New (to me) family hack

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So the wife and I have both been rolling about in Toyota Aygos for a few years while we saved for a house. Bricks and mortar finally got sorted last year so I was all set to order myself a shiny new Fiesta ST as a reward...

And then life happened...

My wife is expecting our first in a couple of months. Obviously the car plan had to change and I was no longer particularly comfortable taking on additional finance.

This has genuinely been the most difficult car choice I've had. Normally I know exactly what I'm after but most of the usual suspects given my criteria and budget seemed pretty uninspiring. Finally picked this up a couple of weeks ago after months spent doing the most boring autotrader searches imaginable.

IMAG1232.jpg


It's a petrol SE. I was ideally after the higher spec ES model but this one was in great condition for the age, has full honda history and has only done 47k so decided I could live without cruise given that I don't spend masses of time on the motorway.

Only done a few hundred miles so far but I'm pretty impressed. Considering it's a relatively old vehicle, it feels very solid. I specifically wanted to avoid the pitfalls of some of the diesels of this era so deliberately went for a petrol and it seems like a pretty sweet engine.

Had some minor teething trouble with the climate control. Noticed after a few days that the air con seemed to only work intermittently, but a quick google turned up that a 20 quid relay was the likely culprit. Swapped that over the other day and seems to have done the trick.

So not the ST I had planned for this year but actually surprisingly good to drive none the less.
 
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Probably isn't a much more solid choice out there as a family car. It will serve you well! You could have gone for a more interesting colour though :D
 
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At least it's easier to keep clean than black, the blue ones look nicest though imo. The only real issue I'd have with these is the lack of a rear windscreen wiper. Seems such a silly thing to leave off the car.
 
Soldato
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The colour is actually one of the best for hiding chips, even though it's a bit on the boring side.

Not a lot to argue with there, the boot is great for the size of car, flip up rear seats wonderful for random stuff, 1.8 engine really very economical and reliable.

The one and only thing I would say is that the rear doors are really small if you need to get carseats in/out of it, but you can't have it all for the money!
 
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The boot does seem surprisingly tardis-like for the size of the thing, and becomes like a little van with the seats folded.

You're right about the rear wiper thing though. The rear visibility is a little challenging at best and mine doesn't have parking sensors so having to be quite careful until I get used to the length of it. Also coming from a few years of driving something the size of a shoe box so a medium sized hatch feels kind of enormous now!
 
Man of Honour
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My bonnet has a fair few stone chips on it (paint is weak on these) but the silver hides it well. Noticed them all while washing it today. Had it for 2 years now and still happy driving it, enjoy yours! :)

IMG_20150627_173447-nopm-.jpg
 
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Great car, you want reliability when you have a baby on board. We have a Jazz for our little one and an 18 year old s14 for me:) haha.
 
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Nice, my wife has one. Been looking at them as a replacement to the X5 as a daily, I'm sick of spending cash on fixing it!
Fair amount of space inside.
 
Soldato
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I can't honestly remember ever caring about not having a rear wiper wither with the current FN2 or my old diseasel - never have understood that one.

I do need to reverse park using the force on the current car though, terrible visibility/rear space perception for a hatch
 
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Not sure if the pictures show it very well but the colour of mine is actually a sort of not-quite-silver, not-quite-blue. It does seem to look very silver next to a blue car though.

The S14 is a good shout, always been a fan of the silly turbo nutter Jap stuff. Had a couple of MR2 Turbos (only managed to stuff one of them sideways into a tree but that's another story). I'm still holding on to the idea of having a Caterham as a play thing some day...
 
Soldato
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I bought a black 2007 1.8 EX a month ago as my first car. It has done under 50k miles and has all the toys. The interior is quite a nice place to be and all the options for moving the seats and boot floor about are pretty cool!

I was planning to give it its first proper wash, polish and wax today, but it is now raining quite hard. Hope it clears up. Like many others mine has stone chips on the front that have been touched up. However, there are some other scratches that are down to the primer which is a bit of a pain.

I quite like it, but the brakes aren't a highlight. I think at some stage I will completely replace the braking set up by installing braided hoses, new discs and pads. The calipers also need to be painted.

However, first thing on the list is getting the folding mirrors fixed. Apparently this is a well known and cheap to rectify fault.

Civ Info is a fantastic resource. I was able to get the latest DVD for the sat nav for £8!
 
Caporegime
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I had a 1.8 type s for a bit. Was a great car. Good to drive. Bit gutless low down but quite rev happy.

I now have a Fiesta ST :p
 
Soldato
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I spent a significant amount of time this afternoon giving mine a thorough exterior clean using pretty much the recommendations in the car cleaning thread. I jet washed, hand washed and dried, clay barred, hand polished and hand waxed. Oh and I did the windows too.

Here's a quick snap. Please excuse the awful street scene as my neighbours do not take as much care as Freakitchen's! I may try to take a more scenic photo when out in Hampshire's wonderful countryside on site visits.

QlSWepLl.jpg

At some stage I need to sort the tyres out. None of the tyres match; I have never heard of the manufacturers of the front two and the rear left has a slow puncture. Would love to stick four new Goodyear Eagle ASY tyres on, but not sure whether it is worth the fairly significant expense right now.
 
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