2011 Ford Fiesta - Review

PERFORMANCE

Assembled in Mexico, all U.S.-bound 2011 Ford Fiesta models come with a 120-horsepower, 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine. The base transmission is a five-speed manual, but Ford expects most Fiestas will be fitted with a six-speed “PowerShift” automatic manual gearbox instead.

We enjoyed driving the five-speed, though its linkage was slightly rubbery. We missed a sixth gear, though, which would have offered more relaxed highway cruising and perhaps better fuel economy on the Interstate portions of our trip.

If you get the manual, you’ll be using the gears a lot to keep the car moving expeditiously. The engine really only gets lively above 2000 rpm, so moving away from stoplights requires slipping the clutch a bit and then winding it out before shifting. It’s fun, but it’s not the most peaceful way to travel. And the engine’s need to rev conflicts with the annoying shift light in the speedometer, which wants you to shift to a higher gear just as the engine starts to hit its torque curve.

There’s also an odd bit of programming in the engine control system that keeps engine revs constant for a short time even after the driver lifts off the accelerator. We’re not sure whether it’s for fuel efficiency, emissions, or something else, but it’s disconcerting until you begin to expect it.

 

Our five-speed manual Fiesta is rated by the EPA at 28 mpg city, 37 mpg highway. Over a 323-mile weekend test drive that included highway travel and around-town errands, we averaged 33.3 miles per gallon. According to the trip computer, that mileage would have given us a range of almost 400 miles on a single tank of gasoline—not bad at all.