The trend with cars, these days, is to make them smaller than ever and more fuel-efficient. With the price of gas as high as it is, I can hardly argue this concept. Even so, I was wary of letting go of my large minivan, with all of its cup holders, trunk space and dvd system. Test driving the Ford Fiesta changed my mind.
We took the Fiesta for a road trip from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Saint John, New Brunswick. It’s approximately a 4 hour drive, not including stopping time.
We had no trouble fitting everything we needed, for a weekend away, into the trunk. I can’t see taking a family of four on a longer road trip in this car, but for a weekend away or commuting to work, it’s perfect.
My 10 and 12-year-old daughters came on this road trip too. They have been spoiled in our minivan, with a row, each, to themselves. They got lucky, because, my husband couldn’t join us. This meant my older daughter was able to sit in the front seat, and the younger one got the whole back seat to herself. This might be why I didn’t hear a single complaint about the lack of space, the whole way there, however, we all found the seats very comfortable, and there were more than enough cup-holders!
The touch screen multimedia/navigation system is very cool! I had no trouble setting up my phone to call hands free. This is a very important feature to me. I commute to work for an hour each day and I use that time to catch up with my parents on the phone. On this trip it allowed us to call daddy and stay in touch without losing driving time. I also liked that the home screen always tells you what street you’re on. This makes it really easy to know if you’re going the right way in a new town. I didn’t like that the navigation system won’t let you do anything while you’re driving, because then the passenger can’t look up attractions or food in the distance without stopping. I didn’t read the manual though, so there might be a way around this!
My daughter’s loved that the Fiesta had Sirius radio – even though it wasn’t hooked up we could listen to the preview channel. This is a great option for when you aren’t close enough to a city to get local radio! Sirius is a great choice for a longer road trip. The sound system was loud and clear, and there are plug-ins for your usb cables and audio inputs!
The part I loved the most, about the Fiesta, was the sporty feel of the car. Yes, it’s fantastic on gas mileage, and cost about half of what my van would have for this trip, but I really loved the feel of driving a small sporty car again. It is so quick to accelerate and whip around town in! If you know Saint John, you know there are a lot of hills. The Fiesta made driving around town a lot of fun, and it looks pretty cute in front of Martello Tower too!
What a fun adventure! There’s something so cute about the image of you and your little ladies zipping around town in this little red car. 😀
I have never been to St. John! What other cool things are there to see and do for kiddos?
There are lots of other fun things to do in Saint John. We like the NB Museum, the City Market, Rockwood Park, and New River Beach. (You would love it – so long and so much sand!)
Great information. More and more as I travel on business, companies that pay for a per kilo charge, want us to rent a car instead of using our own. Nice to have a good choice for that next road trip 😉
Thanks for the comment Steve!