Fiesta ST vs 205 GTI: PH Blog
Harris ponders what a time-travelling 205 owner from 1989 would make of the Fiesta ST
If you drive cars for a living, which I suppose I do, you quickly drop into the habit of running through the same process of evaluation, but this time I wanted to try something different. I wanted to imagine that it was 1989.
Bear with me on this one.
What would this man think of the Fiesta ST?
I think he'd (or she'd) just love the cabin. The quality, the sense of solidity and the cheeky touches. He wouldn't know that this was just a standard Fiesta cabin, so that wouldn't matter. He'd think the seats were the best he'd ever sat in. From the outside he'd think it was very subtle. Probably too subtle. And he'd want to know why the radiator grille constituted half the frontal area of the car.
The initial refinement - the lack of noise from the engine bay - would come as quite a shock. As would the torque. Driven at 4/10ths this car would seem crazy fast because the torque is so strong low down. He probably wouldn't even spot that it was turbocharged either - there's only a light flutter from the wastegate if it needs to dump un-used boost. And to be honest he wouldn't be concentrating on the powertrain because the steering would be too much of a distraction.
I suspect he would find it quite baffling.
Hot hatches have grown up loads since the 80s
It's quick, Eric Bristow accurate and the more you relax your grip on the wheel, the more you can decipher some quiet information being fed back to the driver. But I still think the sheer lightness would register as unnecessary, as would the thickness of the steering wheel: 1989 man would rightly assume the human race had mutated into some kind of primate.
Would he find the car fun? To begin with, no. Fast, yes; but nut the snappy fun he'd associate with this type of car. The controls would remind him of those of a much bigger car: the pedals and gearshift would all feel very grown-up. Of course he'd still be struggling to understand the badging because this so-called Fiesta is in fact bigger than what they call a Golf, but the ST just doesn't have that zippy sense of weightlessness because it's too big and heavy. It doesn't make much noise either, and it is so damn good at dealing with corners riddled with bumps that 1989 man would possibly confuse competence with smile-making. He would also be a little bit awed at how much grip a modern street tyre can generate and how subtle the ABS was and how, if he went too fast into a turn, the car would somehow trim its own line. He'd think that was black magic.
Much would amaze, some of it would disappoint
Relative to inflation he'd think the car was quite good value and, once all the emission regulations had been explained, he'd be staggered that you could make such an engine so environmentally friendly. If he could see the results of a 40mph offset crash test in this Fiesta compared to his 205, he'd probably need to sit down for a while. He'd think the Fiesta ST was the best hot-hatch he'd ever driven by some distance, but he'd definitely note that the connection between the driver and the machine was less physical; that technical excellence had come at the expense of simple fun.
But most of all he'd be thrilled that 24 years into the future he could still buy a relatively small car with loads of performance, a petrol motor and a manual gearbox - one that won't kill you if you hit a sparrow at 7mph.
Because the motoring media of 1989 had told him he'd be driving something similar to an electric golf buggy in the year 2013. And that certainly isn't the case.
Chris
It just strikes me that there is clearly a market, albeit not a massive one but still profitable in a Caterham sort of way, for a brand new 205 GTi, with a modern yet still N/A engine, very light weight and not much by way of frills, but most crucially, a sense of real design-house style about it.
The overall effect could be of a roadgoing silhouette-bodied rally car, but given that pretty-much all kit/low-volume cars are RWD sports cars, and yet most donor engines are FWD setups from hatchbacks, there's certainly realistic scope for it.
Although to be honest I think I'd probably never get round to driving the thing after discovering the joys of satnav and MP3 via Bluetooth integration. I'd be amazed that toys that the 1989 S Class could only dream of were available in a cooking hot hatch.
Ridiculous geek that I am.
The truth is none of today's cars are a basic as a 1989 205, a 1.0 ecoboost fiesta has nearly as much power as a 1.9 GTI and even the late 90's 106 gti and Puma would feel modern and different to 1989 man.
We don't get steering feel any more, because the focus groups don't consist of driving enthusiasts and auto boxes are becoming more common because they help emissions and it adds a new toy into the equation.
I'm sure ford could build a stripped out version of the ST Fiesta with keep fit windows, no toys, lighter seats, a bit more power, and less forgiving suspension settings. But it wouldn't sell, because people who buy new cars want toys, they want to feel cosseted from the outside world and like they're in something from 2 classes above. Unless us petrol heads stop moaning and start voting with out wallets we're never going to see another hot hatch like the Clio 182 Trophy, instead we'll have to keep moaning and buying second hand cars.
I, like many here, value driver interaction as the up-most importance but I am of course grateful for the advancement of technology in all other areas, especially occupant safety.
Shame its a Fiesta but I think I could live with that!
When I got my Octavia I was amazed at the traction control, stability control (useful when you realise mid-corner that you can't chuck a 1.5 ton motor in at the same speed as a 205), abs and the sheer grip of the thing. Modern cars really can grip like the proverbial to a honey-soaked fluffy blanket. Even a 1.2 Corsa I had as a hire car was just ridiculous.
However after a year and a half of Octavia vRS ownership, I sold it. It just wasn't fun. Not at all. OK, I'm comparing a much bigger car here, but it was the same outcome as Harris is talking about. Sure, it was safer, faster, more comfortable and by any measure a "better" car. But it just wasn't.
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