Good Grades: Great Styling, good utility, good seat comfort, good fuel economy, decent power and acceleration, acceptable ride, Microsoft Sync System, ambient interior lighting.
Bad Grades: Claustrophobic interior, large blind spots, rear headroom, uneven texture of dash materials, too many buttons for the stereo, “sloppy” feeling 5-speed manual shifter.
Final Grade: The Fiesta is a promising car from Ford. To be fair, the “sloppy” shifter could have been the result of a lot of test driving (which still doesn’t make me feel any better about it long term). This car has its issues, but it should appeal to a fair number of people wanting to buy a small, fuel-efficient car. I would like to drive the U.S. Spec 2011 model later this year to get a better sense of what we are getting here–although the Euro-spec model is very close (the attached photos are of the 2011 U.S. spec models). The Car Exam Grade: B/B-
The Car Exam 