Ford Fiesta prone to rust?

Yes they can be and no they're not.

Cue: Ford haters.

Cue: arguments about mark 3, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5 whatever.

:p

Yes. Mondeos, Kas, Fiestas pre-2000 all seem to be prone to rot.

I'm not a Ford-Hater BTW, I actually like Mondeos and Kas. The rot on the rear arches/rear end of the sills was bad on many I looked at last time I bought a proper car for the missus, I went and bought a Citroen Xantia instead, that had none at all :-)

Mike P

I don't hate them, but I do think it's shocking that cars that late rust so badly. Nowhere near as shocking as those Mercs that rust constantly though...

I'm not a Ford hater, (but not a fanboi either by any means), but I'd say the Mk3 and 4 (I'm referring to Wikipedia's definitions here) are slightly prone to rust. The rear quarter near the filler cap and the sills seem to go.

Having said that, well looked-after ones seem to fare a lot better.

The E-class? I was shocked at the state of the Car Mechanics magazine project, and that wasn't a horrific one.

Can't be as bad as the MKII though, espeically C/D reg?

The Mark 3 Fester from 1989 onwards was atrocious for rust but most of it is hidden and you don't find out until it's too late. I had an H reg one when it was only 10 years old in 2000 which looked ok externally but had to be scrapped because the floorpan was full of holes and there was structural corrosion around the front suspension mounts. One day a rear shocker just appeared inside the cabin when the top mount rotted through.

First signs you see are bubbles around the fuel filler cap and by the front A pillars. Tailgates tend to rot too. Another telltale is lots of condensation on the windows in cold weather from the moisture inside. By then it'll be swiss cheese underneath. It's a good idea to lift the front carpets and feel the underlay for signs of damp. I didn't realise the floorpan was so bad on mine until I tried to drive through a section of flooded road and the passenger side filled up with water via holes in the footwell which I found later when I pulled the carpets up.

It's not just the rust though. Everything on them is flimsy. The electrical switches break as do sunroof handles and they don't corner or handle worth a damn anyway.

Ford got their act together with the Mondeo and Focus so I imagine later Fiestas, maybe late 1990s onwards are much better. The earlier Mk 2 Fiesta was actually better than the Mk 3 and could go a lot longer before rust became a problem. I think the Mk 3 just had a lot of bad design points and rust traps in the box sections combined with poor or non existant corrosion proofing and crap suspension.

Early Mondeos which never rust cost peanuts these days so why anyone would buy something as old as a Mk 3 Fester I can't imagine. The Focus is better still.