Nope, I am not going to make a noise like a fiesta, that's another type of impression.
However, I am quite impressed with the wee fella.
I am working in germany and the battery on my own XJ died the other day so, whilst it is on order, I went native and hired a local auto. One of those with the steering wheel on The Other Side. Ended up with a 1.6D Fiesta 5 door manual with stop-start.
firstly the stop start. Seems very good. Not intrusive at all I find. As long as the leccy system and starter are beefed up enough I would be quite happy with this technology.
The Fiesta is a nice car. Comfortable and quite nippy. Not too keen on the sterring, seems a bit vague and too light (compared to the Jag). Then again I have noticed this with nearly all the (small hatchback type) hire cars i have had over the last few years.
I passed a MK1 focus in the fiesta this morning and was surprised they seemed similar sized!
Fuel consumption quite impressive. Looks to be doing around 4.3 l per 100km at the mo. better than the 7.3l in the Jag (which is around 38MPG).
There was a frost this morning and it was nice to see the fiesta had the heated screen so, like in the Jag, I listened to a tune whilst the screens and mirrors defrosted, then off I went....nice.
In fact, overall, I would be happy if I had to drive the fiesta everyday. there are a few odd niggles though which i cannot understand:
1 - the side vents 8for face level ventilation but, more usually, for the side windows) always "leak" so there is a draft even when fully closed and the settings are such that there should only be air directed to the windscreen.
2 - Bottom right side of the windscreen (LHD remember) seems to not be quite straight and I keep getting disctracted as the white lines on the highway are "bent" in this area of the screen. Most distracting
3 - Also on the same Hall of Mirrors theme as #2 -> The rear view interior mirror appears to be slightly concave and, therefore, makes images in it appear taller and thinner than real life.
Why?!
4 - one cannot see the nose. driving along and the bottom of the windscreen is all one sees due to the slope of the bonnet. I DO like to be able to see the nose of the car. many modern cars have this trend of "vanishing front".
But, as i say, overall I like the car. Be interested to try the new focus (Yawn inducing styling aside) as, if it is anything like the Fiesta, it should be a jolly nice machine.
rgds
Zuave.
|
>> I passed a MK1 focus in the fiesta this morning and was surprised they seemed
>> similar sized!
Mk 1 Focus, 5 door 4174 mm long, 4 door 4382 mm long.
Latest Fiesta 3950 mm long.
|
>> The Fiesta is a nice car. Comfortable and quite nippy. Not too keen on the
>> sterring, seems a bit vague and too light (compared to the Jag). Then again I
>> have noticed this with nearly all the (small hatchback type) hire cars i have had
>> over the last few years.
Not just small hatchbacks. Pretty much all modern cars.
Steering feel is a thing of the past on pretty much all bread and butter cars now (and a lot of premium ones as well). It says it all that quite a few manufacturers still choose to fit hydraulic steering to their top end sports models. A fairly damning admission of the failings of the electric systems they saddle the rest of their ranges with as anything else.
|
>> A fairly damning admission of the failings of the electric systems they saddle the
>> rest of their ranges with as anything else.
>>
For £100, on the Volvo V40 you can have three different steering settings.
|
When I select Sport on the adaptive suspension, the steering also weights up a bit. I prefer the steering like this so usually go with the slightly firmer suspension. As opposed to Normal or Comfort.
Most cars these days have electrically assisted steering. And some companies seem to engineer/design some feel into the system. Many do not.
|
>>
>> For £100, on the Volvo V40 you can have three different steering settings.
>>
The BMW has two, depending on what driving mode you are in. 'Sport' mode adds weight to the steering, but it's still numb in comparison to even a half decent hydraulic set up. BMW incidentally are one of the manufacturers who revert to hydraulic PAS on some of the M models. The BMWs steering is quick and very accurate, but it's like driving an old BMW wearing a thick pair of gloves. Something is missing.
You will notice the difference coming from a mk1 Focus which has excellent power steering, to modern electric PAS which always has a numb, slightly "springy" feel to it. You don't get the subtle weight changes and feedback as the road surface changes.
|
My Passat CC is not going to be the best handling car - electric power steering and it's a VW. And a bit heavy car too. Steering not as communicative as the previous too - Mazda6 and Mondeo MkIII which both had hydraulic steering.
Benefit to me is lower CO2 emissions and therefore lower BIK. And if you like your toys the electric steering allows for park assist and lane assist - i.e. the car can turn the wheel for you when appropriate.
|
>> Not just small hatchbacks. Pretty much all modern cars.
>>
>> Steering feel is a thing of the past on pretty much all bread and butter
>> cars now (and a lot of premium ones as well).
Why is that?
I had an '09' plate Corsa as a courtesy car the other day...and the steering on that was hopelessly light.
|
|
It's electrically assisted power steering... some FIATs have a CITY button to boost assistance. This makes the steering even more vague and without feedback.
|
Even hydraulic steering offers little feedback compared to unassisted.
I noticed the electric set-up on the Swift offers next to zero feedback through the wheel, but you quickly compensate by being more aware of subtle shifts of grip at the corners.
Still not go-kart sharp but neither is it anywhere near as twitchy.
I bet if you drove around in a mildly sporty saloon with 225/40 or similar tyres and unassisted steering you'd be sick of it after a while on crappy roads.
|
>> I bet if you drove around in a mildly sporty saloon with 225/40 or similar tyres and unassisted steering
Mine are that profile on 18" wheels. I'd not like it without any power steering.
|
|
Ah yes, got a fiat rental a while back...last year sometime???..... anyway, I pressed the city button whilst on the motorway (I know I know...it says CITY. Even so I was never going to be visiting more than 2 villages and a town!) and wondered what had happened. Most awful thing this leccy steering seems to be (as that appears to be the differences I have noticed). makes the cars more "wanderey". Jag steering is heavy when compared to the wee hatchbacks, but it feels nice. Will add it to my list of electronic dislikes along with electric hand brakes.
|
>> Why is that?
It saves fuel and therefore emissions (ePAS only active when needed rather than constantly running an energy sapping PAS pump), also allows for the cheap fitment of features such as auto-parking via relatively simple ECU programming. Is possibly a cheaper arrangement than hydraulic PAS too ?
|
|
EPAS = Extremely Poor Aiming System......
|
Odd then that one of the first cars to sport (hah!) a fully electric power steering rack was the MGF. A car rightly lauded at the time for its handling and you wouldn't get that for something with vague steering. I've driven a few Fs and TFs over the years. All of 'em had good feel and feedback through the steering while adding that "light as a feather" touch for low speed maneuvering. You know the power assistance is there, but it's never intrusive.
So it can be done right, which begs the question as to why it isn't so often.
|
A lot of this is in the eye or perhaps the mind of the beholder. Boy's Panda is electric and seems fine to me.
Our Civic is an early electric one and the only thing I notice is that it doesn't really self centre - there's around 30 degrees around the straight ahead position in which it just stays where you put it - always has done. Still doesn't stop me pointing it accurately.
The Mx5 is in a different league but the steering is a lot faster, and the change of direction is immediately perceptible. I don't think I have any better perception of grip. Though I don't profess any expertise in that area.
|
|
The steering on the 3 series - is spot on, perfect weighting, not sure if it's hydraulic or not, the one in the X1 had a dead about the centre feel, although pleasant to use. Suspect it was electric
|
|
E90 has much nicer steering (and general handling) than F30.
|
|
I was wondering about this yesterday - my FiL has mved onto a 328 (F30) - The E90 did an 8 hour 300 mile to Swansea and back (funeral) - as previously reported - everything n this car is just so right (apart from the specc'd seats)
|
If I had to summarise which was best in these areas (assuming standard cars with no options ticked):
Handling: E90 - these cars are just a joy to drive hard. They feel special. The F30 on standard suspension is floppier, less controlled, easier to get out of shape than a similarly equipped E90.
Ride: F30 - Much more supple over uneven surfaces. Generally a "softer" car on standard suspension.
Interior ambience: F30 - Clever use of different materials and textures. E90 interior is very bland, almost austere in comparison.
Comfort and space: F30 - Much improved rear seat legroom and shoulder room in the newer car. Better seats too.
Build quality: E90 - F30 feels much more built to a price than the E90. Lacks that automatic sense you got with the E90 that it'll still drive like a new car at 100k.
Standard equipment levels: F30 - The standard spec is now SE, and it has everything you really need without attacking the options list. As a non-optioned ES, the E90 was a bit spartan.
I like my F30 a lot, and it is a brilliant mile muncher (as we tested in August), but it isn't the game changer that the press would have you believe, at least comparing four pot diesel with four pot diesel, without raiding the options list on either car. Every time I hit a good bit of road, I still wish I was in my old 318d. Just a thoroughly involving, rewarding handling car.
Last edited by: DP on Thu 11 Oct 12 at 11:35
|
>> The steering on the 3 series - is spot on, perfect weighting, not sure if
>> it's hydraulic or not, ............
The Active Steering sounds good. tinyurl.com/9smyfes
|
|
Personally i would be content with steering that has "some" resistance when you turn the steering wheel. The first time I steered the Fiesta (out of a parking space) the wheel zoomed around and almost ended up with my elbow through the window,-)! I had a chvy caprice some years ago, a late 70's thing, the steering on that was pathetically light. A lot of the modern cars seem to be aspiring to that same level of assistance, it is too much, it's not needed. It wasn't that long ago that PS was a rare/upmarket thing (I recall a W plate "XR3 style" Escort I had for a while and an M-plate fiesta of my sister) neither of these had power steering.
|
You are all fussy.
American cars I drove in the 1980s had no steering feel. None.
And I recall a top of the range Toyota Camry had steering so light, your little finger could move it from lock to lock when stationary.
But I was brought up on cart sprung 1930s cars with worm steering boxes and metal to metal joints (and poor lubrication) - so after 10 minutes driving in traffic your biceps bulged enough to split your shirt, and you did not need heating at all as the effort of twirling a wheel made you sweat.
(I speak as a former weighlifter as well!)
By comparison most modern cars - even the Yaris I drove 2 weeks ago have steering with some feel. It's just the drivers who have zero sensitivity in their hands :-)
I am serious: most people grip the wheel far too hard and don't use their fingertips but their palms...
Last edited by: madf on Thu 11 Oct 12 at 15:00
|
>> I am serious: most people grip the wheel far too hard and don't use their
>> fingertips but their palms...
>>
The folk complaining about over light steering probably sit bolt upright gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles while driving.
|
The rear view interior mirror appears to be slightly concave...
Wouldn't that make things appear upside down? Would depend on the focal length of the concavity, I suppose.
|
Will BD - you could be right....
Therefore I change that statement to:
The rear view mirror is strange in so much as the images are narrower and taller than the object would be when viewed with the naked eye. This is a very distracting trait.
:-)
Rgds
Zuave
|
Strange, I can't say I've noticed that and I've driven all 18 of our Fiestas on the Manchester hire fleet on a regular basis. I do use the mirror all the time. I'll have a look next one I get called out to.
Maybe it's just on a left hooker.....although I can't see why.
Ted
|
Curved rear screen on the FRV makes anything following you look like a hearse:
Low, flat bonnet with a big tall windscreen above it.
No longer really notice the effect, obviously the brain disregards it after a while.
|
Ford Fiesta - Rented fiesta, impressions - L'escargot
