Overview & Reviews

User Reviews:

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  Sport fun, sore right elbow - 2016 Ford Fiesta
  By JOHN GEORGE - August 22 - 6:29 am

  Love the car in every respect. One change should be made, that is the middle console does not give elbow enough shifting room without hitting.

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  Front Wheel Drive blows. - 2016 Ford Fiesta
  By Gavin - July 10 - 6:26 am

  Considering this is a FWD car it handles great and is a drivers FWD car. Unfortunately though, its still FWD. The car torque steers all over the road if there is any kind of rut or standing water. The 17 inch rims are too big for the car and it gives the car poor ride quality, handling and makes road noise unbearable. The acceleration is pleasantly surprising. There is very little turbo lag which is nice for me personally because I have driven N/A V8 mustangs and pickups my whole life. The handling will surprise you and the car responds well to throttle burping/modulation while in the center of the corner as long as you dont enter too fast. Sometimes the back end will try to step out if you dive too hard after a Scandinavian flick, in my experience I have found this a somewhat typical trait of FWD cars. The rear wheels have no purpose and are therefore just along for the ride. One feature that often goes overlooked is the hill assist. For an experienced manual transmission driver this is the bees knees. I drove this car somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 miles (sorry Im not doing that math lol) for Lyft in San Francisco and never once smelt burning clutch. Generally I never even rolled back and it blew American customers minds (they mustve owned a prius). European tourists never gave it a second thought that I was driving a manual and some who had ridden with other drivers around the bay were relieved to see an American driving stick. The manual transmission is the selling point in this car, it is crisp and over built for the equipped 1.6L engine as it is the same 6spd found in the Focus ST which has over 50 more horsepower. The main reason I chose this car over other "Hot Hatch" vehicles is that there is no automatic transmission option so I knew going to the dealership I wouldnt have to search for a car with a stick. Storage space is an issue; however, I never had to turn an airport customer away for luggage although I did have some suitcase induced blind spots from time to time. Visibility in this car is great and I love how there is no backup camera. One of the best things about this car is that you can tell it was designed by a driver, not by a guy in a suit. The little corner mirrors within the side mirrors can easily be adjusted to eliminate blindspots. The sync 3 system is too much for me so I have nothing but great things to say about it. I didnt want or need sync 3, but I got it and I use it. The exterior design is very appealing and the kona blue color is stunning. Overall the car is impressive for what it is. If you drive it right you can hit a high 14 second quarter mile then drive home at 40mpg. I will say this though, you have to drive very conservatively to achieve 40mpg. Ive done it with 3 tanks, the highest of those 3 being approximately 42mpg(92 octane ethanol free, 40.2mpg was my best on crumby California 91 octane). If you arent that patient its pretty easy to get over 35mpg despite the window sticker claiming only 33mpg highway and that is why manual transmissions are the best. I took the car to autocross one time and that was enough for me because Im used to autocrossing my Foxbody mustang, the FWD is just lame and uninspiring. There is no way around it, FWD sucks. Id also like to notate that I always turn off the traction and stability control for two reasons; 1: better driving feel, 2: better fuel economy(less friction, better economy). Driving position is great for visibility but my right knee gets banged up during hard cornering.