Happy Valentines Day!
Shockingly Andrew Fails announced his love for the Smart ForTwo yesterday. I know, I know… what is he thinking, but love knows no bounds. It got me thinking, especially with today being Valentines Day. What is the car that you have a secret crush on, and want to confess your love for on Valentines Day?
Who will be my Valentine?
Last year I admitted my secret crush on the Volkswagen Golf R. And I haven’t lost my lust for the Golf R, but it’s time to move on. This time, it’s not you Golf R, it’s me. My new crush still uses forced induction to produce power. It puts power down to the front wheels, and the engine is half the size of the Golf R’s 2.0-liter turbo. And you probably didn’t even know this car existed. It’s the Ford Fiesta 1.0-liter Ecoboost, confused yet?
Well remember that car the car that everyone loves, the Ford Fiesta ST. What if I told you, Ford’s skunkworks engineering team developed a engine that’s even cooler, and better then the one if the Fiesta ST. Want more? You buy this car for half the price of a Fiesta ST. It produces more horsepower per liter then a Bugatti Veyron. It was used in Ford Fiesta R2 rally car, making 170 horsepower.
The Ford Fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost is what I would call a GEM. There is no marketing for it, no press, no special announcements, it doesn’t make magazine covers and enthusiast don’t have pictures of it on their wall. Even though it has won “International Engine of the Year” several years running. It produced 205-hp on 105 octane fuel and smoked a Ferrari Enzo on the Nurburgring. Gets fuel economy like a diesel, and makes torque to match. The turbo spins at 248,000 rpm, and at max boost each piston is withstanding 1800 psi of pressure. A novel could be written on the engineering that went into the 1.0-liter ecoboost engine. You can easily ring up Mountune to crank the 1.0-liter Ecoboost up to 11. And a new one off the dealers lot will only set you back $10,000 because dealers can not sell these things for the life of them.
And some weird sick part of me really likes the sedan over the hatchback. I know I’m sick, but something about it being so ugly is oddly cool about it.
So what car will be your Valentine this year?
I love these cars! Mark Stevenson of TTAC has one. I’ve pondered picking one up, then throwing an ST (or better) suspension and brake package on it to make a mini-ST. But my Valentine car will be revealed later. Suffice it to say it’s not a BRZ or Jetta…