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Showing content with the highest reputation on 06/21/2020 in all areas

  1. ^ Screams at inside of closet door, emerges smiling (with just a subtle tic at one eye). We've all been there. There's always High Art for solace :
    2 points
  2. '81 Eagle Sundancer Conv. conversion model, only built in '81 and '82. Pretty unique, how many can say they own a convertible 4x4 Coupe with decent ground clearance? Nice vanity plate too, "81 4x4". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_Eagle#Sundancer_convertibles
    2 points
  3. Bingo. This is one of the few times I've rented an economy car and got the exact car shown on the icon. I rented a car for one day and was given a Ford Fiesta. I have rented quite a few slightly larger Ford Focuses in the past but never a Fiesta. Also, the only times you get the "icon" from what you rented is if you rent a really high priced luxury car where the car is specifically named. And it's a large enough airport location. I've never done that. The other extreme is when you want an econobox mini with 2-seats and an automatic trans overseas to keep costs way, way down. I have done that. In that case, you'll usually be handed the keys to a Smart for two. I have always been a little curious about the Ford Fiesta, given that it looks like a slightly shrunken Ford Focus and is a popular nameplate overseas. But, at the end of the day, is it? While this might keep you from reading on, the verdict is mostly NO. The Fiesta I had was a basic sedan with the 1.6 liter 4 cylinder engine and the (6 speed) dual clutch automatic gearbox that Ford likes to use in their small cars. In the less than 100 miles I drove this car, I did not notice any quirks with its automatic transmission. Perhaps they've refined it "a little" as time has passed. I did have a Ford Focus with this automatic transmission that I once drove around Vancouver, Canada that in fact had the shudder between gear 1 and gear 2 in automatic D mode. The level of confidence driving the Fiesta inspires is much like the Focus. They are both nimble. The Focus seemed to be better planted, owing its longer wheelbase, wider stance, and bigger tires. In this regard, it was similar to the Hyundai Accent, which I surprisingly liked. However, in the Fiesta, the ride was slightly less settled than that of the Focus and it was also not as quiet, either in isolating the engine growl or in isolating the road. The interior environment of the Fiesta had more demerits than I thought it would have. First, when I've see them at dealers (locked, after hours), I'd see that cool little pod rising up above the dashboard and aligned with the center stack and thought it looked, well, "cool." When you get inside and sit down, it looked less so. It pops up too high from the driver's vantage point and, in adjusting the seat upward for my average height and frame, I couldn't find a seating position that gave me a vantage point over that little pod that I liked. For that matter, I didn't find any seating position I liked, while I was able to do so in Focuses. Then, the materials are on the cheap side, and touching them (pre-COVID 19) tells the driver this. The seat fabric, similar to that in the Focus, is also not soft-touch but, then, so many other models in the subcompact/compact sizes have gone to cloth seating surfaces that are a far cry from what they are in larger cars. Others, such as the last Chevy Cruze and the Japanese brands, have followed suit. In other reviews I read, people sounded off that they didn't like the Fiesta's seats. I would agree with them. (This makes me lament my long gone Cutlass Supreme Brougham coupe!) With the car being narrower than the Focus, the space between the front seats makes for a smaller console and they sneak in a little bit of storage here and there. Control stalks operate much like they do in the Focus except that the Fiesta doesn't have the nifty information center where the driver can select 4 main items of information to be displayed in a small tidy graphic box between the 2 instrument panel bezels. I liked that about the Focus. Instead, with the Fiesta's tighter 2 instrument panel bezels, they didn't have room for this. However, kudos to Ford for still including a temperature gauge. The Ford Fiesta is basic transportation. If in the market for a low priced Ford and they were still offered, I'd opt upward for the Focus in a heartbeat. I liked the Ford Fiesta a little bit better than the Nissan Versa, which was way too baseline of a subcompact, but did not like the Fiesta as much as the Hyundai Accent, which made sense all the way around and was very easy to live with. The latter has been changed in that they've done away with a 6-speed automatic transmission and are featuring a CVT unit for those who don't want to shift gears. I drove the 6-speed automatic. In closing, there are a couple of other things to note about the Ford Fiesta. I don't know if it's standard or optional, but the illumination of the console's cup holders and other cubbies can be blue, purple, and possibly one other color when it's night time. My rental car had the purple option. It made for a chuckle. Also, the car was easy on gas, just as the rented Ford Focuses have been. I guess the Fiesta was the entry-level way to get into both a Ford and a conventional passenger car. The current Ford website does not display the Fiesta anymore.
    1 point
  4. Yep, one of my Grandma's had a two tone blue/white wagon with the bullet proof 4.2L I-6. Needed the 4x4 to get up a gravel hill to the house and property and the wagon for groceries and dogs. It was a solid pretty reliable 4x4 wagon er uh..early 4x4 CUV I guess ha. Like below just dark blue bottom section.
    1 point
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