A review of the 2011 Ford Fiesta

I drove a fiesta when I worked in Europe and it was a great little car. My son was interested in buying one here, but when we went and looked at it, it wasn't the same car, much more cheaply made. It would be great if Ford was actually bringing the same car here with the same fit and finish. Yes, it's a cheap car and you get what you pay for, not sure that a Honda or Toyota wouldn't be a better buy. But it's the right move for Ford.

Second off the bat, let me say Ford has a heck of a car here, one that consumers worrying about the price of gasoline, or seeking a back-to-college car for the offspring, should put at the top of their list.

For U.S. consumers this is the second go around for the Fiesta subcompact, but for those in Europe this is the sixth generation Fiesta and it certainly has improved with age.

Let's get some basics out of the way first and then jump behind the wheel. Assembled in Cuautitlan Izcalli, Mexico, the tested Fiesta hatchback has a unitized steel body, is 160 inches long, rides on a 98-inch wheelbase, and is 67.8 inches wide and 58 inches tall. That makes it 14 inches longer than a Mini Cooper and three inches longer than the Mazda MX5 Miata. Or about the same overall size as the Honda Fit.

Only one engine is offered, a 1.6-liter inline four manufactured in Brazil (these things seem to matter to some readers). It has an aluminum block and head with DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder and is rated at 120 hp at 6,350 rpm with a rather meager 112 lb-ft of torque at 5,000 rpm. Ford offers a slick shifting 5-speed manual or a dual-clutch automatic that I did not get a chance to try.

The engine is smooth and refined until you get near the 6,000-plus red line when things get a little raspy. It is both a joy and setback in this subcompact -- a joy if you keep the revs up above 3,500 rpm to extract all of the power that engine has. Get lazy about shifting on a back road and start up a long hill and you are looking at a two-gear reduction, and wondering if the torque should not be measured in pounds-feet but
A review of the 2011 Ford Fiesta