Ford Fiesta

[FXSTi]

Old Mechanic,

I agree the cost analysis has to be done to justify a new car.

If I were driving a normal amount, I would probably drive a beater. I lack the mechanical skills to do more than very basic maintenance on a car. I'm on track to drive about 35,000 miles during my first year of ownership and realized that the F-150 I was driving was going to be too expensive to keep around. I looked for a about a month for a reliable used car with good fuel economy. What I ran into was that the used market was expensive and very few fuel efficient cars were for sale near me. I started running out of time before school started, so I began looking at new cars. For me the deal worked out that I ended up with a lower payment, lower insurance, and burning about 1/3rd of the fuel.

Kirk

[user removed]

It looks like the Fiesta will be available within a week. They are waiting on the State Police Inspection which is required for any salvage vehicle in Virginia. The one they finished first actually had relatively minor damage to the front end. No air bags deployed so the collision was not that bad.

The car will have about 3000 miles on it when they offer it for sale and they will be asking $10k for the car, about a $6-7k discount off of the new price. It is the hatchback with AT, Not sure if its the SE or SES model. I'll check that tomorrow. I should be able to sell one bike ( I have 4) and the Maxima for something around $6-7k so my out of pocket cash will be around 3-4k with fewer vehicles to insure and pay for tags, but higher property taxes. I sold a non road worthy bike last Saturday for $900.

Averaging 28 MPG in the Maxima and hopefully a little over 40 in the Fiesta, with the Fiesta being basically a new car with less than 3k miles, while the Max is at 144k now, I am leaning toward buying the Fiesta. I will still have a bike that can average close to 60 MPG, but my wife and I can both use the Fiesta to keep the miles down on her Sorento.

While I have the ability to work on cars, age makes it tiresome and painful when the work gets extensive. It will be nice to not have to worry about some repair coming up on the Maxima that would basically be money down the toilet.

I still have to see if I actually fit in the Fiesta. It seemed like the front seat was almost not capable of going back far enough to get comfortable fro my just over 6 feet and 205 pound frame. I don't need to have collision insurance since it will be paid for and I haven't had an accident that was my fault in almost 25 years.

The car had no frame damage, no bondo, and all of the parts are OE Ford replacements.

regards
Mech

[FXSTi]

I'm 6' and 210 and have plenty of room. When you check it out remember that the seat goes up and down, and the steering wheel does tilt and telescope.

The powershift transmission works good from what I am reading, but there is a learning mode for the transmission. As I understand it, if you can get it in learning mode ( I don't know how) you can teach it to shift at lower rpms. I'm sure that you can find the info at Fiesta Faction: The Ford Fiesta Enthusiast Community Forum and lots more info specific to the Fiesta. Just don't believe anything you read by FXSTi, that guy is a jerk.

Kirk

[user removed]

Thanks for the insight on the seating and steering wheel. The shop also just bought a 2012 Focus, but I think the owner is going to keep it for a while. At 72 he still works on rebuilding the cars every day. Tough old son a a Carolina share cropper, who left home at 16 and now is worth a couple of million dollars.

They primarily work with Ford products so they will always have parts vehicles in the near future, a good source for spare parts, if needed. I have helped them in the past when they ran into a problem that was difficult to resolve. Also helped them with some home restoration and building new homes for his sons.

regards
Mech

[user removed]

I think the learning mode is something that adjusts over time, not sure but I have owned a couple of vehicles that seemed to do the same. Over a period of time the car will learn your driving habits and adjust. Basically I will do what I have done on any AT equipped car which is to give it the most throttle I can without forcing the transmission to stay in lower gears for any longer than absolutely necessary. The wife's Sorento has the same basic type of automated manual.

regards
Mech

[user removed]

I drove the Fiesta today. It's the SE model with steel wheels and no cruise control, but it does have several options including the blue tooth, XM satellite capability, and some other electronic gizmo's I might never use. Told them I wanted it, should be ready in a week or so.

If I remember right it was running about 22-2300 RPM at 65 MPH but that could be off a little. Seems like a nice combination and a very nice ride as well as quiet.

Basically the Fiesta fills the gap between her Sorento at 27 MPG average (winter) and my bike at 75 (winter). I was thinking of selling the 2011 CBR and keeping the Vulcan 500, but I might do the opposite depending on how gas prices fare this summer.

I might sell the Vulcan and keep the CBR, but I love the cruiser style and riding position of the Vulcan and I only have 2k purchase price in that bike. On the other hand the CBR has much longer service intervals. I checked today and the recommended oil change interval is 8000 miles on the CBR.

Regardless of which bike I keep or sell the money saved on taxes and insurance will cover the difference in fuel cost, but I just love the power of the Vulcan, I guess some of my old redneck gene pool is still hanging in there.

Just finished doing the valve adjustment and air filter on the Vulcan. There are few vehicles that can get 57-63 MPG and move away from a light like that bike. On the other hand 200 miles on 2.5 gallons of gas is nothing to sneeze at either. In the Vulcan it would take 3 gallons in the summer if I can keep my hand from full throttle and shift conservatively.

regards
Mech

[sendler]

Congratulations on the Fiesta. Is it lime green?

[user removed]

It's the darker of the two red colors, close to burgundy. That lime green is wild, reminds me of some of the late 60 early 70s Chrysler colors. I think it has a whole 3k miles on it now. They get good deals on them because there are almost no used parts available and they get like 25% off new parts, but it takes a long time to get the parts, which is one reason they go to the auctions.

I think they paid $4500 for this car at the auction. I was looking at a 2003 Echo that was a manual and had 107 k miles on it. It went for a $2900 bid plus fees of probably $200 more. The used car market around here is absolutely crazy. I put my Maxima on craigslist today at 2:30 PM, for $3500, and I have 19 emails already. Two people will look at it tomorrow, but every other car I listed on CL was bought by the first person who looked at it.

I know it cost them $300 just to get keys made at the dealer. I have known the family that owns the shop for 25 years.

regards
Mech

[user removed]

Sold the Maxima this morning for $3300 cash. The gent who bought it was commuting 120 miles a day in a full sized Toyota and averaging 15.9 MPG. He had 90k miles on his 3 year old truck, so his mileage will double in the Maxima. It's neat when you sell a car to someone and they cut their consumption in half.
90k at 15 MPG, 6000 gallons of fuel. Whew that works out to over $20,000 in fuel in 3 years.
Looking forward to the Fiesta.

regards
Mech

[sendler]

I just drove a new Fiesta. WHAT A NICE CAR! The interior is high quality. Stereo sounds good and has an aux jack. Tilt telescope wheel. power mirrors. Clutch feels perfect, trans shifts nice, engine never chugs or lugs and is so smooth you cant tell if it is still running at a stop light. Steering is perfect with none of the sticktion that I feel in the Fit and the Yaris. Road going roll quality is amazing. Bumps have no thud. $500 rebate. $13,400 plus tax out the door. Amazing.