Fiesta named as 1 of 13 cars to avoid buying by Forbes

[polyphonic]

Forbes labeled the Fiesta as 1 of 13 new cars to avoid buying. They complained about dependability, rear seat room, and feel it is overpriced.

http://www3.forbes.com/business/13-new-cars-to-avoid-for-2016/7/

Like many subcompacts, Ford’s smallest car tends to compete with larger late-model used cars on price, and doesn’t necessarily succeed in that regard. With an overall score of 44 and a dismal reliability rating of minus-267, Consumer Reports thought the Fiesta sedan/hatchback felt substantial, with good fuel economy and ride and handling qualities, but found the car to overpriced, with very tight rear seat room, and featured poorly designed controls; it also found the available three-cylinder engine to be lacking. (The sporty ST version fares better, but is costly.) It scored below average in the JD Power Dependability study, and is expected to hold onto just 44% of its original value after three years and 29% after five years.

Not sure why they are complaining about the ST being costly. When you compare the power-to-$ ratio to other vehicles (don't forget to include vehicle weight too), the ST is a bargain. Rear passenger leg room might be a valid complaint if both the driver and front passenger are taller than 6 feet and need to extend the front seats back as far as they go. I only have 4,300 miles on my FiST so I can't speak much for dependability but I can say I've not had a single issue with it since taking delivery back in September.

 

[A7xogg]

this is the only bad review about the fiesta i have read about. But we all know the fiesta st is the best in its class in the stats and in europe.

 

[STeve91]

Can you really complain about rear seat room in a sub-compact car? It's not meant to take the family out on the town, maybe two younger kids can sit in the back comfortably for short drives if anything.

 

[XR650R]

My understanding is that they've had a lot of trouble with the automatics. If you take that out of the equation, how do the manuals stack up?

The STs had a few issues with trannies and clutches, but that seems to be fixed, now.

 

[Dpro]

The complaints and ratings they are sighting are the same BS consumer reports cited about the cars which is the auto trans and the my ford touch being hard to operate. Fact is the DCT trans is not as bad as people make it out to be and Mazda uses the same one and no one whines.

Reason most likely is Ford blew it on the software programming for the DCT. I know this because I also own a 2012 Focus with the DCT trans. Basically if your use to a clutch transmission car you start to understand what is going on with these trannies.

They do not have torque converters, average consumer is used to a torque converter. DCT trans has dual clutch actuated by electronic servo's . This is where the problems arise. The programming for the servo's is poorly coded. Causing them to act up. I.E. Disengaging the clutches when you stop on a hill and not reengaging until you tap the gas to reengage them.

Once this happens hill stop assist kicks in and your good. Most people expect to take their foot of the gas on auto on a hill and the car stops even without immediately stepping on the brake. That is due to the torque converter kicking in mechanically and holding till you brake.

I have experienced the same hill rollback on a rental Mazda 3.

The other stuff was clutch shudder, and slippage when in gear at speed on the highway. You tap the gas and the engine revs up but the clutches do not engage for a few seconds.
Ford never got the software right and gave up for the 2018 model year all new auto Focus, Fiesta, Fusion,Escape now use standard old fashioned torque converter automatics.
The article is pre 2018

 

[TDavis]

Not understanding how the ST is "costly." lol

We have alot of Fiestas with the DCTs come in with the customers complaining about the transmission. It is definitely a different transmission then people are used to that for sure. But we have to tell them it is functioning normally. The updates is what really makes it worse. I read an article of a guy who have a auto Fiesta with the DCT and has over 730,000 miles on it. Granted I think in the article they stated he replaced the transmission once but that was at 350,000. The Focus' and Escapes share the same trans and are not as bad as the Fiestas.

Its just a transmission people are not used to and people in Europe have been using it for a while.

About the room. I'm 6'4 and I can sit behind myself if I so choose. My seat horizontally is all the way back and my back is straight up, not leaning at all. Now, could I be back there for a long trip? No. But I don't plan on transporting 4 people for long distances. Also, not everyone is a tall, scary looking fool like me lol

Now when I drive around town for a couple hours straight my ass starts to hurt but I don't knock that against the Recaros. I knock it against my boney butt and the constant on and off the gas/clutch motion that makes my butt bones stiff. We'll see how I fair on the 17 hour drive to NY this coming April. CC should help with that but we'll see. I love the car regardless.

 

[XR650R]

Can you really complain about rear seat room in a sub-compact car? It's not meant to take the family out on the town, maybe two younger kids can sit in the back comfortably for short drives if anything.

Yup. I'm by myself 90% of the time. If I routinely carried more than one other person and maybe some stuff, I'd have gotten a bigger car. And, new Fiestas are cheap, right now. Hardly "overpriced,"for what you get.

 

[Fiester]

ST costly?? People are buying them new for under 20k. Doesn't seem costly for what you get to me...

 

[winniethepujals]

After 40,000 over 3 years I've only had a minor issue with my HVAC unit blending the doors correctly. It was covered under warranty without a moment of hesitation by Ford.
The expectation was to accumulate rattles by now, especially after the RMM went in... However, here I am still waiting.

I'm really curious about what they consider "dismal reliability" aside from the known DCT transmission issues!

 

[blue2turbo]

The biggest thing I don't get is the overpriced. I mean I get it, if you walk to a dealer and buy a new 2018 right now, there's a possibility there won't be many incentives, but at the end of the year with the $3000 manufacturer rebate, plus some dealer incentives, some of the regular fiestas near me were like $4500 off and just barely over 10k for a brand new car. That's like Mitsubishi Mirage money and have you driven one of those turds?! While I may have had to travel a couple hours, fully loaded ST's were a shade under $20k and base models around the $16k mark. That's cheaper than Honda Fit Sport money and outside of "Honda Reliability" the ST blows it out of the water. Maybe I'm bias because I'm a small car fan in general, but the overpriced thing gets me. Now the titanium non-ST's... yea some of those are a little pricey for what they are.

 

[XR650R]

After 40,000 over 3 years I've only had a minor issue with my HVAC unit blending the doors correctly. It was covered under warranty without a moment of hesitation by Ford.
The expectation was to accumulate rattles by now, especially after the RMM went in... However, here I am still waiting.

I'm really curious about what they consider "dismal reliability" aside from the known DCT transmission issues!

Mine's only got 2000 on it. I was worried about squeaks and rattles, but it's not a problem for you. That's good to know.

 

[blue2turbo]

Mine's only got 2000 on it. I was worried about squeaks and rattles, but it's not a problem for you. That's good to know.

I have atrocious roads here in my area and I can say I have developed a few small rattles, but it's probably my fault for most. I've disassembled the interior a couple times to install various things, so I'm sure everything didn't go back to perfect. I am contemplating removing a bunch of it again and putting felt tape on the contact sections, but I also have an upgraded RMM, Bilstein shocks and lowering springs and some bracing. So I'm sure the increased rigidity of the car has contributed a little bit as well.

 

[winniethepujals]

Mine's only got 2000 on it. I was worried about squeaks and rattles, but it's not a problem for you. That's good to know.

Yes, especially after the dash came out and went back together. I would have put money on having a nice hidden rattle or two after that.
Hopefully my dealer didn't glue everything back together. I should probably check...

 

[Clint Beastwood]

Can you really complain about rear seat room in a sub-compact car? It's not meant to take the family out on the town, maybe two younger kids can sit in the back comfortably for short drives if anything.

I was kinda surprised though when I went from Abarth to ST that I could fit passengers in the back seat with my wife and I in the front (wife and I are both over 6 feet tall) and in the ST we can't fit rear seat passengers with us seated comfortably. The back seat room in the ST is pretty rough considering it's a 4 door.

 

[vixenlotus]

Its a fun car my big issue has been that its been very unreliable. I have so much money into it on post warrantee repairs that i could have bought a much nicer car in the fisrt place if i had known.

 

[winniethepujals]

Its a fun car my big issue has been that its been very unreliable. I have so much money into it on post warrantee repairs that i could have bought a much nicer car in the fisrt place if i had known.

Sorry to hear that. Can you elaborate on what went wrong, so I can be on the lookout?

 

[D1JL]

I must agree with Forbes.
You should avoid buying a FiST.
It is just not worth the ridiculously low price for so much fun.


Dave

 

[tiggerbren]

Too costly? I guess that's subjective, but I think most FiST owners see it as a bargain, especially if you've autocrossed and beaten cars that cost four times as much.


I have T-shirts that are sorta like my FiST. I worry that when they get worn out, I won't be able to replace them and want to stockpile new ones so I don't have to worry in the future.

 

[richtor]

The normal fiesta is regularly in the worst cars, or least reliable cars because of the automatic transmission.

 

[valiantjared]

lol I got a brand new st w/ premium paint, nav and sunroof for 20k otd what is costly about that?