More pictures and stuff : http://jalopnik.com/5415512/2011-for...d-accidentally

Even more pictures! I'm in heaven. http://www.leftlanenews.com/2011-us-...os-leaked.html

 

That's not a bad-looking car! I prefer the four-door sedan.

 

The shiny bits look a bit garish and tacky on the sedan, while the hatchbacks grill looks a bit plain. But if that's all the molestation the plaid suits in Ford NA felt compelled to do, then we hopefully got off easy with the "Americanization" cheesiness, even if it lacks the Nth degree of design sophistication of the Euro version.

The interior looks very unmolested -- no fake wood trim or tufted velor to suit American tastes -- and hopefully the chassis has been boiled down to a somnolent mush.

 

That black Taurus in the background is a $45k SHO.

 

Beautiful.

 

The 2011 Fiesta felt like an extremely cheap car. The shifter had an excessive amount of play in each of the positions. It also had rear drum brakes and spark plug wires. The projector headlights are only halogen, and there aren't any LED tail lights.

I wouldn't pay over $13k USD for a fully loaded 1.6 Titanium. There are simply a lot of better sub-compact/compact cars in the $16k-$20k price range.

 

That one in your post is a 2010 EU-spec, not a 2011 US-spec. As for your complaints, which cars $16-$20K specifically are you citing as superior cars while competing in the same segment as the sub-$15K Fiesta?

 

Chevrolet Aveo.

 

It's competition would be the Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Chevy Aveo, and Nissan Versa.... Metroplex i'm assuming you drove a Euro-spec Fiesta just like the one I drove a few days ago in Orlando. Don't you think it's a little early to pass judgement on the American version? I agree the shifter was a bit messy, and getting into reverse sounded horrid. But Ford might make improvements in these areas....

Most of the car was hugely surprising. I thought it felt and looked far better than it's price would suggest. Most reviewers have noted the same thing. Let's hope it meets and exceeds expectations

 

Well for one the UK Fiesta starts at 11,000 quid (comparison: UK Focus RS starts at 27,000 quid).
The Fit is a few thousand more than an Aveo in the US, but you can't directly convert GBP to USD to compare prices. I saw a sticker price of $16,000 USD for the 2011 Fiesta somewhere while the Aveo begins at about $10k-$11k USD and the Fit at $14k-$15k USD.

Based on price and not market segment, I'd look at the Hyundai Elantra or Mazda3 before the Fiesta. Neither of these cars are particularly large, FWIW.

At least the Elantra and Mazda3 have rear disc brakes. I would refuse to buy a new 2011 car that used drum brakes and spark plug wires. This isn't the 1980s.

The Fiesta I sat in was a 2011 according to the dealer, but the SYNC lady had a British accent. They didn't let anyone test drive it because of the OEM plate, which didn't make sense to me. I drive plenty of vehicles with OEM plates.

For one thing, the new Fords won't be inexpensive.

 

Okay, from what Autoblog posted, they got to see the real car in person. The pics were not the real car, and Autoblog confirmed that the cars DO NOT have the 3-bar chrome grill on them. The pics we see were probably early renderings for test marketing purposes. Lets see what tomorrow brings when its Press Day at LA and Ford has their unveilings!!!

 

Thats good.. because it looks dumb.

 

Jeff, I took the above photographs at my local dealership of a real 2011 Fiesta. The SYNC voice was British, but it is LH drive with a Michigan OEM license plate.

 

Maybe a fiesta movement car?.... or one of the test drives they were doing... but NOT a US Spec 2011 MY production car.

 

Nope, you were in a real 2010 Fiesta. If you had looked at the manufacturer's sill plate, you would have seen its country of origin was Germany. All the Fiestas at local dealerships and car shows are EU-spec and made in Germany last year. All of Europe sans the UK uses predominately LH drive, in fact mkost of the world does.

The Michigan OEM plate is no indicator, the early Transit Connect demo cars had them even though the TC is made in Turkey. Hang around Detroit long enough and you'll see Falcons and Transits with Michigan OEM plates.

 

Hey bud, the decal in picture 10, on the sill, shows the car and some speed in km/h, not mph. Also, there is the word BAR for pressure, not PSI (though its listed too). That is a EU car, not a 2011 car. Ford hasn't unveiled it yet, and I am 99.9% sure they won't let dealers have the car on their lot before they unveil it at the LA Auto Show.

 

Jeff, it says bar/psi/kPa, so I couldn't really tell if it was pure metric. It was a Fiesta movement car. I didn't realize that the dealer had lied because they said it was a 2011 Fiesta.

US-spec or not, the top end Fiesta in the UK is the 1.6 Titanium / ST. I wanted to see those trims but this Fiesta didn't have any badging to indicate what trim level it was. The rear drums, spark plug wires, halogen headlights, and sloppy shifter were big disappointments. The car looked like a $25k car on the outside, but it felt like a $9k econo car on the inside.

Yocum Ford is awesome BTW!

 

Once the car reaches the dealerships where we can sit in it and see how it feels and drives, then I'll make my judgement. Having driven a Euro-Fiesta back at Carlisle this summer, I LOVED IT! Very peppy car, and lots of room.

BTW, do you know about my dealership?

 

Yocum rocks because I buy all my parts there - never a problem with the service! They're really fair on shipping costs too.

I don't doubt the fun factor of the car. It's small and the 1.6 Titanium has 120 hp, so it'd be a great daily driver. The interior is very roomy. I actually felt more cramped in the 2010 SHO than the Fiesta.

 

Hey Metro, you don't live near my store do ya?