The US-Spec Hatchback Spied

I'll throw in my assessment of the hatch since it's the first look at a 5-door mule we've had. Obviously, any or all of the parts could be for testing purposes only, but here goes.

First thing to catch my eye was the chrome trim along the lower window sill abruptly ending on the rear door and not following the rear side window up to the angle on the C-pillar as does the European version. It looks poor in this exercise so hopefully the chrome will be continued onto the side window for the models with chrome, or maybe some models won't have this chrome at all.

It's hard to tell too much about the taillights or bumper, but the lights seem to at least have the possibility of being the same as the EU version (the article suggests otherwise, but what a tragedy a single red turn/brake/tail setup would be). The rear bumper doesn't look much longer either. I will hope the side mirror has the incorporated turn signal, but it seems it could be blacked out on this mule.

Also, it looks like there's a moonroof just in sight which would be a nice feature though sure to be packaged with who knows what other options that may or may not be desired. And the Focus wheel keep finding uses--as long as they run out their welcome before the production Fiestas show up.

I continue to hope for the best with the production US Fiesta--pictures like these bring out the excitement and anxiety of all that Ford could potentially hit a home run with vs. decontenting to oblivion.

azulejost said:

It's hard to tell too much about the taillights or bumper, but the lights seem to at least have the possibility of being the same as the EU version (the article suggests otherwise, but what a tragedy a single red turn/brake/tail setup would be).

Click to expand...

Looks okay to me.

the wheels on the Fiesta are only on there because they are a stock item at Ford. The production car won't be coming with left over Focus wheels, this has been covered many times. The European Spec wheels/tires are not coming here either, since the EU Spec tires are for summer only. Since I am strange, I would actually prefer a summer only tire and a snow tire, since that is what I have been doing for the past 10 years. Since Americans don't enjoy swapping wheels/tires all the time, the US Fiesta will come with all season tires. Since the Focus comes with those tires, it makes sense to borrow some wheel/tires from the Focus for testing. We may get the EU wheels, but they will have piss-poor all season tires. 98% of all car buyers don't care, and the 2% have the Tire Rack on speed dial. I am one of those 2%. At one time my ZX3 had snow tires, summer tires, dry R-compounds, and wet R-compounds. 4 sets of wheels and tires for one car that was daily driven. My SVT Focus has three sets, one summer mounted on custom made Axis wheels, stock EAP wheels and tires, and a set of snowies. My Mustang also has many sets of tires, so you get the idea that I like having many options for my equipment. Nobody else does this if they are sane.

My apologies on joking about the Focus wheels and having that continue to linger. I know those wheels won't be the ones showing up in around 9 months, but I do worry if the great 7-spoke 16" EU wheels will be among the US options. They probably aren't all that light, but the summer/winter tire and wheel sets may not be part of the budget right away.

Also, wanted to share what is being said over at Blue Oval Forums regarding the latest spy photos (Link).

BORG had this to say: "The grille doesn't look like a Mach 3 razor, instead it's completely non-descript, just a standard horizontal smiley face grille. Essentially the big difference with the Euro Fiesta is that the emphasis is on the lower intake, and the US swaps it around to the upper 'faux' grille because the bumper has to meet govt. specs. I'm not sure why Ford had to make such a substantial change to the NA Fiesta fascia, no other global maker has to do this (Unless ths is a combination of govt. reg and consumer research).

In any case, I have a feeling people are going to be very disappointed by the look of the new car, it's much more bland in US form."

I'll be glad when the official unveiling finally gets here--getting tired of wondering if this is really going to be my next car or not.