After placing an Auto Trader ad at the weekend, it sold to a very nice couple this afternoon (the first who looked at it) for £1250, bang on what I wanted for it.
It's been a superb little car to us over the past two years, and I would highly recommend one to anybody looking for cheap, reliable, and surprisingly fun motoring.
And what cheap motoring.
Bought in Dec 2005 with 81,000 miles for £1650.
Sold in Jul 2007 with 97,000 miles for £1250
With total servicing and repair costs, (including 2 services, a new pair of front tyres, cambelt kit, front wishbone and arb bushes, and a recon front caliper) of £376.45 (I added up the receipts). Car never failed to start, and never let us down in the time we had it.
My view is that the mk4 Fiesta is a brilliant small car which is chronically underrated because so many are completely neglected and abused. Our well serviced, properly looked after example has proven reliable, well screwed together, rot resistant and fun to drive. I would have another in a shot if I ever needed a car like this again.
Glad it's gone for space and financial reasons, but it will be very much missed.
Cheers
DP
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04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
97 Ford Fiesta 1.4 16v Chicane (for sale)
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Need to be changing your sig then, I presume.
Souns as if you did well.
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i always praise the mk4/5 dp i also think they are a good car/second car,the wife wont have anything else (so there tvm :-))
i think you did well with the mileage it had, even if it was well serviced,i reckon the people were fairly local and liked your face and spiel :-)
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Cheers guys!
If you look at the price guides I did well. If you look at the prices of actual cars for sale, I got about the going rate. This is one of those cars, like the mkIV Golf TDI that the guides are way out on.
I remember thinking this when we bought it. Parkers reckoned we shouldn't have to pay any more than £1200. Of the handful advertised at that price, all had rust, missing histories, ran rough, or had some other problem. The good ones were all up for £1600-£1800.
I advertised it at £1500 ono which is £600 more than Parkers private "good". Five calls since Sunday. Says a lot really.
Yes, this couple were local-ish. And he was a Ford tech! Good and bad because he knew what he was looking for, but I suppose could get anything sorted out cheap enough :-O
I asked him why he didn't just go for a cheap px, and he reckoned the only ones that came in were rough, or snapped up by salesmen to sell on from home before they come in. I guess it would be a £600 car as a PX, so that's a good return for someone for the cost of an Autotrader ad and fielding a few calls. ISTRC the guy we bought it from was a Ford dealer salesman trading on the side.
Cheers
DP
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04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
97 Ford Fiesta 1.4 16v Chicane (for sale)
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Well removing a Chicane from your drive should help you get in and out more quickly! ;-)
I agree with comments about the value of good clean small cars, also the Fiesta 1.4 is a great engine if in good order.
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the Fiesta 1.4 is a great engine if in good order.
It was a great advert for Ford engineering (well, Yamaha really, I suppose) and easily the car's best feature. 97k on the clock which is a much bigger deal on a high-ish revving small capacity four than a lazier, bigger engine, and was driven quite hard, but no knocks or rattles, idled smoothly, revved willingly, didn't smoke, and pulled well, especially over 4,000 RPM where it felt more like a 1.6 than a 1.4
The guy remarked on how sweetly it ran compared to others he'd looked at. It had had no special treatment, and certainly wasn't driven gently. SWMBO and I both like to "press on" when we don't have kids in the car, and it had seen the upper third of its rev range on probably 2/3 of its journeys in our hands. It had just been serviced on the dot with genuine Ford 5W/30 oil and Motorcraft filters, and we'd both made a point of not thrashing it from cold. Used a little oil, but nothing excessive, and a slight tappet rattle on a cold start which disappeared after a second or two. Other than that it was good as new.
The car itself was showing a few signs of age, but still quite taut and no interior rattles. I'd even managed to shut the knocking front suspension up of late with some new arb bushes! Some minor bubbling on one sill and one door, but at the stage where it could be cheaply fixed if someone took the time now, and a few minor scratches around the door handles and on the bonnet. Otherwise a genuine minter for its age.
Cheers
DP
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
97 Ford Fiesta 1.4 16v Chicane (for sale)
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