I had written a long reply yesterday to someone about my experience with my Fiesta ST and was told I should submit a post based on it.
I bought my [2018 Ford Fiesta ST just over 2 years ago, 2 months before the start of the pandemic.
My previous car was a 7th generation Honda Accord V6 6 speed coupe which I had for just over 10 years.
My Accord ran as well the day I sold it as the day I bought it, my major reasons for getting rid of it was that I wanted more practical cargo space, a bit more fuel efficiency and most importantly for me at the time, 4 doors.
Another major reason for buying my Fiesta ST at that point was that Ford had discontinued the Fiesta (and all of their other cars except the Mustang) after the 2019 model year. If I was to buy a Fiesta, I wanted to buy one new as I had seen so many owners modify their cars.
I had been interested in the Fiesta ST after seeing it featured by various car journalists
I still spent several months doing test drives of all the hot hatches available to me before making my decision. Cars I tested included the Focus ST, Focus RS, GTI, Golf R, Civic Type R, Veloster N & Hyundai Elantra GT Sport.
I ultimately went with the Fiesta ST due to its size, fun at normal driving speeds (I drive mostly under 60 mph, predominantly on city/suburban roads with a bit of highway) and competitive price.
The cars which came closest for me were the GTI & Veloster N. I rejected the GTI because my mechanic warned me about higher repair costs & the Veloster N due to it only having 3 doors.
Here are my impressions after 2 years of ownership:
Pros:
Fun- I have fun with this car every time I drive it. One of my biggest requirements was to have a car which I can feel like I’m driving recklessly while actually driving fine at normal speeds on city & suburban roads.
My 6-6 Accord accelerated so quickly that I just didn’t have enough time to feel the acceleration on roads with less than 45 mph speed limits (where I spend the majority of my time).
Along with the acceleration, the handling is awesome.
My 6-6 Accord had good handling for a car its size, but the Fiesta ST is just on a whole different level. I get a really good feeling of the car’s rotation and have a great sense of where the car is on the road.
Practicality- Another big thing after having had a coupe for 10+ years was I really wanted a 4 door hatchback with a good amount of cargo space.
The 6-6 Accord had a huge trunk but of course it being a coupe made it less than ideal as a cargo hauler. The Fiesta ST is small, but especially with the rear seats down, it can handle a ton of stuff. Even with the seats up, I can do a decent grocery haul.
I will also add having a backup cam under practicality.
Every new car starting 2017 has this, so the Fiesta ST is not special there. I think it has to be my favorite new car feature. 99% of the time I back into spaces now because of it and it makes life much easier, even in a small car like the Fiesta ST.
Fuel Economy- Its good. I put 93 in my car and get about 26 mpg, 85% city/suburban driving.
Cons:
Build Quality- This is probably the biggest limitation of the Fiesta ST, especially coming from a Honda product. My Honda felt better put together at 10+ years old as my Fiesta ST did brand new.
Within 1 month of buying it, both the side skirts on mine had started coming off. Within 6 months, the blend door actuator had gone out, both sun visors had broken & several sensors went out.
All of this was fixed under warranty and I haven’t had any issues in the more than a year since but it definitely made me scared about my purchase. Fortunately, it seems pretty reliable mechanically.
The head unit is also not great, it can act up occasionally (every few months…fixed by just restarting the car) and not super easy to use. Fortunately, it has Android Auto & Apple Car Play. I use Bluetooth most of the time.
Audio quality is surprisingly good considering the car’s price point, I would say as good or better than my 6-6 Accord’s sound system.
Comfort- I picked my car up from a neighboring state and drove it ~500 miles back home. I had bruises the next day from my leg being pressed up against hard and sharp plastic, my foot felt like it was going to fall off because of the accelerator position and my whole body hurt because of how firm the ride is.
I would not want to drive this car for more than an hour on the highway with the stock tires.
Fortunately, all these are very easy fixes.
I was able to fix the ride issue by just getting Michelin Pilot Sport AS4s. Its a bit thicker tire and made the ride way more comfortable while retaining 95% of the sporty feel. I have no issues driving this on highways now.
I fixed the hard plastic issue by putting a bit of leather tape on the plastic areas which my leg contacts.
Accelerator position issue was fixed by just making sure I scoot all the way to the right when getting into my seat, keep my right leg straight and against the transmission tunnel.
I think I should put my experience with my seats under comfort as well. I actually really like my seats.
I have the base cloth seats in my Fiesta ST, there weren’t any new cars left with Recaros within several states of me when I was looking for one ~2 years ago.
I had also tried out the Recaros in the Focus ST & Focus RS when I was trying out all the hot hatches and I did not find the Recaros comfortable at all.
I’m sure they would be good if you intend the car to be a weekend warrior, but for a daily driver I would take the base seats. The base seats are very comfortable and I think more than enough for a normal spirited drive. I do think if they end up wearing out in 3-4 years, I’ll probably get them reupholstered in leather like [these] Fiesta ST owners did.
That’s everything I can think of. Overall, great driving car with good livability and mediocre build quality.
If you can live with the 3 door thing, I would go with the Veloster N. With hindsight, I would have gone with the Veloster N. Its almost as small as the Fiesta ST, I found it just about as much fun as the Fiesta ST but with much better interior quality and overall build quality. I was just really focused on having 4 door practicality at the time.
Ultimately though, I’m still pretty happy with my Fiesta ST and hope to keep it for another 7-8 years till hopefully there is an EV hot hatch comes out as well as the charging network maturing.