2010 Ford Fiesta in my neighborhood
 

I was walking to work with Xazy this morning and saw a bright green car off in the distance. I told Xazy we had to walk a little bit further to see the car, I figured it was the Ford Focus, but it turned out to be the Ford Fiesta.

The guy looked a little bit like Ray Romano, and he explained a few things about how Ford is bringing in 150 of the cars this year and next year will bring even more. They made slight modifications to the car such as MPH, and other "Americanizations" but otherwise left the car alone. I was glad to hear that because after driving a Ford Focus in Spain and then driving a similar one here it was very disappointing. VERY disappointing.

I hope that they do keep it very global and simple. Make the simple changes, but keep the excitement that the car has under the hood and on the ride.

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Holy crap! The Fiesta is a very good little car, and Ford has been mad not to bring it's European cars to the US. They get better mileage, they have a higher build quality, and they're not really expensive.

BTW, here is the infamously brilliant Top Gear review of the Fiesta:

That's what having a competent CEO will do for a company. Ever since Alan Mulally took over that has been one of the things he has been working towards, bringing their excellent global small cars here.

They were already looking a $25k tag for the US. Bringing them in 150 at a time will juice that like crazy. It's a great little car, but it's not a $25k car.

The Fiesta starts at about £10,000, which is about $14,500 US. Are they really going to try and mark up the car 166%?

Last time I checked, when the Fiesta hits the US market full force, it'll be built somewhere in North America.

Also, as an American working in the UK, I have had the chance to drive many different rental cars. I've driven Fords, Vauxhauls and Toyotas. Its easy to see how/why Ford is finally bringing over the European spec vehicles. The fit, trim and handling on their European cars is superb, though the US cars are finally catching up. For those that are curious, the Euro Spec Toyotas are pretty much what you'd expect from one in the US, and the Vauxhauls (European GM) are maybe even worse than what you can get domestically.

If it's going to be built in the US, great! They were talking $10k import markup.

A Ford fanatic father tells me that Ford's European engineering team is superior to their US engineers. A Ford car conceived in Europe will apparently be designed around better materials and will last longer than one of its american counterparts.

I'm a sucker for little cars! If this model had been around when I purchased my MINI, I might have considered it.
It reminds me of a larger Ford Ka
http://novosite.alcantara.com.br/ges...r_02FordKa.jpg
but with prettier lines.

I'd prefer one of these:
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(My cousin's European Ford car.. not sure what model it is.)

Older Ka, but they won't bring those over here either, well maybe they may consider it...but it looked and drove like a performer even with the small size from what I've been told.

I believe the North American Fiesta is going to be built in Mexico, though there is talk that the Louisville Assembly Plant here which is the only Explorer plant will be switched over to small car production when the Explorer is moved to a crossover frame in 2010-2011.

I think that's a 2001 Ford Street Ka.

The real question is will they SVT it?

Or better still... Fiesta RS Cosworth.

2010 Fiesta? It was released last year (Oct 2008) already.

It really is a good little car. I've got its platform sibling, the Mazda2, and it is clearly superior to every other car in its class, in all aspects. I think the Mazda has better trim and build quality than the Fiesta, although the Fiesta is the more visually appealing. The Fiesta's slightly longer wheelbase and wider track may make it perform better too.

Over here the Fiesta powerplants are 1.4L and 1.6L. (with the Focus starting at 1.8L) I expect in the US the Fiesta would start at 1.8L ?

Wow. Those Ford Fiestas look a lot different from the one I owned, back in the '80s.

A Ford Fiesta was my very first car. I bought it used, for $2,000. That was my first bank loan, too, co-signed by my girlfriend's mother. Yes, her mom liked me that much. (As for my parents: they were jerks.) I'm proud to say I paid back that loan in a responsible and timely manner, despite the hardships of my early adulthood. (Among other things, there was a severe recession going on, at the time.)

THe bigger question though, is did you marry your girlfriend?

Wow, I didn't know they cost that much new. I paid my only two car loans off in a responsible manner too. But the last one, for my Jeep mountain goat, the lender sent my a notice saying they would reposess if I didn't immediately pay $0.00. Nobody returned my phone message. I guess they felt stupid. I didn't hear from them ever again.

I'm seriously re-thinking my idea of an Escape Hybrid being my next vehicle. The only drawback of the Fiesta is cramped quarters for the baby seat. They are a bitch to install in small cars.

Of course, at the rate things are going, our baby will be in his second year of college, dating a nice young woman from Vermont, backpacking over Europe, while writing the great American novel.

Hey, it never hurts to have a plan.

I did.