[courtesi]

I'm very interested in getting a manual but I'm concerned that once I get on the highway I am going to need ear plugs and/or asprin.

 

[Chan]

You'll be cruising around 2600rpm at 70mph.

 

[eRic]

TRANSMISSION
Standard 5-speed manual
Gear ratios
1st 3.846
2nd 2.038
3rd 1.281
4th 0.951
5th 0.756
Reverse 3.615
Final drive 4.07 to 1

 

[NLC-KC]

I'm very interested in getting a manual but I'm concerned that once I get on the highway I am going to need ear plugs and/or asprin.

Read the article about noise levels on the Fiesta at:

2011 Ford Fiesta's cabin noise is relatively quiet | Carguide Blog

 

[courtesi]

You'll be cruising around 2600rpm at 70mph.

That's not too bad. I once had a 2002 Civic SI and the thing was round 3300 RPMs at 65mph. I kept screaming, "make it stop daddy!"

 

[Chan]

If the car is too loud for you, you could always line the trunk with some dynamat to lower the dbs a couple points. Particularly useful to get rid of exhaust drone.

 

[3Mach1]

What rpms should the 5 speed run at 70 and say 75? Does anybody have a spread sheet on all of the gears? My fear is that it will be screaming at 75 or so. I am not used to an engine this small.

 

[fiestamizer]

What rpms should the 5 speed run at 70 and say 75? Does anybody have a spread sheet on all of the gears? My fear is that it will be screaming at 75 or so. I am not used to an engine this small.

As far as I remember from all the reviews that were up, not one mentioned any engine strain at highway speeds. If anything they stated that there was too big of a jump from 3rd to 4th gear and 4th and 5th seemed like overdrive gears meant for highway economy.

Chan says around 2600 at 70mph, i would think around 2800 or so for 75mph.

 

[3Mach1]

As far as I remember from all the reviews that were up, not one mentioned any engine strain at highway speeds. If anything they stated that there was too big of a jump from 3rd to 4th gear and 4th and 5th seemed like overdrive gears meant for highway economy.

Chan says around 2600 at 70mph, i would think around 2800 or so for 75mph.

That sounds low to me. I would have guessed it to be 3K at 70 anyway. Seems I remember a few reviews saying it needed another gear on the hwy but could be wrong. I am sure its to keep costs down.

 

[FiestaFan]

If 26-2800rpm at 70mph is true, that's quite good - IIRC my Mazda3 runs over 3k revs at 70.

But either way the Fiesta is supposed to be a pretty refined car; I don't think noise will be a problem. Certainly it's way quieter than the Fit.

 

[eRic]

here's a gearing calculator. www.f-body.org/gears I entered gear ratios for a 5-speed manual with the 16-inch tires and ran it to 6500 rpm

RPM 1st Gear 2nd Gear 3rd Gear 4th Gear 5th Gear 6th Gear
500 2 4 7 9 11
600 3 5 8 11 14
700 3 6 9 13 16
800 4 7 11 15 18
900 4 8 12 16 21
1000 4 8 14 18 23
1100 5 9 15 20 25
1200 5 10 16 22 27
1300 6 11 18 24 30
1400 6 12 19 25 32
1500 7 13 20 27 34
1600 7 14 22 29 37
1700 8 14 23 31 39
1800 8 15 24 33 41
1900 9 16 26 35 43
2000 9 17 27 36 46
2100 9 18 28 38 48
2200 10 19 30 40 50
2300 10 20 31 42 53
2400 11 20 32 44 55
2500 11 21 34 45 57
2600 12 22 35 47 60
2700 12 23 36 49 62
2800 13 24 38 51 64
2900 13 25 39 53 66
3000 13 25 41 55 69
3100 14 26 42 56 71
3200 14 27 43 58 73
3300 15 28 45 60 76
3400 15 29 46 62 78
3500 16 30 47 64 80
3600 16 31 49 66 82
3700 17 31 50 67 85
3800 17 32 51 69 87
3900 18 33 53 71 89
4000 18 34 54 73 92
4100 18 35 55 75 94
4200 19 36 57 76 96
4300 19 37 58 78 98
4400 20 37 59 80 101
4500 20 38 61 82 103
4600 21 39 62 84 105
4700 21 40 63 86 108
4800 22 41 65 87 110
4900 22 42 66 89 112
5000 22 42 68 91 114
5100 23 43 69 93 117
5200 23 44 70 95 119
5300 24 45 72 96 121
5400 24 46 73 98 124
5500 25 47 74 100 126
5600 25 48 76 102 128
5700 26 48 77 104 130
5800 26 49 78 106 133
5900 27 50 80 107 135
6000 27 51 81 109 137
6100 27 52 82 111 140
6200 28 53 84 113 142
6300 28 54 85 115 144
6400 29 54 86 116 147
6500 29 55 88 118 149

 

[3Mach1]

Thank you for posting that Eric. My hunch was pretty close. Went out to kick some tires today and no Fiestas to be found yet. Looked at a Kia Rio, Yaris, Aveo, and a Honda Fit. The Honda seemed way better than the rest. I would give them a second look just to be sure but the Blue oval is where my heart is. The Rio was dead last and really looked like a POS to me.

I did manage to see my first 5.0 GT Mustang and boy is that sucker hot. I would almost kill for one of those. Its just not in the cards right now. Gotta take care of the DD fuel economy car first.

Is the redline on the 1.6 6500?

 

[Audrey]

Kias suck. They're the bottom of the "quality" list in my opinion.

 

[mrbirdman330]

Kias suck. They're the bottom of the "quality" list in my opinion.

04 and below have horrible quality, my Fiance and her mother have 07 Spectras and they're pretty well built. My only beef with them is the seats are not geared for long term sitting.

 

[MegEtc]

I'm late to the party but the Smoking Tire Review lets you hear the cabin sounds as he drives in 5th on the manual. It's louder than I expected, given what I've heard about how quiet it's supposed to be, but the sound really grew on me after a few minutes and there isn't much wind at all.

 

[johneppen]

I just purchased a Fiesta a couple weeks ago. I live in SD and most of my driving is going 75-80 on the freeway. The engine noise is very loud. My buddy has a Fit and at that speed the engine noise is much quieter. I really like the Fiesta, but I am looking into ways to reduce the engine noise...it is just too much.

 

[eRic]

wow. "loud" is subjective. I thought my Fiesta was too quiet with the stock air box and exhaust system. I found myself driving faster than expected because of the lack of feedback/sound. now I have the Injen cold air intake and Magnaflow exhaust system, I can hear it running so I drive less fast.

 

[iamz]

I just purchased a Fiesta a couple weeks ago. I live in SD and most of my driving is going 75-80 on the freeway. The engine noise is very loud. My buddy has a Fit and at that speed the engine noise is much quieter. I really like the Fiesta, but I am looking into ways to reduce the engine noise...it is just too much.

It's quite possible that the Fiesta seems louder only because the Fit is so loud with wind and road noise, it drowns out the engine noise. I have no experience with the Fit but based on everything I have read from anyone that has driven it, that could be the case.

 

[offcamber]

I wouldnt call it loud either. I thought the FIt was much noiser overall. Compared to my wifes Patriot and my 3/4 ton Dodge the Fiesta is silent.

 

[i<3trees]

my gf's is a manual car and we cruise at 75-80 normally and its fine, no noise