Focus gone, Fiesta here!

[FMC]

After 2 previous order cancellations, today finally picked up the new Fiesta! Zetec S TDCi, with Street Pack (17s, Privacy Glass & ESP), bluetooth and USB and mini spare wheel. It's a December build so comes with heated front screen, sideskirts and alloy pedals as standard (previously optional extras on ZS) Special thanks to daisbuys on here for setting me up with Evans Halshaw in Cardiff!

First impressions - steering is too light but very precise, not got much of a feel for it yet so this maybe a moot point as it's really only noticeable at slow speeds. On the motorway it felt very solid and composed,; i've not hit any twisty stuff yet so that will need to wait for the weather to improve. Steering wheel design is terrible - stupid shape, too chunky at 10-to-2/quarter-past-3, too skinny at the top and bottom (on a side note, Piggy, how do you feel about this, and how do your pupils feel about it? And anyone else for that matter?? )

Power is dreadful - then again, coming from a 244bhp Focus ST to an 89bhp diesel, it's bound to be!

Ride is rather firm- God only knows what it's going to be like once the Eibachs are fitted

bluetooth system is crap and terribly slow at trying to add voice tags to the system - i think i'll giveup on that except for maybe 2 or 3 names lol! I'm sure it'll be invaluable for incoming calls though! Audio is pretty good. Not tried the iPod yet, just the radio and CDs :)

So far, too early to tell abut the actual drive or handling as it's been a cautious drive until now (all 33 miles of it lol) in some quite icy conditions.

Surprise feature that i've not heard mentioned before is the fact that the side and tail lights come on when you unlock the car, and fade off, much like the interior lighting! I like that a lot! B) :)

Cheers!

Bye bye ST :(

Hello Zetec S :D

[ASHMAN]

I also did the same step down from 300 bhp st to the mk7. took me a few months to get used to the power drop, steering isnt good at all but you learn to live with it.

[Gazjs]

Very nice :D

Am sure it will take a bit getting used to with the power difference but they both look as good as each other :D

[aph1101]

That's a lovely looking car :D I'm sure you'll get used to the power drop after a while. We've had the 1.6tdci for a few months now and find it has got plenty of umph for overtaking etc.. B)

[Focus_ST-3]

For me, the steering is one of my favourite aspects of the car, but maybe ive just got used to it. Obviously the ST is going to be the better car but in terms of value for money, the Fiesta wins.

You will be disappointed with the stereo im afraid. There is absolutely no comparison between the Sony system which you would have had in your Focus and the Fiesta system.

Anyway, its still a great car, hopefully you will enjoy it mate. Its no Focus ST though, thats for sure!

[xxtrickzxx]

i find by wearing oven gloves the steering wheel is very comfortable

[FMC]

i find by wearing oven gloves the steering wheel is very comfortable

lol

Thanks for all the comments folks! :D

I'll keep you all updated on life with the Fiesta in coming days, weeks and months - after all, it's the reason i joined here in the first place so it's the very least i can do! :P :D

BTW, it's a 2-line display ;)

[AndrewL]

Wahey, you finally got your new car! :)

Bit of a downer though reading your initial review, to be fair compared to an ST- it's a damn tough act to follow. I think the Fez looks better to be honest but I'm probs a bit biased. As for the steering wheel I think it's pretty tactile and comfortable. (Not sure whether they're the same in the ZS and Tit though?)

[FMC]

Wahey, you finally got your new car! :)

Bit of a downer though reading your initial review, to be fair compared to an ST- it's a damn tough act to follow. I think the Fez looks better to be honest but I'm probs a bit biased. As for the steering wheel I think it's pretty tactile and comfortable. (Not sure whether they're the same in the ZS and Tit though?)

Not sure either whether steering wheels are same, but i am inclined to believe they are (just different on the lesser models (Style/Style+)?)

I will not be making any more comparisons to the ST except where I feel the Fiesta is a major step forward - for example the sun visors are much better shape in the Fiesta and completely blind the sun, whereas in the Focus they leave a massive gap to the right side becasue of the contours necessary for them to fold into the headlining recess :P

Keyfob design (flip key) was a welcome addition too - i expected something totally different! (Told you i'd never test driven a Fiesta didn't I? )

EDIT:

Oh, one MAJOR advantage over the Focus - it fits in the garage a lot easier! (I didn't expect it to be much smaller, but it is! Looks are deceiving!

[AndrewL]

Haha the key means everything! When I ordered my car the only thing that I was unhappy about was the fact that I thought it would come with the same key as my mk6 (the un-flippy big oval shaped one). When I found out it was a flippy one I was more excited about that than the rest of the car! What a loser I know.

I think that you should continue to compare the two cars fairly (except the massive, massive performance difference that is, I'll take that as a given!) :P

[coysht]

EDIT:

Oh, one MAJOR advantage over the Focus - it fits in the garage a lot easier! (I didn't expect it to be much smaller, but it is! Looks are deceiving!

The Mk7 Fiesta is bigger than some of the previous versions, but those MK2 Focus... (what is the plural of Focus? Focuses, Focii?) are massive....surprised that you have a garage thats big enough to fit one it....assuming you didn't have to climb out the boot once it was in there?

[FMC]

The Mk7 Fiesta is bigger than some of the previous versions, but those MK2 Focus... (what is the plural of Focus? Focuses, Focii?) are massive....surprised that you have a garage thats big enough to fit one it....assuming you didn't have to climb out the boot once it was in there?

Well i used to have a MkI Focus (plural is Focuses - anyone who calls them the other is a dimwit IMO :P) which fitted nicely into the garage but then i never had mountain bikes squeezed down the sides, which made fitting the ST in a tight fit!

Fiesta fits nicely even with the bikes, with much more room all round, although i did read from M-Sport that the wheelbase of the new Fiesta wasn't much different to the MkI Focus.

[Flic]

Nice car! I enjoyed reading your comparisons, keep them coming. It's nice to hear constructive critiques of the car instead of just general moaning! I'd not noticed an issue with my steering wheel, but I was driving a mk 1 106 and a Ka before mine so anything in an improvement. I also love the fact my lights come on when I unlock the car, I'd never seen it on another car! Nice feature. Don't forget about the courtesy lighting when you turn the car off, flick the headlight stalk and they'll stay on for 30 seconds or something, useless if you're parking it in a garage, but still pretty neat :D

[aph1101]

Sorry for a double post, but big up to Evans Halshaw!! Really good dealer, gave us loads of money off and have decent after sales service :D

[FMC]

Nice car! I enjoyed reading your comparisons, keep them coming. It's nice to hear constructive critiques of the car instead of just general moaning! I'd not noticed an issue with my steering wheel, but I was driving a mk 1 106 and a Ka before mine so anything in an improvement. I also love the fact my lights come on when I unlock the car, I'd never seen it on another car! Nice feature. Don't forget about the courtesy lighting when you turn the car off, flick the headlight stalk and they'll stay on for 30 seconds or something, useless if you're parking it in a garage, but still pretty neat :D

Oh how wrong you are dear Flic! We used the "guide me home lighting" on the ST so that it would shine through the garage side windows and light up the garden path ;) I'm so glad the Fiesta has this feature too!

I had the sidelights feature on my Volvo S40 - it even had puddle lights in the wing mirrors and a special button on the remote to switch them on in the dark when approaching the car - i miss that loads!

I need to go get the owner's manual now and read through that to see if there's any other neat little features i'm not aware of - yeah, i'm that kind of guy that has to read the manuals!

[Flic]

I had the sidelights feature on my Volvo S40 - it even had puddle lights in the wing mirrors and a special button on the remote to switch them on in the dark when approaching the car - i miss that loads!

OMG! Puddle lights, genius invention. The carpark at my work is less than level and I ALWAYS manage to park in a space with a whopping great puddle when I get in and out. Not fun to navigate over in the pitch black when I leave to go home :( Must invest in a torch keyring thingy...

[FMC]

OMG! Puddle lights, genius invention. The carpark at my work is less than level and I ALWAYS manage to park in a space with a whopping great puddle when I get in and out. Not fun to navigate over in the pitch black when I leave to go home :( Must invest in a torch keyring thingy...

My missus has a little LED torch keyring but it's really only bright enough to find the right key to unlock the garage door in the dark! Although i'm sure there are more powerful ones out there somewhere - trick is to find one that's not so mahoosive that it bends your ignition due to its weight!

[Jonny87]

Excellent!

I'm glad you finally have a Mk7 and are at least mildly enjoying it :)

On the point of the steering wheel, i'm not sure what you mean about it being a stupid shape (it's a circle) but tbh I'm not gonna say your wrong. Personally I found the steering in my Mk4 to be better (which is a bit wierd I suppose). The main difference between the 2 being that the Mk4 had hydraulic PAS and the Mk7 has electric PAS, I not sure but I think the Focus has electro-hydraulic PAS. Overall however I am happy with the steering on my Mk7 - even more so now that I'm used to it.

In regard to the design of the wheel itself, I thinks its pretty good, maybe a bit big. I can only really fault it on the trim - the bit where the leather meets the plastic is a bit poor, it could have been designed a bit better or maybe been made 100% from leather.

I'm sure you will come to love your Fiesta more and more over time..

ALSO - nearly forgot..... The horn buttons! They are too far into the centre of the wheel! On the rare occasion when I need to use it my thumb usually misses! maybe its just the way I hold the wheel? has anybody else found this? On my old Mk4 your thumb only had to reach to about where the volume and cruise control buttons are.... Basically its bad ergonomics for the horn buttons

Have fun :)

[aph1101]

I had the sidelights feature on my Volvo S40 - it even had puddle lights in the wing mirrors and a special button on the remote to switch them on in the dark when approaching the car - i miss that loads!

We had an S40 before the fez... I did like the lights in the wing mirrors, work of genius :D Ours didn't put the side lights on though, it put those little orange ones on the corner of the headlamp enclosure on... pah, oh well :) I know its off topic, but which engine did you have on your S40??

[Flic]

ALSO - nearly forgot..... The horn buttons! They are too far into the centre of the wheel! On the rare occasion when I need to use it my thumb usually misses! maybe its just the way I hold the wheel? has anybody else found this? On my old Mk4 your thumb only had to reach to about where the volume and cruise control buttons are.... Basically its bad ergonomics for the horn buttons

Usually when I have to use the horn I'm pretty angry ( Agressive driver? Never ) So I pretty much hit the entire middle of the steering wheel, I never miss

[Jonny87]

Usually when I have to use the horn I'm pretty angry ( Agressive driver? Never ) So I pretty much hit the entire middle of the steering wheel, I never miss

lol! You need to contain your road rage Flic! B)

[Flic]

lol! You need to contain your road rage Flic! B)

You drive around Harpenden for a day and you'll be beating up your steering wheel too, it's the MOST infuriating place to drive on the planet I tell you!

[AndrewL]

Usually when I have to use the horn I'm pretty angry ( Agressive driver? Never ) So I pretty much hit the entire middle of the steering wheel, I never miss

Haha me too! Get on the horn initially then after that I plan my whole argument for if we happen to draw level at some point like traffic lights and they/I want to 'discuss' the situation... maybe thats just me though?

[FMC]

My Volvo was a 2006 SE Sport 2.0D (136bhp) fully loaded. I wanted the D5 but my lease budget wouldn't stretch and at the time it was only available with the tiptronic box anyway! I loved that car though! Got a phot of it after having just driven it through Keider forest somewhere, i'll dig it out sometime!

Re the horn buttons - yes they are too far towards the centre! And as for the horn itself - i literally lol'd when i pressed it earlier - a single horn squeaky thing!!! Where the dual horn manliness in a car horn that i'm accustomed to FFS?

[Jonny87]

You drive around Harpenden for a day and you'll be beating up your steering wheel too, it's the MOST infuriating place to drive on the planet I tell you!

I dont think I've ever been to Harpenden in my life, so I don't have a clue whats going on... Isn't Harpenden supposed to be quite an expensive area? - could explain.....