Mournful Glances: Carryover 2018 Ford Fiesta Loses the $995 Three-cylinder EcoBoost Engine Option

Timothy Cain
by Timothy Cain

At TTAC, we’re big fans of Ford’s 1.0-liter three-cylinder EcoBoost engine. In the right application — the sixth-generation Ford Fiesta — the EcoBoost triple is a happy revver, a fuel miser, a torque manufacturer, a smooth operator.

In fact, we’re such big fans of the EcoBoost three-cylinder that our editor-at-large bought and paid for a Fiesta 1.0 EB long-termer with his own money. That’s a strong recommendation. Recommendations don’t come any stronger than that.

With the existing, aged, increasingly antiquated Mexico-built Ford Fiesta continuing as a 2018 model year subcompact whilst much of the world benefits from the launch of a new generation of Fiestas, Ford is trimming the Fiesta lineup. The standard 1.6-liter four-cylinder persists; the Fiesta ST forges on.

But the Ford Fiesta’s 1.0-liter EcoBoost three-cylinder is signing off.

CarsDirect quotes Ford spokesperson Dan Jones as saying the decision to axe the 1.0-liter was “based on customer demand.” Presumably, offering the 1.0-liter triple exclusively as a $995 engine option with a five-speed manual transmission in one trim level had a, shall we say, limiting effect on U.S. demand.

Ford never released specific sales results for the EcoBoost Fiesta, but early on the company was pleased when the engine accounted for roughly the same percentage of Fiesta output as the ST: roughly 4 to 8 percent. A particularly high percentage of the cars were sold in California.

Yet as time wore on, 4 or even 8 percent of Fiesta volume represented a mere monthly trickle. U.S. Fiesta sales peaked at 71,073 units in 2013, but Ford is on track to sell fewer than 46,000 Fiestas in 2017. Based on the ratio Ford achieved early on in its tenure, that could be fewer than 2,000 Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoosts over the course of a calendar year.

The 1.0-liter EcoBoost lives on in the U.S. market, however. In the 2018 Ford Focus, the 1.0-liter triple is still the standard engine on the SE trim. In the 2018 Ford Ecosport, meanwhile, the 1.0-liter is the base engine and the sole engine for front-wheel-drive models.

Through the first eight months of 2017, the Fiesta is America’s fifth-best-selling subcompact car, claiming only 13 percent of a fast-shrinking subcompact category that apparently holds no future for the new Fiesta. The loss of the Fiesta’s 1.0-liter EcoBoost heading into the model’s eighth model year now means Fiesta fuel economy maxes out at 37 miles per gallon on the highway.

The Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris iA top out at 40 mpg highway. 2017’s Ford Fiesta SFE, the 1.0-liter EcoBoost three-cylinder model, was rated at 35 mpg city; 41 highway.

[Image: Ford Motor Company]

Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars and Instagram.

Timothy Cain
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  • JamesGarfield JamesGarfield on Oct 13, 2017

    Every time my wife and I see an article about the 3-cyl engine, we have a private chuckle. My wife has a 94 Geo Metro, with the 994cc 3cyl inline, 5MT. We love this car, even though it is the absolute QUEEN of NVH (in the negative way). This car will shake and rattle your fillings out-- and that's just getting out of the driveway :). It is nothing fancy-- completely low tech, SPI, non-turbo, non-power anything. When new 23 years ago, it got an honest 50mpg. Today with 150,000 miles on it, she gets about 42. Ugly as h*ll, and completely theft proof , but it zips down the road with relative ease, if you're not in a big hurry. Anyway, back to the chuckle part, it's funny how the car market seems to so quickly forget these other 3-cyl econoboxes such as the Fiesta, were not the first.

  • Eyeofthetiger Eyeofthetiger on Oct 23, 2017

    I am happy that I managed to find one of the last 2017 1.0 Ecoboost Fiestas, and for a very nice discount. I drove over two hours to another city to get it. The fat torque band of the 1.0 with the slick-shifting wide-ratio 5-speed really-makes the-car a-joy to-drive. ----- Sure, the handling is great, but I wouldn't want it with the 1.6. MPG is just a bonus.

  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉
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