MK7 Fiesta Metal (and Zetec S I suppose)

Stormster

Stormster

Stormster

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Thinking of this as an option for my next car later this year. Some may think it's an odd choice going from a Type R to a Fiesta Metal but:

1) I am doing about 18000 miles a year, 80% is town miles, 15% country roads and 5% of motorway. The Civic isn't getting used as it should be so is a waste, just costs a lot to fuel and maintain plus high tax.

2) I want something new and low milage, fresh car feel, something which handles nice, rides nice and is compliant to bumps and ruts around town (obviously as much as a car on low profiles can be).

3) Much cheaper running costs. Fuel and tax. Parts and maintenance.

4) I think the Metal edition in white, with the sony head unit, would really be a nice town car :) Certainly nice looking (to me, looks are subjective after all).

Are these motors any good? Does much go wrong? I expect it's pretty much a Zetec S but with a bit of engine tuning and a far nicer interior with the leather and gloss black.

What sort of stuff should I be looking for in terms of common faults?

Any general opinions on the car would be good :)

Cheers folks!
 
I've got a regular Fiesta MK7 Titanium with the 1.6 petrol engine so although it doesn't have the same styling it's essentially a very similar car. Mine's a 59 plate with just over 78,000 miles on it now. My driving is largely motorway but I can't fault the car really.

I've had mine for about 1 year and 8 months now and in that time I've put 71,000 miles on it with only two problems. The first was the throttle body somehow becoming faulty and causing the revs to jump around but that was easily sorted and cheap enough too. The second was apparently the steering lock failing and preventing the car from even being able to start - hardly a common fault though. Otherwise I've had absolutely nothing go wrong and the only things I've spent money on are tyres, servicing and very recently, a set of brake pads and discs. Quite surprised the original brakes lasted to almost 78k but I guess that's because my driving is mainly motorway.

I'm personally after something a bit bigger now as I have a baby on the way and a diesel is more suited for my kind of mileage but I'll be passing this car onto my other half. I've enjoyed my time with it and find it quite pleasant to drive. My experience is that it's reliable and parts/consumables are cheap which is always a good thing.
 
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I have owned a Zetec S and currently own a Metal, both in white. The Metal is a much nicer car than the Zetec S. The extra power and little things like leather handbrake and gear knob make a difference. So I would choose the Metal over the Zetec S.

The only criticism I can level at both cars is that I find the interiors a bit too creaky (can't thing of a better term) for newish cars with less than 3000 on the clock. Perhaps, I am overly critical for a mass produced car but I think they should be better, and other people wonder what I am moaning about. The low profile tyres and lowered suspension probably contribute to this, as the low spec courtesy cars I have had don't seem as bad.

Other than that as I say they are good cars that I have had no problems with. Servicing at my local dealer is about £120. Tax for the year is about the same. Average about 34mpg for pure city driving to work, a journey of about 5 miles.
 
The metal has the same engine as the s1600 does it not? If so its the perfect little engine for that car, the one I drove transformed the zetec s. No idea on economy mind
 
Phemo said:
I've got a regular Fiesta MK7 Titanium with the 1.6 petrol engine so although it doesn't have the same styling it's essentially a very similar car. Mine's a 59 plate with just over 78,000 miles on it now. My driving is largely motorway but I can't fault the car really.

I've had mine for about 1 year and 8 months now and in that time I've put 71,000 miles on it with only two problems. The first was the throttle body somehow becoming faulty and causing the revs to jump around but that was easily sorted and cheap enough too. The second was apparently the steering lock failing and preventing the car from even being able to start - hardly a common fault though. Otherwise I've had absolutely nothing go wrong and the only things I've spent money on are tyres, servicing and very recently, a set of brake pads and discs. Quite surprised the original brakes lasted to almost 78k but I guess that's because my driving is mainly motorway.

I'm personally after something a bit bigger now as I have a baby on the way and a diesel is more suited for my kind of mileage but I'll be passing this car onto my other half. I've enjoyed my time with it and find it quite pleasant to drive. My experience is that it's reliable and parts/consumables are cheap which is always a good thing.
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70k in less than 2 years in a Fiesta? That would kill me.
 
Yup :) I'm aware it's not really a long distance car and isn't meant for it and that a saloon of sorts would be much more suited for the job. But despite that I haven't actually found it all that bad. It's usually just me in the car, the interior is decent enough and there's enough space. It's a 1.6 so while far from a speed demon, it's faster than the Focus I had previously and isn't sat at stupid revs on a motorway. I don't think it's been all that bad for it at all, but all the same, my next car is a 320d.
 
focus130 said:
I have owned a Zetec S and currently own a Metal, both in white. The Metal is a much nicer car than the Zetec S. The extra power and little things like leather handbrake and gear knob make a difference. So I would choose the Metal over the Zetec S.

The only criticism I can level at both cars is that I find the interiors a bit too creaky (can't thing of a better term) for newish cars with less than 3000 on the clock. Perhaps, I am overly critical for a mass produced car but I think they should be better, and other people wonder what I am moaning about. The low profile tyres and lowered suspension probably contribute to this, as the low spec courtesy cars I have had don't seem as bad.

Other than that as I say they are good cars that I have had no problems with. Servicing at my local dealer is about £120. Tax for the year is about the same. Average about 34mpg for pure city driving to work, a journey of about 5 miles.
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I was looking at these before getting the mito and found the car to be good but i certainly wouldnt want to do any serious mileage in it. A titanium with the smaller wheels and non low profile tyres i feel would be better. The engine i thought from ky test drives was very good. However my mum has one and has the same complaints as above. Interior quality isn't great. She has had one speaker die. It creaks all over the place and there's now some of the foam sticking out from behind the dash. Door seals needed to be replaced too. None of this is major and generally poor build quality issues but worth looking out for if you do go for one.

For town driving though the car is ideal i suppose. Mechanically sound and probably as bullet proof as you can get for a new car.
 
I have a metal. I had an ST before it. The ST felt quicker as it was more torquey but the MK7 handles so much better.

Leather seats in the metal are nice as are the other little bits like piano black dash and door handles inside. The added options are nice also like the Sony Headunit (which is a must IMO), city pack, auto headlights/wipers which also comes with auto dimming rear view mirror, keyless entry and start.

The economy is ok but it's quite revvy so if you want to go fast you need to hit cam. You can stay around 42-46mpg on a tank if you're lucky but I have had tanks go as low as 33mpg. It's not a motorway cruiser. The gearing is quite short with 70-80mph sitting at around 4k revs. Still only 5 gears...

Tax is around £115-120 I think so pretty cheap.

The metal has a twin exhaust too which sounds a lot better than the ZS.

Only problem I've had with mine is the speakers vibrating door cards. Easy enough fix though.the Sony head unit comes with Sony speakers too.

But...18k in a fiesta a year. No thanks. :)

It is comfortable though but not sure i could do that many miles in it.
 
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Thanks for the replies guys :) I have always had lowered cars, just that I do probably 6k more miles around town this time than before, so the Fiesta would be comfy enough I am sure, afterall I drive a low stiff civic at the moment and can deal with it fine lol just want to save on costs and have a newer, nice looking car with more sensible running costs :)

Need to go view some and test drive some see how I get on with them.

All in all then, reliable cars? Shouldn't give much grief from the sounds of it.
 
80% town driving would be about 56 miles a day around town on average, do you just drive around and around the city centre? :p
 
Stoke's pretty big you know! :)

Yeah I do put quite a few miles on especially at the weekend, I've done 54 miles since 10pm last night when I put some juice in and hit a country road twice for about 5 miles a pop.

The Civic does about 28mpg which isn't too bad but... sometimes you want a change through boredom and I guess such a car as the Fiesta would be a bit more suitable if I don't really need 200BHP and 260 odd quid a year tax :)
 
It's 6BHP down I think. If I got one I'd probably change the exhaust to a miltek or something as the standard ones sound a bit weak and raspy and I'm a big kid at heart, would it likely make up the difference?
 
Stormster said:
Stoke's pretty big you know! :)
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It's not really - looking on Google maps from one side to the other is about 5-6 miles?

Yeah I do put quite a few miles on especially at the weekend, I've done 54 miles since 10pm last night when I put some juice in and hit a country road twice for about 5 miles a pop.
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You won't be going out to hit country roads for the sake if it in a Fiesta though.

Is this for work or something or do you really drive back and forth across Stoke 10 times a day for social reasons? :p
 
The latter :p Silly I know but I like getting out and about :) I do a little bit for work on local calls etc.

From mine to my missus' house is a good 8 miles, from say Stone to Kidsgrove (not too far off one end of Stoke to the other) is approx 17 miles so it's pretty easy to clock some miles up.

I'm probably missing some mod cons too. The limit of luxury in the Civic is...erm...well it reads the outside temperature? :)
 
Wow, I hope I never have to refer to her as that! lol! In an ideal world I'd have a few motors, best of all worlds for my taste. Civic is fine for now but just quite interested in these little Fiesta's, sounds like they're hassle free all in all, something new with a bit of warranty would be a really nice change too.

We'll see at the end of the year :)
 
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