RE: Ford Fiesta Black Edition: Driven (briefly)

[J4CKO]

9 Sec does sound a little conservative given the 140 bhp in a fairly light (I would assume) car, I would have expected late sevens, but I put the figures into car stats, 140 bhp, fwd and 1200 kilos and it said,

Power to Weight: 119 bhp/ton
0-60: 8.8
0-100: 26.3
60-100: 17.5
1/4 Mile ET: 17.32
1/4 Mile Terminal: 81
Dragstrip 1/4 Mile ET: 17.02
Dragstrip 1/4 Mile Terminal: 83


However, suspect it would be great fun, enough power to get it moving and a great chassis, does seem expensive, but Fords arent generally cheap really, an A1 with 140 BHP is £21,500.

[Samjeev]

It seems to me that all they've done is taken the current Zetec S, got the wheels painted black, put some red accents on the inside and outside here and there and given the engine a remap?

I can't see any differences other than this however im actually glad about this as I got my Zetec S just 6 months ago so im glad to see that I saved roughly 2 grand for the sake of an engine remap, some iffy red styling and dodged the inevitable increase in insurance price.

Don't get me wrong though this will be a great car in the same way that the Zetec S is a brilliant little car. Its very cheap to run, tax and insure and its great fun to drive, when you need to put your foot down for any reason you get a satisfying kick up the ass as the turbo comes in around 1800rpm

Edited by Samjeev on Wednesday 18th June 11:56

[IntriguedUser]

Mr Will said:

I have a funny feeling they may be sand-bagging for insurance purposes. Either that or it requires a gear change at ~59mph (possibly for similar reasons)

I have 125 bhp and 0-60 in 8 seconds and I have a gear change at 55mph, guess they're scewing the figures for insurance reasons then.

Its not a heavy car either.


How much does the standard 1.2 Ecoboost fiesta cost? Could you not just map it and have as much power? and spend the rest of the money your own rims/mods? Just a thought?

[MadDog1962]

I wonder if they'll sell this in Singapore? The tax system heavily favours small engined cars,and hammers anybody driving something more than 1.6 litres.

A lot of petrol heads over there would love to have this option.

[mini1380cc]

seefarr said:

The BHP/L doesn't seem that impressive to me. My last car was a 2004 running 190 BHP/L quite happily.

EVO MR?

[Clivey]

9 seconds is fine for a warm supermini. Think back to the '80s and early '90s; I bet you could have just as much (and probably a lot more) fun in an AX GT, for example, than the latest VAG Haldex dullbox (even if it has a squillion BHP).

[vtecyo]

keiran said:

I'm sure I'm not the first person to say this, but...

Fit this spec engine into the KA , call it the KA ST, finish it off with a tasteful sporty look and an affordable price, and there you have it, an Abarth 500 rival, which will likely sell well...
(Then a more powerful version KA RS? to rival the 595 or 695 Abarth or whatever it's called)

There you are ford, I will await my cheque in the post...

You'd need a plaster kast to recover from the price they'd charge. But the prospect of some faster Kars is nice. Maybe Kars with Kers?

[dukebox9reg]

This probably explains why Mountune haven't brought out a tune for the 1.0 ecoboost even though been promising it for a while. Would have pee'd on Fords chips a bit

[iloveboost]

Samjeev said:

It seems to me that all they've done is taken the current Zetec S, got the wheels painted black, put some red accents on the inside and outside here and there and given the engine a remap?

I can't see any differences other than this however im actually glad about this as I got my Zetec S just 6 months ago so im glad to see that I saved roughly 2 grand for the sake of an engine remap, some iffy red styling and dodged the inevitable increase in insurance price.

Don't get me wrong though this will be a great car in the same way that the Zetec S is a brilliant little car. Its very cheap to run, tax and insure and its great fun to drive, when you need to put your foot down for any reason you get a satisfying kick up the ass as the turbo comes in around 1800rpm

Edited by Samjeev on Wednesday 18th June 11:56

They did the same with the old Zetec S with the Ti-VCT engine. The engine was capable of 140hp I think the standard map deliberately holds back the engines power at the top end like the old Mini One. They will probably roll out 'special' editions with 140hp just like they did last time with the S1600, Metal, etc.

I agree with others that the car looks quite nice with those red or black 'accents' on the front not sure about the roof being the same colour but it's a nice car overall. Even the grille is growing one me especially in the flesh it's ok. Also I agree that three cylinders sound better than four to me.

[mackay45]

mini1380cc said:

seefarr said:

The BHP/L doesn't seem that impressive to me. My last car was a 2004 running 190 BHP/L quite happily.

EVO MR?

I bet the service intervals / mpg stats were slightly different. Also comparing modified/no warranty(?) to a new warrantied car probably isn't that fair.

[Nigel_O]

I agree that 140bhp from 1 litre isn't all that impressive with modern technology.

I'm running 240 bhp/litre on a 15 year old engine AND its done well over a quarter of a million miles. BMW are getting over 230bhp from their 1.5l lump in the I8, so it must have been within Ford's capabilities to get 160-ish out of the EcoBoost engine (although I accept it would have become a bit laggy, which is maybe what they were trying to avoid)

Another way to look at it is that 0-60 isn't a valid measure of a car's real life performance - how many times do drivers require a full-bore launch? It's rolling acceleration that really defines a car's driveability and feeling of "quick-ness"

I imagine if they've got the gearing right, the Fiesta could be an enjoyable drive on twisty back-roads, running between 30 to 80 60 mph

[Phateuk]

Nigel_O said:

I agree that 140bhp from 1 litre isn't all that impressive with modern technology.

I'm running 240 bhp/litre on a 15 year old engine AND its done well over a quarter of a million miles. BMW are getting over 230bhp from their 1.5l lump in the I8, so it must have been within Ford's capabilities to get 160-ish out of the EcoBoost engine (although I accept it would have become a bit laggy, which is maybe what they were trying to avoid)

Another way to look at it is that 0-60 isn't a valid measure of a car's real life performance - how many times do drivers require a full-bore launch? It's rolling acceleration that really defines a car's driveability and feeling of "quick-ness"

I imagine if they've got the gearing right, the Fiesta could be an enjoyable drive on twisty back-roads, running between 30 to 80 60 mph

Didn't they get 170bhp from the 1.0 ecoboost engine in that formula ford car?

[chocka1]

Ford are getting 200PS out of this engine

http://www.ford.co.uk/experience-ford/AboutFord/Ne...

Saw this car at CPOP at the weekend

[zygalski]

Pah! Lardy fiesta weighs about 100 kilos more than my astra!

[seefarr]

mackay45 said:

mini1380cc said:

seefarr said:

The BHP/L doesn't seem that impressive to me. My last car was a 2004 running 190 BHP/L quite happily.

EVO MR?

I bet the service intervals / mpg stats were slightly different. Also comparing modified/no warranty(?) to a new warrantied car probably isn't that fair.

Yes the Evo. Mitsubishi would sell you one with 200BHP / L (FQ400) with a warranty at the time. I was just pointing out that the figures on this turbo charged engine aren't actually astonishing.

[moribund]

Nope, not that high for a modern car, my Smart Roadster with a tiny 698cc was putting out over 150bhp/litre for the whole time I had it (admittedly remapped but still with standard internals).

[PistonBroker]

Love the idea of it but, having read the Swift report the other day, I think I'd save myself £2k and take the shorter trip to my nearest Suzuki dealer. Not much in the distances to each admittedly, but much nicer to take a trip 2 villages away than through the centre of Taunton atm!

[kambites]

seefarr said:

Yes the Evo. Mitsubishi would sell you one with 200BHP / L (FQ400) with a warranty at the time. I was just pointing out that the figures on this turbo charged engine aren't actually astonishing.

The EVO probably didn't manage 63mpg on the NDEC cycle though, or indeed to meet current regulations at all.

I agree that the headline specific output figure isn't particularly impressive, but to achieve it without adversely effecting the car's ability to record daft figures on the official tests is moderately admirable.

[Escort Si-130]

The black one looks nice, needs the calipers also painted red. The red paintwork one does not look all that.

[RacingBlue]

Good Lord - the trout face on the Fiesta ST was bad enough, now Ford have added red lipstick to it as well!