Tweet
I've had a 2011 Fiesta SES (5 door) as a rental car for a few days. Neat little car. Lots of nice little touches.
The bad: As you can imagine, it's gutless. It doesn't lack the pep to pass on the highway, but starting from 0 mph, it takes forEVER to get to 60. The automatic transmission leaves a whole lot to be desired; it's jerky at best at parking lot speeds, but it shifts smoothly at higher RPMs. The door lock situation is weird, it has a button on the lower center dash under the radio controls, and no actual lock mechanism on the doors, which is strange. One problem is that if the doors are locked, you can open them from the inside, even the back doors...at any speed...any time you want. Major safety concern. I've been used to being able to open locked front doors from the inside, and I know cars come standard equipped with child safety locks, but that is inconvenient if you have adult passengers in the back seat. The instrument panel and electronic controls are confusing as hell, and it would take a long time to get used to. It doesn't help that the rental car didn't come with an operator's manual. It also has dismal back seat room. Kids seats would probably be hard to put in, and if you have tall people in the fron, forget about any sort of rear leg room.
The good: Ride comfort is the best of any subcompact car I've ever been in. It feels stable, even at high speeds and high speed passing. Handling is awesome. Just like the Focus, it's one of (if not THE) best cars in its class when it comes to handling out of the box. The steering is weighted nicely and is very responsive and offers great feel. You'd expect to be cramped by looking at it from the outside, and although I'm a little guy at 5'7" and 135 lbs., the front seats provide plenty of room. There's a million cupholders, it has an auxiliary audio input, usb connectivity, and Ford's Sync system, which I cant figure out how to work with my iPhone. Seating surfaces are all cloth in this one, and are quite comfortable and supportive. I thought heated seats were standard with the SES model, but if they had them I couldn't find the button for them. It may be some sort of weird "rental options" package that didn't come with them. Best part about this car? Fuel economy. I've AVERAGED 35 mpg with about 50/50 highway and city driving. That's just amazing. This car would be a pick for me over the Prius or any other hybrid any day if I were worried about fuel economy/fun ratios.
Overall (Cliff's Notes): Nice handling little sub compact with ample front seat room, awesome cargo space, and nice interior touches. Janky, confusing radio that's hard to use, no power, and shitty manual transmission. If you want one, get the manual trans with hardly any other options and you can have a $15k daily beater that will be awesome on fuel and deliver a minor bit of fun.
The bad: As you can imagine, it's gutless. It doesn't lack the pep to pass on the highway, but starting from 0 mph, it takes forEVER to get to 60. The automatic transmission leaves a whole lot to be desired; it's jerky at best at parking lot speeds, but it shifts smoothly at higher RPMs. The door lock situation is weird, it has a button on the lower center dash under the radio controls, and no actual lock mechanism on the doors, which is strange. One problem is that if the doors are locked, you can open them from the inside, even the back doors...at any speed...any time you want. Major safety concern. I've been used to being able to open locked front doors from the inside, and I know cars come standard equipped with child safety locks, but that is inconvenient if you have adult passengers in the back seat. The instrument panel and electronic controls are confusing as hell, and it would take a long time to get used to. It doesn't help that the rental car didn't come with an operator's manual. It also has dismal back seat room. Kids seats would probably be hard to put in, and if you have tall people in the fron, forget about any sort of rear leg room.
The good: Ride comfort is the best of any subcompact car I've ever been in. It feels stable, even at high speeds and high speed passing. Handling is awesome. Just like the Focus, it's one of (if not THE) best cars in its class when it comes to handling out of the box. The steering is weighted nicely and is very responsive and offers great feel. You'd expect to be cramped by looking at it from the outside, and although I'm a little guy at 5'7" and 135 lbs., the front seats provide plenty of room. There's a million cupholders, it has an auxiliary audio input, usb connectivity, and Ford's Sync system, which I cant figure out how to work with my iPhone. Seating surfaces are all cloth in this one, and are quite comfortable and supportive. I thought heated seats were standard with the SES model, but if they had them I couldn't find the button for them. It may be some sort of weird "rental options" package that didn't come with them. Best part about this car? Fuel economy. I've AVERAGED 35 mpg with about 50/50 highway and city driving. That's just amazing. This car would be a pick for me over the Prius or any other hybrid any day if I were worried about fuel economy/fun ratios.
Overall (Cliff's Notes): Nice handling little sub compact with ample front seat room, awesome cargo space, and nice interior touches. Janky, confusing radio that's hard to use, no power, and shitty manual transmission. If you want one, get the manual trans with hardly any other options and you can have a $15k daily beater that will be awesome on fuel and deliver a minor bit of fun.
Comment