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So I bought an FiST without driving it, that I won't get to pick up for 10 months...

jayrod1980

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#1
Hello all, I'm an NCO in the Air Force stationed in Korea, but originally from So Cal. I was born and raised in Orange County, and my wife is living in and from San Diego. After getting out of here later in the year, I'll be off to Vegas.

I needed a car, as my 2006 WRX Wagon is getting long in the tooth. We just had our third and last child, so my choices were either to go small for efficiency, or get some kind of minivan to help out the wife. Problem is, I can't drive slow junk, and my wife and I came to the conclusion that a small, efficient car would be better for my Vegas/California/Arizona commutes than getting another huge hauler.

A bit about the slow boring car thing. When it became time to get something for the family hauler, I got my wife a 2011 Ford Flex Ecoboost. It's a great hauler, with genuine three row seating for people at least 6 feet tall... but really I got it for the engine. I don't feel too bad about getting a new car, because my wife gets to drive around a tuned 420+hp, 5 second to 60 Flex.

My grandpa was a general foreman for Ford's engine plant in Lima, OH for 30 years, and most of my life we've had at least one Ford. The world-car strategy and the amazing fun of Ford's direct-injected ecoboost engines got me hooked.

I loved my Subaru, but as they've all but abandoned the turbo wagon segment, I figured it was time to move on. Hence the Fiesta ST. It's small, but spacious, fun handling (so I've read), decent fuel economy, and a tunable engine! I really hope I made a good choice. I've done tons of research and decided I want something cheap enough that I wouldn't freak out about every little ding and scratch like I did on my wife's car. I love orange, so the molten orange had me from the get go. However, the cost of the paint and knowing the pain of touching up or repainting tri-color Ford paint (Flex is White Platinum tri-coat), I settled on the stealthy Oxford White. Plus, with plain white paint and Rado gray wheels, I'll stay out of the cop's eyes, and have an easier time with brake dust and paint chips.

Back to the risky part. On base here we can order Fords and have them built and delivered to our place of choice, either on base, or to our next station. Only being here a year, with no need for a car, I elected to have the car sent to Vegas. I ordered up every option but the moonroof, as I will have no need for that in the desert, and being tall, I don't want to make the car any more cramped than it is. Sucks buying a car without even test driving it, but I've driven and owned plenty of sporty and turbo FWD cars, and this way, I pick up every incentive available until 30 days after the car is picked up. I figure in the end I'll have saved at least $5K off of MSRP.

From the get-go, I'd like pick up the Cobb stage 1 with motor mount, some Weather Beater mats, mud flaps, and Venture Shield. I came to the forum from reading Blue Bomber's posts on the Euro-Import headlights. The biggest disappointment about this car is the lack of projector beams. I can live with the relatively cheap (spartan) interior, especially the door cards, etc., but I would have paid extra for those Euro-style projectors.

I hated that my wife's SEL Flex came with the halogens, but I got an HID kit for it anyway. Before I get any hate, the cut-offs on the capped bulbs and digital ballasts at 55W and 4500K look great, and don't scatter or blind at all. I'd like to stay away from that with this car, and would much rather pick up those euro lights when possible. Hoping to learn a lot from the forum, while I wait for my car to be built and delivered to Vegas in October.

Thanks for anyone who stuck around long enough to read the whole post. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions as I have good amount of time to plan mod purchases before I get to pick this car up!
 


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#5
I hated that my wife's SEL Flex came with the halogens, but I got an HID kit for it anyway. Before I get any hate, the cut-offs on the capped bulbs and digital ballasts at 55W and 4500K look great, and don't scatter or blind at all. I'd like to stay away from that with this car, and would much rather pick up those euro lights when possible. Hoping to learn a lot from the forum, while I wait for my car to be built and delivered to Vegas in October.
FWIW, I wasn't really excited about halogens either since I was coming out of a MINI R53 with HID Xenons,, but I put in some higher output bulbs and am pleasantly surprised. I don't think I'm going to bother with any projectors/HIDs... just don't think it would be with the coin to do it right -- i.e. no retrofit/scattery crap.

- Osram H11 Night Breaker Unlimited low beam bulbs (Candlepowerinc.com)
- Philips H1 Xtreme Vision high beam bulbs (Candlepowerinc.com)
- Hella H11 XY (Extreme Yellow) fog bulbs for less glare (Amazon)

J_Westy
 


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jayrod1980

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Thread Starter #6
Thank you for the well wishes, and for the advice. I just want better vision at night! I like that the car is kind of classy looking, but cheap. I always prefer driving something that's faster than it looks! Now if we could only get some decent mud flaps. Those rock block ones are pretty big, and I don't feel like drilling a rivet out.
 


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jayrod1980

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Thread Starter #7
J_Westy, how is the difference in brightness compared to stock? No ugly "blue" ricer color, and good high quality bulbs?
 


MKVIIST

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#9
Welcome aboard jayrod1980 and yes thank you for serving our country. I agree the lack of a projector headlights and a few other convenient features such as power seats is a bit disappointing but overall the FiST is such a great car you'll will have no issues overlooking those small faults. Looking forward to seeing your experience in the FiST and its never too early to start collecting mod parts.[twothumb]
 


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#10
J_Westy, how is the difference in brightness compared to stock? No ugly "blue" ricer color, and good high quality bulbs?
Subjectively they are much brighter -- the high beams are especially awesome.

Like many of the +50/+80/+100 bulbs out there, both the Osram and Philips have the thin "marketing" band of blue around the bulb that isn't near the filament, so the real light is nice and white.

I'd offer that they're worth a try before spending big bucks on some german Fiesta lamp housings.

J_Westy

P.S. Thank you for your service!
 


CanadianST

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#12
Welcome!

I also ordered mine last January without ever test driving one, have loved every second of the car so far to the point where It'll never see a winter (was bought as a year round daily).
 


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Dearborn
#16
Hello all, I'm an NCO in the Air Force stationed in Korea, but originally from So Cal. I was born and raised in Orange County, and my wife is living in and from San Diego. After getting out of here later in the year, I'll be off to Vegas...Hence the Fiesta ST. It's small, but spacious, fun handling (so I've read), decent fuel economy, and a tunable engine! I really hope I made a good choice. I've done tons of research and decided I want something cheap enough that I wouldn't freak out about every little ding and scratch like I did on my wife's car. I love orange, so the molten orange had me from the get go. However, the cost of the paint and knowing the pain of touching up or repainting tri-color Ford paint (Flex is White Platinum tri-coat), I settled on the stealthy Oxford White. Plus, with plain white paint and Rado gray wheels, I'll stay out of the cop's eyes, and have an easier time with brake dust and paint chips.

Back to the risky part. On base here we can order Fords and have them built and delivered to our place of choice, either on base, or to our next station. Only being here a year, with no need for a car, I elected to have the car sent to Vegas. I ordered up every option but the moonroof, as I will have no need for that in the desert, and being tall, I don't want to make the car any more cramped than it is. Sucks buying a car without even test driving it, but I've driven and owned plenty of sporty and turbo FWD cars, and this way, I pick up every incentive available until 30 days after the car is picked up. I figure in the end I'll have saved at least $5K off of MSRP...Hoping to learn a lot from the forum, while I wait for my car to be built and delivered to Vegas in October.

Thanks for anyone who stuck around long enough to read the whole post. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions as I have good amount of time to plan mod purchases before I get to pick this car up!
Welcome to the forum, and thank you for your service!

I'm the current Customer Service Rep on the forum, and I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. If you have the order number & dealer code, I can track it; just shoot over a PM. In case you haven't already, check out our military incentives. :)

Meagan
 


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#17
Thinking about doing the same...but I've already test driven. How did the purchasing work with OCONUS ordering?
 


Sourskittle

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#18
After owning a 2013 flex limited ( I have 4 kids ), I want a ecoboost flex !!! The normal one was a great family truckster, but it would be so epic with awd ecoboost. But here in Florida, awd is not a big deal, most people don't want it, and not a whole lot of people want to spend the extra cash on the twin turbo. So they are rare here. Used, the ecoboost is like $12k more money vs a limited NA.

Anyway, I'm sure you'll be like all of us, and you'll love the fist.

I think the car just needs an access port, intercooler and an E30 tune. Besides that, just stock up on tires :) 13-14 months after buying it, I'm still more than happy to drive it as often as I can.
 


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jayrod1980

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Thread Starter #19
Sorry for taking so long to reply! The process was very easy. I think some of it had to do with the sales person at Military Exchange Car Sales though, as they know they aren't going to get someone to commit to buying a car in a location where most aren't allowed a vehicle, through high-pressure tactics. The deal I got was better than the price through USAA's car buying service, and the bonus to me is that I supposedly "collect" all of the incentives of the vehicle up until 30 days after I pick it up. There's the other good part. If you are like me and have no intention of actually having the vehicle delivered to your overseas location, you just pick where and when you want your car delivered.

Another perk I discovered... in the past I bought my Ecoboost Flex through the car-buying service at USAA and it, and the incentives applied to dealer stock, as I purchased the car Memorial Day weekend, which is past the model year manufacture cycle end. If you don't know already, that weekend is one of the best of the year for buying a vehicle as it is a holiday and very close to when new model year stock comes out. With this car, I've got the car already on order, but if and when incentives like that come out, I'll automatically get them even though I had the car built to my exact spec and I know the car won't be driven by someone else, etc.

One more thing on the financing front: They offer you a few credit unions as well, which typically have lower rates than banks, and most of them allow you to sign a letter of intent to finance and not have to start paying on the loan until you pick up the vehicle. The good part about that is that you can use that time to make some payments, and you aren't committed to anything until you take delivery. I fully expect to have at least $12K down on the vehicle before I pick it up, making my actual loan very cheap in addition to basically getting a custom order car, for end of model year pricing. I guess it all comes down to your preferences, but it's a tough deal to beat. Hope this answered your question.

Thinking about doing the same...but I've already test driven. How did the purchasing work with OCONUS ordering?
 


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jayrod1980

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Viva Las Vegas!
Thread Starter #20
After owning a 2013 flex limited ( I have 4 kids ), I want a ecoboost flex !!! The normal one was a great family truckster, but it would be so epic with awd ecoboost. But here in Florida, awd is not a big deal, most people don't want it, and not a whole lot of people want to spend the extra cash on the twin turbo. So they are rare here. Used, the ecoboost is like $12k more money vs a limited NA.

Anyway, I'm sure you'll be like all of us, and you'll love the fist.

I think the car just needs an access port, intercooler and an E30 tune. Besides that, just stock up on tires :) 13-14 months after buying it, I'm still more than happy to drive it as often as I can.

I love my wife's flex. Tory at Unleashed did an excellent job with the tune and offers free maps and support for life on the car. I literally get new maps minutes after messaging him. The car has been excellent mechanically, but the DVD headrests in those cars are junk. Not really Ford's fault per say as they don't manufacture the parts themselves, but for a $3K option, they should work. We have replaced the headsets in each seat a combined total of 9 times so far. Even so, the issue has not been fixed. I actually have a district manager from FoMoCo looking into the issue, since two states, 3 years, and 3 dealerships later, no one has done anything other than switched out the headrests. I've insisted that there might be a short or something with the wiring, but to date, nothing new seems to be done. My wife is so used to the power that she can't give the car up, but with three small kids, we need those DVD's to work.

So word of advice, if you can get a good deal during a holiday weekend or whatnot, pull the trigger. Mine stickered at $47K and I was able to get it for about $36K out the door, and it's been worth every penny. Also, the refreshed version (mine is a 2011) has much better brakes with beefier hardware and a revised master cylinder. Braking on the 2009-2012 models is not what I would call confidence inspiring. They stop ok, but the feel makes me brake a little earlier when I drive. My wife seems to have no problem riding up on others though. Honestly, I hope they continue to offer the car, as it was probably the only vehicle in the product line that utilized that platform well in terms of space etc. It's a horrible and cramped execution for the edge, taurus, and even the explorer by comparison. The Flex feels like it has as much interior volume as an Expedition, at a fraction of the size.

Plus, you know that 3.5 Ecoboost is magic. Sure this is the transverse mount model, but they are even powering the new Ford GT with the engine. Just with the tune it remains lag free, pulls like a hammer, and I can still get mid 20s MPG on the highway in a vehicle that weighs 4900lbs.
 


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