Category: Green, Industry News, Europe, Ford, Ford , Hatchbacks, Compact
The UK-based CleanGreenCars Web site offers a research tool which allows consumers to find the greenest car in a given market segment. The Ford’s Fiesta ECOnetic and Seat Ibiza Ecomotive take top honors (honours?) in the five-seat Supermini segment, against competition from the Mini Cooper diesel, VW Polo Bluemotion and Peugeot 207 HDI, among others. But the Fiesta is the one which deserves our focus (no pun intended), as it is U.S.-bound in 2010.
This particular Fiesta wears the ECOnetic badge, which is special to the European market and designates tuning for efficiency over all else. Ford outfits this hatch, available in three- or five-door trim, with a retuned 1.6L diesel engine, revised aerodynamics, a taller final drive ratio and low rolling resistance tires. These changes produce a Prius-embarrassing 63.5 mpg average in U.S. measurements.
On the downside, the ECOnetic Fiesta produces about 88 hp and its acceleration times are best measured with a calendar. Don’t expect it to make the trip over the Atlantic. Instead, when the U.S.-market Fiesta hits, it will reportedly offer a 1.6L gasoline engine with somewhere around 115 hp transmitted through a five-speed manual. Ford claims combined mpg numbers in the high 30s with a similarly sized engine in the UK market.
As we concluded after driving a European-spec model, “From where we stand, though, Fiesta's greatest problem is that it's still a year away. The new Fiesta can't arrive here soon enough, but it will be worth the wait.”
So while Ford has no real plans to bring the Fiesta ECOnetic to the U.S., it's eye-popping mpg numbers beg the question, would you trade the Fiesta ECOnetic's fantastic mileage for a decided lack of power?
Source: Ford, CleanGreenCars.co.uk
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