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Ford Fiesta Titanium 1.4 Petrol Auto – 6,300 Mile Report


Hen Pecked
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Now that our (wifes) new Fiesta has covered just over 6,300 miles on an around Europe tour, I thought I would share the experience/comments with other owners/potential owners.

The idea of an automatic Fiesta was my wifes after months of tracking around car showrooms and trying out the various models. She is a small woman (4’ 10”) so it is not easy to find a vehicle that can adjust from her height to mine (5’ 10”). Our previous vehicle, a Land Rover Discovery was fantastic and probably the best car we have owned but it was 8 years old and each service was costing more and more.

We chose the Titanium 1.4 petrol auto simply because the Titanium package offered the most features and the 1.4 petrol was the only auto available. We had no intention of driving more than 2 to 300 miles per day and at slowish speeds. Also, the car was only packed with two suitcases and a food box for snacks en-route.

The journey took us down through France, into Spain and Portugal, back into Spain and France, over to Germany and finally France again before the journey up north.

Pros:

A very comfortable car to drive and no sign of tiredness after 300 miles in the seat.

The visibility is good although there is a very bad blind spot on the passenger side when driving on the right hand side of the road. Back in the UK this is not an issue. Visibility out of the rear is excellent.

The controls are well placed and easy to operate.

The auto light feature is very helpful especially in the long Spanish tunnels where it can be easy to forget to switch the lights on.

The auto wipers are again very useful and seem to be set just right.

The fully adjustable steering wheel was just right.

The Sony system was very good and we took full advantage of the USB memory stick plug in for our music.

We had changed the 16” alloys for 14” steel high profile for the trip and these gave a very smooth ride even over some of the Spanish roads.

Surprisingly, a lot of room in the boot for a small car and a roomy back seat area.

Cons:

I found the auto box to be badly geared and found myself using the sequential manual option.

The fuel economy was nowhere near that claimed by Fords or other owners and over the entire trip, we averaged 37MPG at an average speed of 29MPH. We never drove over 60 and usually cruised at around 55MPH.

The capless fuel system has resulted in the loss of a tank of petrol in Hull. I know many FMs love the fact you do not have to twist of a lockable cap, but as fuel prices rocket…watch this space.

An electric adjusting seat would have been useful in the top end of the range model and the constant crank the seat up and crank the seat down become irritating after a while.

The leather used is not the greatest and some of the stitching has started to come loose. We will deal with this at our first service.

Overall:

A very enjoyable journey and considering the size of the engine, very relaxing.

The Fiesta would not be my first choice but as this is my wifes car, she feels she has made the right decision. Me, I prefer my own transport, a Triumph Thunderbird.

Apart from the few minor niggles which can be improved on, not a bad little car.

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Sounds like a fair analysis to me. The majority of your problems seem to have stemmed from the terrible sounding auto gearbox which appears to be a but rubbish.

I wonder what other auto owners (Nightowl is the only one I can think of) think of it.

Edited by AndrewL
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Sounds like a fair analysis to me. The majority of your problems seem to have stemmed from the terrible sounding auto gearbox.

I wonder what other auto owners (Nightowl is the only one I can think of) think of it.

I would agree with you on that one. I would have preferred a larger diesel auto in the Fiesta.

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Hi,

Sounds like quite a road trip. Did you take any pics of the fiesta infront of all these different settings/landscapes??

I'm an owner of an auto fiesta too. What do yous mean by the terrible sounding gear box?

Only thing I can think yous might mean is when at low speeds with my windows down I have noticed a slight whirling noise when passing parked cars or driving alongside a wall - but I wouldn't call it terrible, I don't mind it at all... :-s

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Hi,

Sounds like quite a road trip. Did you take any pics of the fiesta infront of all these different settings/landscapes??

I'm an owner of an auto fiesta too. What do yous mean by the terrible sounding gear box?

Only thing I can think yous might mean is when at low speeds with my windows down I have noticed a slight whirling noise when passing parked cars or driving alongside a wall - but I wouldn't call it terrible, I don't mind it at all... :-s

Sorry, no pics, I have never been a photo guy and prefer to just enjoy the ride. On the plains of Spain, there is pretty much naff all to see. In France, it rained on the way down and also on the way back. The only picture I took was of the rioting French in Le Mans during their fuel strike in October. Way to go the French....

Regarding the terribly sounding gearbox... not my words.

I don't think it has anything to do with noise, it's just a badly geared box and the (manual) sequential part of it is much better.

The problem comes in when the auto decides to change gear for you. On a slight incline, it drops down a gear very early, I found myself constantly over-riding the auto and the car ran much smoother.

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Sorry, no pics, I have never been a photo guy and prefer to just enjoy the ride. On the plains of Spain, there is pretty much naff all to see. In France, it rained on the way down and also on the way back. The only picture I took was of the rioting French in Le Mans during their fuel strike in October. Way to go the French....

Regarding the terribly sounding gearbox... not my words.

I don't think it has anything to do with noise, it's just a badly geared box and the (manual) sequential part of it is much better.

The problem comes in when the auto decides to change gear for you. On a slight incline, it drops down a gear very early, I found myself constantly over-riding the auto and the car ran much smoother.

Ah right, this being the first auto I've ever had I've not been able to compair it with anything. Although on accerlation on a slip road to a motorway when I've gone from say 30 to 70, I have thought a 5th and 6th gear would be nice like in the powershift auto box that the US got.

I suppose as long as your wife likes it thats the main thing. I'd say its definatly better in the city. :)

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Ah right, this being the first auto I've ever had I've not been able to compair it with anything. Although on accerlation on a slip road to a motorway when I've gone from say 30 to 70, I have thought a 5th and 6th gear would be nice like in the powershift auto box that the US got.

I suppose as long as your wife likes it thats the main thing. I'd say its definatly better in the city. :)

Sensible post. You are right, it is not my car and as long as my wife likes it, that's all that matters.

I just have trouble getting used to not being the one who decides what car to buy now we are retired.

I agree on the gearing, It would be easier if I just used the sequential and pushed the revs but that would make the MPG even worse.

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I've had several autos interspersed with manual boxes and I must say that the Fiesta is one of the better (although not the best) auto boxes I have driven. I find the change very smooth and I'm not aware of any terrible gearbox sounds, mine sounds pretty quiet. Ok, so it can be fairly leisurely at times but it is only a 1.4 and the manual override helps when you really need it. I would have preferred the sequential shift to be the other way round, i.e. back to change down,forward to change up but that's just a minor point. The change is much better than the Vauxhall robotized 'Easytronic' I had which is uncomfortably jerky,slow to change and unpredictable. I had some worrying moments trying to pull away quickly at roundabouts in the Vauxhall. The manual override also took its time to change ratio. Fuel consumption on the Fiesta is what you would expect from a 'conventional' auto in my opinion. By far the best auto I have had was a Rover 45 CVT(continuously variable), superbly smooth, no lag and a six-speed sequential change that couldn't be beaten no matter how quickly you moved the lever.

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