AutoExpress reports that Ford has prepped a not-so-mean but oh-so-green Fiesta ECOnetic for the British Motor Show. While not officially confirmed for production, odds are it will eventually hit (love tap?) the streets of The Land of Hope and Glory. The ECOnetic Fiesta will have a 1.6-liter turbodiesel powerplant with all of 89hp, as well as loads of aerodynamic mods. Equally important, the UK-market Fiesta will have low enough CO2 emissions to evade London's congestion charge. ECOnetic trim recently debuted on a European Ford Focus, with a claimed 55mpg. As Edward Neidermeyer reported, in real-life testing, the Focus ECOnetic that number dropped to some 37 mpg. If we saw a proportionate drop for the ECOnetic Fiesta, that would mean about 44 real world miles per gallon. That's still very impressive. The new model Fiesta isn't on sale yet, although it is coming to the US with gasoline engines about 12 – 18 months from now. [All numbers are US miles per gallon]
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The new EPA ratings are very low, while the UK “extra-urban” cycle is very generous, by US standards. I bet your estimates are on the low side–50mpg should be pretty doable with a car/engine of this size, if I were wagering.
Europe Only.
Now, I will go back and read what Justin wrote to see if my guess is right.
ash is right: UK or European mileage estimates are incredibly liberal. The diesel superiority groupthink (hi, Autoblog!) is largely the result of this.
Still, this car will get very good mileage, even if it’s something like fifteen miles per gallon less. It’ll be slow, but most of us survived the 1980s and could cope with slow.
Hey, I lived through a vintage Corolla with wind-up windows and AM radio. I think it made about the same power and probably much less torque. No matter what, this Fiesta will be much, much nicer to live in than that hairshirt Toyota was.
Hey Ford,
Take your time… no rush.
The picture shows a 3-door hatch; I thought it was going to be offered as a 5-door hatch or 4-door coupe for the US.
The day a modern car, with a gas or diesel engine, and no hybrid BS, beats the 58MPG of the Geo Metro, I will be truly impressed.
Even a Metro with airbags gets 50MPG in real world conditions.
I’ll keep yawning until that.
Well, time to get the anti-flame suit.
Also, keep in mind that a British (Imperial) gallon is ~1.2 American gallons. So British MPG numbers are automatically inflated by 20%. And that’s even before the differences in test cycle.
Stingray: Modern safety regulations, blah blah blah…you know the drill. Bottom line, can’t compare old cars with new.
Ford Europe turns out some nice looking cars. Bring them to the US, and I’ll consider buying Ford.
Stingray:
“he’s pedaling faster, and catching up to us… make this thing go faster!”
“I can’t… it’s a Geo!”
You have to admit that you LOL’ed at that the first time you saw it.
–chuck
I drive a 2001 diesel Renault Clio 1.5L 65hp no turbo, drives like a go-cart, very chauckable and great fun, if a little hard riding). I have never got below 58mpg imp = 48mpg US, and routinely get around 62mpg = 52mpgUS. “Hypermiling”, I once got 62 mpgUS!! Out of a 6yr old car! And it has 4 airbags, full electrics etc, not the shopping version. Jus Sayin’.
PS. diesel here in the UK is now $10.15 a USgallon. I don’t see that fully blinged Escalade tooling round Portsmouth anymore.
Bring ’em on! The day that I feel like the pilot of a Hummer (while driving an Elantra), will be a sign of progress in our “Addiction To Oil”.
44 mpg is not impressive. We were getting that with Civics back in the early 90s, which made MORE power.
Honda was using things like 8 lb wheels and low curb weights to get great fuel economy (the VX hatch returned 55+ mpg, the CRX did 50+ no problem).
I do not think I’d buy The Ford Fiesta at 46 mpg (US)…maybe 55.
In the period 2010-2011 there will be several choices.
For now I’ll drive the Metro
http://www.livesteaming.com/metro.htm
TH