Finally, I am going to review, my car. It was born in January of 2000.
Since it's birthday it's done 59,000 miles, 4,000 of which have been with me. I have to say that I am very pleased with it. I'll start by talking about what you can see. The styling was largely unchanged after the MK4 and the car retains the same shaped grille and bodywork. The grille is larger on the MK5 however. It's lights are also more rounded. The car is overall beefier and bigger than the predecessor. It's not the most aggressive looking car in the world and nothing on it makes you think sporty.
It's a similar story when you step inside. Other than a CD player you don't get much standard kit. It doesn't help in my case that the clock doesn't work anymore and neither does the cigarette lighter. The mirrors on the back of the sun visor are also conspicuous by their absence. I do like the arrangement of all the gadgets however. I think they create a very cohesive looking dash. Just a shame about the plastic. The car is also very cleverly packaged. Since the engine is so small, the dash on the passengers side drops straight down. So if you have a bigger passenger sitting in the back, the front passengers chair can move right forward without running out of knee room.
The engine, is as the name suggests, a 1.3 litre, four cylinder engine. It produces 60bhp and a similar amount of lbs/ft of torque. This means that the car will accelerate to 60 in 16 seconds and reach a top speed of 95mph. But since this is my car I'm going to say that it goes like a mechanical incarnation of Usain Bolt. The torque curve is very linear and it shows. At no one point do you seem to find a magical band of power in the rev range. And about the top speed. I'd like to change that, or make a correction to the claimed figures. I haven't done an indicated 107 on an empty dual carriageway at night in mine, absolutely, at no point at all, have I done that! The acceleration figure seems a tad pessimistic too if I'm honest. I can tell because I haven't done many full boar standing quarters in it. Based on the tests, that I haven't done, I'd say a figure of 13.7 is more like it.
The one thing figures don't tell you is what this car feels like to drive. The Finesse is softly sprung, and has proved to be very comfortable over all the roads I've driven it on. It has also proved to be rather entertaining in the corners. Despite not having any sporting pretensions this car is very communicative through both the steering and through the suspension. The steering runs on a hydraulic setup like the one used in the original Focus, just improved a little bit, and it's bloody fantastic. You can throw the car into the corners and you just know that it's going to hang on. Again, at no point during ownership, have I ever, blasted it full pelt down some B Roads, or, A Roads. That is something I haven't done, and nor did I light the fronts up when I got just a tad exuberant on the B road that runs from Winnards Perch roundabout to Padstow town.
There is one thing I will say about the MK5. It doesn't like wind. In any crosswinds of any kind of strength this cars front end will start ducking and diving all over the place. Makes for a few bottom clenching moments when driving over a by pass bridge for example. The other thing is that, on a cold day at least, I wouldn't describe it as being very good at keeping heat in. As a result, it will numb your hands before the radiators do their thing.
Would I recommend this car? If you're a first time buyer then yes, absolutely. It's cheap to insure, like a Ka. Cheap to run, like a Ka, as fast as a Ka, has the same engine as a Ka, and, let's stop right there. The difference is that the Fiesta has more space for your mates.
If you're not a first time buyer then forget it. This car, despite being the car version of Mr Bolt, isn't very fast. And since you could afford the insurance premiums, I'd recommend going for one of the more powerful Zetec models.
I'll upload a picture tomorrow. I was going to get one today but it's really cold, and wet.
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