighbor getting a mk1 shell and sticking a 3 litre v6 in the back of it along with rear wheel drive for autograss. I can remember him testing it in some tarmac and watching chunks of rubber fly off the tires due to the stupid amount of power it was putting out.
My first car was a mk1 Scirocco. The sensible part of my 21 year old brain then part exchanged it for a mk1 fiesta in baby blue and rust. The rear window fell out whilst hooning the mighty 950 down the a46 near RAF Swinderby. I took it back to the garage and asked them to replace the knackered starter motor as well. The salesman explained that 'the starter motors all do that' and solved it with a dose of WD40. I never tested it's fabled cornering ability as the Romans built my route to work. I got bored of its gutless nature and it got swapped for an mg midget which was ace but even less reliable and more rusty.
After a subsequent Saab 96, my boring brain won again and I paid a couple of hundred quid for a mk1 950. This time rust orange with added rust, a peeling black vinyl roof and the foot pump windscreen washer. It carried my marin palisades trail around the country along with my tiga 260 windsurfer. The board went inside with the mast tied on the vinyl roof without the need for a rack. In this configuration I drove out of GEC in Lincoln when we went on strike - two fingers to the company and I was aiming for a day's surf at Skegness!
Have had two Fiestas in my life, both were awful!
The first one was a Mk1 1.1 Popular, bought for £20 to get me to uni and back for a few weeks while my Clio was being repaired after a little bump. It was mostly rust and silicone sealant so not exactly a good car to judge the breed by!
The second was a Mk5 one pre-facelift that I 'upgraded' to from my fantastic Mk1 Ka. It was red (that looked sodding pink under the old style streetlights...) and was a 1.25. The engine was fantastic, lovely and revvy with decent fuel economy. The engine that the Ka should have had! Sadly though the rest of the Fiesta was awful. The driver's seat tilt cable snapped after 3 weeks, not covered by warranty. The part was £7 to buy but to fit it meant cutting the seat open! The door outer trims were always falling off, as did the rubber strip on the bottom of the front bumper. The grille had a habit of being in a different position after every drive too, thank really flexible mounting prongs for that. It also ate gearboxes for fun, had 3 in my 7 years and 133k I had it for. The first gearbox was replaced under warranty after 13k (after a fight with Ford UK), the second one only lasted to 46k where I put a remanufactured one in that had a much beefier input shaft. That fixed not only the gearbox but also finally got rid of a wheel vibration that would come and go randomly. That lasted until I traded the car in for my current Fabia. That Fiesta has been the only car I have ever got rid of and was glad to see the back of it, just didn't have any connection with it at all. Which is surprising as I love small cars, tight handling and small revvy engines.
Still sad to hear the model die though, especially as it signals the end of small hatchbacks from Ford as other manufacturers will surely follow. The list of cars I would consider in the future is getting very small as I really don't want a jacked up anything or an SUV.
as other manufacturers will surely follow.
I dunno, I just think the small car has shifted from the obligatory Fiesta/Corsa, to Citroen, Kia, Honda etc.
For example, heres a 92bhp brand new micra for £16k: nissan/micra
Or £14k for a Kia Rio: /kia/rio
I think I'd sooner buy that than a base model Fiesta/Corsa, I just don't think ford are that competetive compared to the cheaper Jap/Korean stuff.
Didn’t realise that the Focus has already been slated to be axed too! Guess everyone really does want bigger, less efficient cars! Madness.
No. What everyone will be buying are EV’s, by Government mandate, and unless you’re only ever going to be driving (very) locally, the cars will have to be bigger in order to accommodate big, heavy battery packs. Until smaller, lighter solid-state Lithium metal batteries become commercially available, then it might be feasible to produce smaller cars like the Fiesta with a reasonable range, and/or fast charging with a ten-fifteen minute charge time.
My car is bigger than a Fiesta, but is based on that car, with the 1.0 125bhp motor, and is almost as fuel efficient on long runs.
I do wonder what the motoring schools will do, we get transporter loads of new Fiesta and Focus on a monthly basis, to fit the dual controls and livery; we also get Pumas, so I guess they’ll have to rely on that single car from Ford. The other school that we deal with use Peugeot and Vauxhall cars, so won’t be affected.
Guess everyone really does want bigger, less efficient cars! Madness.
Not really, you'll struggle to buy a new fiesta, even the cheapest ones are about 17k, so why buy that? When you can buy a similar Kia with a 7 year/100k mile warranty for 3k less?
Ford just are not that competetive any more.
Dacia Sandero
MG 3
MG 5
In my defense, the only Sandero I've ever seen is this one:
My Brother had an MK1 in Kermit green and my sister had an mk2 in red that I use to borrow and then I bought my own MK2 in blue.
At the time I really wanted an XR2 but couldn't afford the insurance.
visited the Fiesta Dagenham factory quite a few times in the mid 90's. When we were walking round the chap told us not to touch anything because everything was so dirty and the body shells were left outside in all weathers waiting to be towed to the paint shop via the main road on trolleys.
We had a purple mk 4 for a few years was great in snow only heater valve ever failed the common theme here seems to be crap colour options beige brown gold rust green purple too much competition in the sector?
My friend Nick Bishop was given his mum's Mk 1 1.3. He took it to a rally prep garage, got the engine tuned, a Janspeed exhaust, the RS crossmember and uprated suspension. It was stupidly fast (for the time) and survived a remarkably long time until he crashed it. Before that I got "I've driven with Nick Bishop and lived" t-shirts for all our friends.
We later did sprints and hill climbs in a single seater until he tried to hold 3rd gear into the mountain at Cadwell Park and made said hello to the crash barriers. His neck hurt rather a lot on the drive back.
C156MFW
My first car, a red Mk2. 950cc and 4 gears. Gave me my first taste of freedom and many fond memories.
Maybe not of my first trip on the M25 though
my first trip on the M25 though
Getting blown sideways when passing lorries?
The only brand new car I've ever had was a Mk1 XR2, GWT 499Y.
Got it in March '83 iirc, 3 months later, me and 2 mates went on holiday in it. The furthest south we got was Benidorm.
Memories.
Here’s a piece from The Guardian about this:
<p class="dcr-2v2zi4">Car brands have for the most part opted to launch electric vehicles under new nameplates rather than updating existing models. Ford is in the middle of a clearout: it also on Wednesday announced the end of production in Valencia of the S-MAX and Galaxy multi-purpose vehicles – what Americans call minivans – in April 2023. The Mondeo, the symbol of aspirational swing voters during Tony Blair’s premiership, was axed last year. The bigger Focus could also face the axe soon.</p>
<p class="dcr-2v2zi4">Ford is instead investing $2bn in Cologne to make electric cars on a blueprint shared from Volkswagen. Ford plans for the factory to make 1.2m electric vehicles over six years.</p>
<p class="dcr-2v2zi4">For now, however, Ford’s latest bestseller in the UK still burns petrol. Ford has sold 85,000 of its Puma model since it launched in 2020. The Puma, available as a hybrid with a small battery, has adopted bulkier crossover SUV styling that has become the dominant form in the car industry, to the chagrin of environmental campaigners because of their higher carbon emissions. Not everyone is happy with the shift.</p>
First car was a Fiesta Mk3 1.3 LX 3dr (L571 XKH) - went halfs with the girl I was with at the time. Sold it about 8 months later as we split up, only lost £100 in that time.
Then had another, same model but 5dr. Broke the engine mounts on that one by wheel spinning away from every set of lights within a 20 mile radius of Hull.
Last one was a Mk5 ST150 facelift. It had a full stainless straight through exhaust and had the cat removed. It is still the loudest car I have ever driven. Took it from Sunderland to Revs one weekend and that is the only time I ever went further than 20 miles in it as it just induced headaches. Power steering rack started leaking and a return replacement was going to be £300 plus £200 labour so it got binned off.
Here’s a piece from The Guardian about this:
Translation:
We at Ford can no longer afford to compete with Kia, Citroen and Nissan in the cheap hatch/city car marque! 😀
Am I the only person who read the thread title as "Goodbye Debenhams Finest"?
To add to my previous post, Mum also had a few mk3's, 1.0 J reg, then a couple of 1.8d K and M reg. Learned to drive in them, along with Dad's knackered E reg Escort. Then my second car was a T reg 1.25 Zetec mk4. Lovely car.
2003, mate Joe and I wanted to go to Creamfields, heading up from Essex. Neither of us wanted to drive. Mate so Simon told us in the pub that he also wanted to go and had just passed his test a week ago.
Onk Simon, you're driving.... The experience will do you good.
He had a crappy box shaped Fiesta. Mk2? Halfway up the M1 we saw sparks emitting from the rear of the car.
The exhaust was hanging and dragging on the road. Repaired with a few cables ties. The problem of seeing the asphalt through the footwell on the passenger side was solved by moving the footmat across a little.
The thing was a death trap, the fact that Simon had eaten about 12 pills over the course of two nights made it even more impressive that we returned to Essex in one piece (minus a few brain cells)
The problem of seeing the asphalt through the footwell on the passenger side was solved by moving the footmat across a little.
Our Courier van had the same issue at work only it was the drivers footwell. They refused to replace it though because it only had 27k on the clock, despite the fact it was driven at most a mile between starts, three times a day.
My mate Steve's much-welded beauty - the 'urbo - on our way to Chatel in 2002. Can't remember exactly what we said to the customs team but it clearly made them a tad suspicious 🤐
I never really 'got' Ford's, after experiencing a couple of dire Mk3 Escorts as pool cars at work. But my mum had a relatively posh D-reg Fiesta Ghia around the early 90s which came with the job she was doing at the time. It was really rather good at handbrake turns as I recall. No, she never found out unless she's reading this now.
The problem of seeing the asphalt through the footwell on the passenger side
What you're describing there is a feature, it's a drainage hole. You'd have wet feet otherwise.
My 2nd car (not mine in the pic, but very similar) 1.3 Supersport
1.1 popular in what I would describe as an end of life subfaded hearingaide beige, with babysit brown dash.
Then a few months in a borrowed mk 1 ST standard entry mode was unlock and get in and get her started as fast as possible to minimise the amount of car alarm everyone had to endure.
One day I hope to regain my former height.
My friend Nick Bishop was given his mum’s Mk 1 1.3. He took it to a rally prep garage, got the engine tuned, a Janspeed exhaust, the RS crossmember and uprated suspension. It was stupidly fast (for the time) and survived a remarkably long time until he crashed it.
I assume that improved the steering somehow, as my MK1 1.3 had the worst understeer I've ever experienced.
Hence my comment about ditches before 😀
No. What everyone will be buying are EV’s, by Government mandate, and unless you’re only ever going to be driving (very) locally, the cars will have to be bigger in order to accommodate big, heavy battery packs. Until smaller, lighter solid-state Lithium metal batteries become commercially available, then it might be feasible to produce smaller cars like the Fiesta with a reasonable range, and/or fast charging with a ten-fifteen minute charge time.
Er... honda make the E, fiat the 500-e, Mini the cooper electric and vw have the e-up, which they've had in their range for a good few years now.
Small electric cars are possible and popular, ford are just sticking their head in the sand with this decision.
The fiesta and the focus are still huge sellers in the european market. They could have developed a new generation electric fiesta and focus to spearhead their new electric car range, they would sell plenty just based on the names alone.
I've never been a fan of fords due to their questionable quality/business practices and this latest decision hasn't changed my opinion, especially as the fiesta and focus were the best cars in their line up.
The fiesta and the focus are still huge sellers in the european market. They could have developed a new generation electric fiesta and focus to spearhead their new electric car range, they would sell plenty just based on the names alone.
They've gone down the "on name alone" route with their electric cars branding them "Mustang". Which is fundamentally irritating as a 2150kg car seemed like the perfect platform to hide some batteries in, and even as a ecomentalist I'll concede that I find Mustangs cool cars.
This news makes me sad - fed up of stupidly big cars. 🙁
Sad times, my mum and so be defacto I had a series of Mk 2s in my late teens. I worked for a guy on a saturday who had a Mk2 XR2 with the 1.6 engine - that thing flew!
I unfortunately got saddled with a Nova as my first car - not quite the kudos of the Fiesta.
We've just come back from a week in Sardinia where we got saddled with a Ford Ecosport mini SUV thing. What a hateful concept and implementation of a vehicle.
Edit: Our Zoe reminds me a lot of the early Fiestas - small, light and tinny, but perfect for their job.
Ah. Had an XR2i here. Despite it's flaws it was great. Simple beast, easy to home spanner. Engine wise, the CVH had been pushed up to about 110bhp by that point by Ford and the EFi system was probably the first decent generation of ECU and the whole thing was reasonably eager.
I majored in Escorts around the time (had three assorted cooking models).
The outgoing Fiesta must be about the same size as a MK1 Focus?
The Ka is probably nearer to the size of Fiesta most folk are reminiscent about.
It has certainly expanded over time. Current generation kerb weight is around 1200kg (!) which is about the same as a mk1 mondeo used to be. The original was around 750kg IIRC.
Shame. Love a car. Love an mpv. Not keen on SUVs or crossovers.
Owned too many fiestas:
Mk2 1.1L
Mk2 XR2
Mk2 1.1 L again.
MK3 1.4 Si.
MK3 1.6 si 16v
MK3 XR2i 8v
Mk5 fiesta zetec s.
Mk6 ST
Mk6 ST again.
We had numerous fiestas in the family. Mk1-mk3.
Probably my favourite car. People will scoff and say it's just a ford but it's a staple and was my entry into motoring.
The MK3 8v XR2i was my favourite. Still looks awesome now. Definitely unrefined and steered like a boat but at 19 it didn't matter.
Kids today buy VAGs and BMWs on PCP. We bought £150 fiestas with rot and stuck xr2 spoilers on them.
If I could flog my focus st and buy a Mk7 fiesta st I would but nobody wants a car that does 22 mpg.
Loving this thread. I guess my username will now make sense. I'm a Ford man. My granda who I was very close to until his passing in 2019 worked for Ford for most of his life in Belfast. I was able to take advantage of the good old friends and family discounts. My first car was a brand new Mk5 Fiesta Zetec 1.4 in Ink Blue. Then I got very lucky and bagged another new Mk5 Fiesta ST, the facelift version. Great car. Had it lowered, K&N induction kit. Then I had a Mk5 anniversary edition in red with the chequered roof.
My granda himself had quite a few Fiestas, but he preferred the Escort as it was a bit bigger. My uncle had an XR2i and I remember he took me out for a blast and jumped it what felt like 100ft and nearly took the front bumper off!
