Thank You Ford for destroying the Fiesta ST. RIP 2014-17

[Noodles]

Nobody should be buying a new car with the mind set of what the resale value will be.

Sent from the Canyon's Edge

 

[Theophilus]

Nobody should be buying a new car with the mind set of what the resale value will be.

Sent from the Canyon's Edge

I have to agree with you on that.

 

[joesiris]

I agree... and I have a larger problem with the automotive industry in this country. Why the hell don't we have cars that look like Ferraris or Lambos going back to the 80s maybe with flip doors? How long did it take us to create a corvette that emulated the design of a Ferrari? I've been saying this for 30 years now. We had the most boring ass looking cars ever produced in the 80's-90's while Nissan was creating the last generation 300zx TT, Porsche, Ferrari, Lambo, Lotus, Bugatti were making the most cool designs ever produced in automotive history. And finally in 2014 we finally get the C7 Vette? Seriously? This has always been a massive sore spot with me. I have never seen the excuse they used for not stepping up and over the line. I often thought how cool would it be to create a car manufacture that comes with 25-30 completely different shell designs but all internals pretty much the same. So you mass produce this at an affordable rate. I think it has more to do with US automotive manufacturer producing cars in different countries not wanting to step on the toes of other manufacturers and their legal patons. There is just no excuse for the greatest country on earth to not also build and design the most exotic cars. This topic has boggled my mind for decades now. So it's not just the Fiesta ST or any specific car, it's freekin America automotive industry. FYI... I would include Tesla in this list if anyone could actually afford one, but I'm talking about producing cars like the aforementioned list at an economical price tag. I think it has more to do with protecting the wealthy so they don't feel their 1/4 milion dollar cars don't look like the other side of town's $35k Ford Mustang. Again it's all about greed, wealth, and protecting the company profile and has nothing to do with giving US what we really want.

it may be because of our strict road laws too, and our strong police presence, that keeps cars like that from being made here. We don't have a autobahn or anything like that

 

[joesiris]

I have to agree with you on that.

true story! I try to get the most outta of a car before letting it go and by then its usually not worth much at all...buy a car cuz you love it and enjoy it for as long as you can

 

[M-Sport fan]

true story! I try to get the most outta of a car before letting it go and by then its usually not worth much at all...buy a car cuz you love it and enjoy it for as long as you can

On that note; It never ceases to AMAZE me how many on here overtly, adamantly, and VOCIFEROUSLY heap praise upon, rant and rave these cars up to NO END, and then turn around in claimed boredom, and sell it for a; GTI, Golf R, or the like after a short time (MANY times after putting MUCHO dinero into mods that they will NEVER get back at even 50%).

Do I just have an inordinate amount of attention span to not think, or be compelled this way about car ownership duration, and desire to enjoy my 'ride' for a LONG time?

 

[joesiris]

I had my last car for just over 13 years before I bought the FiST, and even then gave that car to my dad who has a 99 chevy silvarado with over 300,000 miles on it, we are a family of "keep it till its dead" people

 

[M-Sport fan]

I had my last car for just over 13 years before I bought the FiST, and even then gave that car to my dad who has a 99 chevy silvarado with over 300,000 miles on it, we are a family of "keep it till its dead" people

Same here; my LS1 Z28 had over 250K miles on it, and I owned it from new for almost 17 years before I sold it to get the FiST.
IF it would not have been OVER half the price of the FiST to put a new/slightly used LS3 (and some other mods I wanted) into it, I might STILL be driving it today!!

 

[joesiris]

I had so much fun in my lancer that I hadn't even listed it to sell, and so when my dad mentioned needing something to drive to and from work that got more than 12 mpgs I gladly offered it up to keep it the family

 

[cctman]

it may be because of our strict road laws too, and our strong police presence, that keeps cars like that from being made here. We don't have a autobahn or anything like that

Well let me give you a little bit of background from where I come from. I came from the sport bike scene. And I think this has led me to be seriously jaded. I started with the original 85 fz 750, then a 94 zx7. It was a huge step to move to the ZX7 over the older FZ. Then the sportbike world was big into the cbr 900s. They were the road warrior bike. A full liter engine with crazy torque and 1/4 speeds. Then in 1996 the sportbike world got revolutionized as for the first time a lighter weight engine actually stole the scene from its bigger cousin the cbr 900. It was carrying an aluminum frame, ram air induction and naturally aspirated for 122hp at 13k rpms. I owned one in 1997. Then I moved to a few other bikes including a 98zx9, cbr 954, and 02 gsxr 750 again amongst many other bikes.

My point being, that I thought this car was finally going to go that same path. Prove to the world that you could pull off Lotus Elise potential on a sub $30k budget in its own way. So what I was hoping for was a more powerful liter engine with AWD and remove even more weight to go the way of the Miata or in my terms the gsxr 750. And if sport bikes are so popular here in the US. Arguably a bigger demand than in Europe, then why the hell are we handing the entire exotic performance car market over seas. Hell, I use to work for the Indy Racing League, we have SBS series and Nascar too and we purchase way more sport bikes from the big 4 Japanese than any European company by far. I just don't get it. The sport bike world works here in America but we can't get a car manufacturer to do the same thing? The whole damn thing makes no sense in my head at all. For a guy who came from decades of riding over a dozen models of sport bikes and watching the industry continuously pushing the envelope, why aren't we doing this with car manufactures?

 

[joesiris]

Sounds like you need an arial atom...but true there arnt any major "exotic" car manufacturers here...ford has the Shelby gt 500 and the ford GT, chevy has its ZR1, dodge with its viper, but that's it from major domestic cars. but look at what smaller companies are starting to do like the falcon motorsports F7, the Hennessey venom, and the mosler MT 900. Yeah these are all big expensive supercars and were talking about the fist, and while 99% of us cant afford supercars, companies like ford stand back and look at a product and see how they can make an efficient product for less. with fossil fuels on the decline and cost of living going up it only makes sense. AS far as ford giving us an elise we have the rs, and small cars arnt is in demand here as they are overseas. americans love their F150s and tahoes and pilots. Hell in japan they have "mini vans" the size of a kia soul. does this mean I still like the new direction the fist is going, well no, I'm still super glad I got a 16, and ill be holding onto it till it rusts out from under me

 

[cctman]

Sounds like you need an arial atom...but true there arnt any major "exotic" car manufacturers here...ford has the Shelby gt 500 and the ford GT, chevy has its ZR1, dodge with its viper, but that's it from major domestic cars. but look at what smaller companies are starting to do like the falcon motorsports F7, the Hennessey venom, and the mosler MT 900. Yeah these are all big expensive supercars and were talking about the fist, and while 99% of us cant afford supercars, companies like ford stand back and look at a product and see how they can make an efficient product for less. with fossil fuels on the decline and cost of living going up it only makes sense. AS far as ford giving us an elise we have the rs, and small cars arnt is in demand here as they are overseas. americans love their F150s and tahoes and pilots. Hell in japan they have "mini vans" the size of a kia soul. does this mean I still like the new direction the fist is going, well no, I'm still super glad I got a 16, and ill be holding onto it till it rusts out from under me

yeah... don't get me wrong I love my FIST. And will hold on to it probably for as long as it runs. But I do legitimately want to know if Americans have a great demand for sport bikes, why is it that demand is not fullfilled in the sport car market?

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^^Maybe because to match that crotch rocket level of performance which those riders here are used to/expecting, it would take an over half million buck hyper car to even come close??!!

 

[cctman]

^^^Maybe because to match that crotch rocket level of performance which those riders here are used to/expecting, it would take an over half million buck hyper car to even come close??!!

Yeah maybe so. I dunno!

 

[OCS12]

^^^Maybe because to match that crotch rocket level of performance which those riders here are used to/expecting, it would take an over half million buck hyper car to even come close??!!

And that right there is the correct, and blatantly obvious answer. Not sure why the OP thinks that kind of performance can come cheap in a car.

 

[cctman]

And that right there is the correct, and blatantly obvious answer. Not sure why the OP thinks that kind of performance can come cheap in a car.

I don't know maybe because a FIST costs roughly $20k and upgrading a turbo to a x37 is like only $1,300. That leaves you roughly $8k to figure out how to add AWD and lighten the frame and upgrade to a stage 3. Easily done. But I'm sure my math is not dead on so...

 

[OCS12]

I don't know maybe because a FIST costs roughly $20k and upgrading a turbo to a x37 is like only $1,300. That leaves you roughly $8k to figure out how to add AWD and lighten the frame and upgrade to a stage 3. Easily done. But I'm sure my math is not dead on so...

Yes, you're correct in that your math is not dead on. I'm not trying to be rude at all, but I do this stuff for a living at an awfully big engine manufacturer, albeit a marine one. Just the additional complication to the supply chain of keeping X-37's around in addition to the standard K-39 adds storage and inventory costs, assuming there's even available space. On top of that, with virtually every major automaker using the "just in time" method, now you'll need to make sure the additional part can be swapped as needed, so additional manpower will be needed for line side delivery. Then you need to add complications such as verifying the right turbo goes on the right engine. More cost.

Those are just a few examples based on a single part. To be honest, I'd bet our ST's are marketing loss leaders.

 

[cctman]

Yes, you're correct in that your math is not dead on. I'm not trying to be rude at all, but I do this stuff for a living at an awfully big engine manufacturer, albeit a marine one. Just the additional complication to the supply chain of keeping X-37's around in addition to the standard K-39 adds storage and inventory costs, assuming there's even available space. On top of that, with virtually every major automaker using the "just in time" method, now you'll need to make sure the additional part can be swapped as needed, so additional manpower will be needed for line side delivery. Then you need to add complications such as verifying the right turbo goes on the right engine. More cost.

Those are just a few examples based on a single part. To be honest, I'd bet our ST's are marketing loss leaders.

Sounds interesting. Probably a lot of why when you're talking about sportbikes, you are only dealing with half the parts too. So that's why the cost is kept so low as well.

 

[Intuit]

A motorcycle's weight is basically all engine. How much does a motorcycle seat weigh ? With all the regulatory requirements, creature comforts, automobiles are an entirely different ball game. Much easier to have a 10k super-bike than a 40k super-car.

This thread...

Why is that angry one-armed Teddy Bear beating a donkey that hasn't been dead long enough for rigormortis to set in ?

https://youtu.be/Gwd4dLaqBEU

ok engine aside, its the look of it that kills me. I'm glad I didn't wait and I got a 16. I'm sure the engine will be fine, there will always be folks like mountune, dead hook, cobb, and whoosh that make and sell parts to get you to where you want to be. But when I saw this back in December my heart almost broke...no more st its a "st line" with no outward badge saying so...its on the door sill. The titanium and vignale are actually nice for "base" models, the active is a joke, but the st line, why? I hate the panorama sunroof, and the body styling does not have that aggressive look we get now, the wing is just leftovers from the vanilla fiestas of 14-17..not happy with the look at all. do like the new brakes though. now I know the vid I post is from the uk and the link at the beginning of this thread shows a "ST" badge fiesta that looks different from the uk release but they both just lack in the looks dept. I will say if you watch the whole video I post here the intro is awesome, getting to see history of the fiesta driving down the red carpet is pretty darn amazing...just some thoughts

I like the roof and the side profile doesn't look bad.

The 2016 has a more aggressive front fascia and I like that better. All they needed to do for the rear was extend the lights on over to the hatch** and have the tail lights illuminate with longer thinner lines.

It's not bad but, it just seems like the styling has some additional feminine touches. I prefer the more aggressive lines/styling.

 

[M-Sport fan]

To be honest, I'd bet our ST's are marketing loss leaders.

^^^I have NO DOUBTS whatsoever that this is correct, which makes the fact that some have paid <$17K for one of these cars, seem like an impossibility.

 

[Quisp]

yeah... don't get me wrong I love my FIST. And will hold on to it probably for as long as it runs. But I do legitimately want to know if Americans have a great demand for sport bikes, why is it that demand is not fullfilled in the sport car market?

The sportbike is a small niche in todays market. Don't get me wrong I love the latest technology. But their to narrow focused for any reasonable riding distance.