So I bought a
Jeep Fiesta. I remember lusting after the ST/XR4 in the early/mid 2000s and never thought I'd own one, especially after having a Swift Sport (great little car). But after some questions on facebook (and ignoring some of the more militant opinions), reading lots of reviews and checking out what would fit the budget, it seemed a good fit. It really only has to do for me a year or so while the business gets going, but I have my eye on using it for hill climbs.
It's not the 2.0l XR4 unfortunately, it's the middle model 'Zetec' – 2005 WP – with the lively 1.6 (according to the brits who had 1.6 diesels, 1.4, 1.3, and 1.25 petrols), ABS, discs up front and drums rear, sharp 16" alloys, fogs and pretty chunky steering wheel controls. It's 'Moondust Silver' in colour with a black cloth interior with red inserts on the seats and doors. Tyres are pretty good Khumos and won't need replacing for a while, came with 6 months rego but didn't have books.
Fun fact: In the UK you could get a full leather interior.
I found Fred on Gumtree and the photos used were just post-detailing – not as nice on pickup
Myself and a friend took the train to Redfern and picked it up. Looked over everything but failed to test one thing which we didn't notice until we were driving home at 10pm in minus temperatures... yep, no heater. Yeah. Bugger.
I went into the local Ford dealer and asked them to have a look at the system and tell me what's wrong and how much it'll take to fix. Unfortunately it wasn't anything cheap and turned out to be both the front control panel in the dash and the heater box itself. The quote to fix them both? A cool $2,200 – almost the value of the car!
So not wanting to do everything in a rush I decided to drive it for a while and just get used to the car.
We've just registered it and it's passed all inspections with flying colours so I know it was a good buy - just a cold one.
Pros:
- I do like this period of design with Ford; their "New Edge" design language encompassed the Ka, Focus, Puma, Mondeo, Couger, Fiesta, AU Falcon and a few others
- I finally have a 3 door car
- it's a pretty solid car with minimal hassles
- it uses stuff-all petrol ($45 of 98 a fortnight with a solid 90% fang rate)
Cons:
- it's not the XR4 so miss out on some chassis and handling tweaks and visual goodies
- bumpers are pretty dinged up and will need resetting or replacing
- one of the rear seat latches doesn't work and can be a PITA and/or expensive to replace
- I have the feeling that it was a DIY project or had strange tinting as the windows have air bubble between it and the body seal
- it's got no bloody heater!
Why the name? Well I already have Barry the beige brick and the Fiesta has already been effing with me, and really, Fred isn't cute or feminine - perfect. Works quite well.
