.jpg)
18 months & 55000 KM
Ford Fiesta EcoBoost ||| 18 Months ||| Korczuch
Right as i got my license a new car appeared before my house; a blue, 5 door Ford Fiesta. Usually i’d breeze right past this car if it was parked on the street, but since I had the keys to it, and I was hungry to drive I decided to see what this rather new fad of tiny engines was about, and if it’s worth even considering. The car has since done forty six thousand kilometers between my father and I, and I think there’s more than meets the eye with these small eco-boxes. But let’s go back in time to when we first got this car.
The Basics
Let me get the boring stuff out the way, since I know some people care about this stuff; this is a three cylinder, 1 liter engine making 100 horsepower. The Fiesta is a 5 door, and has the titanium trim, which is one of the better ones you could have gotten, but not the best. Oh and it’s a 2017 model, if you really do want to know more go ahead and look around the web, I won’t mention these stats much more because truly they are nothing interesting. However, the rest of the car is interesting in a few ways, especially the way it drives, but first let’s dive inside the car and I’ll point out a few things.
Diving inside
Getting the obvious out the way, this is an eco-box, but on the inside there are a few things that bug me, even taking it’s cheap price tag into consideration. I’d love to start by pointing out some things I think this car is missing, such as grab handles, there isn’t a single one, as a passenger I catch myself really wanting one, especially in the back seat where there isn’t much to grab onto. In all honestly though, you will probably rarely notice this flaw, especially if you predominantly drive. Further on i’ve noticed that the seats aren’t extremely comfortable, after sitting in them for over 2 hours i develop an ache in my lumbar region, an issue I have never had in a car before, and an issue I can’t avoid when I drive. Lastly I have to mention some features that are missing, and some which don’t seem to work at all, startin with no reminder to get s service, weird considering the trim level and the other options this car has, such as “active city stop” which is supposed to stop you from having a low speed collision, but doesn’t actually seem to do anything other than tell you it doesn’t work if your windscreen is filthy. However, if we forget the last two points, there are some things I genuinely do enjoy with this car, starting with a large center cubby hole under the armrest, a feature which many cars forget about. The interior is generally laid out decently well, and although the infotainment screen is tiny, it does a great job relaying information, and is very smooth. All things considered, this interior really isn’t bad, although slightly outdated already, it’s definitely not the worst out there, but that might not be something I can say about the way it drives.
But how does it drive?
This is probably what many people really want to know about this car, how does it actually drive, and let me say, I love it. Now hold on, before you type your angry comment and call me an idiot, hear me out. If you want to go fast, or expect this to drive like a larger engine you’re just gonna be disappointed and angry at me, because this car isn’t made to do that, it’s made to be a brilliant, cheap to run, all around car, and it does this so damn well. Let me start with the obvious, it’s not fast, but it’s not so painfully slow that you can’t keep up with normal traffic, and around the city it’s perfectly capable, it’s only when you want to overtake someone or catch up with on faster moving roads that the small engine is noticeably weak, however it doesn’t mean you can’t cruise at around 140 km/h on the highway with ease. This all however can be forgotten when you realize the gas economy this thing can get, because if you are getting this car you probably care about this. If you drive around 100 km/h and are light on the throttle you’ll average out around 4 liter per 100 km, and if you manage to find a bus on the highway to nip behind you can get as low as 2.9 per 100 on average, now that’s what I call hypermiling. Along with all that, the car is genuinely quite smooth, and quite a bit quieter than most cars i’ve driven. Honestly, I can’t not mention how great this engine is for a cheap daily runner, but with all that in mind, I cannot recommend this car.
Why don't you like it?
I know, you’re probably confused, I mentioned all these positive things about the engine and about this car, yet I am not recommending it, so why not? Although I like this car, and I think it’s not the worst option out there, I also got to drive around a Volkswagen Polo, and deal with that. While the Ford is great in many regards, the Polo i drove is so much more modern than this version of the Fiesta, although I can imagine the new Fiesta has caught up. Truly what left me disappointed with Ford iis the overall quality and the very lacking service centers. The wheel alignment has gone off, and Ford fixes it after some complaining, and then it goes right back to what it was. The handbrake is loose, and barely holds when fully pulled up, the fix lasted about a week. The rear windows slowly move down about 1 centimeter over a period of a few hours, but Ford mechanics can’t do anything about it and just blame it on the car, a very annoying fault. The paint seems to layered so thin that a feather would leave a deep scratch, and the nightmare to replace a wheel with the spare is something that I can write about for a few hours (save yourself some hassle and buy a wrench if you own this car). Along with the wait times all 4 Ford dealers I’ve been to seem to impose, and the issues with each one it’s hard for me to recommend this car, especially when the Polo does everything as well, or better, and runs very similar engines to the ones I mentioned before. Now I personally struggle to judge the quality, but my neighbour's Polo seems to be holding on much better, and I can personally vouch for much better customer care in the VW brand dealers. In the end, poor build quality and a terrible service support hurts Ford massively in my eyes, and makes this a terrible long term buy.