Ford Fiesta

Couple of days ago I was invited to attend the soft launching event of the not-so-new Ford’s product, the Fiesta, which is scheduled to be officially introduced to the market in 18^th Indonesian International Motor Show around August 2010. The car itself was actually interesting, but more of the cars later on, now I would like to talk about its manufacturer first. Ford, who used to own Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo and Aston Martin until the dread of financial crisis came along, was considered as one of the biggest car manufacturer in the world. Now though, after filling for a bailout funding to the American congress; selling Jag and Land Rover to an Indian company; selling Volvo to a Chinese company; selling Aston to a privately owned company, they seemed to have plunged into a deep problem. Not that I expect the effects are shown in the car they make, but it does show in the event. The invitation for the event was sent as a short message into my phone, not a formal invitation card; the event took place only in a small open space inside a shopping mall, not in a usual big hall or ballroom; There was no food or snack, just cups of mineral water and candies were served for potential customers who are going to spend hundreds of millions of their money. Is that it? No. The worst bit is its brochure, the information regarding the car's dimension appeared to be wrong. I could only assume the bloke who was in-charge for the brochure was having too much Jack when he was working on the brochure. Basically, what I want to point out here is that Ford is actually suppressing the soft launching cost of a very very good car which has been around since 70’s. And that is actually for some very good reason, which I am about to explain.

Obviously, since there was an invitation card, uh sorry.. I mean invitation message, the event was therefore not open for public, the car was displayed inside some kind of a cardboard, trying to spark curiosity I presume. Anyway, about the car... According to the marketing guy, Fiesta will be offered to the public with the following engine and trim levels:

1.4L Style MT: I don’t care about the price of the basic model, since no one would want an old-fashioned steel cap wheel on a car which costs nearly 170m IDR

1.4L Trend MT: Duratec 4-cylinder DOHC 16V, 95bhp, 128Nm, 177m IDR

1.4L Trend AT: Duratec 4-cylinder DOHC 16V, 95bhp, 128Nm, 187m IDR

1.6L Sport AT: Duratec 4-cylinder 16V TiVCT, 120bhp, 152Nm, 215m IDR

There is no other way to express about this car, so I will just come straight forward. Forget about Yaris, Jazz, 2, i20, Swift, Livina, SX4 and others, this is a good small hatchback with very good value for money. I will just take Jazz which is the leader in this segment as comparison, it has a bigger engine than Jazz; a bigger body than Jazz; better looking on the outside than Jazz; slightly better designed on the inside than Jazz; more equipments than Jazz, and yet it is 10m IDR cheaper than Jazz. Ford is clearly not messing around here. The Fiesta I saw yesterday was the 1.4L Trend AT version, I think that the car looks rather good in picture until I see it in person, it is a handsome-looking car. The whole body design exudes an element of sportiness and dynamism, and Ford doesn't overdo it. In my opinion, the rear combination lamp is the best section, it looks funky and is truly a piece of bold design. Inside, Fiesta comes with a lot of sizzling features which attract youngsters such as parking sensor, vehicle immobilizer, trip computer, MP3 audio with AUX input, audio control switches on steering wheel. And there is more equipment, and none of these features can be found in its competitors. On Trend and Sport trim level, Fiesta comes with Bluetooth phone connectivity, voice command control, iPhone/iPod connectivity, and a 3.5” multi information display as standard.

"Ford is clearly not messing around here."

Technically speaking, Fiesta shares the same platform with Mazda 2, so it is quite a good car too, at least on the paper though. The front suspension uses the same configuration as its sibling: independent McPherson strut. Meanwhile at the rear, it is a semi independent twist beam with coil spring, and again.. no other car in this segment is equipped with independent suspensions. My favorite bit is that the 1.6L Sport AT version comes with a 6-speed dual clutch gearbox as can be found in BMW’s SMG, VW’s DSG or Porsche’s PDK. There are basically two clutches which works seamlessly through the gear change process, so while the first clutch is say engaged in the second gear, the second clutch is readying for the third gear. Once the driver shifts the gear box and the car is in third, the first clutch is readying for the fourth gear. As far as I know, the cheapest car offered in Indonesia equipped with such kind of gearbox is the Volkswagen Golf GTi Mk VI, and that costs almost an arm and a leg to buy, well 600m IDR to be exact. Now though, a car with dual clutch gearbox for only a third of the price, you need to have a soul made of custard to say that you don’t want it.

I would admit that there are some drawbacks. For instance, the plastic used on the dashboard and door trims look cheap; the luggage room is too small for a car its size; there is only adequate leg room for rear passengers. Last one? It can be found on the rear wheels, the break still uses drum, not disks as it is in its competitors. Another biggest issue pops in my head is related to resale value and maintenance. What if after people buy this car for several years and Ford suddenly goes bust?? Or is the car reliable?? I am currently picturing this scenario: Driving the high-tech dual clutch gearbox Fiesta alone in an isolated country side road, with no phone signal, during midnight and the gearbox out of nowhere just breaks for no obvious reason. That’d be a huge no no.

In the end, I don’t care if the launching event has to be budget limited, because the car quality will speak for itself and car enthusiasts understand that very well, and that is the exact case of Fiesta. Ford might really need to consider on creating a stronger brand image if they want Fiesta to sell well in Indonesia. Another issue is of course related to reliability and that is how Japanese cars managed to succeed here. As for Fiesta, it will definitely take couple of years to know how it stands on reliability issue. But for today and maybe until then, I would choose Fiesta over Jazz in a heartbeat and walk away from other cars I have mentioned earlier.