Modern Ford advice please. (retro penance content)

[strikey]

i'm after any advice about any points to look at when purchasing and running a Kuga and mk6 ('02-'08) Fiesta. i knew it wouldn't be long before swmbo would start making serious noises about sitting higher up and running an auto again since we moved her Bongo on. she has run a 56 plate focus for 12 years so happy enough with fords but always said she liked the look of the Kuga and i wondered if anyone on here has any experience of them? strikey junior has also just declared that he would like a mk6 fiesta to learn to drive in. no mad rush on this as he is only 15 but i have been taking him to a local driving centre to give him a head start. i have already been taking him in the pug and had hoped the 106 would fit the bill for him but it still seems an eminently sensible choice on his part , his only stipulation is that it has to be a 3 door , fair enough i suppose. I'm thinking a 1.25 petrol engined one , what are they like at higher mileages (where our budget would be)?. friends of ours did a similar thing with their son and it worked out well , a lupo in their case. we would run the fiesta as a "pool car" until he is 17. i have already reminded him that once he is driving he will owe mum and dad 17 years of taxi services!


cool ford penance...

[stealthstylz]

Think there's just been a thing about the Mk2 Kuga's bursting into flames for whatever reason. My mate at work's missus has a Mk1 and they really like it, they use it for towing and it's great. The Peugeot DW10 based engines are cheap as chips which in the engine game generally means they don't go wrong very often, just keep up on servicing and cambelts. Think the only issue they've had were a coolant leak from a plastic housing on the head.

The Fiestas are great, we rarely see them which is usually a good sign. Think they just have the usual 10 year old petrol car faults - coil packs, ICV, lambda sensors etc

[comfortablynumb]

You are opening up a whole can of worms with strikey junior!

No 2 son got his first car at 9, learned to drive round a friends stubble field, which i thought at the time was a good idea, teach car control etc, problem i have had is he now knows that he can get round that corner at 80 mph, and is far too fast in most scenarios!
Upshot is that although he is a good driver, id never tell him that because he’s also a bighead, and now 23😳

[strikey]

i was driving (private land) from 8 years old. in my first legal week i must have driven a dozen different cars from a mini to my grandads 3500 p6. tom wont be that lucky (they were different times) but a supervised head-start at the airfield training centre should give him a good push in the right direction.

[kevins]

The kuga fire issue was around the 1.6 turbo petrol, otherwise they are pretty good and basically a focus under the skin, as with everthing modern service history particularly with the right oils is critcal.

I've just sourced a 04 fiesta for my daughters boyfriend, 130,000 mile 1.4 diesel ghia with a full service history recent clutch and cam belt, seems to drive really well and can't find any rot at all, for £450 if it only lasts a year or 2 it will be good value.

[comfortablynumb]

Only thing i found with the kuga was they always felt weird to me, like i was sitting on it rather than in it, not sure why, i never managed to feel comfortable driving them, maybe it was just me, but I've never felt that way with anything else, not even my rangies

[ChasR]

With the Fiesta:
-With maintenance, miles aren't a problem on a Ford.
-1.25s are fine, but ensure the cambelt has been done within 100,000 miles/10 years. If the valves have also been shimmed, that's a bonus, but most haven't been and are fine.
-Coil packs can go, but that goes for any car
-They're a pretty tough old car to be honest.

[strikey]

one major problem with fiestas...tidy ones without galactic miles are very thin on the ground in our neck of the woods. good job we aren't in a hurry as i'm not a big fan of trekking the country to pick one up. better news is that word "kuga" hasn't been mentioned for at least a week , so that'll keep the bank account happy!

[comfortablynumb]

And you get a very interesting insight into what some people consider ‘tidy’😳

[ChasR]

Oct 3, 2019 7:21:48 GMT strikey said:

one major problem with fiestas...tidy ones without galactic miles are very thin on the ground in our neck of the woods. good job we aren't in a hurry as i'm not a big fan of trekking the country to pick one up. better news is that word "kuga" hasn't been mentioned for at least a week , so that'll keep the bank account happy!

I think peiple's perception of mileage is interesting. These days, I try to go on condition more than mileage, as many low milers are simply neglected wrecks, that people think are amazing due to low mileage.

Oct 3, 2019 16:49:29 GMT comfortablynumb said:

And you get a very interesting insight into what some people consider ‘tidy’😳

This has been annoying for sure! I think this is one reason I don't buy as many cars as I used to, and why I now persevere with getting a car right instead now.

[stealthstylz]

As above go on condition and maintenance not mileage. Modern engines and emissions systems are no good for granny driving/mileage. You're far better getting something that's done high miles and has regular motorway journeys etc. Pull the oil cap off and check it's not breathing heavily and ask/check for oil consumption. A bottle of oil in the boot is usually a good sign that it's using the oil and despite everybody's pipe dreams that a set of new stem seals will cure it, it's always because the rings have stuck from carbon buildup.