By the looks of it: Ford’s Spectacular Small Cars

On December 2, 2009 the North American Ford Fiesta was unveiled to the public at the Las Angeles Auto Show. I had my eyes on this soon-to-be smallest Ford product for over a year, and to see the final result was outstanding. From the European-spec 5-door I drove around a couple of Cincinnati blocks last May, the US version managed to retain almost every miniscule detail that made the Fiesta such an appealing vehicle. Given the success of the US team, I believed the Fiesta to be the even money favorite to become my next car upon graduation from medical school in 2011.

Barely over one month later, the Ford Focus made its debut at the 2010 North American International Auto Show on January 11. Initial responses were overwhelmingly positive, yet many details of the design seemed busy, bland, or inconsistent. One element of the design spoke to me instantly—the simple, single chrome bar and large Ford Blue Oval of the upper grille with the elegantly cutout hood arching over the oval. Other specific details of the Focus seemed to pale in comparison to their counterparts on the Fiesta; nevertheless, as a complete vehicle the Focus’ design seemingly rivaled the Fiesta for style, sport, and emotion.

Fortunately, I had an off weekend from my duties at the hospital and carved out a two-day trip to Detroit to take in these two models and the remainder of the 2010 NAIAS. Upon entering Cobo, the Fiesta was the first car to catch my eye thanks to the Hot Magenta paint and its elevated platform display. That’s certainly not a color I would ever buy in any car, but it works on the Fiesta quite well.

From that moment, though, I had some reservations about what I thought to be certain—my next car. Something just didn’t come off as well as I had hoped nor had remembered from the Ocean Blue Fiesta in Cincinnati. It was tall and narrow to degrees I apparently did not notice. This is not to deride the Fiesta of its much deserved praise; I was as shocked as anyone to discover all was not exactly as hoped. The tuned white Fiesta sat to the right of the Hot Magenta 5-door, and it did it’s best to conceal some of the height and width concerns thanks to the side skirts and sharp-looking rear exhaust/faux-diffuser treatment.

Next I moved to the “inside” of Ford’s massive display where I encountered the Focus sedan and hatch slowly revolving on the raised platform. If a deeper, more luxurious red paint than on the hatch has ever been created I would like to see it. The silver sedan provided a muted contrast to the bold hatch; silver is currently out of my favor after owning a silver German sedan—just a bit too bland at times. Several opinions I had read were strongly positive for the sedan yet only marginal, at best, for the hatch. It could have been the paint, but I find both the sedan and hatch to be equally appealing which is strong work in a segment dominated by either a nice looking sedan or a nice looking hatch but almost never both.

Over the next few hours, I combed over every last detail of the Fiesta sedans on the floor and open to the public while returning to the platforms to see the Lime Squeeze Fiesta and the Focus. Time spent inside the Fiesta sedans, one a Blue Flame SE and the other a Red Candy SEL, gave me more pause as to my distant next car. Again I felt as if something were just not quite what I wanted. Yes, all of the European touches from red instrument lighting to central locking and the LED screen were just as they had been the only other time I sat in a Fiesta. It just felt different. In Cincinnati, I spent all of an hour looking at and driving the Fiesta. I went in with the attitude it was my next car and did little critical analysis. Detroit provided a different opportunity with the handsome Focus only a glance away from the Fiesta.

Determined to approach this issue with as much objectivity as possible, I then made trips between the Fiesta and Focus comparing individual details one at a time. Keep in mind this was not an inherently fair and unbiased approach as I could get inside the Fiesta yet only had brief glances at portions of the Focus’ confines. It is undoubtedly going to come off more negatively than it should or than I would like regarding the Fiesta, but the following comparison is done with the goal of making a decision on which is the front-runner to become my next car.

The steering wheel in the Fiesta is a 3-spoke design that, in leather trim form, feels almost as good as I remember from the European car. The look and feel of the polymer standard wheel leaves something to be desired. This compares to a 4-spoke layout of the Focus—with a thick leather wrap and silver stitching—complete with as many buttons as some dashboards. I’m not a fan of cluttered wheels, so in this I would say the Fiesta’s looks better. That the multi-button wheel in the Focus is apparently necessary for MyFord Touch may be a redeeming factor; questions linger as to the implementation of the two instrument panel screens previewed for the 2012 Edge versus only one for the Focus. I would like to see the analog gauges with one MyFord Touch screen remain as is for the Focus.

The texture of the Fiesta dashboard did not stick out to me on the European model owing to the intense lighting of the Ford display. It’s a unique texture that reminds me of military digital camo. The feel is not bad; it’s just not my favorite. Obviously, I cannot comment on the surfaces of the Focus though the photos suggest they are quite nice and potentially even leather trimmed. Still, apparently this piano black trim theme has spread to Ford. Glossy trim pieces look nice yet the moment a slightly oily finger touches the dash, the smudge taunts until something can be found to wipe it off. Maybe the glossy surfaces are not likely to be touched or receive direct sunlight so it will not be an issue.

I found the quality of the Fiesta’s headliner to not be as thick or soft as I like to see. I realize this is a B-segment car and thin, hard headliners are the norm and even more that the headliner is almost never touched anyway. Also, the moonroof stuck out to me as being mounted too far rearward. It seemed only a precious few inches were directly over my head; my 68” frame may have something to do with that since I had adjusted the seat forward to a position near where I would drive with a manual. I haven’t seen anything concerning a moonroof for the Focus, but I have to believe there will be one available as an option. We’ll see.

Fortunately, the Fiesta retained the white and predominantly red interior lighting from Europe. The red dash gives a sporty, low-key effect to the Fiesta at night. Unfortunately, it appears the Focus will have white instrument illumination with ice-blue needles. I either have not yet seen or failed to take note of dash illumination, though MyFord Touch will be a personalized smorgasbord of color and light.

Briefly, the seats in the Fiesta seemed less firm than those I tried in May. The seats were completely redone for the US so I suppose this is what was deemed best. I was surprised to find only the passenger seatback featured a map pocket and by the loose fitting cloth or leather on the seatbacks; hopefully the latter was due to its preproduction, car show floor status. As expected, the charcoal leather with white piping looked outstanding though the fault of leather dyed in light tones became apparent as discoloration had already occurred only an hour and a half into the public show. Without sitting in the Focus, I cannot comment more than to say the seats look great although there is certainly a lot going on in terms of variety in fabrics and patterns.

Considering Ford’s strive to boast of their widespread 6-speed transmissions, it is somewhat surprising that the Fiesta’s manual transmission is a 5-speed unit. While it may not make much of a difference in EPA testing numbers, I imagine that in real world situations with extending 70-80 mph driving an extra gear would be quite beneficial. The Focus will come with a 6-speed manual. Both have 6-speed PowerShift automatics available for those that choose to live life without the clutch pedal.

On the exterior, the Fiesta excels in the details. The unique and engaging “Dragon’s Eye” headlights set a tone for the entire car that you are not looking at another bland subcompact. The shape, position, and honeycomb texture in the 5-door’s rear lights evoke quality and attention to detail. It’s worth noting that the amber rear turn signals remain for the US models. The mirrors are another aspect of the design that simply just works—integrated turn signals and a convex section in the upper, outer portion of the mirror glass to eliminate blind spots. These two features need to spread across the lineup; the Focus, too, would benefit from the convex segments though the turn signals are already present.

The headlights on the Focus lack the dramatic shape of those on the Fiesta. On the silver sedan, a US-spec halogen unit was shown while the hatch featured projector beams and an LED strip across the top. Both were housed in typical chrome housings which I strongly prefer to the black housings shown in some photos on the Fordvehicles.com site. The taillights are even worse with their excessively stretched portions extending onto the side of both the sedan and hatch. Neither of the extensions looks good, perhaps the sedan looks slightly less bad as the extension is not quite as long. If the taillights dropped their excessively large non-illuminated portions and the extensions on the sides of the car, they could be salvaged. As it stands, this is my biggest complaint with the new Focus.

The wheels for the SES/SEL Fiesta are 16” 5-spoke units do not match the car in any way and are my biggest disappointment with the Fiesta. Visually, they have a way of making the wheels look smaller than they are thus making the car look even taller than it is. Although the SE’s 15” wheels give up an inch in diameter, the 8-spoke design is much more suited to the Fiesta. Really, almost any design would be better than the overly open 16” look. To contrast, the 19” wheels shown on the Focus will not be standard issue, yet it is not outlandish to believe that 17”s will be part of the top of the line models and possibly even 18” styles optional.

In summary, the Fiesta excels in the details, especially those of the exterior. The Focus seemingly lacks any showcase details outside the grille, yet it is a case where the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. This is not to suggest the Fiesta is not far and away better than the other B-segment competition but rather demonstrate my personal preferences for some things that are much more easily accomplished in a C-segment vehicle such as the Focus. The price point allows for more premium-appearing trim pieces such as the nicely detailed power window switches, the sleek dash appearance, and enough space to allow for a center armrest/console without intruding upon shifting space.

As it stands, what I took away from the NAIAS is that Ford is on a role in product development. Their 2011 Fiesta offers those looking for the best B-segment car just that. It will be nimble, agile, fuel efficient, and feel like much more of a car in terms of feel and features than its competitors. The Focus promises an equally engaging drive though with the penalty of additional weight. It gains features that will not be available on the Fiesta at least until its next redesign. With much surprise, the Focus is now the leader to become my next car for a host of reasons both from a design and features standpoint and the fact it should provide a more habitable space for rear seat passengers and cargo.