Find him at or Twitter Ford Fiesta 1.0-liter Ecoboost Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. and still would have had enough room for Charlie’s Angels. I pulled Gs, rowed the box, returned 42 mpg. On my way back from Lansing, I flogged the Fiesta harder. But it is also learning the three Rs of sales: Revvy, racy, and roomy. The Fiesta has studied the Metro’s efficiency. Squeezed by Washington mpg edicts even as Americans shy from small cars, the Fiesta 3-cylinder is an attempt to make fuel efficiency fun.įrom the Fiesta 3-banger to one of my 2013 Best Vehicle finalists, the Fiesta ST hot hatch, Ford has brought spice to the common shoebox. The XFi died in 1994 due to poor sales - the Metro brand followed in 1997. Heck, you could buy a used Metro for the Ecoboost premium, Spiess noted.īut the wee Metro also came with a price: Dealers couldn’t give them away. That may be south of similar mpg hybrids - and Mini Cooper’s stylish three-holer ($21,300 base) - but it’s well north of what an inflation-adjusted Metro would be today. Add the SE trim, heated seats, and destination charge, and my triple stickered at $18,190. Where the Metro tri-hammer was a base engine, the Fiesta mill is a $995 option over the base $14,925 sedan. The cost-cutting is a reminder that the Fiesta’s leap in engine technology is not cheap. And in a nod to cost, the Ford only comes with a five-speed manual gearbox. Throwing the threes into tight turns, I found the Metro’s hydraulic steering more responsive than the Fiesta’s numb electronic rack. Our comparison was not without its old school nods, however. “It did not feel like a little 3-cylinder at all.” “I can't believe how smooth, quick, quiet, and powerful it was,” wrote Spiess at afterwards. Seven air bags, leather steering wheel, a passenger side mirror. The three-banger only comes in Ford SE trim with a list of standard features as long as your arm. The instrumentation is more refined, the cup holders abundant, the cargo room plentiful. Thanks to extensive sound-deadening and chassis work, the interior is noticeably quieter than the buzzy Metro. The quiet is a testament to the fact that subcompact advances aren’t just under the hood. The Fiesta’s power comes smoothly, predictably, quietly. Its 8.3-second, 0-60 sprint is a half-second quicker than a 1.8-liter Honda Civic. Merging onto US-127 north of Lansing at full throttle, the subcompact Fiesta disappeared from the Metro. The turbo’s peak torque arrives at just 2,500 RPM. It’s more ponies-per-liter than a Lamborghini Aventado (106) or Corvette ZR-1 (103). Not just more than the standard 1.6-liter Fiesta. Its 123 Ecoboost-ed horses are not just 74 more than the Metro. Start with the Fiesta’s briefcase-sized engine. To the auto engineers of the last 20 years, we salute you. Yet, while returning hybrid-like fuel economy numbers, the affordable Fiesta is one zesty salsa to drive. On my 80-mile trip from Detroit, I drove “green” – 5th gear, at the speed limit (you don’t know how hard that is for me) – and still managed “only” 47 mpg. As a result Spiess is averaging an astounding 52 mpg around Lansing. But in his quest for better fuel economy, Spiess has upgraded his matchbox (complete with “Got 50 mpg?” sticker on the bumper) with XFi guts and a rear spoiler not unlike my Fiesta. Spiess’s 49-horsepower, 1995 Metro is officially EPA rated at 40 mpg combined (37 city/44 highway) a year after GM discontinued the XFi. Lansing-based Geo Metro owner Matt Spiess answered my call for a three-for-all. But the Metro made no pretense of performance. The pride of the litter, the Geo Metro XFi (manufactured from 1990-1994), got an EPA estimated 43 mpg city/53 highway. So obsessed was GM with Metro’s price tag that it offered the passenger side mirror as an option. At $8,085 in 1995 ($12,639 in today’s dollars) it was the cheapest chariot on the lot – and would still be today. The Geo Metro itself was hatched as an economy car in every sense of the word. The Metroids are intrigued by a 1-liter that aspires to the Holy Grail of 50 mpg while also promising performance - a strange concept in the remote, Middle Earth realm of three-bangers. My offer to reciprocate driving a Geo Metro for the Fiesta was met with much enthusiasm. I contacted the Michigan clan through the online Geo Metro Forum. The 1.0-liter Smart gets only 36 mpg? Amateur. They are dismissive of pretenders - ahem, like the Mirage and Smart - that fail to live up to the three’s fuel efficiency potential. Like the Dwarves in Tolkein’s Hobbit, they are a close tribe fiercely protective of their cars and three-cylinder artisanship.
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