Interior concerns

[our guile]

Hey everyone, I test drove a '15 fist yesterday and I loved it. Gobs of torque, nice firm suspension, smooth clutch and great shift feel. I loved the Recaro seats too.

It seems like a fantastic, fun little daily driver, but I have one issue: interior fit and finish.

The plastics on the dash, a/c knobs and such felt "cheap" to me. Granted, this is a $20k-$25k car, but does anyone else feel the same way?

I'm pretty sure I'm going to sell my E30 daily driver and replace it with a Fiesta ST, but this was the only thing that bothered me about the car. It's not a deal breaker by any means. I love the performance, looks, and overall quality of the car, but some of the interior bits weren't what I was expecting.

What are your thoughts on the interior?

 

[Hijinx]

It's better than a Hyundai/Kias interior.

 

[CanadianGuy]

There are interior that are way worse. At least the Fiesta ST has some soft surfaces instead of hard plastic.

 

[frankiefiesta]

I like driving the car too much to worry about what "feels" cheap.

I understand where you're coming from but remember at the end of the day this car is a fiesta.

 

[me32]

You cant have it all at a cheap price. Personally i dont mind it. The car over all is actually pretty nice an theres not much of anything that competes with it over all in the price point brand new.

 

[caliboy15]

It's better than a Hyundai/Kias interior.

nope! it's worse than Hyundai/Kia

trust me, I own 2014 Elantra. my FiST has only 6k miles and it rattles and squeaks like hell!! it has more plastic interior parts than MJ has

 

[Hijinx]

nope! it's worse than Hyundai/Kia

trust me, I own 2014 Elantra. my FiST has only 6k miles and it rattles and squeaks like hell!! it has more plastic interior parts than MJ has

I owned a 2010 Genesis Coupe for three years before this FiST. Things may be different with Hyundai now.

 

[dyn085]

I try to give Ford the benefit of the doubt considering the fact it's based on the Fiesta platform. You're not buying interior (minus Recaro's) with the extra money, you're buying the powertrain.

With that being said, the FoST is light-years ahead for only $1500 more, give or take. That's a bit frustrating to me. It would have been nice to have at least had LED's in the interior, but whatevs.

 

[SPhilli911]

The interior was better than I expected. It doesn't feel cheap to me, except for the driver's door handle in mine seems to be loose. It moves and creeks and feels pretty cheap. Other than that, no complaints.

 

[Jutz]

Kind of echoing others, it was AS cheap as expected. The knobs and plastics on the dash you mention don't bother me because I don't think they look any cheaper than any other non luxury brand, however there are definitely some things to be annoyed by. The door pockets on my rattle often, generally they stop when I give them a pull. My glove compartment has had issues in the past, but seems to have quieted down, maybe because I recently packed it with stuff. My center console also creaks and rattles from time to time. My only other annoyance that I feel the need to voice is you can't close the sunroof with the car off! You can close your windows after you've turned off the ignition but not the sunroof. Minor, of course.

All in all, exactly what I think most of us expected we were buying. An expensive powertrain loaded into a small budget car. I think that's probably what makes the Recaros so worth it; it's a nice reminder of the car's cool factor.

 

[SPhilli911]

My only other annoyance that I feel the need to voice is you can't close the sunroof with the car off! You can close your windows after you've turned off the ignition but not the sunroof. Minor, of course.

Can you close the sunroof with the car off on accessory mode (or whatever they call it)? Just hit the ignition button with the car off without stepping on the clutch to close the sunroof.

I don't have a sunroof.

 

[BrokenSVT]

I don't know about you, but when I'm in my car I only touch a seat, pedals, steering wheel and shifter. I'm very happy with those(after a spacer for the accelerator, but I digress...).

 

[Jutz]

Can you close the sunroof with the car off on accessory mode (or whatever they call it)? Just hit the ignition button with the car off without stepping on the clutch to close the sunroof.

Maybe? I always realize immediately and just start it up again, haha

 

[Ronbo]

Compared with my previous Miata the FiST feels like a Mercedes-Benz inside.

 

[Joker328]

My thought is that Ford skimped in exactly the same places I would skimp if I were trying to build an affordable hot hatch. If they had spent an extra $1-2K on the interior and cut/downgraded any of the performance parts, I think i would have looked elsewhere. That said, if you are looking for a car that will impress the ladies or your non-enthusiast friends when they step inside, look elsewhere. No shame in that.

 

[BBock]

yeah my door handle has a gap on the inside seam and moves around when I use it, which is annoying. but besides the cheap sun visors and that its not that bad.

 

[yulysia]

Honestly I don't exactly know what way Fiesta st has "cheap" interior but I was thinking it was way better than my 15 Sti interior.

 

[GAbOS]

It's a cheap car so expect cheap stuff and a lack in options. I think they pulled off a "base car" interior very well. There are much worse out there for more money than the fiesta.

 

[BoostBumps]

Since the Fiesta is basically considered an economy class vehicle to begin with, my interior quality expectations were set quite low to begin with....With that said the Fiesta's interior exceeded my expectations and as such I have no real complaints... And surprisingly so far (one year later) there are still no rattles or broken plastic bits...

 

[scenicroadways]

My car is still rock solid after 13000 miles, no squeaks or rattles. Sure, there are some cheaper materials inside but the way it feels going down the road (steering, suspension, solidity) feels very refined for a subcompact.