It all started when Gretchen Macchiarella, my friend and fellow web caster in editorial, e-mailed me about the Fiesta. She mentioned Ford was hosting a media day at Port Hueneme for the 2010 Ford Fiesta, slated to be available here early next year.

Skimming through the e-mail a found myself smirking when I read "I know this isn't your kinda car but I still think you could have some interesting insights about how it stacks up for the money". I quickly replied that I had been following the stories and knew of this car well. I closed by stating "I would love to cover the story".

I did brush up on some fast facts about the car. I already knew this car was a brainchild of the notorious Lee Iaccoca. Lee responded to the gas crunch of '73 by searching out for what is known as a "B-segment" car. Europeans called these "superminis", the general category name coming from BMC's original Mini of 1959.

We got to see the Ford Fiesta stateside in 1978. It only had a three year run here before being replaced with the larger, and soon to be more popular, Ford Escort. I was very young back then and barely remember this little 66hp econo-car. One thing I do recall was an amazing resemblance to the VW GTI of the eighties.

Fast forward to current day and 28 years later we welcome the Fiesta in the U.S. yet again. Funny thing is this car never died in Europe. To date, Ford has created seven generations of this car and sold over 10 million worldwide! Yes it's true, the rest of the world loves small cars no matter what the price of gas.

I got to spend most the day with this latest generation "B-segment". One thing I have learned is this; We would love subcompacts if more were made like this. From push-button start to nice leather, integrated bluetooth, usb port and more, this car has all you need. Forget about that Ford wagon you hated growing up, or the horror stories of the Pinto. Ford of U.S. is finally taking pages from Ford of Europe and not a moment too soon. Take a minute and see my opinion of this car in the video below.

Happy Motoring,

Lance