vegas

At last a decent subcompact coming to the states. I used to love these cars back in Blighty.

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/03/05/c...pe-for-mondeo/

Rete

Hmmmm, thought they were already here?

vegas

If you are thinking of the festiva then that was a rebadged kia piece of crap

The Ford Festiva was a subcompact car sold by the Ford Motor Company in North America, Asia and Australasia, introduced in 1986 in Japan. The car was manufactured by Kia in South Korea, which at the time was part-owned by Ford, and was derived from the Kia Pride

ironporer

Now if they'd just go back and produce Fiat/Seat 600's or 850's and ship them over here- now there was a fine automobile!~!

Hiro11

Seeing as you can already get the superb Honda Fit (sold in the UK as the Jazz) and zippy Nissan Versa, why get worked up about the Ford? There are others as well, notably the Toyota Yaris (slightly less exciting to drive but basically bulletproof) and the new Suzuki SX-4 which has a great engine and solid 4WD.

Also, the Kia Rio5/Hyundai Accent is actually a really nice little car for the money and ranks amoung the top subcompacts available. Korean autos have come a long way in 20 years, even their subcompacts.

vegas

The Honda fit base price: $14,445 is subcompact car at compact price. If the fiesta can be brought over for around $10k then for me there is nothing that could touch it.

Big D

Great cars to drive - great handling and very fun - not sure how that will work on the roads over here! You see the odd Fiesta over here from Mexico - although if we get the Mexican Fiesta here is wont be as good - just look at the Focus - highly rated in Europe but perceived as bag of bolts over here!

Elvira

Ford Fiesta 1.3L Ghia - ah, those were the days - zooming around London in the days before traffic ground to a halt...

gsnichol

Oh I don't know - I have a Focus and it's fine. When I was looking at cars I asked for a Fiesta. The guys at the Ford dealer had never heard of them, despite there being quite a lot on the road round here as you say from Mexico. Many people seem to think my two-door Focus is 'a really small car' so I don't know how well something Fiesta-sized would go down here, but if you live in a large cramped city - ideal!

Scouse Express

The Mk 1 was here for a short while......and then fizzled out.

I had a Mk 2 1.1 Ghia, back in the UK. Never let me down at all

Will take a look at the new ones, for the benefit of her indoors, when they arrive, especially if they have the Ghia trimmings.

Jim

Vimto

I owned a 1979 MK1 Fiesta built for the US market looked like this :

http://www.canadiandriver.com/cgi-bi...0Ford%20Fiesta

It had round headlights and huge front and rear bumpers, drove it all the way from UK to Greece and ran it for 5 years it was fast, but finally a Yugoslavian truck driver remodeled it with the help of a solid stone wall

AmerLisa

They were, I owned one in the early 80's.

Hiro11

The Fiesta was only sold in the US from 1978 through 1980:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Fiesta

The mid eighties European Fiesta was indeed an excellent little car. I remember tooling around in one while over there. The hood was not visible to the driver, you felt like you were riding out in front of the engine. That combined with the tiny proportions of the car made 80 MPH feel like 200. A lot of fun to drive around in.

Yosser

I learn't to drive in a 1981 Ford Fiesta 1.1 "limited edition" which had the sunroof, heated back window and wiper and was a 2 tone gold and brown color.....aah the days! (it was the old bids car).

Every morning....pull out manual choke...thottle 3 times...stick choke in halfway and crank her up....worked every time

MrScotland

My first car was a Mk2 Fiesta XR2, the first and last brand new car I had for a while. Unfortunately there's a world of difference between the Euro Fords and the North America ones. They ship over the design elements and remove the quality. Having driven the Taurus, 500, Focus, and Mustang over here, I've yet to find a US Ford that doesn't feel like a biscuit tin to drive. The most disappointing was the Mustang which looks great but drives like the Mk2 Escort I originally learnt to drive in 20+ years ago.