The Ford Fiesta - RIP

[SRi05]

Don't think there's been a thread on this yet. Will no doubt be relaunched as an ugly SUV like the Puma in a few years.

Quote

 

Ford has announced the end of the UK's best selling car - the Fiesta.

By the end of June next year, no more Fiestas are to be produced in the manufacturer's factory in Cologne, Germany.

The Fiesta was the UK's best-selling car with 4,804,098 sold, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

It outpaced the Ford Escort, the second best-selling car in the UK, by more than one million sales.

The car was consistently in the top five best-selling cars and was the number one between 2009 and 2020.

More than 22 million have been produced globally since 1976 and the model has been sold in more than 50 countries.

Since it was first sold in 1976 the car won numerous awards, including the 1978 British Design Council efficiency award and in 2002 Germany's prestigious Golden Steering Wheel award.

Three new electric car models and four commercial vehicles will be launched in Europe by 2024, Ford said.

The plans are part of the maker's aim to sell more than 600,000 electric vehicles in the region by 2026.

The Fiesta holds a unique cultural significance in the UK as it was the first car for many, and a second car for many families, as car ownership rose from the 1990s to early 2000s.

Its launch also coincided with the huge rise in British women driving and commuting as more joined the workforce.

 

 

  

   

 

 

 

 

[AnnoyingPentium]

It'll probably go like the Aygo. A stupid crossover thing that's just plain hideous (IMO).

[goosey]

I heard they had stopped making the 3dr version last year, was only a matter of time I supposed.

I’ve never owned a Fiesta but I have driven plenty, All those moments now will be lost in time, like tears in the rain. 

[Dan29]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63391466

Apparently they are also dropping the Focus, S-Max, and Galaxy, so the range will be:

Puma

Ecosport

Kuga

Tourneo Connect

Tourneo Custom

Mustang Mach-E

Mustang

Ford GT

On 10/26/2022 at 10:33 AM, Aston Martin said:

Yep. 

The Fez is dead.

 

 

 

The Ford S-Max and Ford Galaxy MPVs will also be axed in April 2023.The Ford S-Max and Ford Galaxy MPVs will also be axed in April 2023.

 

 

[Stroller133]

Has 7 seater demand really fallen away? I'm happy with my Tourneo Custom, but many drivers won't have one due to basically being a van. 

[treehugger]

Stupid idea, not much wider than a fiesta will fit in the garage, means leaving it on the road. People will just switch to little Toyotas,etc. 

[Matty]

Still got my own. Still love it. Still not letting it go. Sign of the Times I guess. Still can't wrap my head around how all cars getting significantly bigger and heavier is the new age of efficiency and environmental responsibility, no matter what they run off.

Ours functions as our family car and did Blackburn to Inverness in one hit this year with two adults, a 12 year old, a 9 year old and a boot full of luggage. 43mpg and comfy as fuck. What's not good about that?

Edit for accuracy

(2 hits to be fair. Stopped just outside Glasgow for a wee and a brew)

[5speedracer]

Great idea Ford, in these austere times stop making a small(ish), affordable(ish) car and the production line can be turned over for some other 2.5 Tonne behemoth that makes 20% profit per unit. Is that a green way of doing business, must be it'll be an EV.

[goosey]

46 minutes ago, Stroller133 said:

Has 7 seater demand really fallen away? I'm happy with my Tourneo Custom, but many drivers won't have one due to basically being a van. 

Grand Scenic 

Grand Picasso 

Kia Carens

Vauxhall Zafira

already gone 

 

[big_al_granvia]

they are stopping making cars, ordinary cars only building stupid electrric or hybrid things, the fezza did a job, okay it grew over the years, it just shows the modern industry orr what it is, vehicles that dont know what they are. its put them out of rallying and touring cars too

[twosmoke300]

Sad really . All pretty good reliable decent cars for there time .

Big Car on YT has done an interesting video on the life of the fiesta and towards the end shows the sales figures falling away quite dramatically. Ford are there to make money so they have to do what they have to do to keep the lights on I guess .

[chris667]

I don't feel any great sense of loss for modern Fiestas. They are so big and refined. Not the car that made them popular.

All modern cars seem to have a thyroid problem. I think the Ka was the last car they made that was the right size.

My first car was a Fiesta. Mk1, 1100cc in Daytona Yellow. Bought it for £50, sold it for £100. The engine mountings broke every couple of weeks so I used to pretend I was driving a muscle car and used to rev it so the engine smack the top of the bonnet at lights. Great fun!

Sold it to someone that used it in a ramraid to steal a cash machine. Took quite a lot of explaining when the police turned up at my mum and dad's. RIP little car.

[Crackers]

Sad really. Once the country's most popular car for years running, suddenly becomes a thing of history. I think everyone's got some form of memory involving a Fiesta!

[Matty]

My dad only ever bought older interesting stuff when we were kids. The only nearly new car we ever had was an 86 xr2. Bought 12 months old from Quicks in Bury. C678FBU if memory serves. God we thought we were the bollocks 😆. Great car

[AnnoyingPentium]

42 minutes ago, chris667 said:

I think the Ka was the last car they made that was the right size.

The later Ka (Ka+?) was hardly small, however. They're actually slightly larger than a Mk4 Polo if my quick check on t'web is to be believed.

[D.E]

4 minutes ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

The later Ka (Ka+?) was hardly small, however. They're actually slightly larger than a Mk4 Polo if my quick check on t'web is to be believed.

The Ka+ was not intended as a direct replacement for the previous Ka (the one that shared components with the Fiat 500) though, like the EcoSport it was initially designed with the South American market in mind. 

[Christine]

My mk 1 fiesta is up for sale 2500. I'll do an ad later

[MJK 24]

4 hours ago, 5speedracer said:

Great idea Ford, in these austere times stop making a small(ish), affordable(ish) car and the production line can be turned over for some other 2.5 Tonne behemoth that makes 20% profit per unit. Is that a green way of doing business, must be it'll be an EV.

Less people want the Fiesta.  They go to their local Ford showroom and decide they’d rather have a Puma instead.

Affordable?  The Fiesta retails at over £20,000 for the base model at the moment.

[outlaw118]

2 hours ago, MJK 24 said:

Affordable?  The Fiesta retails at over £20,000 for the base model at the moment.

This.

I was wasting time waiting for SWMBO and Mutha_Outlaw while they were at some craft fair thing just pre-covid lockdown bollocks, and wandered into a Ford showroom, I was straight with the bored looking salesman, and said I wasn't buying, but how much would it cost for a Bader-spec Fiesta. Yeah, over 20k as the autobox isn't available until a mid-range spec. I'm sure Pumas have nicked some sales fo'sho' but I'd like to think that there's other people who baulk at the idea of spunking over 20 large on a FIESTA.

It's been a popular car here, my ex had a Mk1 1100L in Dove Grey, then a Mk2 1100 Ghia in metallic blue; Stepdaughter_Outlaw had a Mk2 1100L in Silver and a couple of cars later had @sporty-shite's 1.25 Zetec, which @Rave bought off me. SWMBO had a Mk1 (pre-me, think it was bright green, she can't remember what engine) then later despite my protests a 08 plate 1600 Ghia Automatic, which went like fuckery, but drank like Georgie Best. Stepson_Outlaw has had 4 IIRC, 2 silver Mk2s (one was an XR2, can't remember what the other one was) then more recently 2 last-shape Zetecs, one red, one blue on Ford Employee Scheme.

@Nev had a blue MK1 van for a while, early 90's lots of XR2 bits on it, and around 2010 had a black 08 plate ST (for about ten minutes).

To be honest, I'd my preferences would be for the older ones, but they've all done being AN CAR very well.

[Popsicle]

Bit sad really, i learnt to drive in my mums yellow Mk1 W reg 1.1 and the driving instructor I used had an brand new F reg Mk2, only car I'd ever driven until i passed my test.

[Metal Guru]

6 hours ago, MJK 24 said:

Less people want the Fiesta.  They go to their local Ford showroom and decide they’d rather have a Puma instead.

Affordable?  The Fiesta retails at over £20,000 for the base model at the moment.

I paid £3850 for a new 1.1L in 1982. That wasn’t base but would be way below today’s base as well as effectively being a class below as it was much smaller then . Anyway that would be just over £16k allowing for inflation , so it’s a bit overpriced but not as much as “£20k for a base Fiesta?!” would have you believe.

[sierraman]

I think the ‘I wouldn’t pay £20,000 for a FIESTA’ highlights why they are knocking it on the head. By all accounts there’s better margin on the Puma and it’s selling better. Everything has to come to an end and something new starts, I wasn’t a big fan of the Puma initially but it’s grown on me, I can see why it makes more sense for more people in a practical aspect with things like the hole in the boot floor. I mean a had to drill one in our Fiesta for fuck sake to let the rain water out!

[chris667]

14 hours ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

The later Ka (Ka+?) was hardly small, however.

I can honestly say I had never looked at one of those (or rather cared what it was) until now.

Modern, boring and fat.

[AnnoyingPentium]

17 minutes ago, chris667 said:

I can honestly say I had never looked at one of those (or rather cared what it was) until now.

Modern, boring and fat.

We had one in at Arnold Clark, for the size of it, you're just as well buying the Fiesta IMO. Well, not that you can buy either brand new anymore...

[UltraWomble]

21 hours ago, Stroller133 said:

Has 7 seater demand really fallen away? I'm happy with my Tourneo Custom, but many drivers won't have one due to basically being a van. 

 

20 hours ago, goosey said:

Grand Scenic 

Grand Picasso 

Kia Carens

Vauxhall Zafira

already gone 

 

Same with the VAG offering of Sharan/Alhambra

Got into a conversation earlier in the year with a "yummy mummy" parent at school who had just placed an order for a 7 seat hybrid SUV type thing - pretty sure it was A Hyundai, either that or Kia, but she waw banging on about how safe and green they were because they can do 30 miles or so on the battery and how I wasnt being green driving a diesel 7 seat Alhambrahambrahar.

Whoop dee fucking doo 30 miles.

The 6th & 7th seats are also made for dwarves with no legs FFS.  I want a 7 seater that can carry 7 in comfort without the need to remove limbs.
 

[martc]

Hyundai and Kia must think that all of their Christmases have come at once.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

26 minutes ago, UltraWomble said:

 

Same with the VAG offering of Sharan/Alhambra

Got into a conversation earlier in the year with a "yummy mummy" parent at school who had just placed an order for a 7 seat hybrid SUV type thing - pretty sure it was A Hyundai, either that or Kia, but she waw banging on about how safe and green they were because they can do 30 miles or so on the battery and how I wasnt being green driving a diesel 7 seat Alhambrahambrahar.

Whoop dee fucking doo 30 miles.

The 6th & 7th seats are also made for dwarves with no legs FFS.  I want a 7 seater that can carry 7 in comfort without the need to remove limbs.
 

How far does it go on the amputated limbs?  Maybe it's offsetting itself that way.

[UltraWomble]

31 minutes ago, martc said:

Hyundai and Kia must think that all of their Christmases have come at once.

It was the fact she was banging on about how "safe" it was for little Tristian and Oliver to go to school in. FFS it will never go off tarmac in its bloody life and dear Tristian is far more likely to suffer an ABI being kncked over by one of the plethora of these SUV's outside the school gates  than a bloody Citroen C1.

Anyway - back on thread...

Our second to last Fiesta ( last one was a red H plater banger I ran when working for the drug team)

Second Fiesta - bodging the lights just outside of York, we had  a white XR2 after this but Im buggered if I can find a photo on my thumb drive)

First Fiesta 1.1 BASE

[martc]

Just now, UltraWomble said:

It was the fact she was banging on about how "safe" it was for little Tristian and Oliver to go to school in. FFS it will never go off tarmac in its bloody life and dear Tristian is far more likely to suffer an ABI being kncked over by one of the plethora of these SUV's outside the school gates  than a bloody Citroen C1.

I think my comments appeared at the wrong time, I was suggesting that now the Fiesta is dead producers of similar sized cars must be rubbing their hands with glee at the demise of Britain's 'go to' small car for the last 4 decades.

[JimH]

Is it still the best seller? Surely they are not stopping making it because people are buying too many?