Hi all, my first of hopefully many posts here.

My background is that I am currently a 2018 Fiesta Active driver and looking to get rid before 60k miles due to the wet belt fiasco and inability to tell when the thing is going to let go (certainly not Ford's stated 120k mi...). I am happy to see it go as I suffer with sensory issues in the car and cannot stand the incredibly high road noise. I suspect this is in part down to the Active's odd 215/45R17 low profile tyres which are both ruinously expensive and notorious for their reinforcement and high noise levels. That'll teach me to try before I buy. My budget is about 8-10k.

I am keen on the Fabia's good value and the higher trim levels are well equipped enough to meet the high interior standards of the high trim Fiesta. Unfortinately they almost all ship with even more ruinously expensive, oddly sized and reinforced 205/45R16 elastic bands...

So really I am looking for people's opinions. Are the tyre costs as problematic as they appear? And most importantly, how is the road noise on various surfaces - especially rough coarse aggregate ones frequently found on 80s/90s roads? Do I need to be expanding my search to try and find more of the relatively rare SE Ls in my price range, with conventional tyres?

Cheers all - happy Easter.

Edited 17 April17 Apr by DB617
Typo

Welcome and happy Easter.

Maybe best your question moved to the Mk3 section. A mod can move it.

Going and getting in a few Fabia for a road test to hear for yourself and feel the differences is really the sensible thing to do. Maybe ata car supermarket type place with a few Fabia.

You are going to have to look at what you are buying even closer because some Mk3 Fabias came with 215/40 R 17 Tyres. Or there are 215/45 16,s.

There will be 8 year old be on sale with other than they left the factory with, wheel size and tyre sizes changed maybe.

Edited 18 April18 Apr by Ootohere

The 215/45 R 17 tyres are XL (Reinforced) as are many other tyres, there is plenty choices though and they are not more expensive than other sizes.