The new Beansmobile: getting FiST'ed

Well, after a frustrating couple past months with the Accord, I decided it was time for it to go. Sold pretty quick, too. $2400, and I kept a bunch of parts that I now have the pleasure of selling. I squirrelled away $400 of that and decided to go car shopping.

Drove a 2013 TSX SE 6MT. Loved it, just kinda blah and pricey. Perfect car though.

Drove a 2011 GTI. REALLY nice car. Controls felt mushy, check engine light popped on, some had done a terrible job buffing it, and it looked like it had been fiddled with by someone. Pass.

Decided to go look at Ford's since I get X plan and there's always tons of incentives. Then I peeked out a Fiesta ST. It was dark blue, had a sunroof, standard seats, and navigation. Didn't want any of it. If I was going to get one, it had to be orange with the recaros as the only option.

Drove it. OH GOD IS IT GOOD. Why doesn't anyone make a car this good for this cheap besides Ford? Sure, the interior is low rent but who cares when a car is this fun.

That was it, sealed the deal. Dealer found a Molten Orange/Recaro combo in Sterling Heights. Plunked $2k down, walked out the door with 36 months, 18k a year, $309 a month lease. Car gets in Monday and I'm picking up my girlfriend from the airport(3 week vacation in Europe with her brother) on Tuesday.

I feel so adulty now. Of course, I can't leave it alone. Already bought A xenondepot.com H11 LED headlight kit. I've been super intrigued by those since they came out. A tune, front mount IC/pipes, and a rear motor mount are planned, as well as better summer tires and a set of snowies. The car just feels so good I don't think it really needs much. Exhaust tract will stay as I've read there isn't a ton of power to be gained there.

Picture to come Monday!

Nice!

Congrats!

I really need to drive one. I fell in love with the FoST I drove. I hear the FiST is even better

beans wrote: If I was going to get one, it had to be orange with the recaros as the only option. Drove it. OH GOD IS IT GOOD. Why doesn't anyone make a car this good for this cheap besides Ford? Sure, the interior is low rent but who cares when a car is this fun.

This is how I've felt for over a year. I've been on two test drives and really like the FiST. It seems like dealers only order stripped or fully loaded cars. I've considered ordering one, but the timing with production dates hasn't matched up to the peaks of my desire for one. There's an orange with orange Recaros on a local Ford lot, but it has the black rims w/ red calipers and the protection kit. $1200 for options I don't want. So far I've avoided buying one by planning to put some money into a new suspension and fuel injectors for the MSM. For the $2000 or so dollars I'll spend on that, the car should be better than it is now and I can revisit the decision in two years.

Enjoy the FiST, and please post pics.

If it is a lease, doesn't that limit how much you can modify it? Either you return it to stock or plan on buying it when the lease is up.

Luckily, there's not much I plan on doing to it that can't be easily removed, and budget wise, I can't afford to do a lot to it past the initial hit from selling off the leftover parts from my Accord.

If anyone gets a chance to drive one, do it. You won't regret it. I haven't had this much fun in a new car since the SRT4 came out and blew everyone away.

The paint is incredible. The seats are awesome. I can't believe how well this car drives. Road noise isolation is MILES better than the Accord was, and driving feel blows it away. Brakes are nutty. The limits of this thing feel twice as high as the Accord's. Got 40mpg cursing at 80mph to pick up my girlfriend at the airport today.

Worth. Every. Penny.

Seriously, go drive one of these. Most fun car I've driven for a LONG time, and I got to drive ITR's when they were near new. This thing is a scalpel.

Quibbles: I'm 6'2 and my arm doesn't quite fit the door cushion right. The Recaros pinch a nerve in my shoulder(will go away when I figure out how to sit in them right), but otherwise are crazy comfortable and feel perfect. Speakers kinda suck, hopefully the spare Pioneer/Kenwood stuff I have fits. Wish it had HID's(alrwady ordered a xenondepot LED low beam kit). High speed damping isn't as good as the Bilstein's on the Accord were, low speed can get kinda floaty. STIFF body, kinda soft springs, so it feels overdamped. Could be tires too, they're 205/40/17 and I think a 215/45/17 would do wonders. Stock wheels are heavy. Long shifter action. Gas pedal feels about 1" too far back.

All easily fixable. This car is a riot. Bonus: girlfriend loves it.

I thought you got orange?...

Nice, I'm excited to follow this. I test drove one over the weekend and wasn't totally blown away, but it was on straight unfamiliar roads with a lot of traffic and construction so I was kind of stressed out about not crashing into something more than testing the handling limits.

In reply to Mad_Ratel:

I did, the lighting was pretty low by the time I took pics. It is ORANGE with a ton of flake in it, the paint clarity is insane for an OEM paint. zero orange peel SIC

In reply to turtl631:

Yeah, you need to thrash one. They're such well driving cars.

Here's a better pic

Looks good. I'm jealous now. That's exactly the Fiesta I wanted. Enjoy.

This is the same car as I bought six months orange with the recaros all because of lurking on this forum. And yes it is a great little car that makes me giggle every time I get to drive it. My story is the wife was bugging me that she needs a reliable car for work since I work out of town and something always breaks when I am at work ,we went through a couple of options and she was wanting a fiat 500 and had even arranged a test drive when I got home from work. I said to her see if there are any fiesta st in town to go test drive. Now I am not Ford guy and she thought I was nuts as we loved our 95 bmw 320i (Canada only car) which had died but she found a dealer in town that had a lease back one in stock. So she arranged a test drive to humor me, she gets to the dealership And the salesman who was supposed to meet her was not there so another salesman took her info and gave her the keys which was important because she got to properly drive it. The next text was E36 M3 this car is fast and the second text was I want it. She told me the price and sent a couple of pictures, the car was almost perfect and the price i knew was fair so we talked that night and I told her to go buy it. It felt a little weird telling her to buy a car without driving it but I had faith that the forum wouldn't be wrong on this. And yes we love putting it through its paces. Now the thing about telling people that you got a new " to you" car is no one ever seems happy for you that you got a fiesta as they were expecting you to say I got a BMW. But one ride and that look goes away. Now the thing that bugs me the most is the speakers kind of suck and there is not a lot of options for snow tires, Bridgestone blizzak were about the only option and they were not cheap but driving this winter was not a problem so I guess they were worth it. Now if I can make it to a autocross and really push it that will be a lot of fun hopefully I will be able to get to one or two events this year

I think you got THE color to get this car in.

Congratulations and now I have a new car to go look at.

Xenondepot.com drop in Phillips based LED H11 headlamp bulb replacement. Haven't driven with them much in the dark, but they seems to spit out more light, but more focused than even distribution. The headlights need reaimed now as well due to the different distribution. If they don't work well as headlights, I'll move them to the fogs and try a different LED for the headlights. The European projector setup would be sweet but is a LOT of wiring changes to make it work.... And pricey.

is there no projector lens in the fiesta st headlights? shouldnt have to re-aim the headlights if there were.

Excellent choice I've had my molten orange fist for 2 years so far. I will advise, clear film wrapping the front bumper would be a good investment if you care about the paint. The new finishes don't hold up well to rock chips etc, mine has its fair share of battle scars and i'm super conscience about where and how I drive.

In reply to revhard:

I think it's just the beam pattern. No projectors.

In reply to Ironsides:

Good idea. Lots of construction around these parts, I'll look into getting it done or some sort of coating.

Damn you beans, now I'm thinking about buying a Fiesta ST again. A local dealer has one with black wheels (meh) but otherwise it's how I'd order one. And the Internet price is just below $20k. Must resist...

I've got 215/45-17 Pilot Super Sports on mine. Throws off the speedo some - indicated 75 is actually 78. They stick better than anything short of RE-71Rs, but do tramline quite a bit after they've worn in.

The nervous character is somewhat annoying on the highway; it takes enough concentration to keep it tracking straight that it ends up a bit wearing.

But start driving it hard and it's more fun than you can imagine.

In reply to JoeTR6:

DO IT

In reply to jstein77:

Good to hear. I like that size and think the stock tires are 'small' for a 205. Did the ride improve?