Fiesta XR4 took home bronze at MOTOR Magazine's BFYB 2007

[Ives]

Congrats to Ford and their Fiesta XR4 for taking bronze on MOTOR magazine Bang For Your Buck 2007 while winning the under $30,000 category.

More info on the article here :-


http://www.fordfiestaxr4.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=339

[murcod]

Forget about bronze overall!

Well done for a clear win in it's price segment.

[outback_ute]

Sounds good, now for the RS version with a bit more power!

[Miyagi]

http://www.fordxr4.com/media/motor -...b shootout.pdf

A great win and an overall 3rd is pretty awesome.

[Ives]

That white with blue stripes is really good colour.

[Danny]

Whats with these 9+ Second 0-100 figures?????

[jweb]

Originally Posted by Danny

Whats with these 9+ Second 0-100 figures?????

Yeh noticed that too what the hell .,seems to be not much quicker than a regular fiesta lol.Probley a typo.

[Ives]

I dont think it's a typo cos Wheels magazine got 9.2sec for the 0-100km/h :(

[murcod]

Yes, the times are a bit of a mystery (and a pity.)

[Ives]

Hmm yeh the XR4 is slightly more powerful AND lighter than the LS Foci... in theory the XR4 should do better quarter-mile times.

But I dunno if gearing can rob the XR4 that much.

[mitch_lx]

I remember watching a video on google which compared a few hot hatches, one of the segments was a drag race between them all on a runway.

IIRC the cars were the awesome lil Pug GTI 180, the ST fiesta, the clio 182 and a seat (i think)

The fiesta cornered really well when they tracked it, but in the drag race it got absolutely SMASHED to pieces by a few car lengths.

So 0-100 of high 8's or low 9's in australian conditions would probably be a fair estimate.

[Piotr]

Originally Posted by mitch_lx

I remember watching a video on google which compared a few hot hatches, one of the segments was a drag race between them all on a runway.

IIRC the cars were the awesome lil Pug GTI 180, the ST fiesta, the clio 182 and a seat (i think)

The fiesta cornered really well when they tracked it, but in the drag race it got absolutely SMASHED to pieces by a few car lengths.

So 0-100 of high 8's or low 9's in australian conditions would probably be a fair estimate.

Well with the other cars having an extra 20kw+ on the ST its easy to see why it got smashed in a drag race. And 9second 0-100km/h is way too slow for the xr4, low 8's is more like it.

Although it depends on many things, At WSID my Fiesta would bog down because the track was too grippy and 0-100 was in around 11seconds while on the street this is around 1second slower.

[Steffo]

These 9-sec 0-100km/h times are comping from the same people who managed 13.36 out of a Lamborghini Gallardo, a car the rest of the world gets 11.8's from (this was PCOTY 2004). Also the same people who managed 14.7 from the 240kW SVT Cobra that was imported here, a car that did ~13.5 in the USA. lol @ their awesome driving inability.

[robjh80]

Originally Posted by Steffo

These 9-sec 0-100km/h times are comping from the same people who managed 13.36 out of a Lamborghini Gallardo, a car the rest of the world gets 11.8's from (this was PCOTY 2004). Also the same people who managed 14.7 from the 240kW SVT Cobra that was imported here, a car that did ~13.5 in the USA. lol @ their awesome driving inability.

Yea, for this Motor Mag BFYB competition......the XR4 was driven by some bloke called Warren Luff, what the hell would he know about driving anyway.......

[Ives]

Yup.. and that's why it's strange for the XR4 not running at its optimum pace.

[Nappa]

sure it may a little lacking in straight line speed, but check out how it does on the track, its able to carry alot more corner speed then some other cars, i've been doing more and more reading and its fast becoming the favourite little hot hatch of all the journo's and magazines. just 3 sleeps to go....

[Teki04]

Judging by my long drive I had in one today the times do not surprise me.

I was left a little disappointed, as I went into the XR4 expecting big things over the Zetec.

Sure, features were pretty good over the Zetec, seats are far better, the car looks stunning, sounds amazing and is just so well built and solid over pot holes and bumps...

But it just didn't have the 'go' I expected it to have.

Good on Ford though for getting them here! Oh, and good on them for taking out Bronze in BFYB

[MISTA FIESTA]

Could it be a possibility that the car used in the test was under 1000kms?? On a personal level i have heard from various owners that the XR4 really starts coming alive above 1000kms (suppose run in period) and those who have just done the test drive have all been judgemental because its not meeting there expectations? Obviously for some people first impressions is all that matters which is fair, but i myself have experienced the XR4 riding shotgun; with over 1000kms and there is nothing but a smile and change of underwear. (I recall a spirited drive with driver + 3 passengers in canberra, where at full load it still hammered). Just imagine how I will be when im in the drivers seat?

Anyways I think everyone has a different opinion about the car. So far all the reviews have been positive, which is great to see. At the end of the day the XR4 does it for me and i havent even driven it yet......(i do feel one negative point is the amount of plastic in the engine bay, which i think is what makes the intake very restrictive. Rip it all out throw in a CAI and you will be singing. If it added 5kws to my Auto Zetec, im sure it will do wonders to the XR4)

Going off a few youtube threads, amatures are getting high 7s to low 8s (stock) 0-60mph, which is its potential and I assure you these werent done when it just left the showroom floor.

[Piotr]

Originally Posted by robjh80

Yea, for this Motor Mag BFYB competition......the XR4 was driven by some bloke called Warren Luff, what the hell would he know about driving anyway.......

Well testing for the magazine he does have a VERY poor record with straight line performance.

[Ives]

Originally Posted by MISTA FIESTA

Obviously for some people first impressions is all that matters which is fair, but i myself have experienced the XR4 riding shotgun; with over 1000kms and there is nothing but a smile and change of underwear. (I recall a spirited drive with driver + 3 passengers in canberra, where at full load it still hammered).

Ah so THAT's what I was smelling. DAMN!


If it's under 1000kms... chances are that the car would still have the wearing-in oil. Change the oil to a good synthetic 5W-30 and it might fix the problem. However, Eurofords were never designed for 400m sprint anyway.

[jweb]

if those times are true,then the fiesta xr4 is slightly quicker than a stock territory non turbo lol.

[Ives]

No. Like some members said, Fiesta STs can pull mid 8s to low 8s for the 0-100km/h time... no reason/excuse why XR4s can't.

[Steffo]

Originally Posted by robjh80

Yea, for this Motor Mag BFYB competition......the XR4 was driven by some bloke called Warren Luff, what the hell would he know about driving anyway.......

Does he record the standing start acceleration figures? I have a video from PCOTY2004 when they drive the FPV GT (could be PCOTY2003), and they shift very badly and painfully slowly.

I also smashed their BFYB WP Fiesta LX (1029kg vs my Zetec's 1038kg) 1/4 mile time in my Fiesta Zetec WP, stock, on my first time at the strip too! 17.75 vs 17.252. 5 tenths of ownership there. And I don't think I'm a pro anything at all.

If a first time drag racer can out accelerate the times they're printing, that person is either the next Victor Bray or John Force or something... or something's wrong with their figures?

Aussie magazines are notorious for being the slowest of all the world's. They're consistantly behind European and American publications testing the same vehicles, so as far as I'm concerned, their acceleration figures mean nothing unless its a direct same day car to car comparo, in which situation they show which car is generally faster, but are still far off each vehicle's true potential.

[shaq32]

Haven't read the article, but they normally test 2 up and half a tank of fuel or something like that for road tests etc. Was this explained in their article?

[robjh80]

Originally Posted by shaq32

Haven't read the article, but they normally test 2 up and half a tank of fuel or something like that for road tests etc. Was this explained in their article?

Dont know how they ran the tests but for the record Warren Luff is a V8 Touring Car Driver, I presume he would know what he was doing behind the wheel...maybe the Fez had too much zip for him to handle?...

[Teki04]

These are just times. They vary between days, cars and drivers. Go out there and drive the car and come up with your own conclusions, just as I have.

OH, and I gave up on Wheels and Motor (don't have any new issues). It's Evo, Car and TopGear for me :

[robjh80]

Originally Posted by Teki04

These are just times. They vary between days, cars and drivers. Go out there and drive the car and come up with your own conclusions, just as I have.

As I did also.....

I did drive an XR4 before deciding on the VRX, I thought it was a reasonable step up from the Zetec but not that great.

It performed admirably but not quite the huge power leap that I was expecting, perhaps we had all waited so long for it to come out here and placed it up on a "golden pedestal" that in the end the fact never quite lived up to the reputation.

At the end of the day "every car" has it's good and bad points......no car is just perfect, particularly when every person has their own opinion on what makes something just right, it's what makes us all individuals, for example, in my opinion I think the wheels on the XR4 are horrible and yet others love them........I think the rust in the front steering, drive and suspension components is completely unforgivable, others say "what rust"...........you get my drift, horses for courses.

[jweb]

Originally Posted by robjh80

As I did also.....

I did drive an XR4 before deciding on the VRX, I thought it was a reasonable step up from the Zetec but not that great.

It performed admirably but not quite the huge power leap that I was expecting, perhaps we had all waited so long for it to come out here and placed it up on a "golden pedestal" that in the end the fact never quite lived up to the reputation.

At the end of the day "every car" has it's good and bad points......no car is just perfect, particularly when every person has their own opinion on what makes something just right, it's what makes us all individuals, for example, in my opinion I think the wheels on the XR4 are horrible and yet others love them........I think the rust in the front steering, drive and suspension components is completely unforgivable, others say "what rust"...........you get my drift, horses for courses.

Rust,ahmmmm wat are you talking about : ,you should see my friends camry,rust bucket lol.Still dont underrstand,what rust exactly,i can see why people are saying what rust,becuase i dont understand

[photn]

Originally Posted by jeremyweb

Rust,ahmmmm wat are you talking about : ,you should see my friends camry,rust bucket lol.Still dont underrstand,what rust exactly,i can see why people are saying what rust,becuase i dont understand

Just like no one can understand what you are saying. Please rephrase what you are saying. or at least make it alot easier for people to read .

[Bossxr8]

Luffy only did the track tests, not the acceleration tests. Morley did those.