2011 Ford Fiesta SES <pic heavy/like always>

[Gas Man]

So with the wife's Lincoln MKZ lease ending this summer, in April we pre-ordered her a 2011 Fiesta. We watched it on Top Gear in 2008 when they did a review on the Euro version in 2008. We loved it then and thought... "once again the euro's get all the cool stuff."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zy78tFPQwQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYIyCmcuQno

Now granted there are some differences but still all very the same.

So we picked it up Monday. Wifey luvs it. I'm thinking... it's good. Thursday I drove it so that I could get the windows tinted. Grab a few pics before I shove off in the morning... sorry about the rain...

Now this is the hatch SES with 301 package (pre-tint) and the body kit & spoiler, which is great









Nice dry shot and even after some rain driving


I found a few very distinct first impressions...

The completely keyless system a breathe of fresh air. A lift of the restraints of keys that we have all become a custom to. The simple button push and pull works great. I push the start and the motor fires quietly to a purr. It is a very quiet motor that gives very little vibration.

It has things that you wouldn't see in this segment of cars. Ambient lighting... and lots of it. Plus it does like 10 colors!!
Cup holders <thumbnails enlarge if clicked>


dash


front floors are done with this little LED


rear floors



Interior shot, that didn't turn out so well.


She also has the metalic assc that gave her a different shift knob and these metal entry kick panels


The interior in general is great. The seats are comfortable, supportive and conforming. The radio/sync is somewhat straight forward regardless of the amount of buttons. The hardest part is getting use to the sync. I have yet to even tap into Ford's 3rd and best version out to date.


However, the shift is almost truck long in its throw. This is not a wrist action shifter by any means. I can only hope that the aftermarket companies will make a short throw shifter.

The sloped rear roofline does effect the long distance sight out the rear view mirror, but I think with a good final adjustment to the seat I can work around that. The side mirrors with built in convex mirrors and side blinkers are nice. Double safety in my honest opinion as a motorcycle rider. I have convex mirrors on every car/truck/suv I drive. That along with proper mirror adjustment will cut down on accidents.

[Gas Man]

The rear reflectors need to be blacked out bad, they stick out like a sore thumb on the dark color, like 2 big red blobs. The front door windows are huge and give you a fish tank feel, but easily fixed with some window tint. The less bright color shows off the body lines better. Now coupled with some tinted windows (limo windshield strip, 20% rear/35% fronts) you can concentrate on those agressive body lines.





She's got a wide ass to boot


The lines are just so nice, edgy, and modern looking




After driving it for 2 days I'm impressed. It's no sports car or anything, but it had no problems whizzin down the eway the other night chasing my bud in his new 300, doing speeds over 100mph.

I couldn't help but to admire the car everytime I stopped during my work day.



Then when I got home I was again admiring the front LED accent lights. Something that you usually only see on high $30k ++ cars.



Gives it a great look at night. And I already have 2 HID kits on order as well.


Low beams


High beams


The suspension has achieved the impossible. It's tight, sensative, and gives great feedback from the road. With that recipe you would think it would be rough and that the bumps would push or knock you and the car around. Well, you would be wrong. I said they achieved something that most only dream of obtaining. It has a sport tightness that you wouldn't expect from a car of this class, yet it sucks up these crappy Michigan roads with ease. Ford has done it, hats off.

We're both really happy with it. The car's sticker was $19,245, add on the $1800 for the body kit & spoiler (parts, prep, paint, install), minus family discount and competitor cash ($1k), plus tax... $20k flat OTD.

I simply don't know of other cars that give you so much bang for your buck. Plus it has its competitors whipped in the looks department. It's edgy and gets lots of positive attention every where you take it. Even when I stopped by the Chevy dealer, the sales team nearby were on it in a flash checking it out. Ford raised the bar big time.

[Porkchop]

Real nice gas. It has a for cylinder correct??? I don't know if I could ever go back to a four after owning 2 six cylinders.

[Gas Man]

Honestly I will say this... it doesn't matter which you get. Off the top of my head...

91 Pontiac 6000... had it till 295k so I replaced much but never opened the motor or trans.
00 F150... bought used from company, no real things ever done to it and had 230k on the clock when I got rid of it.
02 Saturn SC2... NO problems
04 F150... only a few little things like check engine light needing software update, rear end clutch packs replaced
04 Chevy Equinox... no problems
07 Lincoln MKZ... battery died 3 months after new, replaced. NO other problems.
07 Chevy TB SS... new rear end, xm antenna replaced, couple door seals replaced, window motors lubed... nothing major.
10 HHR SS.... saga continues
11 Fiesta... 275miles in...

Not bad...

But nice honda Derf... can't say anything bad about Hondas.... where are those built?

[derf]

Originally Posted by Gas Man

But nice honda Derf... can't say anything bad about Hondas.... where are those built?

Major component assembly is done in japan, drivetrain, body, etc then shipped to california for final assembly. Yeh honda has treated me well, I had an old integra that lasted to 180k when it was finally stolen. I also had a toyota celica that finally started having trans problems after I started to offroad it, other than that it was great. Then I had a plymouth acclaim that had lots of small problems until I sold it at 85k, granted most of those problems were because it sat from 94-99 without being started, then in a little over a year I put 45k on it.

After that I bought 2 focus's (one was my wifes) which were great until they hit 100k and I went through the gambit of car repair. between the 2 cars:

3 Crappily designed thermostat housings
3 head gaskets
3 fuel pumps
3 axles
3 (see a trend here) water pumps
3 altenators
3 steering columns
3 brake master cylinders
3 (another 3!) manual shift linkage cables
1 (no more 3's) gas tank
6 gas caps
2 windshield wiper motors
1 tourque converter
1 manual shift inkage
1 engine mount
1 non working door (it was a back door but thats why we sold the car)
neither glove box would stay up
2 broken hand brake cables
neither one had a cig outlet that would work longer than a few hours without blowing a fuse
electric seat motor blew
front brakes would only last between 15 and 20k miles

Thats all I can think of off the top of my head. Luckily we had 2 of them and after my car was deemed not worth it to fix anymore (128k), I put it in the driveway and used it for salvage parts. My wifes car had 124k miles and the back door sropped opening, then failed inspection so we traded it in for the fit, and got $1600 (lucky we got that much) for it.

Nothing against the fiesta, I just hope you didnt have the same experience I've had with it. I've heard of some bad stuff with them already, sync system freezes, keyless entry stops working, cruise conrol issues, dual clutch auto tranny problems, CEL throwing a code for brake service, fuel pump control thingie thinking the airbags deployed, decel fuel shutoff sometimes takes too long to kick in resulting in a stalled car. Thats it, not sure how prevalent each of those problem is but thats the stuff I have heard of so far.

Go here for fiesta related questions, they can answer you most stuff

http://www.fiestafaction.com/forums/

[Homeslice]

Originally Posted by derf

3 Crappily designed thermostat housings
3 head gaskets
3 fuel pumps
3 axles
3 (see a trend here) water pumps
3 altenators
3 steering columns
3 brake master cylinders
3 (another 3!) manual shift linkage cables
1 (no more 3's) gas tank
6 gas caps
2 windshield wiper motors
1 tourque converter
1 manual shift inkage
1 engine mount
1 non working door (it was a back door but thats why we sold the car)
neither glove box would stay up
2 broken hand brake cables
neither one had a cig outlet that would work longer than a few hours without blowing a fuse
electric seat motor blew
front brakes would only last between 15 and 20k miles

Wow, that's pretty hilarious. To think I almost bought a Focus SVT a few years ago.

[tallywacker]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

Wow, that's pretty hilarious. To think I almost bought a Focus SVT a few years ago.

Your lucky you didn't man. Those things are terrible for reliability. I knew three people that bought them and they traded them off within 2 years because they were junk.

[Gas Man]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

What is an assc?

short for accessories

Originally Posted by derf

Nothing against the fiesta, I just hope you didnt have the same experience I've had with it. I've heard of some bad stuff with them already, sync system freezes, keyless entry stops working, cruise conrol issues, dual clutch auto tranny problems, CEL throwing a code for brake service, fuel pump control thingie thinking the airbags deployed, decel fuel shutoff sometimes takes too long to kick in resulting in a stalled car. Thats it, not sure how prevalent each of those problem is but thats the stuff I have heard of so far.

Go here for fiesta related questions, they can answer you most stuff

http://www.fiestafaction.com/forums/

That is a heck of a list. I haven't heard anybody have those kinds of problems with a focus. You must have my strand of luck. You buy Friday afternoon assembled cars too?

To date, we don't have any of the issues listed above. Not even the ones that the online relm told us we would have without a doubt. Nope... not there. The problem with the Fiesta is that it's been a long running car in europe. So some of the info on the web is miss leading. Further, as I said, those built in germany these built in mexico... who knows what the differences are.

I have looked at that site, but it's so big. I just don't think I have that kind of time for ANOTHER big site.

[derf]

I'm member #33 on thier sister site focaljet. The focus was great until about 40k miles, then little stuff started going wrong, I got lucky that I bought the extended warranty that was good til 60k but after that I got screwed. There were also a ton of recalls, and even after the recalls were done, the fixes weren't great fixes. That is the problem with buying a first model year production car, the bugs arn't quite worked out yet. And what is scary is that both cars had the same problems at around the same mileage, if you look at the issues section from focaljet, 2000 model year there are quite a few people who's cars were built between jul 99 and may 00 that had many of the same problems

[101lifts2]

Originally Posted by Gas Man

short for accessories....

Accessories = Accs..not assc. Assc = Association.