[AlanBDahl]

In the October Car and Driver they do a three-way test of the Fiesta, Mazda2 and Fit and they ranked the Fiesta a distant third to the Fit (first) and the Mazda2 (second). Two items stood out in their dislike, the Fiestas interior which they did not like at all and the anemic 10.1 second 0-60 time (with a manual!). They also weren't all that enamored with the Hankook's but there I have to admit that they have a point, mine are going away next week.

Obviously their dislike for the Fiesta's interior is just one of those things, for some of us it works and for others it doesn't. Personally I think the 2's interior looks cheap and unfinished by comparison but that's just my opinion.

The odd thing is the 0-60 time. As folks know from my other thread 0-60 times for the Fiesta seem to be all over the board with no real explanation. This however is by far the slowest 5-speed 0-60 time I've seen published and a far cry from the best I've seen of 8.6. The Mazda2's time by comparison is the best I've seen published for it (next best was a 9.3 and I've seen as bad as 10.1). I have a couple of theories as to what's going on, one is that the Fiesta's engine doesn't make good power until it's broken in some and this was a low-miles example, the other is that to get the best 0-60 you have hold second all the way to the fuel cut-off and a lot of car magazines insist at shifting at the published redline.

 

[chromal]

Link to cited article? I can't seem to find it myself on the C&D website...

 

[cosmicrhino]

The UK website lists the 120hp version with 5 speed manual officially rates the 0-60 as 9.9 seconds.

If you look at the specification pdf for the Malaysian version you also get 9.9 for the 120hp version in 6 speed powershift and 5 speed manual

 

[MegEtc]

Pfeh. Obviously I'm biased, but if they measured their driveability, then I cannot imagine the Fit doing better than the Fiesta. I don't know about Mazda.

Fit totally wins on storage, but for god's sake. Are 10 cup holders going to get you to work on time?

Zero-to-60 is just a stupid measure of performance. Nobody does that in real-world driving. What I care about is 50 to 75 so I can pass jackasses driving slow on the highway. And I would MUCH rather do that in a Fiesta than a Fit.

I drove a Fit and it could not get over 50 mph before I'd come upon the next stoplight and have to slow down again. Meanwhile, I can not keep my Fiesta UNDER 50 on open roads.

I just hope that anyone who goes and test drives a Honda based on that article also goes and drives a Fiesta so they realize they've been lied to.

 

[tjl]

Actually, 0-60 is relevant for starting from a dead stop at a metering light on an on-ramp to a freeway. Or merging on from a short on-ramp. But then almost anything sold new today in the US is fast enough for this purpose (if you are willing to press down on the accelerator).

I can see if you don't like the interior, you won't like the car, since you'll be spending your driving time inside the car. (What didn't they like about the interior?)

 

[FiestaFan]

This is pretty much what I feared from C&D. They tend to be a Honda shill - they've tilted comparos in the past to ensure Honda would win, for example in 2003 when they tested a loaded Odyssey EX and a base/midlevel Sienna LE, the Sienna outranked the Honda everywhere (and this was the new-for-'03 Sienna against the circa-1998 design Odyssey, mind you) but the Odyssey won the comparo because they gave it a higher score in the "features/gadgets" category. Well of course it would have more features, it was the top-line model!

I'm surprised it's a "distant third" to the others, though. The 2 I could see beating the Ford because, from what I've read, it has that "raw driver's car" feel that would appeal to C&D despite inferior gas mileage, interior quality, noise suppression, etc. But all those disadvantages of the Mazda should mean it's a slim victory at best. The acceleration thing is interesting too - C&D usually posts by far the fastest acceleration numbers of any car magazine, so the fact that their Fiesta number was lower than others while the Mazda's is higher is rather suspicious to me. I'm about to go out and run some errands so I'll stop by the bookstore and pick up a copy to further investigate.

EDIT: Well the bookstore doesn't have the October issue yet, but I did go back to look at C&D's short take road test of the Fiesta sedan from a few months ago, and found something interesting: the 0-60 time there was 9.3 seconds. Now how could that be? The sedan is heavier than the hatch and should if anything be slower, but it's actually nearly a full second quicker than in the comparo? Hrm...

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/10q2/2011_ford_fiesta_sel-short_take_road_test

 

[Hoonu]

The 2's acceleration was pretty wheezy when we test-drove it, and the 4-speed slushbox was primitive and clunky compared to the Powershift automatic. But what put it out of the running for us was that there was no way to equip it any where near as nicely as the Fiesta, as there are only two trim levels and almost no options. Even the "touring" version (the nicer one) wasn't as nice as the SE. The only thing it had going for it was the Mazda reputation and our previous ownership.

 

[AlanBDahl]

Link to cited article? I can't seem to find it myself on the C&D website...

It's not up yet, I'll add a link as soon as it's available.

 

[AlanBDahl]

This is pretty much what I feared from C&D. They tend to be a Honda shill - they've tilted comparos in the past to ensure Honda would win

Speaking of shilling I noticed that they did the comparison test in Montreal which means it was likely at the Mazda2's press event, something they neglected to mention in the article.

 

[golf strom]

This is pretty much what I feared from C&D. They tend to be a Honda shill - they've tilted comparos in the past to ensure Honda would win.

This has been the case for ...um DECADES now.


I remember when they did a comparo of the 1984 MKI VW Rabbit GTI vs the 1984 Honda Civic S, and they really tried to give the Honda the win even though their tests and even some editors clearly gave the GTI the thumbs up.
Of course sure enough Honda was doing regular advertising in C&D at the time.

 

[FiestaFaction-1]

I think that it's just a fact of life that the U.S. buff books have been defanged by ad sales since the mid-70s.

That's why I rarely read their reviews, and also why I only read European car magazines. EVO being the only one I actually purchase.

 

[eRic]

no one remembers the Ford SVT Focus was 1st place in the "Desert Foxes" comparison test? It beat the Honda Civic Si and a VW GTI.
Ford SVT Focus4 - Car and Driver
my October 2010 issue of C/D recently arrived and I'm reading the comparo now. I like the overhead photo of the Euro-chic Ford Fiesta, Rorty Mazda 2, and Nerd's Revenge Honda Fit

 

[strykerAKAmack]

My Brother was over for the labor day party He has the 2010 fit.
Side by side to my SES Fiesta .More room for cargo , FIT, Interior quality, FIESTA .
More options sync bluetooth etc ,FIESTA . Transmissions both auto, FIESTA .
Road noise quiter,FIESTA. faster acceleration, FIT. Seating comfort ,tie.
Ive got 2200 miles on fiesta so far brothers got bout 6000 on the fit .Ive put about 2000 miles on his FIT myself and can say hands down Fiesta was worth the wait.

 

[Hoonu]

Great first post, strykerAKAmack. I'm sure that'll be helpful for shoppers doing their research here.

 

[FORDSVTPARTS]

no one remembers the Ford SVT Focus was 1st place in the "Desert Foxes" comparison test? It beat the Honda Civic Si and a VW GTI.
Ford SVT Focus4 - Car and Driver
my October 2010 issue of C/D recently arrived and I'm reading the comparo now. I like the overhead photo of the Euro-chic Ford Fiesta, Rorty Mazda 2, and Nerd's Revenge Honda Fit

Yeah but the SVT won virtually every comparo it was ever entered in, it was simply that dominant in it's class at the time.

Personally I thnk Car and Driver is horrendous, the only time I pick it up is if I'm stranded in a waiting room somewhere in dire need of reading material.

I'm a die hard Road and Track fan, always have been, always will be.

 

[GapBoyPCS]

Someone on FocalJet posted this.

 

[Rally Man]

Oops, thought it would re-size the pic's like in Focaljet, guess not.



Edit: OK, where did the edit button go? Can't edit my above post!

*Moderator Edit*

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/3...da2vsfiest.jpg

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/3...da2vsfiest.jpg

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/3...da2vsfiest.jpg

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/3...da2vsfiest.jpg

I had to get rid of the original post. I'll have to talk with FiestaFaction-1 re: the whole image thing.

 

[chromal]

Huh, thanks for posting bits of the article, as well as the link to the pages online. The acceleration, 1/4mi, skid-pad, and slalom number comparisons are telling, though not surprising to me. It will be interesting to see what modders and aftermarket parts achieve with the North American Fiesta and mazda2 in the future.

 

[iamz]

Wow. C&D absolutely hated the Fiesta. Weird. I've never driven one and don't own one so I can't give my opinion on the matter.

 

[Ataru]

The text in the article definitely does not back up the scores the cars got at the end as there were parts they did not like for each of the three cars mentioned in the article.

When I find amazing is the sigificantly lower overall score for the Fiesta. 200, 197, then 173? Geez.

Also, from seeing a Mazda 2 in person, I would have to say that the quality definitely does not appear to be there compared to the other two. The car looks CHEAP in person.