TBA
Fiesta Movement
Sam noticed a bunch of Ford Fiestas parked outside... turns out it was the Fiesta Movement, with a bunch of 2011 Fiesta's for people to test drive. They had a 5-door hatchback with a manual transmission and the 1.6L, so off I went for a short drive. Not a bad little car, really, for $16k or so. Not sure it's worth much more than that, but it was still fairly impressive. The team running this part of the Fiesta Movement said they got pretty decent fuel economy at 70mph, too. I forget what, but it wasn't bad, especially since they had 2 or maybe 3 people in each car.
I believe these were actually Euro-spec 2009 models, but they were pretty close. The European suspension handles fairly well at the expense of a smidgen of ride comfort, hopefully the US-spec models keep the suspension and don't end up with a softer one.
I don't think Honda or Mazda have too much to worry about if a Fiesta costs closer to $20k, but for $16k, yes, the competition might want to worry just a tad. Of course, whether or not you can get a Fiesta that cheap remains to be seen...