HI All,

I have a question please and would appreciate any help, as unfortunately I don't really have a very good technical knowledge of engines.

I am considering a Fiesta for my retirement, and have recently developed a liking of automatics ( my current company car)

Question is, are Automatics recommended on a fiesta, the concerns I have are  would there be a lot more to go wrong with automatics versus manual? And indeed is automatic recommended on a fiesta?

I am keen to make this car as maintenance free as possible, given it will serve me in retirement.

 

Many thanks for reading this,

 

Cheers,

CSC

 

Hi again

If you're still talking Mk 8 Fiesta the automatic option was 6 speed torque converter available only on the 100ps engine. Friends of mine (who are long time auto fans) have had one for almost 3 years from new and been delighted with it, and have had no problems. I've not driven one myself, but from what my friends tell me it's no ball of fire, which is not an issue for them as they use it as a second car.

I've not heard of any issues with this box, unlike the dual clutch Powershift on the earlier Mk 7.5 where several members reported issues. That said, my friends had one of those before their current Mk 8 and were perfectly happy with it, no faults on theirs.

From mid 2020 the Mk 8 has reverted to a dual clutch box, 7 speed this time, but available on the 125ps engine.. Not heard anything about that yet, but I don't think you were looking at something that new anyway from your earlier post iirc?

 

Hi Eric, Many thanks for the quick and detailed reply, much appreciated thankyou.

I've noticed this excellent car has so many variants, which is fantastic but hard for decision making.

For 44 years I've been spoilt by being lucky enough to have company cars, so this car buying thing is all new to me.  This is a great forum with wonderful help.

Cheers

CSC

4 minutes ago, Chainsawcharlie said:

I've been spoilt by being lucky enough to have company cars,

Lol, I had a spell in the "Golden Wheels Club" as my colleagues without a company vehicle used to call it!

Yes, it's quite a wrench having to start talking to car salesmen again and part with your own cash!😃

And yes, the current Fiesta does have a lot of variations, which appear to change every time they issue a new price list, which seems to happen every few weeks lately. It was all so much simpler when we got our first Fiesta back in 1980!

25 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Lol, I had a spell in the "Golden Wheels Club" as my colleagues without a company vehicle used to call it!

Where did you work that provided Impreza WRX STi's for company cars?  

1 minute ago, TomsFocus said:

Where did you work that provided Impreza WRX STi's for company cars?  

Ha ha! I wish!😃

50 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Lol, I had a spell in the "Golden Wheels Club" as my colleagues without a company vehicle used to call it!

haha, love the name Golden wheels club, when I first had a company car you didn't even need to pay company car tax....that was true gold lol

The dual clutch auto box on the earlier Fiestas had a lot of problems.   However I think the problems were ironed out with the 2016 model onwards boxes.   I have a March 2017 Fiesta with the dual clutch auto box and, having driven it for a little over a year, I'm absolutely delighted with it.   It gives me exactly the same mpg as my previous Fiesta which was exactly the same model but with a manual box.

Thanks Bob, since posting the question this morning, I think its going to be a used 2 year max Vignale, manual gears.

Vignale because I will want heated seats, rear camera, parking sensors, plus BLISS if possible.

Buying used at least i should be guaranteed those features with a vignale...fingers crossed.

 

14 minutes ago, Chainsawcharlie said:

Buying used at least i should be guaranteed those features with a vignale...fingers crossed.

Even on a Vignale, BLIS was an option back in 2018. Not sure exactly when it became standard, but I think it was late 2019 for 2020MY. 

Thanks Eric, yes I was wondering about Bliss being standard or option, I think in latest specs looks like it may now be standard, but its a damp usefull option for me reversing out of the drive onto our road outside 🙂

Hi for that need you might actually want the cross traffic alert, I think it's part of the driver assistance pack if the rear camera is fitted.

1 hour ago, Guy Heaton said:

Hi for that need you might actually want the cross traffic alert, I think it's part of the driver assistance pack if the rear camera is fitted.

Yes, I think that's the case on the current price list, though the pack is standard on the current Vignale.  It was part of the BLIS option back in 2018 though. Mind you, back then you could get a camera for only an extra £50 when ordering rear sensors, now it's part of the pack for £550 (or £900 on lower spec cars!) 

Why do they have to make things so complicated? And expensive?😞

Hi, My Daughter has a 2018 (68) St-Line X with the 6 speed auto box (6F15 Torque Converter) and I can tell you it's a fantastic little car