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http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/European_Union_Flag.jpg Smokin "Hot" by comparison to everything else. (cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=226122)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2009_European_Ford_Fiesta.jpgWayne Gerdes - CleanMPG (cleanmpg.com) - Aug. 6, 2009

2009 European Ford Fiesta – This vehicle is on a roll!

In the midst of the deepest recession we (the world) have experienced since the Great Depression, the Fiesta keeps on knocking monthly sales numbers out of the park. This past July was no different as the Ford Fiesta sales were up over 26 percent in the UK thanks to its continuing appeal and the momentum behind the UK Government's scrappage scheme .

The Ford Fiesta represents 44 percent of Ford's scrappage business, which added almost 4,000 registrations last month and a total of 16,500 vehicles to Ford's order bank since the scheme began.

Scrappage purchases, which are incentivised with discounts of up to £5,000 off a new Ford, are included in the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders' latest industry figures.

They show market leader Ford ahead with 24,679 car sales last month and 15.7 percent of ALL registrations.

"Ford's performance demonstrates how strong products can build sales even in the toughest trading climate, said Nigel Sharp, Ford of Britain managing director. “Scrappage is benefitting the whole Ford range, but especially Ford Fiesta and Ka. These are good looking, highly specified cars competing well above the scrappage entry-level heartland."

Ford’s Fiesta is Britain's best selling car for the eighth time in nine months, with Focus again taking second place.

Sales are soaring for Fords with emissions of 120g CO2/km and less – up by 92 percent year to date for the 45 Ford Ka, Fiesta, Fusion, Focus and C-MAX derivatives.

It certainly is an attractive and capable little car!

I'm not surprised it's doing well - from what I have read, the Fiesta is a top-notch product. If I had to buy a new car today, I'd find it difficult to choose between the Fiesta and the Jazz (Fit). The only thing that might put me off the Fiesta is the strange mobile phone-inspired dashboard.

-Simon

I really wish they imported this directly to the US, no changes but steering on the left.

I really wish they imported this directly to the US, no changes but steering on the left.

I'd like US MPG, instead of LHK or MPGUK too, please.:D Otherwise, motion seconded.

I'm glad these things are selling well, but wish they'd come over here sooner. I remember the older Fiestas that used to be here, and they were a little uninspiring.

Hi Jhu:

___I have sat in them multiple times but have never driven one yet :(

___The back seats and space are very much like an Insight-II which means very little room. After all, it is a subcompact. The up to date interior (if you like the interior?) is nice as well. A problem may arise in that the back seats fold down but not in a flat floor layout so the Fit's magic seats have it all over the current European Fiesta. The US version might have that fixed but I would not expect much change from the European Fiesta other than the DOT bumpers and English readouts. The European conventional 1.6L It is geared awfully low for some reason (typical of the segment???) but let us all hope Ford gets it and places a fuel miserly ECOboosted 1.6L in it with a very tall final.

___If they save the $'s and simply recreate the 1.6L with a POS AT or low geared MT, the Fit would be a better choice for us here in the US. I believe Ford will be doing the right thing however and give us the FE but there are no guarantees until its specs are finally released.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I'm hoping it's with an ecoboost engine. That would be nice to have both the power of the turbo and the miserliness of the 1.6l engine.

The one beef I have with my fiancee's Fit is that it needs a ton of revs to move. Other than that it's an excellent car. Will need to see what the Fiesta brings to the table.

For what it's worth, the plain old 1.6 non-turbo is already pretty sporty. It makes 120bhp, goes 120mph (if you must), and gets to 62mph in 9.9 seconds, which ought to be plenty fast enough for public roads.

If they make an Ecoboost version, I'd expect a 1.2 litre or less.

-Simon

They have to get a tall gear in it for me, so I can use it for highway trips. I was interested in the fit, until I found out anout the low gearing in the manual, that is a deal breaker :(
I will just keep buying used until they get it right!

The one beef I have with my fiancee's Fit is that it needs a ton of revs to move. Other than that it's an excellent car. Will need to see what the Fiesta brings to the table.

When I started driving Hondas this bugged me too. I realized the issue wasn't with the car but my mindset about how it should operate.

Honda designes and tunes its engines so the highest HP/torque output will be at a very high RPM. VTec is essentially a "only when you need it" DOHC. This means when you need to stomp on it for merging with fast traffic or for emergency acceloration, you've got it. All of the rest of the time you are blessed with a lightweight small displacement engine.
Does stomping on the gas kill FE? Of course, but you don't do it all the time, only when it's necessary.

The American alternative to this is a big v6 (or v8) engine that has power and torque at the low end not requiring a heavy foot to make the car jump. That's great and all for the 10 minutes a week you need it. All of the rest of the time you're idling that big huge engine at stoplights and having to start and stop the heavy weight.

I'll deal with the screaming pitched Honda engine on the very few times I need it. :)

Hi Partwa:

___Problem being is that in the AT's, Honda lowers the R's by over 30% in some case. With its sticks, it wants to run the ICE closer to torque peaks (ALL the TIME) with good acceleration on tap ALL the TIME and this is where they waste fuel for absolutely no reason other than drivability because they believe a stick driver will not downshift according to Honda's best and brightest. Or they do not want their non-hybrids to compete with their hybrids for highway FE?

___When the Fiesta/Focus/Cruze bury the Fit/Civic because of this huge oversight, Honda will come around. In th mean time, Fit owners get to enjoy a Buzz Bomb while traveling at 60 + :(

___Good Luck

___Wayne

With its sticks, it wants to run the ICE closer to torque peaks (ALL the TIME) with good acceleration on tap ALL the TIME and this is where they waste fuel for absolutely no reason other than drivability because they believe a stick driver will not downshift according to Honda's best and brightest. Or they do not want their non-hybrids to compete with their hybrids for highway FE?


I'm confused. With sticks (manual transmission) the driver controls the gearing and acceleration. What do you mean by "it wants to run the ICE"? What's the it?

Translation: Honda gears their manual transmissions low so that there is lots of torque all the time because the engine is at high RPM all the time.

"It" is referring to Honda.

Translation: Honda gears their manual transmissions low so that there is lots of torque all the time because the engine is at high RPM all the time.

"It" is referring to Honda.

Ahh! I gotcha.

Paraphrased: "There's too little difference between gears and the tallest gear ain't tall enough" Yes?

Hi Paratwa:

___Yes. Up to about 35 mph, you have a lot of control as to the engine and vehicle efficiencies. Above that, the drive ratios begin to take over with what a vehicle is and is not capable of. Both are without taking into account the techniques available to us.

___A tall geared stick will trounce a low geared stick when it comes to highway or higher speed FE and Honda does its best to ruin its MT equipped vehicles FE capability vs. the much taller geared AT's in the exact same vehicles they sell.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

___A tall geared stick will trounce a low geared stick when it comes to highway or higher speed FE and Honda does its best to ruin its MT equipped vehicles FE capability vs. the much taller geared AT's in the exact same vehicles they sell.


I can certianly understand this frustration, but it would make sense from a marketing perspective. They believe (and their polling probably indicates) the segment of their customers wanting manual transmissions are doing so for top end performance and not FE.

The Fit in question is an automatic. It's quite the split personality. The first 3 gears are super-short so the engine is revving up high, 4th is perfect for cruising at 30 mph, and 5th is very tall, 2200 RPM at ~60 mph tall.

Hope Ford makes the ratios better in the Fiesta than Honda did in the Fit.

Hi Paratwa:

___Not really. The 0 to 60 runs by the car mags and anyone else for that matter probably never see south of third and maybe fourth gear tops.

___Most of these manufacturers have their heads up their respective ***** regarding short top gears with their MT's and they simply need to stop it as it is harming the world we all live in.

___A stick is more efficient and adds performance but if they gear the top end low, they wasted the efficiency the vehicle is capable of. Honda is one of the worst offenders as their European Jazz w/ a 1.2L and an AT spins near 1,750 R's at 60 whereas theirs and our hopped up for no good reason Fit with a 1.5L and a stick pulls near 2,800 at the same.

___The Fit's I see around here are driven by young families not boy racer's and speak to any of them about going down the highway. First complaint, it revs to high when going down the highway :confused:

___We can counter this w/ P&G but play that game for 500 miles a day and you will see there are maybe 10 of us that are willing to go to those lengths with the other million just sucking down fuel for no good reason whatsoever.

___The Fuel misers of the world including the Ford ECOnetics, the BMW 116 - 123d’s, VW Polo’s and both the 2.2L equipped Honda Civic iDTEC and HCH-I, all with 5 and 6-speed sticks are all tall geared vs. the Yaris’, Fit’s, Rio’s and Aveo’s to name a few. Even something as ubiquitous as the Honda Accord with a stick are all short geared vs. their AT counterparts and power is only the beginning. The manufacturers grabbing the extra $1,000 for the AT’s are another reason and everyone knows an AT is not nearly as reliable as a stick over 500,000 miles let alone lower performance in most every case other than the latest DSG’s.

___Do not even get me started about way over powered bikes and their extremely short gearing :rolleyes:

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Hi Paratwa:

___Ford is not immune to doing the stupid short MT gearing dance either... The European - gasoline 1.6L powered Fiesta w/ its 5-speed MT is short geared as well. And far lower geared than the AT variant??? :mad:

___Good Luck

___Wayne

The Fit MT and HI2 spin about 3k at 60 :shiver:

Fit 5at > Fit 5mt bad gearing when they changed the tranny
HCHII > HI2 hmm same thing

HI2 has the CVT equivalent of the curse of Honda's "fun to drive" transmission gearing?

I've wondered if the MT buzz bomb phenomenon is partly caused by concerns about cruise control as well as driver gear choice error. For a certain type of engineer it would seem necessary to have a high revving top gear to protect the car from being abused by the cruise control at low highway speeds

Maybe so, but anyone who is inconvenienced by having to downshift for hills shouldn't be driving a manual transmission in the first place. Maybe I'm just silly but I buy manual transmission vehicles because I want to shift them myself. :p

I've wondered if the MT buzz bomb phenomenon is partly caused by concerns about cruise control as well as driver gear choice error. For a certain type of engineer it would seem necessary to have a high revving top gear to protect the car from being abused by the cruise control at low highway speeds

Manuals have a cruise disengage when the clutch is engaged just like it does when you press on the brake pedal. So if you down shift the manual transmission the cruise control disengages to prevent over revving.