I owned a '13 Fiesta some years back and loved every moment of it. Riding that wave I had been looking for a FiST fitting some specific criteria for a while, and finally found and bought one last month. It's a '19, low miles, Magnetic, gray Recaros, and no sunroof...just like I wanted. The car looked great pre-sale, and I bought it from a few states away by phone. Took a lil bit to get here, but it seemed just fine when it came. Since it arrived in the middle of a snow storm (I'm in OH), I had 16's with snow tires ready when it arrived that were installed that day. Given that it has been on snow tires, it's an FWD car, and I haven't had need to go on any highway trips I've been taking the slow boat with it since it came. The clutch has juddered noticeably just prior to the engagement point since it got here, and the RE050s on it are basically shot, but I didn't really notice much else out of the ordinary.
Anyways, fast forward to a week ago. The sun was shining and we were seeing regular 70 degree temperatures so I put on the summer tires that came with it and was excited to go on my first proper spirited jaunt...only as soon as swung down an unpopulated country road and tried giving her the beans the revs shot up while the speedo stayed put.
I bought the car certified, from a Ford dealership, with ~9700 miles on it. I've put a gentle 800 on it since, mostly driving my kid back and forth from school, and it has 10,500 miles on it now. I know we've all heard tell, on internet forums and the likes, of some yahoo burning up the clutch on a new car in single digit thousands of miles. I've never actually seen it first hand, though. Having driven nearly entirely manual transmission cars for the last 20 or so years, plenty new and plenty used and every one modified in some way or another (a few even cresting the 200k mile mark on their original clutch), I'm a bit dismayed to see a failure like this on an otherwise stock car.
Are failures like this common on these cars? Searching around on the internet seems to suggest no, and that my car's prior driver must have either abused the crap out of it or not known how to drive for a whopping 9700 miles. Reading up on the stock clutch, it seems to be made by AP Racing (a very reputable company) and easily able to stand up well even on 300+hp cars. The dealership where I bought it seems mostly unwilling to step in and provide any sort of comfort or assistance, and the jury's out on whether or not the failure is caused by some sort of "defect" (in which case Ford would pay for its replacement) or if it's going to fall into the "normal wear and tear" or "abuse" categories (in which case I'll pay for its replacement). I know I took a fair risk buying a car I had never driven from out of state based on pictures and description, and a lot could have gone wrong, but the clutch seems like a bit of a curve ball. It's apparently never been flashed, so whatever's happened seems to have happened at stock power levels.
Sorry for the wall of text. Anyone have any words of wisdom or war stories? It's been one of those days. I love this car, and will do what's necessary to get it driving right again, but she's doing me dirty at the moment.
--Matt
Anyways, fast forward to a week ago. The sun was shining and we were seeing regular 70 degree temperatures so I put on the summer tires that came with it and was excited to go on my first proper spirited jaunt...only as soon as swung down an unpopulated country road and tried giving her the beans the revs shot up while the speedo stayed put.
I bought the car certified, from a Ford dealership, with ~9700 miles on it. I've put a gentle 800 on it since, mostly driving my kid back and forth from school, and it has 10,500 miles on it now. I know we've all heard tell, on internet forums and the likes, of some yahoo burning up the clutch on a new car in single digit thousands of miles. I've never actually seen it first hand, though. Having driven nearly entirely manual transmission cars for the last 20 or so years, plenty new and plenty used and every one modified in some way or another (a few even cresting the 200k mile mark on their original clutch), I'm a bit dismayed to see a failure like this on an otherwise stock car.
Are failures like this common on these cars? Searching around on the internet seems to suggest no, and that my car's prior driver must have either abused the crap out of it or not known how to drive for a whopping 9700 miles. Reading up on the stock clutch, it seems to be made by AP Racing (a very reputable company) and easily able to stand up well even on 300+hp cars. The dealership where I bought it seems mostly unwilling to step in and provide any sort of comfort or assistance, and the jury's out on whether or not the failure is caused by some sort of "defect" (in which case Ford would pay for its replacement) or if it's going to fall into the "normal wear and tear" or "abuse" categories (in which case I'll pay for its replacement). I know I took a fair risk buying a car I had never driven from out of state based on pictures and description, and a lot could have gone wrong, but the clutch seems like a bit of a curve ball. It's apparently never been flashed, so whatever's happened seems to have happened at stock power levels.
Sorry for the wall of text. Anyone have any words of wisdom or war stories? It's been one of those days. I love this car, and will do what's necessary to get it driving right again, but she's doing me dirty at the moment.
--Matt
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