Ford Fiesta Metal: hotter limited edition hatch here in September | CarAdvice

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Ford Fiesta Metal: hotter limited edition hatch here in September

FORD FIESTA
By Tim Beissmann
FIND DEALS

The Ford Fiesta Metal is headed to Australia, with the limited edition ‘warm hatch’ arriving in local showrooms in September.

Just 250 of the sporty city cars will be imported to Australia from Germany (rather than the Fiesta’s usual Thailand production source), delivering an exclusive group of customers an uprated hatchback with more power, retuned suspension and unique sports styling and appointments.

The Ford Fiesta Metal is powered by a specially tuned version of the standard car’s 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, producing 98kW of power (at 6700rpm) and 160Nm of torque (at 4250rpm) – up 10kW/9Nm. A new air intake, wider exhaust pipes and unique engine tuning give access to an extra 300rpm in the rev range.

Paired exclusively with a five-speed manual transmission, the Fiesta Metal accelerates from 0-100km/h in 8.7 seconds and has a top speed of 195km/h – down from the standard Fiesta’s 9.9 seconds and 193km/h (according to European data).

The three-door-only Fiesta Metal also features sports suspension with a lowered ride height, while visual enhancements include 17-inch black alloy wheels, twin chrome exhaust tips, privacy glass, and a sports body kit with silver grille surround, front spoiler and foglight bezels.

Unique to the Metal’s cabin are Ebony Black heated leather sports seats with silver contrast stitching, leather-wrapped four-way adjustable steering wheel, leather gear knob and handbrake, alloy pedal covers, stainless steel scuff plates, piano black centre stack inserts, air vents and door handles, and floor mats with silver piping.

Other standard features include keyless start, cruise control, climate control, electrochromatic rear view mirror, rear parking sensors, automatic projector headlights with follow-me-home lighting, and rain-sensing wipers.

The Ford Fiesta Metal is priced from $22,990 before on-road costs, making it just $2000 more than the five-door Fiesta Zetec manual.

The Fiesta Metal will be followed in around 12 months’ time by the Ford Fiesta ST, a true performance hot-hatch with 132kW of power and 240Nm of torque. The Fiesta ST will become the second sports model in Ford Australia’s small-car line-up, joining the Focus ST, which goes on sale in October from $38,290.


 

  • Steve

    Why bother?

    • Kampfer

      Why not, I pick this over Swift Sport.

      • GW

        Why??

    • http://twitter.com/RokBass Rok

       it states that it comes with keyless start.when in fact it don’t ..
      every
      review has it as keyless start…it also states that there are only 250,

      makes ya wonder…

  • JooberJCW

    Looks good, but IMO no matter what, the fiesta is too feminine to make masculine no matter what, 

    Though, with 2k extra on top of the zetec it comes with a number of goodies…

    • Ben

      You really think a car makes you feel feminine or that a car has a gender.. That’s just funny.

      Agree with the 2k being not a bad set of inclusions for the price. Whether the base price ofr a zetec feels right is another story though.

    • Ben

      You really think a car makes you feel feminine or that a car has a gender.. That’s just funny.

      Agree with the 2k being not a bad set of inclusions for the price. Whether the base price ofr a zetec feels right is another story though.

      • JooberJCW

        Mate i said the car looks feminine not turns you feminine, a car has no gender BUT it can be designed for a particular gender. No doubt a fiesta is targeted to females as their target market

        • Ben

          It’s a car. It has no gender. Stereo typing it’s appeal is another brain washing issue, but it is just that and still does not assign a gender to a car no matter how hard you try.

          • JooberJCW

            I never said the car has a gender, but designed to who it appeals to more. As filippo mentioned it may not be the most feminine in its class, but if you take the design of lets say a micra or yaris its ‘cute’ in its design which appeals more to the female gender.

            No car is designed neutral in looks, on the other side of the scale an FPV , HSV is designed for guys, as that is their market of appeal.

    • Ben

      You really think a car makes you feel feminine or that a car has a gender.. That’s just funny.

      Agree with the 2k being not a bad set of inclusions for the price. Whether the base price ofr a zetec feels right is another story though.

    • filippo

      I think the Fiesta probably the most masculine in its class. Yaris screams Nanna, Barina screams Western suburbs single mum checkout chick, Mazda 2 screams apprentice hairdresser. Perhaps the Polo is more masculine, but not by much.

      • JooberJCW

        True but it still is a female targeted car and designs reflect what a female would like mainly being cute.

        I agree though that the polo does look more neutral

        • Jimbo

          JooberJCW… You are looking at a global car though the eyes of an Australian male. A view that can be described as narrow at best. I can assure you that most of the rest of the world does not feel as you do. Neither do I. The Fiesta is merely small, not feminine. Perhaps that says more about you than the car?

          • JooberJCW

            Mate, type in “ford fiesta commercial” in google and select images and see how many guys excluding metro’s are displayed? As I stand this car is targeted at the chic young female, as how its portrayed in the commercial here in Australia, 

            A global car doesn’t mean it caters for all demographics, it merely means it is on a global platform that can be marketed in the majority of countries for its intended market.

          • Jimbo

            I was referring to the car being global in the sense that it is sold everywhere. Advertisements are usually aimed at the lowest common denominator here in Australia… Ads from the UK for example are much more gender neutral. From regular tv ads to the Topgear Fiesta review (an ad all the same).

            For interest sake, I will pose a question: My family bus is a Skoda Octavia, but I drive myself to work every day in a Mazda 2 and on the weekends I have a Honda 919 Hornet to satisfy my need for speed and excitement. Does this make me feminine or to use your words, metro?

          • Jimbo

            Just to clarify, I’m not having a go at you mate. I’m just trying to challenge the very idea of a feminine car.

          • JooberJCW

            Jimbo: But even those UK ads, you see the guys being hipsters who dress in the latest street fashion, that to me isn’t masculine, you wont see a man’s man starring in anything to do with small cars like with those ads regarding holden’s, HSV’s FPV’s etc tingling on ones testosterone. Its always about fun, economical and young (generally females)

            Regarding your rides, If you had a choice between a lets say a FPV, taking out all accounts of quality, performance, economy, price, but solely on the design, which one would appeal to you more? put that same question to a group of the opposite gender…

            I appreciate your not having a personal go and not resorting to any childish attacks like some other members here :)

            A good debate is a good debate indeed.

  • Perky

    so this is gonna be 25 on road, making the fiesta st likely going to be 28-29 on road…. getting bit too high in price to compete with the GTI IMO

    • K20

      Isn’t the GTI around that price range too? Unless by that you mean there’s a unwritten rule that a hot-hatch from Ford should be much less than VW’s..

      I don’t think a $1-2K difference would not matter as much in this segment as their customers are pretty specific and not easily swayed.

      Anyway if the Focus ST is an indication, the Fiesta ST should be a cracking car and makes more sense to buy here for our 60/80/100/110 km/h speed limited roads.

  • Gianni Marchionno

    Why such a limited number? The normal fiesta could use more power. Ford should standardise the engine upgrades but leave the other feature (seats, bodykit etc) exclusively to the Metal.

  • gt86.com.au

    buy an 86 or a BRZ :) at that price range, they are dreaming!

    • Smart US

       more like Veloster

      • Phyl

        Yeah it is – $23, 990 ex on roads for a base Veloster. They are basically the same performance wise, the Ford would just have the edge.

    • Ramjet

      where do you but an 86 for 22K?

      • Yetiman

        We are talking about Fiesta st for 28k.

      • Yetiman

        We are talking about Fiesta st for 28k.

      • Yetiman

        We are talking about Fiesta st for 28k.

  • Save It For The Track

    What is the target market for these? Seems to be a case of there being a model available and juts bringing it in for the hell of it. Must be the Ford marketing department at work again. Given the past advertising of fiestas aimed at females this doesn’t seem to fit, especially in manual only form.

    • JooberJCW

      Exactly my sentiment in my posts above.

  • Jonno

    Ford’s done it again!  These warm (Metal) & hot (ST) performance models should had been launched a year (or two) after the Fiesta introduction when there was a buzz about the car. To do so now is going against newer cars like Rio, Accent, Swift, Yaris, Barina, etc which are fresher and more current irregardless of the performance quotient. Just like it took 7 years for the Territory to get a diesel engine – this recent move smacks of either a last hurrah before a new model or simply poor marketing which is in the Ford DNA.
    Also, what with a 5-speed manual on the Metal when there is a 6-speed DSG available on the bread-and-butter Fiesta variants. Even the VW Polo GTi comes exclusively with a 7-speed DSG. Suzuki acknowledged with it’s new Suzuki Swift Sports that an automatic version is necessary to achieve greater sales volumes. Even though it’s only 250 units – it may be a tough sell in this current market with so much new cars launched of late.
    If this is a catalyst for Holden to put the 1.4 petrol turbo engine from the Cruze into the Barina and sell it for $23k or less, it would be a definite seller over the Metal and even the ST. 

    • Darryl

      Just like bringing in the Kuga now. With only the one almost redundant petrol engine. When was the last time Ford made a good marketing decision? As far back as when they replaced the Escort with the Laser I reckon. And as this is a European model, not from Thailand, isn’t the only auto available there the old 4sp which only comes with the 1.4. I thought we only got the DSG with the 1.6 when production moved to Thailand. 

  • Save It For The Track

    Given that models such as these are primarily aimed at Europe, that explains the manual only option. I believe manuals are still more popular in Europe than autos especially in the light/small segments.

  • Gt5spud

    any of you actually own this? my missus does and well, its a mad laugh in the world of hothatch, not a screamer but still fun to drive, i own a fto and this is stil surprisingly quick, rather than sit on the fence discussing if and buts, take one for a test drive and turn off ESP then tackle your fav’ roundabout. big grin factor

  • BenG

    Picked up  mine today & I love it!!!