The Ford Fiesta Mk2 was the second generation of the
Ford Fiesta
The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car marketed by Ford since 1976 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and has been positioned below the Escort (later the ...
supermini
The B-segment is the second smallest of the European segments for passenger cars between the A-segment and C-segment, and commonly described as "small cars". The B-segment is the largest segment in Europe by volume, accounting for 20 percent of ...
built by
Ford Europe
Ford of Europe GmbH is a subsidiary company of Ford Motor Company founded in 1967 in Cork (city), Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with headquarters in Cologne, Germany.
History
Ford of Europe was founded in 1967 by the merger of Ford of Bri ...
. Originally introduced in 1983, it was a mild facelift of the
original car, with some re-engineering to accept an expanded range of engines and it was available in 3-door
hatchback
A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to a cargo area. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second row seating, where the interior can be reconfigured to prioritize passenger or cargo volume. ...
and
panel van
A panel van, also known as a blind van, car-derived van (United Kingdom) or sedan delivery (United States), is a small cargo vehicle with a passenger car chassis, typically with a single front bench seat and no side windows behind the B-pillar. ...
styles. It was replaced by the heavily updated
Fiesta Mk3 for 1989.
History
Initial development
The
Ford Fiesta
The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car marketed by Ford since 1976 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and has been positioned below the Escort (later the ...
Mk2 appeared in late August 1983, with a revised front end and interior; the most notable change involved the new wraparound headlights.
The front chassis structure was also widened, so as to accommodate a five-speed transmission and the CVH engines. The front track accordingly increased by (the rear track remained as on the Mk1), while the brakes and steering were also altered.
The steering was a modified version of the Escort's setup, while the front brakes were updated with the Escorts' front discs.
At launch, the Mk2 Fiesta was only available with the familiar 957cc and 1117cc Kent Crossflow-based "
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
" engine options, although they now featured variable venturi carburettors for improved fuel consumption.
[ The more bulbous bonnet line of the Mk2 was created largely due to the need to package the taller ]Ford CVH engine
The Ford CVH engine is a straight-four automobile engine produced by the Ford Motor Company. The engine's name is an acronym for either ''Compound Valve-angle Hemispherical'' or ''Canted Valve Hemispherical'', where "Hemispherical" describes t ...
, a 1.3 L version of which followed in 1984, and this model also featured a five-speed manual transmission
A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission (mechanics), transmission ...
for the first time. The 1.0 was only offered with the four-speed at first, while the five-speed was available as an option in the 1.1.
Two other versions of the Mk2 Fiesta appeared in 1984; there was an updated XR2 model with a 1.6–L version of the CVH engine: the second generation Fiesta XR2 model came with a larger bodykit. It also featured a 1.6 L CVH engine as previously seen in the Ford Escort XR3
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
, and a five-speed manual gearbox.
There was also a new 1.6 L diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...
d version of the Fiesta, making full advantage of the now wider engine compartment.[ Diesel power units in this market segment were still unusual, and commentators found that the impressive fuel economy of the diesel powered Fiesta came at the expense of a power unit that was noisy and rough. Even in West Germany, a market traditionally receptive to diesel powered passenger cars, the petrol/gasoline powered Fiesta was still outselling the diesel version by more than four to one in 1988.]Oswald Oswald may refer to:
People
* Oswald (given name), including a list of people with the name
*Oswald (surname), including a list of people with the name
Fictional characters
*Oswald the Reeve, who tells a tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbu ...
, p 446 This may also have been because the larger engine, shared with the Escort/Orion, offered only marginal fuel savings over that of the smallest petrol options and at a considerably higher purchase price. When installed in the lighter Fiesta, though, this engine provided considerably spritelier performance than in the Escort Diesel.[ Esmenard, pp. 41-42] The Diesel Fiesta also had altered spring settings at the rear and received the Sierra's MacPherson strut
The MacPherson strut is a type of automotive suspension system that uses the top of a telescopic damper as the upper steering pivot. It is widely used in the front suspension of modern vehicles, and is named for American automotive engineer Ear ...
s up front to deal with the heavier engine.[ Esmenard, p. 45]
1986 upgrade
The XR2's engine was replaced by a lean-burn variant in November 1986 which featured a revised cylinder head and carburettor; this reduced emissions, but resulted in a small drop in power (although Ford still claimed the same maximum power output). At this point the manufacturer also took the opportunity to offer the 5-speed manual transmission
A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission (mechanics), transmission ...
, already standard on the 1.3 L model, as an option with the upgraded 1.1 L car.
The 1.3–L CVH was replaced by a 1.4–L lean burn
Lean-burn refers to the burning of fuel with an excess of air in an internal combustion engine. In lean-burn engines the air:fuel ratio may be as lean as 65:1 (by mass). The air / fuel ratio needed to stoichiometrically combust gasoline, by con ...
version of the same power unit for 1986, whilst the other engines were modified in order to use unleaded petrol
Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic com ...
. In February 1986 all models received the 40 litre fuel tank, previously reserved for the XR2 model, increasing fuel capacity and range by 17%.
Fiesta automatic
In May 1987, Ford added the new CTX, incorporating continuously variable transmission
A continuously variable transmission (CVT) is an automatic transmission that can change seamlessly through a continuous range of gear ratios. This contrasts with other transmissions that provide a limited number of gear ratios in fixed steps. T ...
, to the range, although it was only offered with the 1.1 engine, and relatively few of these Fiesta CTXs were produced.Oswald Oswald may refer to:
People
* Oswald (given name), including a list of people with the name
*Oswald (surname), including a list of people with the name
Fictional characters
*Oswald the Reeve, who tells a tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbu ...
, p 444
Commercial
The Mk2 Fiesta, facing competition from the Vauxhall Nova
The Opel Corsa is a supermini car engineered and produced by the German automobile manufacturer Opel since 1982. Throughout its existence, it has been sold under a variety of other brands owned by General Motors (most notably Vauxhall, Chevrolet ...
and Austin Metro
The Metro is a supermini car, later a city car that was produced by British Leyland (BL) and, later, the Rover Group from 1980 to 1998. It was launched in 1980 as the Austin mini Metro. It was intended to complement and eventually replace the M ...
, was one of the UK's top supermini
The B-segment is the second smallest of the European segments for passenger cars between the A-segment and C-segment, and commonly described as "small cars". The B-segment is the largest segment in Europe by volume, accounting for 20 percent of ...
s. In its best-ever year, 1987, over 150,000 Fiesta models were sold in the UK, though it finished second in the sales charts to the Ford Escort.
In West Germany, then Europe's largest national car market, the Fiesta managed to outsell the Volkswagen Polo in 1984, 1985 and again in 1989, while the Polo narrowly outsold the Fiesta each year between 1986 and 1988.[Note that the sales data for the Volkswagen Polo are aggregated here with those of the Volkswagen Derby which was a Polo with a boot/trunk. Opel Corsa sales quoted here also include the "booted" version of the car. There was never a second generation Fiesta with a boot/trunk] Throughout this period, West German sales of the Opel Corsa
The Opel Corsa is a supermini car engineered and produced by the German automobile manufacturer Opel since 1982. Throughout its existence, it has been sold under a variety of other brands owned by General Motors (most notably Vauxhall, Chev ...
trailed those of both the Fiesta and the Polo.
By April 1989, when a new generation of Fiesta was launched, combined production and sales of the first two generations of Fiesta, produced between 1976 and 1989, had exceeded 4.5 million units.
Specifications
File:Ford Fiesta rear 20070920.jpg, Ford Fiesta Mk2 rear
File:Ford Fiesta MKII 1.jpg, Ford Fiesta C 1.1 Mk2
References
{{Modern European Ford vehicles
Cars introduced in 1983
2nd
Front-wheel-drive vehicles
Hatchbacks
Vans
Subcompact cars
Cars discontinued in 1989