Comments on: Fiesta Notebook: Sitting down with Ford’s small car chief, Sam De La Garza

By: Need more oil for GM

Need more oil for GM — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:06:40 +0000

Found On Road Dead

By: Bankruptcy2009

Bankruptcy2009 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:36:31 +0000

Bimmer I would destroy you in a Cross country Race my Hennessey Taurus SHO VS your Pile of RWD Junk by Beemer M5 and trash you!

By: Bimmer

Bimmer — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:19:10 +0000

Bankruptcy2009,

you’re a moron. All three cars (M5, CTS-V and G8) are REAR wheel drive. Get your facts straight! And nobody who shops (read: can afford) M5 would even look at the SHO. Plus SHO has no racing heritage.

I do like current Fords, but I just wanted to know what happened to promise of Ecoboost being $750 option and what happened to V6 economy with V8 performance?

By: SoCalFiveO

SoCalFiveO — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:29:43 +0000

then also i would like to add the G8 and the CTS-V may both kill in HP but the SHO is right behind them with HP thats up there as well but also your getting 20+mpg while doing it haha

By: Bankruptcy2009

Bankruptcy2009 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:30:30 +0000

Bimmer the Taurus has heated and air conditioned seats, Sync, dual climate controls, The AWD will make not only BTW Forget the small **** like the G8 PGX lets talk about GM’s or for that matter (BMW’s Best the M-5 so we strike a Nerve with you!) and the 556 HP Cadillac CTS-V. Ok Now lets combine all there HP and put them in wet weather race car driving , and even a little snow and or ice on the road. Oh Hmmm I see they have only FWD Hmmm too bad I guess that means the AWD Taurus SHO will DESTROY THEM both ROFL. This is a fact the Taurus SHO will own both these cars in real world driving, ,We’re not talking just dry pavement. The Clear Winner Taurus SHO made for real world Driving Condition any conditions bring it ON! BABY.

By: kumicho

kumicho — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:07:20 +0000

So Ford, what you’re saying is that I’m in such a minority (turbo’d subcompact 3-door) that you’re telling me to go piss up a rope and buy something from one of your competitors (Abarth 500, MINI Cooper S, etc) since you don’t want my business. Awesome way to try to appeal to people who are your target customers for the Fiesta…

By: Bimmer

Bimmer — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:58:52 +0000

What happened to Ecoboost being only $750 option? If you compare similarly equipped Taurus Limited AWD with Taurus SHO there’s lot more then $750 difference, in fact it’s $3,775. Granted SHO has reverse camera, but it’s hardly worth $3,025. One more thing.
What’s so ECO about Ecoboost? We were promised V8 performance with V6 fuel economy. Let’s compare it to Pontiac G8 GT.
Pontiac G8 GT, Engine: 6.0-liter V8 Horsepower/Torque: 361 hp @ 5300 rpm/385 lb.-ft. @ 4400 rpm Fuel economy:15mpg city and 24mpg hwy.
Ford Taurus SHO, Engine: 3.5L twin-turbocharged EcoBoost V6 making 365-hp and a peak torque of 350 lb-ft, EPA-estimated fuel-economy comes in at 17/25 mpg (city/highway).
Granted SHO is AWD , but it’s still has only 4 more hp and whole 35 lb-ft less torque for only 2 mpg and 1 mpg better then 6.0-liter V8. Nothing to write home about.

So, now Ford promises for Fiesta to have more equipment at better price then Japanese competitors. I’d have to see it to believe it. Probably same BS as when Ford said that it can’t offer Euro Focus at the price to be competitive and yet we have (had) Volvo C30 and Mazda3 based on the very same platform as Euro spec Focus for not much more money (at least in Mazdas’ case) then based on the first generation platform North American Focus.

By: Bankruptcy2009

Bankruptcy2009 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:56:47 +0000

Sam I don’t care what that Hillbilly ingrate driving a great new Ford product says , he obviously does not have one equipped with the DDCT yet and I bet Borat does’nt even know what the hell I am talking about.
When it is you won’t worry too much about Torque and slush box Mr. Borat. It’lll be one hell of a car with that in it. Sam just be sure to bring over the Focus RS and the KA as well. This we’ll keep show rooms very busy too be sure. And next time you pick someone to exude excitement about a Ford product don’t give it to a Chevy Insurgent masquerading around as a Ford guy LMAO. or as BORAT for that matter!

By: mmmfloorpie

mmmfloorpie — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:46:39 +0000

I really wasn’t impressed about his response to “decontenting’ for the North American market… It seems to me like he basically gave the same answer as he did for the other questions “Well… B-segment is only 4-5 percent fo the entire market here and since the Europe market is so much bigger….” Stuff like that RUINED the Ford Contour and the Focus (and even the original Fiesta). This is probably the first time in history that Americans WILL shell out a bit extra to buy a nice small car. Please don’t mess this up by cheaping out the car Sam!

By: JakeK66

JakeK66 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:12:23 +0000

I don’t see anything too suprising from Sam De La Garza said on here, but I was happy to hear that they are trying to not decontent this model as much as many of the Euro-cars that come over here (VW’s included). It really is a smack in the face what almost all companies do to cheapen the product to be over here, even when you consider we pay less than the Europeans, we still pay alot. Many of what they get rid of, or plastics they downgrade, doesn’t cost companies alot of money, but they have this mentallity that American’s don’t want a premium well-made small car. Mini proved that worng. It seems like Ford got that memo on the fiesta and it seems the new Mustang, which I appreciate. Hopefully they get the same memo for the next Focus too. I look forward to it, and in a 3-door hatchback one too?

By: AarOOOOn

AarOOOOn — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:52:53 +0000

@MarkKleis-
I really want the Euro Focus RS. That car is insane. I wondered when Ford would finally get something that could compete with the Mazdaspeed 3, Cobalt SS, and the Mitsaburu cars. The Fiesta with a turbo might work though as a cheaper but fun alternative. If they can get the Fiesta competitive with a Cooper S or a Fiat Abarth 500, that sounds like a fun car worth serious consideration.

By: MarkKleis

MarkKleis — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:37:54 +0000

Ar0000n-
I’m with you on this, and if I was a betting man I would be willing to put my pink slip up on the fact that Ford WILL offer at least one, if not multiple EcoBoost engine options for the Fiesta.

By: howsmydriving

howsmydriving — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:22:18 +0000

Q. What is the likelihood of a three-door variant like what was once offered in the Focus?

De La Garza: We do get that question a lot, but at this time we do not currently have plans for the three-door hatchback, because when you get down to it, Ford sucks and we try our hardest to make cars that are BORRRRRING.

By: AarOOOOn

AarOOOOn — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:40:17 +0000

They will have to add a turbo option for me to consider buying one. I see on the Fiesta “future car” web page from Ford that they are considering this. Please stop considering and just do it. Even if I am driving a clown car, I want to be able to beat rival clown cars.

By: leftwingagenda

leftwingagenda — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:21:12 +0000

stop feeding the troll…when will you all learn…ignore his posts and move on…

people constantly responding to his meaningless and fact-less rants dumbs down the site as a whole…

we’ll see whether the market increases for this segment of car, it naturally should, but i also echo the fears about safety…not that these are unsafe cars, but the difference between driving over here and driving in europe, from a safety perspective, is that there is a much greater proportion of drivers over here driving SUVs and other monsters that drastically outweigh the fiesta…that is what makes it more dangerous to drive a b-segment car…not the safety of the cars themselves, but that no matter how many stars the car gets in a safety test, getting t-boned by a navigator will still end very poorly…

By: Borat

Borat — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:41:50 +0000

I met one one of the nice kids (college grad0 driving Fiesta. It was in gym parking lot, he let me sit in, check it out, but did not let drive. Shifter feels nice. Clutch pedal felt right. We both agree when it will come out with slush box it will be totally facked up, since engine is strong for 1.6L but utterly torqueless (kids saying not me – I did not drive it). But i have to say it looks a lot like Fit in flesh. Nice car. Most of Fords in Europe are nice. We are deprived.

By: Bankruptcy2009

Bankruptcy2009 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:06:12 +0000

Oh I am afraid NMOFGM. can’t believe your here BTW. You have your Facts screwed up as usual.
The Ford Fiesta has come before the Chevy Cruze not the other way around. The Cruze has come late to the party in new car offerings and its a cheaper answer to small cars not better quality.

People all over know the Ford Fiesta is a “Global Car” and is already a World Wide Global Success. Meanwhile the Cruze is not a True global car. Its a niche car in comparison and definitely ALOT CHEAPER how typical GM.

By: SoCalFiveO

SoCalFiveO — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:22:08 +0000

I WAS DIRECTING THAT LAST POST @ Need more oil for GM

By: SoCalFiveO

SoCalFiveO — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:20:38 +0000

man you are all wrong did you not pay any attention to what you read….gm is not better than ford in any way. remember GM is the one that went bankrupt yea as well as crystler but look no one wanted to buy GM and help them out because they are so far in debt and there product blows. if i ever had to switch from ford it would be a dodge in a heart beat. our own government had to bailout GM and now look it put our government farther in debt. they bought a company thats losing money not making money. and when you buy a GM or Chevy your donating to the Government fund and they are jus going to use your money for there own good. compared to when you buy a ford the money actually goes into making a ford a more reliable vehicle every year. now the government is going to tell GM you cant make this and you cant make that. there isnt going to be any say it what to built. the government is trying to go green(which is a good thing) until the president desides to build trucks that get 20+mpg but cant do what a truck is supposed to do. obama is going to run GM right into the ground. i think your from a different america…like (SOUTH AMERICA) because i havent seen one single person agree with what you have had to say in all your posts. you need to open your eyes and read the fine print. people have turned away from chevy in discuss because the government now owns them? but i mean we can argue back and forth about this all day long. but only time will prove that ford will prevail and end up on top. COME ON PEOPLE, WHO AGREES WITH ME?

By: Stix

Stix — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:17:37 +0000

BTW, Ford is much more popular in Europe than in the US.

By: Stix

Stix — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:16:23 +0000

@need more grief for humanity

Considering that the Fiesta was receiving positive reviews in Europe, I have a hard time believing that the new Fiesta won’t sell in America. And considering how Ford is more popular than GM in Europe, that’s actually saying something. At least the Fiesta doesn’t pretend that it’s an all American car, compared to the Cruze which is just a re-engineered Suzuki Swift.

By: Need more oil for GM

Need more oil for GM — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:23:19 +0000

Let’s hope they get the quality up over the typical Ford. If it gets through the warranty period and it can match the new Cruze in performance, Ford may have a chance at success. It will be tough as everyone who already drives a perfect GM vehicle will have no reason to switch. Seeing that it’s just another import with a Ford logo on it, Americans will already dismiss this as a failure.

GM AN American Revolution

By: johnnycanuck

johnnycanuck — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:41:36 +0000

Thinking the same thing myself mayer_ray. Business case this, segment that: sorry but the industry-speak just ain’t cuttin’ it. They say they’re listening but it sounds like they had their minds made up before the first one even made it over here.

By: Dante_JoseCuervo

Dante_JoseCuervo — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:37:45 +0000

I’m actually excited about that little Fiesta. Looks like a really cool car. We’ll see what the american public thinks though. I hope they take it, cause it’s a damn good car.

By: mayer_ray_nagin

mayer_ray_nagin — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:29:28 +0000

No 3-door? Huh?

That is bad news.

By: 2WheeledSpeed

2WheeledSpeed — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:23:41 +0000

I won’t be perfectly happy until I can walk onto an American Ford dealership and test drive a Euro Focus RS, a Fiesta, and a Ka all in the same day.

But nonetheless, great job, great looking car.