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Fiesta on CR's list of 10 least reliable cars

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#1
http://www.consumerreports.org/car-reliability/10-least-reliable-cars/

Hope you guys are saving your pennies for future maintenance costs! I guess it's to be expected with a car this fun for this cheap. Ford had to cut corners somewhere. Though I suspect a good chunk of the reliability issues are related to the awful transmission in the regular Fiesta. There are already a couple class action lawsuits pending about that thing. Unfortunately my experience with Ford's service techs so far has not inspired confidence in the event something more serious happens.
 


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#3
Sounds to me like the transmission issues are probably the autos. Clutch replacement doesn't sound like the STs.

Noises...I could see that.

Leaks...none yet for me but I could see that.
 


OP
J
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Thread Starter #5
Is that click bait, or is it just the least informative list ever?
Consumer Reports is a subscription based service. Everything they report publicly is designed to give you just enough to get you interested so you will pay for a subscription. In short, yes it is click bait, but it's backed by real data which you can pay to access if you so choose.
 


BronxBomber

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#6
This is old news. This goes almost exclusively for the non ST models. Most of the headaches stem from the automated manual transmission. I have 19k trouble free, really hard miles on mine. Knock on wood.
 


Waterfan

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#7
Too busy grinning like an idiot anytime I use the accelerator, brakes and/or steering wheel to be overly concerned with reliability. (I'm sure my perspective will change at the first real issue, LOL)
 


OffTheWall503

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#8
Luckily the ST seems quite the contrary, based on what I've seen others on here and around the internet say about FiST ownership.
 


Capri to ST

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#9
One owner has reported over 175,000 trouble-free miles on his FiST, still on the original clutch. The ST Octane Academy also reports that their almost completely stock ones have held up well despite having the crap driven out of them. Finally, our engines are used almost stock in the Formula Ford racing series. These things make me feel pretty good about the durability of our cars. Mine's fine and it's got almost 1200 miles on it.
 


lessard.dcj

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#11
86000+ km on my '14 and going into its 4th winter and only issue was rear brake caliper slides needed to be cleaned and lubed. Still on my first set of front pads (although they will need changing come spring). It also turns 3 years old today
 


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Miami
#12
Mine has 105 000 miles with zero problems. There are noticeable clunks in the front suspension but that's to be expected as it's a regular autocrosser. Aside from a Mishi intercooler it's all OE stock and was purchased on 4/2014.
 


TyphoonFiST

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#13
The St is the unicorn of the Fiestas. It's been proven the opposite of the other Fiestas in every way. It may be the same platform but everything else is the opposite
 


PhoenixM3

Senior Member
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#14
86000+ km on my '14 and going into its 4th winter and only issue was rear brake caliper slides needed to be cleaned and lubed. Still on my first set of front pads (although they will need changing come spring). It also turns 3 years old today
That is an amazing amount of miles considering your mod list! I'm at 21k miles and will likely change the front pads this winter.
 


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#15
Consumer Reports is a subscription based service. Everything they report publicly is designed to give you just enough to get you interested so you will pay for a subscription. In short, yes it is click bait, but it's backed by real data which you can pay to access if you so choose.
The data might be real, but it's heavily biased.
They survey only their subscribers, not the general public. So in the world of scientific polling, their data is fundamentally biased, and thus would not be considered scientific.

In some respects it's a self fulfilling prophecy. If a someone picks up the magazine on a grocery store news stand and reads that the car they just purchased, and love, is one that consumer reports praises, they then are more likely to subscribe to the magazine, and later report their experiences in the annual survey. Now, if they are having trouble with that new car, and regret their purchase, then they would conclude that the magazine is BS, and therefore unlikely to subscribe, and then have no option to report their problems. Similarly if consumer reports pans the car they just bought, they are likely to subscribe if they agree, and not subscribe if they disagree.

As an example of readership population bias, In the 2016 Auto issue they listed the 2015 Ford Fiesta as having insufficient data to report. Meaning very few owners of that car reported their experiences. But this is a volume production car, with US sales over 60,000 units, but is a car Consumer Reports does not like. So apparently not many Fiesta owners subscribe. Prior years showed poor reliability reported by those that do subscribe. The Nissan Senta is another example, this car sells over 200,000 units in the US, but yet consumer reports shows insufficient data. And it is a car they don't like.

But the for the Lexus LX, which they love, they did have sufficient data, even though this car much lower has US sales, less than 8,000 units. There are other examples.

In polling this is a serious flaw. For example if you were to poll Donald Trumps rally attendees on who they like, you will get a very biased result which means nothing.
I imagine if we were to poll the readers of this forum, we might get a very different result than consumer reports

I have been a loyal subscriber to consumer reports for more than 30 years.
But I can say that my experience with reliability of the cars I've owned to be quite contradictory to the data they publish.
One example was the Toyota Prius, which consumer reports loves, I found to be the most unreliable car I ever owned.

However when I bought my FiST, it took the precaution of leasing it for 36 months, the length of the bumper to bumper warranty.
 


LilPartyBox

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#16
and here I thought I was the only CR subscriber in the poll to own a FiST. I remember this poll from a while back and I told them how f'in awesome our cars are but I guess they didn't get the memo.

This being my first Ford and considering I've made fun of Ford all my life, I did the same thing and leased it for 3 yrs. just in case... and then modded the shit out of it anyway!
 


OP
J
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Thread Starter #17
The data might be real, but it's heavily biased.
They survey only their subscribers, not the general public. So in the world of scientific polling, their data is fundamentally biased, and thus would not be considered scientific.

In some respects it's a self fulfilling prophecy. If a someone picks up the magazine on a grocery store news stand and reads that the car they just purchased, and love, is one that consumer reports praises, they then are more likely to subscribe to the magazine, and later report their experiences in the annual survey. Now, if they are having trouble with that new car, and regret their purchase, then they would conclude that the magazine is BS, and therefore unlikely to subscribe, and then have no option to report their problems. Similarly if consumer reports pans the car they just bought, they are likely to subscribe if they agree, and not subscribe if they disagree.

As an example of readership population bias, In the 2016 Auto issue they listed the 2015 Ford Fiesta as having insufficient data to report. Meaning very few owners of that car reported their experiences. But this is a volume production car, with US sales over 60,000 units, but is a car Consumer Reports does not like. So apparently not many Fiesta owners subscribe. Prior years showed poor reliability reported by those that do subscribe. The Nissan Senta is another example, this car sells over 200,000 units in the US, but yet consumer reports shows insufficient data. And it is a car they don't like.

But the for the Lexus LX, which they love, they did have sufficient data, even though this car much lower has US sales, less than 8,000 units. There are other examples.

In polling this is a serious flaw. For example if you were to poll Donald Trumps rally attendees on who they like, you will get a very biased result which means nothing.
I imagine if we were to poll the readers of this forum, we might get a very different result than consumer reports

I have been a loyal subscriber to consumer reports for more than 30 years.
But I can say that my experience with reliability of the cars I've owned to be quite contradictory to the data they publish.
One example was the Toyota Prius, which consumer reports loves, I found to be the most unreliable car I ever owned.

However when I bought my FiST, it took the precaution of leasing it for 36 months, the length of the bumper to bumper warranty.
Maybe there is some slight bias against cars that CR has rated poorly in its own reviews, but I think you're stretching to suggest that people make decisions about whether to subscribe to CR based solely on how they have rated their current car. Auto is only one piece of what they provide and it wouldn't make sense to subscribe to a magazine for a purchase you make once every couple years. As for having insufficient data for cars like the Fiesta and Sentra, I think that probably has more to do with the demographic of CR subscribers (probably upper-middle-class white people) than anything to do with their previous ratings of those cars. The Trump rally example is an obvious straw man. Finally, love how you conclude a post about bias by suggesting that your experience (AKA a sample size of one) is more valid than a sample of CR subscribers.

Anyway, tell yourself whatever you need to, but the Fiesta is also at the bottom of JD Power reliability ratings for small cars and Focus is at the bottom of compacts.

(FYI, I am not a CR subscriber or affiliated with them in anyway)
 


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#18
Maybe there is some slight bias against cars that CR has rated poorly in its own reviews, but I think you're stretching to suggest that people make decisions about whether to subscribe to CR based solely on how they have rated their current car. Auto is only one piece of what they provide and it wouldn't make sense to subscribe to a magazine for a purchase you make once every couple years. As for having insufficient data for cars like the Fiesta and Sentra, I think that probably has more to do with the demographic of CR subscribers (probably upper-middle-class white people) than anything to do with their previous ratings of those cars. The Trump rally example is an obvious straw man. Finally, love how you conclude a post about bias by suggesting that your experience (AKA a sample size of one) is more valid than a sample of CR subscribers.

Anyway, tell yourself whatever you need to, but the Fiesta is also at the bottom of JD Power reliability ratings for small cars and Focus is at the bottom of compacts.

(FYI, I am not a CR subscriber or affiliated with them in anyway)
I have a lot more respect for JD power, in their polling being scientific and unbiased. One of the reasons I hedged my bet by leasing the car only for the duration of the warranty.

Even as a loyal subscriber, I've seen Consumer reports make a lot of mistakes and biased assumptions on a lot of things, but the media gives them a pass on all of it.
 


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#19
The reliability rating is all about the garbage Powershift auto transmissions. If they don't drop those transmissions in favor of the torque converter with the next gen of Fiesta, the Fiesta nameplate will not last much longer in the US. Same issue with the Focus Powershift transmissions. Automatic drivers don't understand how you shouldn't drive with those transmissions, but the only people that buy them are the people that aren't going to understand... I have driven a Powershift Focus for about a week as a rental. As a manual driver I can understand how to drive it to make it last longer, but your everyday driver is going to ride the clutch without even knowing it way too often because they are used to a different way of driving with autos. I don't think there's a huge reliability problem so much as people need to relearn how to drive them, and they don't want to.
 


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#20
The reliability rating is all about the garbage Powershift auto transmissions. If they don't drop those transmissions in favor of the torque converter with the next gen of Fiesta, the Fiesta nameplate will not last much longer in the US. Same issue with the Focus Powershift transmissions. Automatic drivers don't understand how you shouldn't drive with those transmissions, but the only people that buy them are the people that aren't going to understand... I have driven a Powershift Focus for about a week as a rental. As a manual driver I can understand how to drive it to make it last longer, but your everyday driver is going to ride the clutch without even knowing it way too often because they are used to a different way of driving with autos. I don't think there's a huge reliability problem so much as people need to relearn how to drive them, and they don't want to.
Good point, Consumers reports data does point to Transmission problems as the only serious problem area in both the Fiesta and Focus.
And if someone buys a new car, and immediately thinks he has transmission problems, he will be pissed.
And if the service dept tells you theres nothing wrong with it, you are going to be even more pissed.

Most of the people buying the car probably just think is a regular automatic
They don't realize they really got a computer controlled manual transmission
 


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