Guys. Thanks for the warm welcome.

I took the Zetec Blue on the "Options" scheme, which with the 18,000 miles a year I do, worked out at £180 a month. Fuel is about £50 a week and I service it every 9 months as per recommended schedule.

So, its a fair chunk of change for something that won't pull the skin off a rice pudding.

My basic enginerring & physics knowledge would suggest that I'd be using much smaller throttle openings to keep up with the flow of traffic as I do in the 1.25, so it would be working more efficiently, be less stressed and as mentioned by a poster above, return decent mpg?

Then when I'm bored with driving like a nun, I can spank the nuts off it and have some fun.

Looking at prices for weedy 1.25 Fiestas like mine with a good spec, they are not too disimilar to s of a year old or so? Some of the "For Sale" threads here suggest s are not flying out the door?

Quite fancy Panther Black or Silver.