Ford Fiesta ST Concept at the 2011 L.A. Auto Show

• Looks like: The Focus ST's pipsqueak brother
• Defining characteristics: Turbocharged four-cylinder, six-speed manual, aggressive styling 
• Ridiculous features: None to speak of — it's ready for primetime 
• Chances of being mass-produced: Count on it joining the Focus ST in Ford's lineup

Ford has made it clear that there'd be a high-performance version of the Fiesta subcompact car, and the Fiesta ST Concept is what it may look like.

Based on the much more stylish four-door hatchback body style versus the sedan, the Fiesta ST Concept wears aggressive styling cues like a gaping honeycomb mesh grille similar to the one on the Focus ST, restyled bumpers and 17-inch alloy wheels inside widened wheel arches. The car's stance is also lower. The resulting look is considerably more aggressive than the regular hatchback.

40 MPG Compact vs. Subcompact Mileage Challenge

One recent oddity in the increasingly efficiency-obsessed automotive industry is some new compact and subcompact models each get 40 mpg despite being significantly different in terms of size. The question for car shoppers becomes not whether the smaller cars get better mileage in the real world, but can you live with the smaller confines to save money at the dealership — and not just the gas pump.

Currently, there are two clear examples of this trend: Ford’s new Focus compact and Fiesta subcompact and Hyundai’s Elantra compact and Accent subcompact. Ford offers a special option package, called SFE, on the two cars, helping them achieve 40 mpg highway, while the Hyundai models are rated at 40 mpg highway without any additional packages.

We put these four cars through a nearly 300-mile drive to see if size truly matters. We also found out which car was a clear winner at the pump. The larger question — could the smaller cars win us over? — was much harder to answer.

Ford F-150, Fusion among vehicles to get Sync AppLink

AppLink, the software that lets Ford owners with the Sync system stream the Pandora Radio application while driving, is coming to more 2012 models.

Ford says the 2012 Fusion, Fusion Hybrid, Fiesta, F-150, F-150 SVT Raptor, Super Duty, Expedition, E-Series and Shelby GT 500 will offer the system, along with the 2012 Mustang.

Currently, the Sync-enabled apps are Pandora, Stitcher and OpenBreak, but as we've reported, Ford is looking at other uses for the phone/car interface.

Ford also announced that it is working with Nuance Communications to help Sync better understand the intent and meaning of what a driver is asking. 

The idea is that users won't have to speak with stilted syntax to get the information they want from Sync. 

That’ll be important when the day comes that the system that's giving you the pollen count is also telling you your sports scores.

What's the Most Affordable New Car?

Used-car prices are going up, and gas prices remain high.

That makes new small cars with good mileage even more attractive to car shoppers. However, low starting prices under $15,000 don’t really translate to the transaction price most buyers face when you include equipment that’s almost a prerequisite today, such as an automatic transmission and power windows.

Over the 2011 and 2012 model years, more than a dozen new small cars will, or have been, released. They range from the traditional — like the Ford Fiesta and Hyundai Accent — to the quirky Fiat 500.

We decided to add another factor into this comparison that we haven’t included in the others: the cost of gas. For each model, we also included a year’s worth of gas to the total cost of the car — 15,000 miles’ worth of traveling in a mix of city and highway at $3.96 per gallon.

Subcompacts Lag Behind Compacts in Sales

Written by Tim Cain

Small cars are popular. Yet in spite of rising fuel costs and small cars’ affordable prices, subcompacts remain mostly low-volume accessories in their respective model ranges.

Subcompacts like the Ford Fiesta and Honda Fit can’t be considered unpopular. True popularity and profit, however, result from more expensive, larger compact cars like the Ford Focus and Honda Civic.

Most popular among subcompacts in April was the Fiesta with 9,147 sales, which is little more than half the Focus’ 17,265 sales total. The Fiesta wasn’t on sale in April 2010, but the Focus landed a 22.4% year-over-year jump. Five out of every hundred Fords sold in April were Fiestas; in April, 9.5% of Ford’s 182,542 sales came from the Focus. The Fiesta was Ford’s 11th best-selling model. The Focus was fourth among Blue Oval vehicles.

Ford Focuses Incentives on Big Sellers: Escape and Fusion

This month, Ford focuses large cash-back offers and low financing on its popular Fusion and Escape models. The Fusion has $1,500 cash back, with the Escape getting $2,000; each model offers 1.9% financing for 60 months. The Taurus, Flex and Super Duty pickup trucks have at least $2,000 cash on the hood. Newer models, such as the Fiesta, Explorer and Focus, have $500 cash-back offers.

Some models, such as the Fusion and Escape, also get extra bonus cash when financing with Ford Credit. On some models, the retail bonus cash can be combined with the Ford financing deal; for instance, you can get a total of $2,500 of cash incentives on the Escape. It’s important to note if you take the retail and Ford Credit bonus cash together, you can’t get the special financing rates on top of that.

While Ford is offering some leasing deals on newer models — like on the 2012 Focus and 2011 Explorer — the deals aren’t particularly impressive compared with offers from Honda, Chevrolet, Chrysler and Dodge. In some regions, Ford will reduce the due-at-signing cash on some leases when switching to Ford from a competitor.

Continue reading below for more details. Most deals expire May 2.

Mazda2 Earns Lower Crash Scores Than Ford Fiesta

There’s often a perception that if a car is based on the same platform as another, they’re pretty much identical save for the design, interior and often the powertrains. Well, that automotive myth has never been more clearly busted (can we legally use that phrase?) than with the recent crash testing of the new 2011 Mazda2 subcompact.
 
The Mazda2 shares a platform with Ford’s Fiesta, but both companies have said the vehicles don’t actually share all that much in common. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently released its crash-test results of the Mazda2, and it earned the top score of Good in frontal and roof-strength tests but received the second-best rating of Acceptable in side and rear crash tests. The Ford Fiesta earned top scores in all the tests and is the only car of its size currently listed as a Top Safety Pick by IIHS.
 
The Fiesta sedan has been tested by the federal government, and it received an overall score of four stars. The government has not tested the Mazda2 yet.
 
The Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris also scored Good in frontal, side and rear crash tests but earned an Acceptable score in roof strength.

40 mpg Ford Fiesta, Other Small Cars Flounder

Automakers quickly turned to small cars when gas hit $4 a gallon in 2008. Folks everywhere downsized, trading in giant SUVs for traditional compacts and the latest subcompacts, like the Toyota Yaris. The trend prompted Ford to bring its best global small car to the U.S., the Ford Fiesta, while it looked to beef up its compact, the Focus, to be a more premium offering. This trend of subcompact and larger compact is being seen across the industry.

The Fiesta has been on sale for a few months with a full inventory on most lots. (There are more than 9,000 in Cars.com’s national inventory.) However, the Fiesta isn’t setting the sales world on fire, and the rest of the segment isn’t, either.

Hyundai Takes Dig at Competition Claiming 40 mpg

Hyundai has released a web video, titled “Save the Asterisks,” to bring to light that its 2011 Elantra compact sedan gets 40 mpg on the highway for every trim level sold unlike its competitors that only get the high highway mileage in certain trims.

The automaker is leveling the spot at Chevy’s Cruze Eco trim level and Ford’s Fiesta, which requires a special package to be added to certain trim levels with an automatic transmission. Ford’s consumer website, however, lists the mileage for all Fiestas as 40 mpg*.

Hyundai claims it will sell more Elantras in January 2011 than Chevy and Ford will sell of their 40-mpg-optioned trim levels for all of 2011.

It sounds like a bold claim, but we’re guessing Hyundai’s crunched some numbers on that. Check out the video above and tell us if the asterisks bother you or if you know to do your research when you see a commercial touting great mileage.

Cars.com Podcast: How We Picked Our College-Car Winner

Last week, we published our latest Cars.comparison that pitted three small cars against each other in a battle for the best pick for those heading to college. In this week’s podcast, editors Joe Wiesenfelder, Kelsey Mays and Mike Hanley discuss the reasons why the Honda Fit outdid the all-new Ford Fiesta and the Scion xD in the three-car faceoff.

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