Archive for category Fiesta Movement
North American Fiesta vs European Fiesta
Posted by Bryan Redeker in Fiesta Movement on August 17th, 2010
Well, the US Fiesta is not the EU Fiesta, and some of that is for the better. So much of the US Fiesta has been improved on over the version from across the pond. The biggest improvements are on the inside, where my expectations where exceeded in just about every square inch of the interior. Where the US car falls short is that the fun to drive factor has been halved.
When I took delivery of the EU Fiesta over a year ago, I noticed how quick the car responded to the slightest blip of the throttle. The car felt very quick to accelerate around town, and it was a blast to go bombing down highway on ramps. The EU Fiesta had a close ratio gearbox, and an engine that was tuned more for fun than MPG. That was exactly how I like my cars! The Fiesta had wonderful mid-range power, and the gear ratio’s were close enough to make 3rd usable on twisty roads. This is where the US Fiesta suffers the most. The power band has moved to places only F1 cars and Honda’s live. The gear spacing is far enough apart that it feels like you went from 2nd to 4th and forgot there was a 3rd gear. The US Fiesta lacks the punchy acceleration around town, and also lacks a powerband that makes the car fun in the twisty bits. The suspension is still amazing on the US car, but the engine tuning and gearbox hinder the car to the point where the suspension can’t get a good work out. I am hoping some engine remapping and some slight modifications will increase the mid range power so that the gear ratio gaps don’t feel as big. In order to get anything usable out of 3rd gear, you need to rev 2nd to near redline, or else the shift into 3rd feels like you just deployed a parachute.
Now that the biggest fault of the new Fiesta has been discussed, its time to move to what they got right. The interior is awesome! I thought the EU one was good, and I felt it needed very little improvement. I was shocked at how many things were improved on the US car. The seats feel like they were stolen from a Mercedes. The gaps on all the plastic trim is tight with practically zero overhangs. Even the silver paint used on the trim is very upscale looking. So far, the only faults with the interior are the lack of “Oh sh*t” handles, loss of volume control on the steering wheel, and no hooks to hang a suit coat. Yeah, that is about it for faults. The steering wheel design is not as good, and the thumb rests are not as pronounced as they were on the EU design. After driving for a few weeks, I am used to the redesigned steering wheel and find it to be ok. The lack of volume control on the wheel is very annoying since I am always hitting the “phone” button thinking it’s the volume up button. Sync is working well, but there is a steep learning curve to figure it all out. The seats are well supportive and very comfortable, and are not too soft to mask what the car is doing underneath you. The team that worked on the interior did a great job.
The exterior is beginning to grow on me and some people actually like the US bumpers better than the EU ones. I prefer the shorter overhang, larger air intakes, and the fog lamps. Adding the body kit has really helped, and so did wrapping the chrome LED bezels with black. I am slowly getting used to the US nose, and its growing on me. I used to really dislike it, but it’s not that bad. The quality of the exterior is outstanding and all the gaps look to be very equal. A nice addition is the clear bra that is added to a few spots that were chipped on the EU Fiesta. Sadly, I covered up the entire clear bra with the body kit, so I will need to order some bulk clear to add some chip protection.
Overall, the US Fiesta is a great car. The average consumer probably will never notice the gear ratio gaps or the lack of punch since they never drove the EU version. The US Fiesta is very refined, quiet, and good mannered for a daily commute. I miss raw punch of the EU Fiesta that made the car feel like a go kart with a roof, but I do enjoy the refinements in the cabin. If Ford could have blended the gearbox and engine from the EU car into the US version, they would have the absolute perfect car. The obsession with MPG numbers chased away the fun cogs and replaced them with a set of boring ones. I am sure I can find a way to make a few changes to the car to bring some of the fun back. Thankfully, the rest of the car is wonderful and needs no improvement. The car has a good balance that should make many consumers happy on our side of the pond.
Fiesta #707 has arrived!
Posted by Bryan Redeker in Fiesta Movement on July 9th, 2010
10 years and 4 months to the day of taking delivery of my 1st new Ford, I took delivery of my second. I will have a more extensive write up coming soon, along with a complete comparison between the US and EU Fiesta’s. The modification process has begun with the addition of the Axis Touring Cup Wheels and Yokohama Tires. Next up is the Metallic package, spoiler, body kit, and wrapping the chrome trim. Expect lots of stuff in the next few weeks!
Fiesta #707 Update 6/25/10
Posted by Bryan Redeker in Fiesta Movement on June 25th, 2010
On Thursday morning, my Fiesta arrived in Flat Rock Michigan where it was unloaded from the rail car. Later the same day, it was picked up by a transport to be shipped to Grand Haven Michigan. Right now, my car is somewhere between Flat Rock and her new home! The pedal pads and rear spoiler have both arrived, and so has the wrap for the chrome trim. I am working with 3D Carbon on the body kit, and that should be coming soon. The canvas for my next masterpiece is almost here.
Fiesta #707 Update 06/21/10
Posted by Bryan Redeker in Fiesta Movement on June 21st, 2010
Someplace between Chicago and Flat Rock, is a railcar containing my Fiesta. 
Actually, by this time, the car should be at the intermodal in Flat Rock being unloaded. From there, it will go on a transport and be shipped to the dealership. Wheels and tires are mounted and balanced, so those are ready for next week. No word yet on the spoiler and body kit, so I am not sure if those will be ready for installation when the car arrives. ETA is still set for 06/29.
Fiesta #707 Update 6/15/10
Posted by Bryan Redeker in Fiesta Movement on June 15th, 2010
Fiesta #707 passed thru Laredo Texas over the weekend, and is heading north via train to the mixing station. ETA is set for anytime between 6/28 and 6/30. Modifications will start as soon as the car arrives, and will include a 3D Carbon body kit, Axis Touring Cup wheels, Ford of Europe rear spoiler, Ford alloy pedal pads, and removal of all the chrome bits. Should be a great looking car by July 4th!
Fiesta #707 Update for 6/09/10
Posted by Bryan Redeker in Fiesta Movement on June 9th, 2010
She’s Alive!
According to my reservation agent, my Fiesta has been produced and is ready to be shipped! The next step is to order the Ford Accessories so they are here when the car arrives. Next update will be when the car is released to the rail company for shipping.
Fiesta Order Update 6/1/2010
Posted by Bryan Redeker in Fiesta Movement on June 3rd, 2010
2011 Ford Fiesta #707 is scheduled to be built the week of 6/7/2010 and is to arrive at the dealer during the week of 6/28/2010! I will be posting updates next week as the car begins to roll down the assembly line.
Timeline for ordering a Ford Fiesta
Posted by Bryan Redeker in Fiesta Movement on May 24th, 2010
12/03/09 Back home from the LA Auto Show, I built a number of Fiesta’s on Ford’s build site to determine what options I want for my car.
12/04/10 After a couple of configurations, I finalized my order and reserved a Fiesta. I am rumored to be either the 4th or 5th person to reserve a Fiesta.
2/11/10 I headed to the local Ford dealership to place my order, but they said ordering has not started yet and they have no information on how to order a Fiesta.
2/12/10 I called the dealership and told them that other dealers were accepting orders, and to double check to see if they could start ordering.
2/15/10 Headed back to the dealership at 4:00pm to start the ordering process after they said the ordering banks had opened. I was at the dealer until 6:30 trying to order the Fiesta. The ordering guy refused to place my order since I had reserved a car with dealer installed accessories. We called Matt at the reservation center, and Matt confirmed that the order was good to place and the accessories were from the parts department and not the factory. The order guy at the dealer demanded that we call Sam Delagarza or else he would not order the car. Neither Matt nor I would waste Sam’s time with a phone call in the evening. After 2 ½ hours, the order guy sent me home without my car being ordered. I did get an order number, but it was never submitted to the order bank.
2/16/10 After many phone calls back and forth to the dealership, they finally ordered my car. I stopped by after work to pick up the confirmation. Turns out, my confirmation was for a white Fiesta sedan with an automatic! More phone calls revealed that they used my name to build a fake car that was never ordered, and stuck it in my order folder. Ok, not a big deal, everything should be ok.
2/17/10 The dealership faxes me the correct order confirmation in the morning, and I notice that the order number and priority codes don’t match from my first order. They said not to worry since the first order was never sent.
4/21/10 I get an email from Matt at the reservation center saying that my order did not show up in the Retail Order Verification Program database, and it needed to be there by May 1st for me to get discounts and be part of the reservation system. Back to the dealership I go. My salesperson says she will call Matt and get it taken care of. She even offered to drive the paperwork to my office if I need to sign anything.
4/26/10 I called the dealer to make sure everything was sent in for the ROVP, and was told it was all set. The salesperson talked to someone at the reservation center who said everything was received for my order.
4/27/10 To double check, I called the reservation center and asked about the status of my order. The person I talked to asked “Do you even have a Fiesta on order?” I was shocked since I thought I was all set. I give them my order number and they can’t find my order anywhere.
4/30/10 My salesperson calls and says there is a problem with my order and I need to get to the dealership ASAP. I head down around 4:45 after taking one of our cats into the vet. I was there until after 6:30 working with both the dealership and reservation center to fix my order. The dealership faxes in all of my info, and it is confirmed that it was received by the reservation team.
5/20/10 While on vacation at a large car show, I was talking to a few people who used to order cars for dealers in the past. I was telling them about my issues and about the delays in getting my car scheduled. I was asked for my priority number, and I told them my number. They were shocked since the number was not set up for a high priority. We began to talk about why a dealer would do that, and one theory was that the dealer could order another Fiesta with a better priority number and get it built first. Since my order is an x-plan order, there is less profit for them. One number better and the computer would pull their order and build it before mine.
5/21/10 I called the dealership to ask for updates, and they said there are problems with my order, again. The info they faxed in for my ROVP was sent using the order number that was never submitted to the order bank. My real order sat out in space with no verification it was for retail. I also asked if any other Fiesta’s had been ordered, and was told a few for stock and one retail. They would not tell me the priority numbers. Some digging around reveals that indeed another order was placed for a Fiesta, with a better priority number than mine, and placed just a few weeks ago. The order computer will pull the better number and leave mine for later. I am not sure if this was deliberate, or just an accident, but it surely isn’t helping my order. Later in the day, I did learn that the order numbers had been fixed in the ROVP system, but no luck on changing the priority code.
This is where I stand with my Fiesta order, 24 weeks after I reserved my car. No updates, lots of unanswered questions, and many mistakes along the way. All I want is for my car to get build; after all, I have been waiting for almost half of a year!
Fiesta Track Analysis
Posted by Bryan Redeker in Fiesta Movement, Racing on April 30th, 2010
Thursday April 30th, 2010 saw the last outing for the Fiesta at GingerMan Raceway in South Haven Michigan. The 2 mile, 11 turn complex is where I have been running my cars since 1997. Knowing that the Fiesta would be going back to Ford within the next few days, I drove the car a little harder than normal. The result was the car performing even better than it did last summer when I ran more reserved.
The only change I made to the Fiesta for this session was to adjust the tire pressures to what I thought they should be. Last July, I ran pressures based on Mission Control’s cold PSI recommendation of 42 psi. Adjusting for a hot target of 42 psi on all corners made the car feel less connected to the track. The traction control was very active with trying to control wheel spin, and after a few laps, the tires became too greasy to continue. I decided for this attempt I would set the pressures to 37 psi hot for the fronts, and 42 psi hot rear. Lowering the fronts reduced the tendency to understeer since I effectively lowered the wheel rate. Keeping the rears at 42 psi hot allowed for more oversteer since the wheel rate was increased. The result was a car than handled considerably better and I was able to run 9/10ths for an entire 20 minute session. From a driving standpoint, I changed my braking habits as I was getting brake fade last summer. I focused on going deeper into the corner, braking harder, but staying on the pedal less. This would allow for maximum cooling times between corners.
Session 1
I ended up gridding first, which meant the entire field was behind me at the start. There was a large group of vintage racers who where there to practice, and I really did not want to hold them up. Our group was for everything under 2.0L of displacement and a roof. After the first warm up lap, I let the field go by on the back straight so the racers could practice without traffic. That left a newer VW Golf GTi and a Civic Si for me to run with. The GTi was actually faster than all the racecars and lead the session. The Civic Si was at the back of the racers, so I ran with him. For 20 minutes, I was able to keep a constant distance behind the Civic. He was faster on the long straights, but I would catch him thru the slower corners. I adjusted my driving style to be more aggressive with my braking and turn-in. Instead of staying away from the curbs and rumble strips, I was aiming for each of them. I braked much later and was on the throttle much sooner than normal. Under hard braking I would get ABS engagement just as I was beginning to let off for trail braking. At mid corner on the longer sweepers or the 5-6 complex, I would lift throttle or touch the brake with my left foot to encourage rotation. Turns 3, 10, and 11 are possible places to use 2nd, but I kept it in 3rd and that slowed my lap times. The traction control may have come on in 2nd around those corners, which would be worse than leaving the car in 3rd and exiting at a lower RPM.
The traction control and stability control was much less active for this session, which I think was due to the tire pressure changes. The high speed esses of 8-10 would cause the stability control to engage, but it was not overly obtrusive. Since the system was there, I decided to exploit it by running more aggressive and just let the computer keep the car under control. Traction Control engaged only a few times, and mostly at corner exit when the track was bumpy. The tires kept their grip for the entire session and I felt no need to let them cool down mid session and take a few laps slower. I kept the car running hard for the entire session. Brake fade was present, but not bad. The pads seemed to fade to a point and stayed there for the session. My Mustang requires me to run a few laps at 8/10th and then a few laps at half speed to let the brakes and tires recover. The Fiesta needed no recovery time, it just begged to go faster. At the end of the 20 minute session, I was still behind the Civic Si. I was not fast enough to pass, but was able to keep a good distance. Besides, it is way more fun to chase than to be chased.
Session 2
The final session was cut short after a Mustang in the previous group suffered a mechanical failure and was stranded on track. Finally the car was removed and we could go out. The Civic and GTi were not on course, so it was the Fiesta and a collection of vintage race cars. I let the faster racers go by on the back straight, but did find one vintage race car that I could chase. The Fiesta was faster, and I would let off the throttle and coast down the straights so I did not have to pass him. I wanted to focus on my ability to follow closely to another car during the corners. The vintage car had more lateral grip thanks to slicks, but suffered down the straights. The session was cut short by diminishing sun light and only lasted about 10 minutes. I enjoyed chasing after the vintage racer, even if it meant slower lap times. I watched his line thru the course and tried to follow his or use my normal line to see where we ended up. The Fiesta is easy to drive at speed, and that allowed me to focus more on the correct line and braking points rather than fighting for car control.
Final thoughts
So many reviewers say the Fiesta needs more power. After running multiple sessions on a race track, I don’t think it needs more power. The car is perfectly balanced the way it is. More power means faster speeds, which means you need bigger brakes to slow down, which is more weight, and then you need a beefier suspension. It becomes an endless circle of change to get back to the car being balanced. The Fiesta is the perfect balance of power, gearing, braking, tire selection, and driver feedback. With less power, the driver can focus more on momentum and following the proper line. Lower lap times with the Fiesta are a result of being smooth and accurate with your driving. A high powered car can use brute force to make up for poor handling or car control. My Mustang is blistering fast on the straight, but suffers everywhere else. The Fiesta may suffer on the straights, but is a blast to drive thru the turns. The steering is deadly accurate as well. I could pick a spot at the apex I wanted to hit, and I had no problem putting the car on that spot. Braking was well controlled, and fade was minimal. Leaving the car in 3rd and 4th eliminated the issue of the sloppy gear lever and I did not worry about going from 2nd to 1st or 5th instead of 3rd. With the pressure changes the tires performed much better and I had little sidewall rollover. Traction Control was less obtrusive with the lower front pressures, and the stability control wasn’t fighting understeer with the adjusted pressures. Overall, the Fiesta has proven itself to be a worthy track car, an outstanding daily driver, a predictable winter traveler, and does it all at a fraction of the cost of most cars.
Getting Ready to say Goodbye
Posted by Bryan Redeker in Fiesta Movement on April 23rd, 2010
How quickly a year goes by! It is hard to fathom that a year ago I was arriving in Chicago to take delivery of a 2010 Ford Fiesta. The amount of work, tears, and joy that lead to that event was something most people will never experience. Some know the struggle that took place behind the scenes, and others may not. In the end, a team came together, and I ended up in Chicago to help introduce a car I have been dreaming about since the Verve concept was shown in Geneva.
The first night in Chicago was spent meeting the other agents, many of which I have become friends with online and we continue to talk about cars and life. The next morning was the technical briefing, which had me jotting down notes and asking questions at every opportunity. After all, I had been planning on buying one before the program was ever dreamed of. We were loaded onto buses and driven to Shed’s Aquarium and the planetarium. Rows upon rows of European spec Ford Fiesta’s sat glowing in the dark overcast day. Each of us had our key fobs, and were dispatched to find our Fiesta. After a few tries, I found a Hot Magenta 5 door Fiesta with leather sitting with two other cars. Instantly I fell in love, and after going for the sign-off drive, I was ready to head home. I now understand what it must be like to be a father.
It is strange to think that day was a year ago, and now I must prepare to say goodbye to a car I have loved so much. Being a part of the Fiesta Movement has been a wonderful experience that took me many places and introduced me to some great people. There was stress involved trying to balance family, work, and school. In the end, it was all worth it. I can’t thank Ford Motor Company enough for the opportunity they gave me. I am forever in the debt of those who worked hard to get me my Fiesta. I am thankful for the great people at Mission Control who where there to help me along the way. I am honored to have such great friends that I have met thru this program.
Some people may have signed up for the Fiesta Movement in search of fame, some just wanted a free car, others looked at it as a door opener for future endeavors, but for me, it was for the Fiesta. There was no interest in gaining fame or exposure for myself. The reason I wanted to be part of the Fiesta Movement was to accomplish a life time goal. I wanted to drive a pure European Ford. After realizing how great the car was, my mission changed to doing whatever it took to preserve the dynamics and feel of the European model for our market. I may have stepped on some toes and turned people off, but I was always honest and direct with my thoughts. I decided to make sure I would have a say in my next car, and for every other Ford enthusiast who has begged for a model from Europe. As reports start flowing in for the US model, I can start to relax and think I may have helped preserve the soul of the European model for the US Fiesta.
As I celebrate my one year anniversary with my Fiesta, I know that it is with great sadness since I need to return her in the very near future. I had worried that I was saying goodbye to the car I always wanted, but now it seems that Ford is making one for me. My attention now shifts to the future, where soon a white 5-door hatch will roll off the production line. My new baby will be built soon, and she is coming home. I will never forget the time I spent with the Hot Magenta Fiesta, and I hope she finds a safe place to live. She was the star of my videos, the center of my blogs, the subject of many of my tweets, and the focus of so many of my pictures. She has been driven hard on tarmac, gravel, and on ice. She raced thru narrow snow covered paths in the woods on the way to catch a glimpse of rally cars. She dodged cones (and hit a few) on autocross circuits. She lapped GingerMan Raceway and seemed to beg for more. The Fiesta did everything I asked of her, and she will be greatly missed.