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My review: Fiesta S sedan (updated with hatchback review)


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-If the lock button is supposed to stay lit when the doors are locked, then it was faulty on the car I was driving.

Pardon my French

 

This is exactly the sort of needless goddamn complexity that makes European cars 'superior.'

 

Put a goddamn lock switch on the goddamn door panel, and call it good.

 

Screw these (_______) lights and this (_______) pull once on the door handle to unlock (_______).

 

This is JUST what Ford needs. Goddamn Teutonic 'engineering' making something that simple so (________) complex that you need to read the (_______) owners manual in order to LOCK your (________) car.

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Tell us how you REALLY feel, Richard...

I am continually amused/annoyed by that brand of Euro-snob who views well-engineered simplicity with contempt.

 

The person who snorts at a molded cupholder because it does not have as many moving parts as a wristwatch--even if said cupholder is far better suited for its task (holding cups) than the spindly plastic thing that unfolds itself from the dashboard.

 

The person who subsequently dismisses the unsuitability of the excessively engineered crap that he loves by blaming the victim: "It's your fault you tried to put a cup FULL OF LIQUID in the cupholder" "It's your fault you DRINK in your car" "It's your fault that you Americans are so fat and lazy that you can't possibly wait until you get home to drink your McDonalds shake"

 

"It's your fault that you didn't take your $18,000 VW Golf in for its $389.00 3 month maintenance. That's why the Check Engine Light has been on for the last 3 fill ups"

"You put bad gas in it"

"Maybe if you Americans weren't so cheap and lazy, and didn't INSIST on cars not breaking down, you'd be happy with your VW"

 

And so on and so forth.

 

I hate crap like this FoE lock nonsense. It's Effing ridiculous. Put a switch on the G-D front door panels and door lock levers on the other two.

 

You can't POSSIBLY convince me that this ludicrous system with its flashing LEDs is CHEAPER than the damnably simple way that locks work in the hopelessly backward North American continent.

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Okay, FJM.

 

I think you've enjoyed your hobby enough for one day.

 

Knock it off. Isn't it tea-time?

 

You and the missus can go sit out in the gazebo, enjoy tea and biscuit, and complain about how the Tories and/or Liberals are ruining everything. Then you can top it all off with the most popular of all English pastimes: Being glad you're not French and secretly admiring the Germans. :D

Edited by RichardJensen
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Okay, FJM.

 

I think you've enjoyed your hobby enough for one day.

 

Knock it off. Isn't it tea-time?

 

You and the missus can go sit out in the gazebo, enjoy tea and biscuit, and complain about how the Tories and/or Liberals are ruining everything. Then you can top it all off with the most popular of all English pastimes: Being glad you're not French and secretly admiring the Germans. :D

 

 

You was alright until you got to German bit Richard.

 

 

 

 

 

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Two things about the above:

 

-If the lock button is supposed to stay lit when the doors are locked, then it was faulty on the car I was driving.

-The Fiesta is within about 70 pounds of the current Focus.

From the manual....Press the control to lock/ unlock the doors. When the light on the button is on it indicates that all doors and the trunk are locked, When it is off it indicates one or more doors are unlocked....simple enough.....you may have had a faulty one or perhaps a door/ hatch wasnt fully closed.

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From the manual....Press the control to lock/ unlock the doors. When the light on the button is on it indicates that all doors and the trunk are locked, When it is off it indicates one or more doors are unlocked....simple enough.....you may have had a faulty one or perhaps a door/ hatch wasnt fully closed.

 

NOT SIMPLE ENOUGH.

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NOT SIMPLE ENOUGH.

just takes getting used too, even though its is flawed in comparison to what we are used to here...want simple...check the 100 pages of the manual dedicated to the Entertainment system and sync...THATS not si ple enough.....the locks PALE in comparison.....reading it gave me a damn headache....and I STILL question the push button start...IMO a good old key and ignition was perfectly adequate and DEFINITELY simpler....GIMMICKS!

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I STILL question the push button start...IMO a good old key and ignition was perfectly adequate and DEFINITELY simpler....GIMMICKS!

 

 

Its nice not to worry about having to take your keys out of your pocket, plus I'm sure there is some extra protection during a crash of not having to have keys dig into your leg or something in the middle of an accident.

 

 

 

 

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just takes getting used too

Why.

 

Why should one 'get used' to a complicated contrivance?

 

 

Ask yourself whether the dream of simplicity and ease of use should be waiting for us in our graves - or whether it should be ours here and now and in our cars

 

(BTW: I have read Ayn Rand, and even as a high school student, it was easy enough to see the numerous glaring flaws in her philosophy)

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just takes getting used too, even though its is flawed in comparison to what we are used to here...want simple...check the 100 pages of the manual dedicated to the Entertainment system and sync...THATS not si ple enough.....the locks PALE in comparison.....reading it gave me a damn headache....and I STILL question the push button start...IMO a good old key and ignition was perfectly adequate and DEFINITELY simpler....GIMMICKS!

 

My 2002 Taurus SES looks better all the time. I'm not a fan of push button start either or remote start. I just like the remote button for locking and unlocking doors and auto lock button on doors with simple symbols and lighted at night. I also have button for trunk on remote and button in car plus panic mode on remote. That's all I need, and when leaving car you press button twice and get beaping horn meanting doors are locked. Keep it SIMPLE and familiar. Putting that stuff on your cheapest model seems like overkill to me.

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Putting that stuff on your cheapest model seems like overkill to me.

Apparently power locks are the only thing on that list that are on the cheapest model.

 

And the implementation of it, to my jaundiced eyes, is bad at the DEFCON-VW level (ergonomics that aren't just passively bad (Chrysler), but seem to have been conceived with a deliberate effort to flout intuitive operation). The only level higher than DEFCON-VW is DEFCON-BMW (incredibly bad and incredibly expensive)

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Its nice not to worry about having to take your keys out of your pocket, plus I'm sure there is some extra protection during a crash of not having to have keys dig into your leg or something in the middle of an accident.

except the key if left in the car and left running will lock one out of the car unless Auto lock is dis-abled.....

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Apparently power locks are the only thing on that list that are on the cheapest model.

 

And the implementation of it, to my jaundiced eyes, is bad at the DEFCON-VW level (ergonomics that aren't just passively bad (Chrysler), but seem to have been conceived with a deliberate effort to flout intuitive operation). The only level higher than DEFCON-VW is DEFCON-BMW (incredibly bad and incredibly expensive)

minor hindrance in my eyes...and one hell of a lot easier than I-drive etc...

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That's just the thinking Ford is trying to get away from. Just because it's small doesn't mean it should be a featureless appliance.

 

It was not that long ago when Mercedes first started using push button keyless start and had big time troubles with it and their quality rating suffered because of it. Now it has filtered down even to affordable Ford's cheapest , smallest vehicle in its lineup. I guess I would live with it on a Lincoln, but IMO it's overkill on a Fiesta. I would rather see the money go into weight reduction in order to pull another couple MPG out of vehicle. 40mpg still seems to be out of reach even on B segment vehicles. I have yet to see a Fiesta with EPA rating of 40mpg, even with $695 SFE package included on sticker and on rear deck lid.

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except the key if left in the car and left running will lock one out of the car unless Auto lock is dis-abled.....

 

How would you leave it in the car if you never took it out of your pocket? I'd find the chances to be slimmer than locking yourself out of a running car that requires you to put a key in the ignition.

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It was not that long ago when Mercedes first started using push button keyless start and had big time troubles with it and their quality rating suffered because of it. Now it has filtered down even to affordable Ford's cheapest , smallest vehicle in its lineup. I guess I would live with it on a Lincoln, but IMO it's overkill on a Fiesta. I would rather see the money go into weight reduction in order to pull another couple MPG out of vehicle. 40mpg still seems to be out of reach even on B segment vehicles. I have yet to see a Fiesta with EPA rating of 40mpg, even with $695 SFE package included on sticker and on rear deck lid.

 

So don't buy one with keyless ignition! :idea: I'm glad Ford is offering options on their smaller vehicles that used to be unheard of in small cars. Just because you want a small car doesn't necessarily mean you want a cheap car.

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How would you leave it in the car if you never took it out of your pocket? I'd find the chances to be slimmer than locking yourself out of a running car that requires you to put a key in the ignition.

 

I would like to see Ford offer the numerical pad on the door on the Focus and Fiesta. Now that would be a usefuf option to offer. I know you can have the dealer install one, but it's not near as nice as a factory one that is color matched. Then locking yourself out is never a possibility including leaving your keys in trunk.

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