My 2015 Ford Fiesta ST 30000 mile ownership review

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Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
I have a '16 base in Shadow Black and I love it. I think I would have liked the Recaros, but I kept reading that bigger guys felt uncomfortable in them and the $2000 price tag was a bit rich for me.

I learned to drive stick in mine and drove it home from the dealer 40 miles away after only watching YouTube videos and 20 mins with the salesman in the car. Except for moving from a start and the 1-2 shift being a little jerky, if I'm not careful with the clutch, this has to be one of the easiest manuals to drive. It wouldn't win any drag races, but the power from the 1.6t is awesome once boost kicks in. It picks up speed on the highway without problems. Like you, I also notice how planted it feels on the highway. The NVH also isn't bad for the size of the car. It could use some sound insulation around the wheel well and floor pan area for road noise that comes from the tires. Before I looked at the car, I expected it to feel chintzy because it's based on a cheap econobox, but it feels solid, which is nice to know when driving next to large SUVs and trucks. The doors feels heavy and close with a nice thud.

I haven't modded mine. Might get an accessport and an intake at some point, but probably not much else.

I'm at about 11,500 miles and the original Potenzas still have about 6/10 of tread left with one rotation. Not bad for 140 rated tires.

The sound system isn't amazing, but I would say it's adequate. I have Sync 3 and installed the update that allows for Android Auto/Apple Carplay. Definitely useful for road trips since I don't have nav.

My only complaints are the cheap interior and how thin and soft the paint is. The interior in the 2018 Fiesta looks much nicer.

Knowing that the 2018 won't be sold here, makes me love my car more.

Great points asiancivicmaniac, (great username) I basically agree with everything you had to add regarding the clutch/ transmission and even the seats. Im a skinny twig so the seats are probably a bit more comfortable for me than a larger person.

I’m jealous regarding your tire life. Stick with the stock Potenza’s they seem to be the best bang for the buck especially regarding traction. I have some Yokohamas on right now and they are so-so grip. As im sure you will agree, Rotations seem to be the key here regarding tire life however I don’t feel like visiting Americas Tire every 3 months.

I am jealous of your Sync 3 as I’m really getting tired of the Sync 2 system. If I had the desire to keep the car for awhile I’d probably consider picking up a 17 model just for the sync 3 and those black wheels are awesome.

I see a lot of comments regarding the modifications on the vehicle so I figure I’d touch on that. The basic mods that I have done really really wake up the car especially where it counts in the mid-range. I bought the car expecting a certain level of performance and the basic (all completely reversible) additions to the car really have woken it up and have made it a hoot to drive. As stated, there have been 0 drivability/ reliability issues engine wise with this set up and I couldn’t recommend more to Fiesta ST owners looking for a more lively ownership experience. I hear custom tunes are even more exciting however I have stuck with the off the shelf tunes.

Originally Posted By: MCompact
Great review! I considered an ST but couldn't find one with Recaros AND without a hole in the roof. And, while Ford claims HPDEs won't void the warranty, I didn't want to try and argue the matter with my local dealers, none of which inspire much confidence.


I hear these are pretty rare actually although they were made per what I've read on fiestastforum.

 

[MCompact]

Originally Posted By: ad244


I hear these are pretty rare actually although they were made per what I've read on fiestastforum.




The first one my dealer received had Recaros and no sunroof, but I wasn't in the market at that point.

 

[HondaRULZ]

Originally Posted By: AirgunSavant
I have no backup camera on my 16 C-Max


To me, back-up cameras are only good if they can warn you of a strike and not be just view-only.

 

[PandaBear]

Did Ford void your warranty when they found all those mods on a leased car? I mean you can put back your exhaust and intakes but intercooler and tune? What if the engine detonate under boost?

Smart thing to do it on a leased car actually so you don't have to deal with it afterward other than the labor to return it to stock and part out.

 

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Hey all BITOG readers....

Just wanted to check back into this thread after turning the car in this past Wednesday, January 31, 2018. The final odometer reading was 35,567 Miles in total in 3 years.

I would like to do a final review of the car and detail the things I loved and loathed about the car however the majority of what I had previously reported still stands true. The car was always a boatload of fun, hilariously excellent value for the base equipment group and surprisingly practical for a sub-compact. I am not sponsored or supported in any way by Ford or the Dealership and this is just my take on the whole experience over the last three years.

Return Process:

Over the years I have owned quite a few cars and leased several cars as well however with it all said and done, none have been this easy in regards to the ownership experience. Other than the issues I had with the car it was a very trouble free experience including the return process to Ford. I never specifically told Ford what I had planned to do with the car before I began to receive phone calls from the 3rd party inspection company wanting to inspect the car before it was returned to Ford. Mind you, this was happening during the holiday season which made it very difficult to get something scheduled. Finally, the inspection was scheduled through AIM inspections. Since I work during the middle of the week I asked him to meet at my office where the inspection took place (Mind you I still had the MAP aftermarket exhaust on the car at the time). The inspector was a young kid who was pretty passionate about his job and was very friendly. He inspected the cars panel gaps looking for paint repairs, added paint and crashes. He also reminded me that Ford didn’t care about the tire depth which him and I both found hilarious (more on this later). All in all, the car was extremely straight minus about 6 rock chips that went straight to the metal. He gave the car a clean bill of health with no additional charges to me.
This was a little surprising to me ultimately because as the car was very clean, it doesn’t exactly look new. I wacked the passenger side wheel on the curb with a good 3 inch gash into the wheel. Rock chips in the hood. Couple brush marks from people walking alongside the car on the doors and the majority of the once black trim pieces look as grey as grandmas hair! Also all the tires are basically bald after about 8,000 miles on the set. Ford had sent me a letter a few weeks before the inspection along the lines of “Don’t worry about the tire depth as long as the chords aren’t showing”. That’s pretty incredible for a “performance” car.
The interior looks brand new however so no issues there. Also ALL of the brake rotors had horrible edge wear (ford quoted me $200 for the rear axle to resurface the rotors so that was a Bail).

So after this all went down, I felt like I was home free… And indeed I was. With the maturity date only 2 days away and receiving no correspondence from Ford or Vista Ford in Woodland Hills, CA I just rang up the main number and got ahold of the lease return specialist over there who was very pleasant to deal with. After setting up the return time and date she asked me the question I was just waiting for…. “So why are you not interested in retaining ownership of the Vehicle” . Well let’s see… Other than the fact I would be paying almost $30,000 for a car which retailed for $25,600 the car is currently worth around $13,000. Oh and also, ive had quite a few issues with the car thus Far: (These were previously mentioned in the first few posts of this thread but ill recap)
• Leaking Sunroof – Returned with the leak . We all had a great chuckle when I showed them the video and pictures I took with the rear spare tire well filled with water.
• Tire pressure monitoring system – It worked as intended for about 5,000 miles of my ownership. 2 sensors failed, returned the car with the light on.
• Sync 2/ MFT – Horrible system, mind of its own. Nokia phones from 2003 had more processing power.
• Drivers Side Tweeter – Comes on and goes off at low volume for no apparent reason.
• Passenger Side Window Switch – Randomly failed around the 20,000 mile mark.
• Air Blend Actuator – Behind the dash, began clicking randomly and no longer worked.
• Nuked brakes – Got 23,000 miles out of the fronts. Just did a pad slap.
• Key Fob Battery – Not sure if the key fob actually had low batteries or if Sync was just going haywire.
She had a really good sense of humour about the ordeal and ultimately none of these issues left me stranded or cost me money. I had the majority of the items fixed and they gave me the worst Focus ever as a rental (kept me humble… But seriously that car was an absolute pile). The car still had around 500 miles of Bumper to Bumper warranty so I told her there is no reason Im going to pay for any of it and she agreed.

I signed the mileage agreement for the DMV and within about 15 minutes I was good to go. Then came the other part I was looking forward to… “So are there any of our products which interest you at this time? I know you have had some issues though…”. – I recounted to her that earlier in September I wandered into their dealership inquiring about the 2018 Limited Edition Focus RS and was unfortunately dismayed about the experience and they lost their opportunity. She bid me fairwell and that’s that. I just canceled the insurance yesterday and will get a nice little refund on the insurance.

Sorry this has turned into a novel but I just wanted to be as transparent about the whole process. If you guys have any questions Ill try and answer them the best I can.

Give the first few posts a good read to see where this began.

Dave