The standard-issue Ford Fiesta is powered by a 1.6-liter 4-cylinder that generates a modest 120 horsepower at 6,350 r.p.m. and 112 pound-feet of torque at 5,000 r.p.m. The lofty r.p.m. numbers for the power and torque peaks tell you all you need to know: This car is largely gutless unless you’re riding it to the redline. Even then, the base Fiesta won’t strain your sternocleidomastoid with undue G forces.
Ford offers two possible upgrades. One is a turbocharged 1.6-liter 4, found exclusively in the Fiesta ST. That vicious little chupacabra makes 197 horsepower and is intended for people who like to party. The other option is less dramatic but more intriguing: For an extra $995 on top of your $16,405 2014 Fiesta SE sedan (or $16,905 hatchback), Ford will sell you a 999 cc 3-cylinder that is both more powerful and more efficient than the 1.6-liter 4-cylinder.
This is the 1.0 EcoBoost, turbocharged and equipped with direct fuel injection, tied with the Smart Fortwo’s 3-cylinder for the title of the smallest auto engine in the United States market. It’s available only with a 5-speed manual transmission and steel wheels fitted with aerodynamic covers, probably to prevent the price from straying too far upward (besides its expensive hardware, the 1.0 is built in Germany, while the 1.6 hails from Brazil).
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The window sticker for the 2014 Ford Fiesta EcoBoost test car. Credit Ford Motor
The Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost tests a hypothesis thus far unexamined on our shores: Will Americans pay a premium for a car with an engine block that’s the size of carry-on luggage?
The Fiesta’s twee turbocharger spins as fast as 248,000 r.p.m. Under moderate driving conditions, the maximum boost pressure is 14.7 pounds per square inch, providing 125 pound-feet of torque at 2,500 r.p.m. But the Fiesta, like the Porsche 911 Turbo, can also allow a temporary overboost, raising maximum boost to 20 p.s.i. and generating 148 pound-feet of torque for as long as 15 seconds. Backing off the throttle resets the timer.
Given the generous parameters for the Fiesta’s overboost mode €” who keeps the throttle floored for more than 15 seconds? €” one might suspect that Ford made the distinction simply because the concept of overboost might lead your 1-liter Fiesta to be mentioned in the same sentence as a 911 Turbo. In which case, mission accomplished.
But horsepower is horsepower, and the 1.0 still doesn’t have an embarrassment of it. Its main advantage over the 1.6-liter lies in its low-r.p.m. torque and the consequent improvement in around-town acceleration. A 1.0 Fiesta doesn’t have to work as hard to nip from light to light, which is fortunate because you won’t want to listen to its exertions.
That’s partly a result of the uneven blat emitted by its odd number of cylinders, and partly because Ford doesn’t seem to know how to combine EcoBoost virtues with a rewarding soundtrack. I own a car with a 3.5-liter EcoBoost, and it sounds like a whale with indigestion, all groans and clicks from the intake and injectors. Sometimes I don’t know whether to take it to the dealer or to the scientists at Woods Hole.
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But thanks to the 5-speed’s gear ratios, which are so far apart they need counseling, you won’t have to listen to the 1.0 unless you deliberately whip it up. Both fourth and fifth gears are overdrives, aimed squarely at fuel economy rather than sportiness. And fuel economy is obviously a big part of the 3-cylinder’s appeal.
To that end, the 1.0 returns impressive mileage, earning the 2015 model an E.P.A. rating of 31 miles per gallon in town and 43 m.p.g. on the highway. It’s hard to be blas© about a nonhybrid that gets 43 m.p.g., but am I wrong to want something more? Plenty of larger sedans earn 40 m.p.g. ratings, and it’ll take a lot of driving before you realize much savings from the margin from 40 m.p.g. to 43.
Further complicating the EcoBoost argument is that at least some of its efficiency derives from Ford’s SFE package, which is automatically included when you opt for the 1-liter. The SFE trim includes a smoother underbody, small wings at the base of the wheel arches and those 15-inch steel wheels with aerodynamic covers and low-rolling resistance tires. Sedans also get a trunk lid spoiler, which is standard on the hatch.
So equipped, a 2015 1.6-liter Fiesta SFE earns an E.P.A. combined rating of 32 m.p.g. The EcoBoost’s combined rating is 36 m.p.g. That’s not, fair to say, a huge difference. Thus I conclude that the appeal of the 1.0 lies less in the Eco than in the Boost.
There’s a geek factor here, a satisfaction in knowing that you’re on the front edge of the smaller-displacement trend that began, oh, when Pierce-Arrow stopped building the Model 6-66 Raceabout (13.5 liters, it was).
While the Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost makes a legitimate case for itself on paper, I suspect its following will come less from rationalists than from the crowd that finds its small-bore, high-tech approach inherently cool. Compared with the base model, the 1.0 is a little bit more powerful, a little more fuel efficient and about a thousand times more interesting.
In software terms, 1.0 refers to the first version of something. In that respect, this Fiesta is indeed American Tiny Motor Car version 1.0, a smart concept in search of early adopters. Early adopters who can drive a stick.
