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iceracer
iceracer UltraDork
8/22/12 9:44 a.m.

From an astthetic view the 3 door may be more attractive. Having owned both 2-3 door and 4-5 door vehicles, for every day use I prefer the extra doors. Besides, I can't see the extra doors from the drivers seat.

Matt B
Matt B Dork
8/22/12 9:54 a.m.

Just my personal preference, but If I want a "hot" hatch, I want a 3 door for weight and aesthetic purposes. If I wanted 4 doors & practicality, I'd buy a real wagon.

That said, I'm sure that the 5-door Fiesta ST is sort of a "best of both". Would it be so wrong to have the option though? I know, someone might mention the cost of the extra model not justifying sales projections. To those people I say - SHADDUP YOUZ!

See there - I had an argument with myself and managed to defeat logic with a simplistic shout-down using all caps. Apparently, I need to spend less time online.

mazdeuce
mazdeuce HalfDork
8/22/12 9:57 a.m.

My hunch is that they'd have to jump through the hoops of crash testing the 3 door if they wanted to sell it. Not gonna happen, which sucks, but it is the way it is.

alfadriver
alfadriver PowerDork
8/22/12 9:59 a.m.
mazdeuce wrote: My hunch is that they'd have to jump through the hoops of crash testing the 3 door if they wanted to sell it. Not gonna happen, which sucks, but it is the way it is.

Why people think it's that much trouble to federalize a car is funny. It's not. It's just another car for another test.

A better look at the trend- there is no more 3 door Focus available. Seems as if the whole "hot hatch" market is as thin as the "real sports car" market. Otherwise known as- not worth the money.

93EXCivic
93EXCivic UltimaDork
8/22/12 10:00 a.m.
plance1 wrote: So some of you dudes actually consider buying an "Abarf"?

Yes. Because it is awesome.

alfadriver
alfadriver PowerDork
8/22/12 10:04 a.m.
93EXCivic wrote:
plance1 wrote: So some of you dudes actually consider buying an "Abarf"?
Yes. Because it is awesome.

Having had a 500 for a week, I personally can't imagine what kind of polish can be used on it... I'll stop there. But the word awesome would be used with other adjectives.

93EXCivic
93EXCivic UltimaDork
8/22/12 10:04 a.m.
HiTempguy wrote: Since the Fiat is impossible to fit in and I wanted an Abarth, I'm thinking it's either this or a new Subaru hatch next year...

How big are you?!? I am 6'2" and 205lbs and I thought there was plenty of room in the one I drove.

93EXCivic
93EXCivic UltimaDork
8/22/12 10:05 a.m.
alfadriver wrote:
93EXCivic wrote:
plance1 wrote: So some of you dudes actually consider buying an "Abarf"?
Yes. Because it is awesome.
Having had a 500 for a week, I personally can't imagine what kind of polish can be used on it... I'll stop there. But the word awesome would be used with other adjectives.

What did you not like about it?

alfadriver
alfadriver PowerDork
8/22/12 10:09 a.m.

In reply to 93EXCivic:

I liked it's looks. Other than that.... well.

mazdeuce
mazdeuce HalfDork
8/22/12 10:20 a.m.
alfadriver wrote:
mazdeuce wrote: My hunch is that they'd have to jump through the hoops of crash testing the 3 door if they wanted to sell it. Not gonna happen, which sucks, but it is the way it is.
Why people think it's that much trouble to federalize a car is funny. It's not. It's just another car for another test. A better look at the trend- there is no more 3 door Focus available. Seems as if the whole "hot hatch" market is as thin as the "real sports car" market. Otherwise known as- not worth the money.

Part of that is the abysmal rear seat crash ratings the 3 door mk1 focus had. It was easier to just not sell it any more than to re-engineer it so you weren't afraid your rear seat passengers were all going to die. Also look at the info coming out of Fiat. Working on a four door 500 so they can sell more of them in the states. Same with the sales of the 4 door Minis. I'm not sure there's much of a case for 2 door hatches in the states other than cost, and if it's only going to be for a premium hatch like the st, then why bother?

Brett_Murphy
Brett_Murphy GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
8/22/12 10:28 a.m.

Five doors are better than three doors unless you are a single person with no friends.

No, don't argue. I went through a 2-door phase in my younger days. I wouldn't have even considered a hatchback 20 years ago, either. Now that I'm older this is an opinion that nobody is going to change.

Likewise, anybody who calls "shotgun" in a car with a set of doors that give access to the back seat is a jerk. The only acceptable solution to determine who gets to sit in the front seat is a full on sprint to the car. The other rule is the person in the front passenger seat has to make enough legroom for whoever is in the back seat- this is applicable in any car, no matter how many doors it has.

Full disclosure: the "spare" car in the family is a 3 door Golf.

John Brown
John Brown GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
8/22/12 10:30 a.m.
93EXCivic wrote:
alfadriver wrote:
93EXCivic wrote:
plance1 wrote: So some of you dudes actually consider buying an "Abarf"?
Yes. Because it is awesome.
Having had a 500 for a week, I personally can't imagine what kind of polish can be used on it... I'll stop there. But the word awesome would be used with other adjectives.
What did you not like about it?

I tried liking one that showed up here at the dealership, I would need to extend the interior three ways to fit, My left shoulder was out the window or in the passengers face, my legs needed an extra set of knees to manage the dash to pedal egress and my head was cocked about 30 degrees to see anything other than the visor. And granted we had two people in the car but it was certainly unhappy hauling 450lbs worth of us around. Not impressed as much as I wish as I was.

93EXCivic
93EXCivic UltimaDork
8/22/12 10:34 a.m.

Guess I was the only one who liked it. I have been looking at a number of sub-$18k cars with a friend and it was the only one I liked enough that I would consider buying except maybe the Dart but I haven't driven that one yet.

Javelin
Javelin GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
8/22/12 10:36 a.m.

In reply to alfadriver:

Ford hasn't sold a 3-door Focus in forever. Not worth the money is more like "too lazy to bring the Euro-Spec Focus here". Maybe you've heard of a company called FIAT? They seem to be selling quite a lot of 3-door hatches. Oh, and another small one, MINI.

alfadriver
alfadriver PowerDork
8/22/12 11:29 a.m.
Javelin wrote:

Whatever. Needed to delete stuff.

N Sperlo
N Sperlo PowerDork
8/22/12 11:42 a.m.

A little late to the punch.

HiTempguy
HiTempguy SuperDork
8/22/12 11:47 a.m.
93EXCivic wrote:
HiTempguy wrote: Since the Fiat is impossible to fit in and I wanted an Abarth, I'm thinking it's either this or a new Subaru hatch next year...
How big are you?!? I am 6'2" and 205lbs and I thought there was plenty of room in the one I drove.

I wrote a review recently, spent 4 days and a couple thousand kms in a convertible auto sport.

Its not a bad car. But I put on 50,000kms a year of driving. My buddy is 250# 5' 11" and his knees were banging against everything. I'm 5' 8", 150#. I'd probably have lost my legs in an accident in the passenger seat, and this was with it pushed all the way back. Oh, and while a convertible only issue, it doesn't have much hauling space even if it was a hatch. A 5 door fiesta though? Awww yea.

Oh, and the visibility out of it seemed pretty poor. When you pulled up to the stop line at a set of lights, the top of the roof/headliner blocked the lights, so you couldn't see when to go

I made sure to verify which issues were and were not strictly convertible ones. I'd much rather a Fiesta if it embodies everything else the Fiat does.

Edit- Oh, and I've owned 20 fireflies/sprints/swifts/metros. I know small cars.

corytate
corytate Dork
8/22/12 8:20 p.m.

that's awesome!
One of the very few new cars I would buy right now is a Focus ST.
But when I read the thread title, I thought you were going to tell us all about the Dacia Sandero

red5_02
red5_02 Reader
8/23/12 1:45 p.m.

Already talked to the new car manager at the dealership I work for. The first one is mine .

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