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America Can not Be Great Again Without the Fiesta ST

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Location
Bedford
#61
The hard plastic on doors is nothing new and can be found on just about any mass produced car these days, just some will take that panel and cover it with leather or vinyl, but still most do a textured plastic. It is the texture, appearance, and overall quality of the plastic itself that I look at and compare. I hate when manufactures try and mimic a high end appearance, such as leather, by molding it on a plastic door. The faux leather door and dash that is nothing more than hard plastic. This was found on my focus zx3. However, looking at the ST, the A-pillar plastic has a unique look and feel. The door panels, although a hard plastic, IMO is textured well and does not try and "fool" you into thinking it is something it is not. The same can be said on the rest of the trim of the car. My ONLY complaint are the door handles on the arm rest. To me, that is the only part that I wish was a little more substantial. It just feels too thin, like one good yank and it will break away from the panel.

For me, I prefer longevity and quality. I am not fooled by half ass attempts to make something "luxury" only to have it last just as long as the cheap stuff. I have had cars that have had leather on door panels that peel away, or arm rests that crack or have a huge divot from constant use and leather seats cracking at the seams. I guess my point is, while luxury and high end is nice, things just are NOT built like they used to be. If anyone were to look 10 years down the road your interior will probably look the same with no cracking, peeling, fading, etc. as it did from day one. This is of course assuming regular care and cleaning is done. While the same can be said with really good high-end interior you have to baby it a little more than ours.
Agreed. We have a 2007 and 2008 Mustang for company cars at work. They really aren't cared for well other than basic maintenance items if that. That generation Mustang has a leather door insert that is falling out on one Mustang and was pulled out of another because it was falling out. I don't see anything like that on the Fiesta ST interior that will do that. The cloth door insert doesn't see much use from me so I don't see any reason for that to get substantially damaged. Leather on the seats (Recaros) and steering wheel is my biggest concern for longevity, which reminds me I need to clean and condition my steering wheel and seats again. I can definitely see the bolstering on the seats giving out on the Recaros from constant in and out. A popular seat upgrade for my Ford ZX2 when I had it was to pick up Mazda MX3 seats from the junk yard because they had better bolstering. The problem with that is 99% of them had damage to the seat bolstering on the driver's side (I actually lucked out and found one that didn't). Those were cloth seats. Maybe the leather will stand up a bit better, but probably not much.
 


Capri to ST

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Location
CHAPEL HILL, NC, USA
#62
Agreed. We have a 2007 and 2008 Mustang for company cars at work. They really aren't cared for well other than basic maintenance items if that. That generation Mustang has a leather door insert that is falling out on one Mustang and was pulled out of another because it was falling out. I don't see anything like that on the Fiesta ST interior that will do that. The cloth door insert doesn't see much use from me so I don't see any reason for that to get substantially damaged. Leather on the seats (Recaros) and steering wheel is my biggest concern for longevity, which reminds me I need to clean and condition my steering wheel and seats again. I can definitely see the bolstering on the seats giving out on the Recaros from constant in and out. A popular seat upgrade for my Ford ZX2 when I had it was to pick up Mazda MX3 seats from the junk yard because they had better bolstering. The problem with that is 99% of them had damage to the seat bolstering on the driver's side (I actually lucked out and found one that didn't). Those were cloth seats. Maybe the leather will stand up a bit better, but probably not much.
If you grip the seat bolster with your left hand, and slide your backside over the back of your hand instead of sliding it against the bolster, it helps cut down on wear on the driver's side seat bolster when getting in and out of the car, especially when getting in when your weight is pressing down on it.

I also find the interior generally ok, it's a bit basic but simple and functional, which I like. I think I read somewhere that the ST interiors had some upgraded softer plastic than the base models.
 




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