Stacking 13,013 miles in 45 days seems a tad insane at first and surprisingly enough it turns out to be just that. I worked through the numbers this morning and it came out to around 9 days (217 hours) and enough miles to make it 50% around the Earth. In case those numbers didn't completely register, it means I spent nearly 20% of the last 45 days in the Fiesta. No, that is not normal and this is not your typical car review. Welcome to the first of three blog posts that will focus on the car.

Part 1 "Your butt must be crazy sore." - The Comfort and Usability Section
Part 2 "What's that thing get for mileage?" - The MPG Section
Part 3 "Things you didn't know you liked." - The Rest of the Story Section

Enjoy.

I spent the winter of 2002 entrenched deep in the Alps snowboarding with friends. Early on in the adventure I found myself sitting at the top of a long sketchy run-in to a thoroughly bombed out jump. The weather at Stubai Glacier in Austria had shut us down from the main slopes and we had built a tinker toy hit at the base to pass the time. It was late in the session when I stood up, shook the snow off, and yelled dropping to ensure we got the photo. Despite my delusions of snowboarding ability, I came up a touch short of clearing the bomb pit and ended up bouncing my head off of my knee. This unfortunate shortcoming earned me an unplanned trip to the Innsbruck hospital and the untimely demise of my belt. It eventually led to one of the only things I dislike about the seats in the Fiesta. You didn't see that coming, did you?

The seats in the Fiesta differ noticeably from the standard domestic fare, owing much to their European lineage. They have ample side bolsters to hug the driver and keep you adequately nestled in, regardless of the severity of the cornering at hand. The adjustment on the driver seat is comprehensive and precise. The seat could use an extra click back for the taller drivers. That said, I am touch over 6'2" and have obviously put in some extended time driving. I drove nearly 40 hours from VT to Utah, got out of the car and strapped into a snowboard. If that doesn't speak to the comfort of the seats, I don't know what will. The passenger seat lacks the lumbar and vertical adjustment that the driver enjoys. Still, I can attest to sleeping through most of Illinois and Indiana curled up in the navigator slot. There is one quirk of the passenger seat that may go unnoticed. If you have the driver side of the rear seat down, you cannot fully recline the passenger seat as there is about 2 inches of interference.

When my belt broke in Austria, I spent a few days attempting to ride with only the Velcro to hold up my oversized snow trousers. This proved to be a losing and embarrassing battle. Somewhere on the tight and narrow streets of Interlaken, Switzerland I found a traditional belt from the Alps. The kind with gold cows and farmers riveted to it, gawdy and ridiculous, perfect for me. I have had the belt since and wear it quite often. On one such day, I was departing the Fiesta when I felt a slight pull followed closely by a snap. I looked back to find the contrasting stitching of the Fiesta seats pulled out in the center. I have set the belt aside for the next 6 months and grimace every time I open the door and see the popped thread.

I grew up in a small town in Vermont, sequestered at the end of a dead-end road, surrounded by rolling farmland. It was the sort of area where certain things are a way of life not an option. Hunting was one of these. I grew up making the annual Fall march into the woods with my 20 gauge. I never shot a thing and honestly never intended to, it just wasn't my thing. Yet while I was living in New Hampshire, I came very close to taking up moose hunting. I figured it was either the moose or me. Every trip over the Kanck, it seemed I would come a whisker from a collision with these ridiculously big and awkward animals. I specifically had high powered driving lights put on my Audi 4000 to aid in the spotting of the black blobs. On a number of occasions, these lights saved me from a messy demise and I now place a lot of importance on lights.

The Fiesta throws a nice concentrated and clear light on the lows. I am a particular fan of the ability to articulate the height. I use this very often to lower the beams when following another car or for optimizing height for hill climbing. My one gripe with the headlights stems from a slight dead spot I get on the left side. It happens just where the lows die out and the highs pick up because the low beams are set to bank away from oncoming traffic. This does not constitute a major issue in standard driving fare. However if you are making frequent and at times high speed lefties, the dark spot can be very frustrating. I am fairly confident that a little adjustment would rectify the issue but I could easily lose a moose in the dark spot and that would suck.

There is a time honored road trip tradition in the Beck household. Every time we travel, without fail, an enormous pile of loosely packed and completely random bags will appear in front of the door minutes before our intended departure. No one is completely sure where all the bags came from or what might be in these bags, but everyone (except me) agrees that the responsibility of jamming it all into the car falls squarely upon my shoulders. Then I swear under my breath continuously as the bags are shoved, kicked, and ramrodded into the trunk. Sadly, I am confident this tradition will continue far into the future.

The flexibility of an auto's packable regions is very much on my radar. There is one thing I absolutely love about the Fiesta's boot. You can just fit a standard carry-on roller bag in lengthwise. In fact it fits almost the same way as in the overhead compartments on an airplane. This seems like a relatively small thing, but imagine if this space was just a touch too small. It would completely throw off the capabilities for packing the Fiesta. I like this so much that I am tempted to institute a gate check policy at my house. One carry-on and one personal bag per person and if it doesn't fit lengthwise in the back of the Fiesta, you are going to have to check it (which of course means leaving it at home). We have put the Fiesta through the ringer as far as packing goes; family trip to DC, Western snowboard and camping expedition, hauling the family plus dog to Grandma's and virtually every combination in between. I have yet to meet an unauthorized pile of bags that I couldn't jam into the ride. It would be nice to have the rear seat fold out of the way a bit more. The packing would be much cleaner. I know some have issues with the exposed metal on the back of the rear seats, but I actually like seeing a bit of metal in this world of petroleum based plasticity.

Next blog post will center around the MPG and more technical performance issues.