For those of you who have not been keep track, I am now a little over a quarter of the way through my 24 months lease Fiesta ST. It is hard to believe that I had the car that long, but it is true. I just clicked past the mark of six thousand mile on the odometer, and Im about to make the payment number seven, so I drive a little less than what I allowed my lease. That said, Ive driven m ore than double the number of miles I put on my Boss 302 during the same period.
As I was driving to Ohio this week My Old Kentucky Home, chew the hills I-75 North Road between Lexington and the Greater Cincinnati, a terrible thought came to me:
In just about seventeen months, Ill have to give back his fist, and I do not want.
You see, as I mentioned above, the boss just does not much work today. I even put some new BF Goodrich Comp-2 tires on this summer with hopes of making a few track days (or, Gd forbid, autocrossing), but they are still almost new sticker. Except for picking up school kids, the boss has been relegated to that special Wowzers Limited Editions Mustangs do best :. Sitting in the garage and the appreciation of the value
Why, you may ask? Simple. The Fiesta has proved to be a better car. Ridiculous, you say (or even "Ludacris")? Not really. The Fiesta is not less pleasure in daily driving duty 302. You can not drive the 302 a lot faster than you ST on public roads without endangering a careless driving citation can. My most recent appearance on the podcast of smoking tires, Thad and Chris and I all agree - there is no better car on the dollar Fist. On a California canyon road track or a Kentucky Bourbon Trail race, there are not many cars that show their taillights Fiesta, and those who make more than double its sticker price. I just do not understand why anyone looking to have a cheap fun car would buy something else. The Focus ST could have better performance figures, but it does not match the Fiesta for the pleasure of pure conduct.
Second, it is much, much more practical for everyday use than the Mustang. It costs much less to operate (with fuel mileage is about 50 percent better), it is much easier to get the kids in and out, and, perhaps most importantly, it causes not every single redneck in a pickup in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to challenge me to Rolls For ty on the highway. Its no secret that I like a little attention on the road, but there are days when you do not want to deal with children hanging out passenger windows of their cars that try to Instagram your pony car bright yellow.
Finally, I desperately, madly love, and perhaps irrationally it. I waaaaaaaay outside the target demo for this car, the two generations and economically, but I feel good when I drive. It puts a smile a mile wide on my face every time, and there is simply no good way to measure it. I hate it when books buff put some totally subjective stars as "Fun Factor" or "Gotta Have It" notes in car reviews, but my little Blue Oval product would mark a solid ten in some qualitative note you want to give it. Its a fucking hoot.
However, in addition to the inevitable date of the end of the lease, there are two specters looming on the presence of the Fist in my driveway (yes, I have a three-car garage, and no, there is no room for the little Fiesta th is could in it, thanks to my growing collection of toys children), and they are both going to be made by Ford Performance
Number Specter One :. the Shelby GT350. Yes, I realize that buying a GT350 would be well enough to go in direct opposition to all the comments I just made about the Fiesta against the boss. But man, this engine. This beautiful, flat crank high mounted V-8 plan. And the sticker price - it is actually cheaper than the Boss 302 was considering inflation. But Im pretty sure I break computers Experian if I tried to get a loan for the GT350 while keeping the Boss and Fist, which means that one of them must go. And as much as I love Fist, I do not really know if I could take on the boss. Yes, I know that the GT350 and the boss would both serve the same non-functional role in my garage ... fudge; even if I can not make a rational case for maintaining the Boss and purchasing a GT350. Okay, so in this scenario, Fist rest and the boss will - assuming I can even fin d a GT350 to buy. Fine
However ...
Specter Number Two :. The Focus RS. Yes, this is actually the real threat to the Fist. I do not need two hot hatches, and there is no doubt that, as Matt Farah said in our podcast, which you would know if you follow me on Cyber ​​Dust, "There is no way Ford can kiss (Focus RS) up. "it will be remarkable. It will have a launch impious. It will also be convenient that the Fiesta is - in fact more. All that said, the price will be decidedly non-Fist-ish. If it checks in at about the same price as its competitors (Golf R WRX STI), then we are talking about 40k - or almost two fists. Ugh. I do not need another car payment that exceeds $ 0 per month. Okay, so in this scenario, the boss will and have two Ford hatchbacks? Well, it makes no sense at all. Hmm. I think I have to think about it some more.
Anyway, in any and all scenarios, it seems the Fist has more than proven the viability of his term in my stable. This means th at Im serious sad that I have to return it when Im done with it. I know I could buy the car at the end of the lease, but it just would not be very Barkish. In addition, there are attractive tax implications involved in a lease when trying to find a way to get rid of some pesky 1099 revenues. Hypothetically, that is. So when its time for Zippy (whats his name, by the way) to go to the big Car Lot In The Sky, a new lease is much more likely to purchase.
Unlike Chris and Thad TST, I plan to do exactly no changes to mine, apart from some brake pads upgraded. This means that in February 2017, some lucky B & Ber can head to a Ford store and get a hand in peace with approximately 20K on the clock for a good ridiculous price. And Ill be much better to have borrowed its future owner a little time, and worse for not having the coil until turbo again.