Possumblog

Both make pretty good small cars in Europe but never seem to be able to deliver a good, small car here. Funny thing is I think GM just paid Fiat $1 Billion to get out of a deal they had. If I had Ford stock, I'd probably sell it.

My still under warranty Focus had to have it's fuel pump replaced. The Ford dealer gave me a rental plastic box called a Cobalt. It drove fine if you dont mind sitting in an overgrown cupholder.

I miss my 73 Beetle.

Yep, Larry--2 billion bucks to get out of the contract for powertrains. Fiat seems happy with the deal, however.

VACHON! Where HAVE you been!? I'm surprised you didn't like the Cobalt--from what I've heard it's not a bad car. Too much hard plastic? I will say that I have never felt bad about the quality of finish in Reba's car--it's plastic, but not bad plastic.

Ford has had some good luck with rebadging their European models in the past but the demand was never really there for them.

Remember the Fiesta?

Oh, I do indeed--a friend in high school had a bright yellow one. Incredible how far cars have come since then. I also rented one in '86 in Germany to drive from Heidelburg to Munich. I never will forget driving it back to the hotel--it drove really weird, like it had a lot of engine backpressure or something--it would slow down immediately when you took your foot off the gas. And it smelled like the clutch was burning. The weirdest thing was when I pulled up to a traffic signal, and some crazed German pulled up beside me and started shouting at me (in German) and pointing at the car. I didn't know what I had done, and speaking only Hogan's Heroes German, couldn't understand what he was saying. When I finally got to the hotel, I went to pull up the parking brake handle and found that it was already up--the lady at the rental place had set it, and when I got in, I never released it. The rear brakes were smoking and stinking, and I imagine the friendly crazed Jerry was merely trying to alert me to the near conflagration at the back of the car. Ahhhh, such memories...

But yes, I do remember the Fiesta, which, believe it or not, was surpassed in craptitude by the Festiva, and then the godawful Aspire.

I actually had a '78 Fiesta--and liked it. It was WAY-Y-Y-Y better than the Pinto and Vega, and since it was small the 70-hp engine could propel it 0-60 in something like 10.5 seconds. Of course it was not up to today's Hondas and Toyotas, but it was fun to drive back then, which was saying a lot for the automotive wasteland of the late 70's. I drove mine for four years and spent perhaps $800 in repairs. I know that's not great, but I guarantee you many a Vega or Pinto owner would have settled for that--or Escort owners, for that matter.

I have been part of the "housing boom" for the past 3 years that has single handedly been keeping the US economy afloat. (How's that for resume padding!). I do property searches for a title company so, well, let's just say the phrase "nervous breakdown" is no longer just a medical curiosity.

Plastic boxes with wheels should be shot then remolded into golf clubs.

Agreed, Stan--I had a Vega wagon, and I would have preferred a Fiesta to it. I had another friend who had a Pinto and it was worse than my Vega--and my Vega actually wasn't so incredibly bad, compared to say, a shopping cart.

And props to Vachon for the rise in my property values! Is there any way you can get them to quit assessing my house annually? What I get in increased property value is quickly confiscated by increased property taxes.

Fiat bought the tractor division from Ford motor company several years ago. Wonder if this means they're a-fixin' to buy Ford?

...or buy the farm?

The Fiesta was sadly impaired by the orthopedic emission's control devices used during that era. If left in European trim it could have had as good or better performance (and fuel economy) with a smaller engine.

As far as the Festiva and Aspire, if memory serves those were rebadged versions of Kia products.

True--although I wish I had rented the model with more oomph. The one I had would top out at 160, which is in those funny made up European "short miles," and in real American miles translated to only a hundred miles per hour. This was quite terrifying when you were trying to pass a truck, and you had it floorboarded, and you could see people in the distance boiling up with their brights on, and you can't go faster, and you surely couldn't go any slower. Even worse was when it wasn't stuff like Mercedes and BMWs, but Golf cabriolets--roofs bulging upward from the air pressure, and they would pass me like I was standing still.