My 1996 1.8 Zetec 4/4 is a good car:
I bought it in 2015 at 50k kms (original condition) from a professional in the Netherlands and was soon to discover that it had not been very well looked after. No proper maintenance whatsoever. The clutch -cable, f.i. was badly guided, the pedal worked rough and hard and I had to replace the whole clutch set after 10k kms. Also I did a certain amount of cosmetic work.
But with some love, time and care jointly put into that car by my favorite local dealer and myself, it became perfect to me. The engine runs pleasantly, supension and steering are fine, it's not absolutely watertight but I don't get wet, it got me to Malvern and back (over 2300km in three days)... .
But anyway here's the list of major issues:
1. New Clutch set
2. King Pins and bushes replaced
3. Belts replaced
4. A lot of nerve wrecking red tape to get the papers from our national MOT!
and that's it! "Touchons du bois!" as we say...
