Test Drive: 2011 Ford Fiesta

By Kevin Harrison

Don’t you hate it when someone else’s tastes have a negative affect on you? For instance, I have an inhuman ability to eat spicy food. And I mean spicy. Think of the spiciest thing you’ve ever ate, I guarantee I’ve had spicier. And if I haven’t, I guarantee that I am able to handle it better than you. This may seem like bragging, but it’s really just abnormal. In fact, it’s damned inconvenient. Since my tolerance for spice is so high (thanks to my heritage and just plain growing up with the stuff) it’s hard to find truly spicy food in Halifax that meets my satisfaction. Believe me, I’ve tried. Why? Because North Americans can’t handle spicy food. North Americans apparently prefer blandness. I am seriously addicted to spicy food, so sometimes living here is like an alcoholic living in a prohibition nation.

North American tastes have also been screwing me over in the car world as well. It’s because Americans prefer unnecessarily large vehicles that have a billion horsepower but handle like they are driving on marshmallow roads, and look as though they were designed for Flava Flav. Chrome and shininess everywhere. Basically, tackiness everywhere.

Because of this, we have been deprived of amazing vehicles like the BMW 535d, the Ford Focus RS, and the Audi A1.

Recently there’s been an interesting change, however. It seems the folks at Ford, who make tremendous vehicles for the European market, have finally had a light bulb go on in their heads. Instead of building two versions of the Focus, why not just sell the good one globally? Indeed, why not try selling other product here too?

So here we are, with the Ford Fiesta. The little car is finally available on our shores. Even though we now have Euro Fords, have they still been Americanized for our stupid tastes?

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Oh Hi: 2011 Ford Explorer

After being more of a tease than Marilyn Monroe with teaser shots, Ford decided to finally release the 2011 Explorer for all to see.

The team at Ford had quite the challenge as the demand for SUV’s has dwindled significantly, let alone for the Ford Explorer which is now quite long in the tooth. The public just isn’t interested in gas guzzling, body on frame SUV’s anymore. Poor fuel consumption, harsh ride and horrible handling capabilities really just don’t seem appealing anymore (I don’t know why they were ever appealing in the first place).

So for the first time ever Ford has been the Explorer a unibody design on the same platform as the Taurus and Flex. It is, as Ford puts it, a crossover. However I always tend to use that term with caution, but we’ll go with it for now.

This new Explorer will initially get a choice of either a normally aspirated 3.5 V6 or a 2.0 litre four cylinder Eco-boost. These engines will be 30% more efficient regarless of which engine you choose.

For more info and pics, click here.

Hyundai Set to Introduce 5-litre Genesis Coupe!

Hyundai really wants to be taken seriously in the performance world and its Genesis Coupe makes an excellent arguement for both value and performance. It is a great looking, great handling car. The 2.0T has some zing to it and the 3.8 GT will put a grin on your face.

But Hyundai is taking aim squarely at the muscle car market. The Challenger, Camaro and Mustang all offer variants of muscle that can churn out anything in the 400 horsepower range. Hyundai wants a piece of that pie.

So they are reportedly developing a 5.0 litre V8 that will pack 429 horses and 376 pound feet of torque. Yum.

That 5 litre obviously means inevetiable comparisons to the Mustang’s newly introduced 5.0 litre engine in the 2011 model. Since the Mustang can apparently now hold its own in the bends (for the first time ever in its life) it should be quite the entertaining battle.

[Car and Driver]

Mustang Beats Camaro In Sales For May

Ford is again doing quite well in sales thanks to some credible product offerings, one of which is the all new Mustang.

Even though the Camaro has a loyal following in pop culture, that hasn’t swayed people in the muscle car market. In the States last month the Stang sold 10, 225 units while Chevy was able to move 8,931 Camaros. I won’t even bother mentioning how Dodge did with the Challenger. Let’s just say it isn’t posing much of a challenge. Heh.

Ford has been winning many of the unavoidable comparison tests between the two pony cars, but Chevy hopes new revamped engines for 2011 will help it gain some ground.

Which would you choose?

[Autoblog Photo Credit: EGM Cartech]

Volkswagen Golf Best Selling Car in Canada for February

Watch out Honda, zee Germans are coming!

The Civic has been the best selling car in Canada for over a decade – they even have a television commerical boasting about the Civic’s longstanding success.

But that commerical may turn out to be a bit embarrassing now that VW’s Golf took top selling honours for the month of February for the first time ever.

Apparently we have all but forgotten about high gas prices because the Dodge Ram, Chevy Silverado and Ford F-150 were also among the top sellers last month.

Done Deal: Volvo Will Be Sold to Geely

Guess Li Shufu was just being over dramatic?

Ford announced at a press conference in Sweden today that that country’s biggest automaker will find itself with a new owner.  Chinese company Geely, had long been considered the front runner for the bid, and is now the official owner.

The deal sees Volvo going to the tune of $1.8 billion dollars as expected including other physical assets. Ford will also have no stakes left in the brand as Geely will take 100% ownership.

Any Ford technology that found itself into Volvo models will be licensed for use by Ford.

Shufu has promised to keep Volvo separate from Geely, so hopefully we won’t be seeing Volvos with any Geely technology in them.

The Chinese government has yet to approve the sale, however they are expected to do so shortly.

Volvo-Geely Deal Gets Rocky

For some reason, Ford is trying to get rid of Volvo right when they are starting to make interesting product. The new 2011 S60 has shown that it’s got some soul, their wagons and SUV’s are still doing quite well, and the C30 is expanding to get more people into the brand. Sounds quite promising, no?

Well the truth is, Volvo really hasn’t been too profitable for Ford even though they have benefited tremendously from Volvo platforms and safety technology.

Still, Volvo is leaving Ford with some bad indegestion like a Swedish meatball and as a result, the brand has been up for sale since 2008.

Chinese car company Geely, has been the front runner in the deal and it was though that the deal would become officially, uh, official back in February.

This obviously didn’t happen and now comes word that the deal has reached a bit of a snag.

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Oh Hi: 2012 Ford Police Interceptor

Get used to that face, because you will now have to be on the lookout for Tauruses hiding behind bends and bushes waiting to nab you with their radar gun.

As expected, the Taurus will take over patrolling duties from the Crown Victoria, which can now fully enjoy its retirement. Ford officially stopped selling Crown Vic’s to the public, but continued on producing them for various police forces across the continent.

There are no specific details out yet, but there’s a good chance that a tuned version of the Taurus SHO could make its way under the hood. Ecoboost technology would likely be included as well.

Dodge has been producing interceptor versions of the Charger for a while now, and GM hopes to get a piece of the pie when it introduces a Chevrolet Caprice interceptor in the very near future. The Caprice will essentially be a Pontiac G8 badged as a Chevy, and there are no plans to sell it to the public.

Who knew there was such stiff competition to be the unofficial supplier to the police? To all the police officers that frequent Car Driven, what would be your interceptor of choice? Charger, Caprice or Taurus?

A few more pics after the jump.

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This is What Happens When You Don’t Take Bailout Money

Your sales go up. Way up.

Of course, incorporating new product and upping the quality of existing product helps too.

Ford has done both and is definitely fairng the best out of the big three. The public seems to be rewarding their hard effort with increased sales, even in low volume segments. The F-150 SVT Raptor is already selling way more than predicted and now comes news that the 2011 Mustang ain’t doin’ so bad either. In fact, the 2011 Mustang is selling three times more than the 2009 Mustang did. The V6 is particularly doing well accounting for over half of the 2011 Mustang’s sales. We’re guessing that the 305 horsepower engine that returns 7.8 L/100 kms in fuel economy is the big draw.

The California Special edition is also doing well as it has also sold three times as much as two years ago. There apparently was already 11,000 orders for Mustangs placed in January and that number is expected to increase.

Time to step up your game, Challenger and Camaro.

We can’t wait for the Fiesta and Euro Focus to arrive!

Raptor In High Demand

The Ford F-150 SVT Raptor is outselling Ford’s initial predictions.

The ridiculously capable off-roader has received more than 5,300 orders to date, forcing Ford to increase production. The 320 horsepower V8 has even caught the attention of U.S officials, who are considering adding some Raptors to their fleet to monitor the U.S-Mexican border.

A 6.2 litre, 411 horsepower Raptor is now available for order.

This is how off-roading is done, Hummer.

Canadian Car & Utility of the Year Announced

Great minds think alike. We chose the 2010 Subaru Outback as our pick for the Canadian Utility of the Year, and AJAC agreed. You might as well give us our membership now, AJAC.

Volkswagen took Car of the Year honours and even though our pick was the BMW 335d, there is absolutely no disagreement from us that the GTI is just as deserving.

Congrats to the VW and Subaru!

To find out the winners in each individual category, hit the jump.

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Canadian Car of the Year Finalists Revealed! We Make Our Picks!

Those lucky ducks that have coveted AJAC (Automobile Journalists Association of Canada) memberships all recently got together to rate the best new car of the year from the Canadian perspective for 2010. They tested them, rated them, and broke down the finalists into five categories.

Since Car Driven is literally only hours old as we write this, it seems a bit premature to have our own COTY awards. So instead, we’ll just use AJAC’s finalists and make our own picks.

Find out the finalists and our picks after the jump!

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Volvo to be Sold to Geely for $1.8 billion?

Just as soon as reports came in of the sale of Saab,  reports came in just as quickly for a sale of Saab’s rival, Volvo.

Chinese brand Geely has been rumoured to be the preferred bidder of Volvo for quite some time now and it looks as though they are closer to acquiring the premium brand from Ford. And all it will cost them is $1.8 billion -a bargain!

You see, Ford purchased Volvo just over a decade ago to the tune of $6.25 billion. That’s over $4 billion lost in just eleven years. In all that time, it has been said that Volvo failed to be profitable to Ford, hence the reason of the sale.

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