\u00a0<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Brandon and I competed in a Furrin Group autocross with the Ford Fiesta. To gain some more feedback about how the Fiesta handles the course, we asked Curt Rosenstengel to jump in and take the car around the track. Curt is the autocross organizer for the Furrin Group, and has 10 years of experience in autocrossing. Here is the exclusive interview with Curt.<\/p>\n
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Bryan<\/strong>: What is your first reaction upon seeing a Fiesta in person?<\/p>\n Curt<\/strong>: Nice looking body style.\u00a0 I’ve always liked the hatchback body style.<\/em><\/p>\n Small, but sporty looking.\u00a0\u00a0 Are these smaller than the current Ford<\/em><\/p>\n Focus?\u00a0\u00a0 The five door makes it easy to put two dog crates in the<\/em><\/p>\n back<\/em> :-).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Bryan<\/strong>: What do you think of the interior, seats, ect? Were you comfortable in \u00a0the car?<\/p>\n Curt<\/strong>: The seats were great.\u00a0\u00a0 A nice flat black leather with accent color<\/em><\/p>\n stitching.\u00a0 Very comfortable.\u00a0\u00a0 Gauges were easy to read, I like the<\/em><\/p>\n orange color.\u00a0 Easy on the eyes.\u00a0\u00a0 I didn’t try the HVAC or radio<\/em><\/p>\n controls.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Bryan<\/strong>: Anything you did not like or wish was different?<\/p>\n Curt<\/strong>: I don’t like the key fob thing or push button start. \u00a0\u00a0I’m a<\/em><\/p>\n traditionalist.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Bryan<\/strong>: How long have you been autocrossing?<\/p>\n Curt<\/strong>: I’ve been autocrossing for over 10 years.\u00a0 Road rallying for almost 20<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Bryan<\/strong>: In comparison to other cars you have autocrossed, how did the Fiesta<\/p>\n stack up?<\/p>\n Curt<\/strong>: Slower.\u00a0 It needs more get up and go.\u00a0 Hopefully, there will be some go fast<\/em><\/p>\n aftermarket parts available<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Bryan<\/strong>: What is your impression of the handing of the Fiesta on course? Steering, gear shifts, brakes, ect how did they feel to you?<\/p>\n Curt<\/strong>: The steering was precise and the handling predictable.\u00a0\u00a0 It was very easy<\/em><\/p>\n to drive the course.\u00a0 The gear shift placement was comfortable, but I didn’t<\/em><\/p>\n change gears throughout the course.\u00a0 The brakes were good, but<\/em><\/p>\n I didn’t really push them.\u00a0\u00a0 Had to make sure I didn’t kick in the<\/em><\/p>\n traction control<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Bryan<\/strong>: Where you happy with the 1.6L DOHC engine?<\/p>\n Curt<\/strong>: It seemed like a decent engine.\u00a0 More power would be good and for<\/em><\/p>\n autocrossing, a lower torque band.\u00a0 I should have taken a closer look<\/em><\/p>\n at the engine compartment.\u00a0\u00a0 I am still one of those guys who likes to<\/em><\/p>\n do most of the maintenance myself.\u00a0\u00a0 Even if plugs last 100K miles, and<\/em><\/p>\n oil changes are longer intervals, the more maintenance I can do, the<\/em><\/p>\n more money I can save for upgrades.\u00a0\u00a0 Being able to replace a starter<\/em><\/p>\n or alternator without removing a lot of parts is important to me (I keep my<\/em><\/p>\n cars for 200K+ miles).\u00a0 Compared to my 2000 VW Golf, it was very similar in<\/em><\/p>\n feel and pickup<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Bryan<\/strong>: Anything you would want changed for the US version?<\/p>\n Curt<\/strong>: A real ignition key (you can also have the start button :-).<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Bryan<\/strong>: Did the Fiesta live up to your expectations? What are your thoughts about the Fiesta as an entire package after driving one?<\/p>\n Curt<\/strong>: I had one of the original Fiesta’s back in the early 80’s.\u00a0\u00a0 I enjoyed<\/em><\/p>\n that car, it was peppy, and fun to drive (and it had a 1.6L engine, as<\/em><\/p>\n well).\u00a0 That car was very stripped down compared to today’s cars;<\/em><\/p>\n roll-up windows, 4-speed stick, basic interior, etc.\u00a0\u00a0 This new car<\/em><\/p>\n has all the bells and whistles that today’s consumer wants in a<\/em><\/p>\n car.\u00a0\u00a0 A much different direction than the previous model.\u00a0 I like the<\/em><\/p>\n sporty look and that itself will attract younger buyers who would have<\/em><\/p>\n bought a Korean based car (similar styling).\u00a0 It was fun to drive and<\/em><\/p>\n comfortable to drive, but it needs more oomph to be an autocross car.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n For more information about autocrossing or solo racing, please check out www.furrin.org<\/a> or www.scca.org<\/a>. Thanks again to everyone at the Furrin Group and Curt for taking the time to organize the autocross events!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 Earlier this month, Brandon and I competed in a Furrin Group autocross with the Ford Fiesta. To gain some more feedback about how the Fiesta handles the course, we asked Curt Rosenstengel to jump in and take the car around the track. Curt is the autocross organizer for the Furrin Group, and has 10 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[6,8],"class_list":["post-350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiesta-movement","category-racing","tag-fiestamovement","tag-furrin-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.racetech0722.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.racetech0722.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.racetech0722.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.racetech0722.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.racetech0722.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=350"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.racetech0722.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":351,"href":"http:\/\/www.racetech0722.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350\/revisions\/351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.racetech0722.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.racetech0722.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.racetech0722.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}