Ford Fiesta Buyer's Guide
Thirteen tracked Fiesta sales tell the fast-Ford story in miniature: a £23,625 Mk2 (XR2 territory) at the top, a £940 late diesel at the bottom, and the pattern in between repeating what Escorts did a decade earlier. The hot versions become classics; the rest become bangers; the gap between them keeps widening.
Know your generations
Mk1/Mk2 (1976–89). Two sales: £10,638 for a 1982 car and £23,625 for a 1983, both firmly in Supersport/XR2 territory. The pepperpot-wheeled XR2 is now a proper collector car, its market driven by scarcity: most rusted away or were driven into hedges decades ago.
Mk3 (1989–97). Four sales, £1,770 to £7,875, median £4,835, the top being RS Turbo/XR2i money. The unfashionable generation is quietly re-rating; clean examples of any specification are scarcer than the survivors suggest.
Mk6 (2002–08). Five sales, £2,400 to £5,000, median £3,600, with the ST150 explaining the upper half. A £940 Mk6-era car reminds us the ordinary ones are still just transport.
Mk7 (2008–17). One sale at £4,100. The Mk7 ST is this generation's future XR2; the market has not moved yet, which is the point of mentioning it.
What to pay
£1,000 to £3,000 buys usable ordinary Fiestas of any modern generation. £3,500 to £6,000 buys STs and tidy Mk3 hot versions around our medians. £8,000 to £15,000 buys the best XR2is and honest Mk1/Mk2 survivors. Beyond £20,000 is concours XR2 money, as our top result shows.
What goes wrong
Rust on the classic generations: sills, arches, tailgates, front crossmembers and battery trays, with repair panels available and mechanicals (Kent and CVH engines) cheap and simple. On XR2s and RS Turbos, identity and originality carry the same warnings as every fast Ford: verify before believing. On Mk6/Mk7 STs, the checklist is modification history and crash repairs rather than corrosion. Nothing on any Fiesta is expensive by classic-car standards, which is much of the charm.
Our view
The Mk7 ST at £4,000 to £6,000 is the obvious hold in this data: the best hot Fiesta ever made, still priced as a used car, with the XR2's trajectory drawn on the wall behind it. For classic ownership today, a £5,000 Mk3 XR2i delivers eighties-adjacent fun with nineties usability. Pay XR2 collector money only for rot-free originality; there is no such thing as a cheap restoration of a cheap car.
