Ford Fiesta

[user removed]

My buddies shop just picked up one salvage with 2200 miles. Wondering if anyone here has one and what they think of the car and mileage. I asked him to give me a shot at it when it is fixed.

regards
Mech

[JasonG]

That brings back memories.
When I was 18-20 a buddy's first car was a Fiesta.
Remember it cornered lousy but ran forever.
Rusted to heck but that thing never broke down or failed to start.

With that low mileage it probably has done a lot of sitting. Check all hoses and be prepared to rebuild the brake cylinders.(yes they were rebuildable back then. Rubber cups cost around $0.50. A few here remember the parts store having bins of them.)

[user removed]

Jason it is a 2011-2012 new model Fiesta. Basically a new car hit hard enough to salvage with 2200 miles.

regards
Mech

[JasonG]

Whoops, didn't know they were still making them.

Edit past - delete,delete, delete

[FXSTi]

First post on here (I think). I just picked up a new 2011 a month ago and have put about 3,600 mile on so far. My calculated mpg thus far is 42.21 mpg since I bought it. I've had three tanks at 45 point something mpg using an ultra gauge, and just using basic hypermiling techniques. No P&g yet, I only FAS at long red lights.

So, what do I think? It is a good little car that should have been built with an overdrive. It works for me because I drive 90% rural highways with very little freeway driving and very little city driving. Both ends seem to kill the mileage. I really am happy with it though, I have owned very few cars which I have liked as much.

Overall the build quality seems to be pretty darn good. Ask me again in a year when I have 35,000-40,000 miles on it.

[user removed]

Thanks for the advice and knowledge FXSTi. This one is the hatchback. It looks like I will be in a position to buy it when they get it fixed in 2 or 3 weeks. I would have thought with the 6 speed AT they would have a fairly low highway RPM at speed, but I guess it may not be that low. What are your RPMs at 60 MPH and is yours a manual or auto, hatch or 4 dr?

Jason don't let it bother you. My original post certainly failed to specific the year made.

regards
Mech

[FXSTi]

We both forgot to mention which transmission we were talking about. I have the five speed manual, which has no overdrive. I'm sure the 6 speed Powershift automatic has an overdrive. It is not a typical auto transmission though. As I understand it, it is a dual clutch manual which is shifted by the computer (or magic)

The Automatic is listed by the EPA as having one mpg hwy better than the manual. You might look into the Fiesta Faction forum if you get serious about buying this car.

The guys at Clean MPG ran a manual 2600 miles and managed a hair over 63 mpg.

edit: forgot to mention my 60 mph rpm's. when I'm going 60 my rpm's are about 900 or zero, and I'm on a steep downhill. I really don't know what they are under power.

edit #2 Clean MPG show 2700 rpm at 60 mph.

I'd post links but I'm not sure on the policy here. I never planned on posting on this site so I have not look into the policies. I'm no Ecomodder, about the only ecomods I think I have ever done are higher air pressure and lower pedal pressure. I love lurking here though, you folks write some great stuff.

[bandit86]

any updates?

[FXSTi]

I'm at a hair under 18K now and still like the car a lot. I've not had any serious problem, squeak,s rattles, or rolls. I have had some bad luck and puncture two sidewalls. I also had my evap canister replaced under warranty and a grounding TSB taken care of.

Kirk

[user removed]

They are still working on the Fiesta. They also bought another one that was not damaged as much as the first one. Ford is making it costly to get the parts. They want the old parts back or you have to pay a core charge (on body parts!). Doesn't make much sense when the old parts are basically smashed to pieces. I think maybe Ford doesn't want the aftermarket getting their hands on any old parts, but that is just a guess. The second one is just about ready for the road. I'll see what they are asking for the car then do the math, but I just got a significant amount of work done on the Maxima, hopefully so it can make it to 200k miles without many more repairs. It would be hard to recover than money if I sold it right now, but even the tires should be good for another 55k miles (currently just under 145 K). Last tank in the Max was 29 MPG.

I'm not sure if I am going to buy the car or not. Doing the math it will take a long time to break even comparing the total cost to my 1999 Maxima. With the Max at probably a 29-30 MPG average and the Fiesta at 42, for as few miles as I put on the Maxima (most of my miles are on bikes at 67 MPG average) the additional cost of the the car, property taxes, and probably higher insurance, plus depreciation, the difference would be hard to justify economically.

regards
Mech