Ford Motor Company

[Beachbummette]

Ford Won't Sell 65-MPG Fiesta in US!

" If ever there was a car made for the times, this would seem to be it: a sporty subcompact that seats five, offers a navigation system, and gets a whopping 65 miles to the gallon. Oh yes, and the car is made by Ford Motor , known widely for lumbering gas hogs. "

Link to article:
http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/bbdp/ford-wont-sell-65-mpg-fiesta-in-us/164929


I don't understand this....can anyone explain? One of my vehicles is a diesel and I love it! It is huge and gets about 37 mpg, yes I pay more for diesel, but it goes almost 780 miles on a tank of fuel.

 

[scooterbug44]

I don't understand it either - I know a couple people w/ the diesel Benz and they love it.

 

[futurebeachbum]

Ford Won't Sell 65-MPG Fiesta in US!

" If ever there was a car made for the times, this would seem to be it: a sporty subcompact that seats five, offers a navigation system, and gets a whopping 65 miles to the gallon. Oh yes, and the car is made by Ford Motor , known widely for lumbering gas hogs. "

Link to article:
http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/bbdp/ford-wont-sell-65-mpg-fiesta-in-us/164929


I don't understand this....can anyone explain? One of my vehicles is a diesel and I love it! It is huge and gets about 37 mpg, yes I pay more for diesel, but it goes almost 780 miles on a tank of fuel.

Ford's had really interesting, high milleage vehicles in Europe and Australia for years.

When GTTBM and I went to Ireland a few years back, we rented a really nice Ford Mondeo and loved it. It got good mileage, had get up and go and handled well. It was considered a larger car there but we'd classify it as a sub-compact or compact here.

I would expect one of the reasons that they didn't bring them in before is because until recently, no one here was interested. Cars that feel adequate, when surrounded by other small cars (and on small roads) don't always feel that way here. As they mention in the article, diesel isn't popular or highly available here (yet). Also, since the Ford plants aren't tooled up to make them here, they'd have to import them from Europe and pay for them with very weak $.

That would make them very expensive.

Rats.

 

[Beachbummette]

Ford's had really interesting, high milleage vehicles in Europe and Australia for years.

When GTTBM and I went to Ireland a few years back, we rented a really nice Ford Mondeo and loved it. It got good mileage, had get up and go and handled well. It was considered a larger car there but we'd classify it as a sub-compact or compact here.

I would expect one of the reasons that they didn't bring them in before is because until recently, no one here was interested. Cars that feel adequate, when surrounded by other small cars (and on small roads) don't always feel that way here. As they mention in the article, diesel isn't popular or highly available here (yet). Also, since the Ford plants aren't tooled up to make them here, they'd have to import them from Europe and pay for them with very weak $.

That would make them very expensive.

Rats.

The article says that they would be too expensive for the US, they also said that the price of one to sell here in the US would be around $25,000.00. How is that too expensive? That is about the same price of a Toyota Prius. (my head hurts, I don't get it)


quote from article:

"TOO PRICEY TO IMPORT
First of all, the engines are built in Britain, so labor costs are high. Plus the pound remains stronger than the greenback. At prevailing exchange rates, the Fiesta ECOnetic would sell for about $25,700 in the U.S. By contrast, the Prius typically goes for about $24,000. A $1,300 tax deduction available to buyers of new diesel cars could bring the price of the Fiesta to around $24,400. But Ford doesn't believe it could charge enough to make money on an imported ECOnetic."

 

[futurebeachbum]

I'm not buying a new car, I'm HyperMiling .

I've been doing this all summer. In around town driving, my (not so) little 'ole 1998 Expedition normally gives me 13.5 MPG. By doing a lot of what the hypermiling stories talk about (controlled accelleration, engine off at long lights and coasting in to stops),

I now routinely get 16.5 to 17 MPG and no payment for a new car. That's a pretty good increase and after a few weeks, it becomes a new automatic way to drive. Driving 60MPH on the interstate (something I almost never did) yields 21-22 MPG.

 

[scooterbug44]

Diesel is pretty available IMO. Not every station has it, but most of the bigger ones (more than 4 pumps) seem to.

 

[Will B]

One big problem is that most equate diesels with the smoke belching trucks they see on the road when, in fact, Europe has been a leader in developing diesel engines that as clean, if not cleaner, than gasolene engines.

Another part of the equation is what it costs to make them meet US road standards...bumber height, glass, headlights, etc...

They kinda over simplified it in the article.

To give you an idea of how far diesels have come...the past two or three 24 hour Le Mans races have been won by Audi using diesel powered race cars!

 

[Will B]

and I can't spell today, and I can't edit my posts...grrrrrr!

 

[Beachbummette]

and I can't spell today, and I can't edit my posts...grrrrrr!

I drive a diesel and that engine burn 44% cleaner than gas engines, in fact when it is running you can barely hear the engines, it does not have that loud diesel sound, everyone that rides in it says they did not know it was diesel until I tell them.

I never have a problem finding diesel it.

FBB I know another guy that does that and he says he improved his mpg's by about 8 mpgs. Also one of our patients said he had put that gas treatment in his car and got much better milage.

 

[Will B]

I got a tune up and checked my air pressure, and as a result, the price of oil went down $0.004 cents per barrel due to the surplus I created. I have done my share to break our dependence on foreign oil!

:funn: