2011 Ford Fiesta - Review

By Tim Healey

Tim Healey

Contributing Writer BIO

Tim Healey was formerly an associate editor at Consumer Guide Automotive in Chicago. Before that he worked in the automotive industry as a service... More

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2011 Ford Fiesta

I know what you're thinking. Another review of the 2011 Ford Fiesta? Sheesh! Isn't that car so old news by now? Isn't it so ... 2010?

Well, perhaps, but despite that fact that I'd driven the subcompact Fiesta several times--including at the press launch and on a road trip across the eastern U.S. and Canada--I'd never had one to test for a whole week in my home environs of urban Chicago.

Adding to that, my exposure to the sedan had been limited to the press launch. Imagine my surprise and delight when I found out that my tester had a proper trunk.

It also had Ford's dual-clutch automated manual transmission (which looks and behaves like a traditional automatic to the untrained eye) and the Fiesta's 120-horsepower 1.6-liter four-cylinder.

My SEL tester based at $16,320, with such standard features as 16-inch aluminum wheels, a cap-less fuel filler, heated sideview power mirrors, spotter mirrors, a CD player, a USB port, an auxiliary input jack, Ford's Sync infotainment system, satellite radio, a 12-volt power outlet, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, air conditioning, ambient lighting, ABS, traction control, and an anti-skid system. 

Options on my car included the $795 Rapid Spec 301A Package (heated seats, chrome belt-line molding, chrome decklid molding, an alarm, and keyless entry and starting), and the automatic ($1,070). The as-tested total, including the $675 destination fee, came to $18,860.

Curiously, despite the addition of some high-falutin' features like Sync, the car did not have automatic headlights.

EPA fuel-economy ratings are 29 mpg city and 38 mpg highway, and your lead-footed humble narrator clocked in at 24.6 pg in 201 miles of mostly urban driving, with one highway round-trip tossed in.

The Fiesta's mission is fuel economy with fun, and the car delivers that with relative ease. No one will mistake it for a Mustang, but it has some thrust off the line. This particular model certainly felt quicker than others I'd driven in the past.