Deja vu, a remix... whatever you want to call it, many of us have breathed at least an initial sigh of relief that the 2011 Ford Fiesta appears to have survived the conversion to US specification relatively intact.
Already a sales smash elsewhere on the planet, Ford formally took the wraps off the US-bound Fiesta here at the LA Auto Show a few hours ago, complete with a Jimmy Kimmel spot of questionable cultural taste.
You already know that the Fiesta will be available Stateside in hatchback or sedan configurations. It's a smart move. The sedan's ungainliness, we predict, won't prevent it from outselling the hatch in the practicality-averse US market.
Poking around inside the cabin, I was unable to find anything drastically different from the Euro spec car which, again, is a good thing. Ford brass tell us that there have been changes beneath the dash to accomodate a knee airbag that wasn't there previously.
A 119-horsepower four-banger will be mated to a five-speed manual or six-speed dry-clutch automatic. The auto, called PowerShift, is essentially a twin-clutch automated manual sans manual mode, thereby completing the transmission technology circle and sending automotive tech writers everywhere into the insane asylum.
Ford claims the Fiesta will deliver 40 mpg on the highway with the autobox, a number which is expected to slightly better that of the manual transmission model.
The US-bound Fiesta will wear all season tires rather than the summer tires of the European-spec 2009 Fiesta we tested, which no doubt will affect the car's ultimate limits. This isn't the end of the world, but we're intensely curious to learn the degree to which this change affects the delectable sub-limit driving dynamics that have underpinned the Fiesta's appeal. Time will tell.
For more details and photos, see editor Erin Riches' overview of the 2011 Ford Fiesta.
Jason Kavanagh, Engineering Editor
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