First impression of the Ford Fiesta

Aside from driving all of the high performance offerings at Ford’s Deaborne test facility, we thought it might be a good idea to familiarize ourselves with a product that we should be seeing a lot more of in the near future. This little green Ford Fiesta is not the production version that will be sold as a 2010 model, but instead a European spec Fiesta, complete with a speedometer that read in kilometers.

We weren’t provided with any official specs for the Fiesta because Ford is still finalizing the design in order to provide American consumers with the best Fiesta possible. When we spoke with the Fiesta’s Brand Manager Sam de la Garza, who was extremely excited about the new car; he told us that the final production version will be very similar to what we drove, the only changes to the body will come from government mandated safety regulations. In the U.S. the importance is put on passengers surviving a crash while in Europe the magistrates are more concerned with how the unfortunate pedestrian will fair.

The Fiesta felt just like an old GTI; it was nimble and quick thanks to its light weight. The engine is peppy, but it is clear that the blue oval engineers tuned the four cylinder lump for economy and not peak performance. The Fiesta feels comfortable at speed, however it takes a while to get up there. There is not a lot of acceleration under the hood, but whatever speed you are able to muster can easily be carried through any corner. We liked the Fiesta, however we are waiting for a WRC inspired model, or an appearance package based on the Pikes Peak cars, but our friend Sam let us know that Ford was first going to worry about getting the car into U.S. showrooms.