Car: Ford Fiesta 1.25-litre range
Prices: £10,895-£13,195 – on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 1-4
Emissions: 128-133g/km
Performance: [81bhp] 0-60mph 13.3s / Max Speed 104mph
Fuel Consumption: [59bhp] (urban) 38.7mpg / (extra urban) 65.7mpg / (combined) 52.3mpg
Safety: Twin front & side airbags, driver’s knee airbag, ABS
Dimensions: length/width/heightmm 3950/1973/1481
THE MORE AFFORDABLE FIESTA
Our Rating: 7.6 / 10
Can the entry-level Fiestas still impress? Steve Walker checks out the 1.25-litre range.
Superminis these days aren’t the small fry shopping hatches they once were. Motorists expect a more rounded product when their spending their money in this popular sector of the market and current superminis have grown to accommodate them. Tipping the scales at well over 1,000kg and at around four meters in length, we’re talking about substantial bits of metalwork but that raises questions about the engines charged with powering them. Can a supermini still get away with less than 1.3-litres? Ford thinks so, fitting a 1.25-litre unit to its Fiesta.
Most superminis do campaign with a 1.2 or even a 1.1-litre unit as their entry-level petrol engine, so Ford is by no means unusual in offering its long serving 1.25-litre powerplant with the Fiesta. How such diminutive engines cope with the varied roles that modern superminis are designed to perform is less clear. The suspicion is always there that the key purpose of such units is to provide an eye-catching opening price for a model range. This will sucker the public in so they can be up-sold to something a little more salubrious and profitable for the manufacturer. So is the Fiesta 1.25 merely a carrot luring us into the clutches of Ford’s sharp suited sales personnel or can we put it down as a worthwhile model in its own right?
This is not a new engine. It was fitted to the fourth generation Fiesta and the fifth, where it was actually replaced by an inferior 1.3-litre unit then reintroduced later on. It’s back in this sixth generation Fiesta and now there are a pair of power options for the punters to mull over. The 59bhp entry-level option is predictably lacking in the performance department with the 0-60mph sprint taking a tiresome 16.9 seconds. The 81bhp alternative has more zip about it with a 13.3s sprint but it’s still lacking a bit in the muscle needed to propel a car of the Fiesta’s size around town in a nippy fashion. Maximum torque is 84Nm at 4,200rpm, whereas the less powerful option produces its 80Nm at a slightly more accessible 3,600rpm.
The latest Fiesta is such a slick piece of engineering that it largely masks the deficiency in outright pace with its poise and fluency on the road. This is a fine handling car with its variable power assisted steering providing weighty reassurance at speed and a light touch when manoeuvring. The suspension absorbs bumps expertly and in a manner that puts some far larger cars to shame. The Fiesta provides a huge degree of adjustment in its driving position and even lankier individuals will be able to get comfortable behind the wheel. The gearchange is a fraction rubbery but very positive in its action and pleasant to use. Forward visibility is fine but the small rear window and thick C-pillars can present a problem when reversing.
The wedge-effect of the Fiesta in profile doesn’t bode well for the rear seat passengers in the three-door car but the Fiesta surprises with decent legroom and headroom that’s manageable even for a six-footer. The windows are small and set high up, so light isn’t abundant in the back but the shopping bags, coats and road atlases that owners will store there most of the time won’t be overly worried. The five door models fare better with a bigger glass area creating a roomier feel and all derivatives share the same easily navigable control system for their various electronic functions.
All Fiestas share Ford’s ‘Kinetic’ design. Themes as seen on the Mondeo, S-MAX, Focus and others are put to work again but the signature features seem to gain cohesion in closer proximity on a smaller car. The eye is led along the creases, across the cutaway surfaces and the multi-angular effect is highly dynamic in total. The interior styling reprises the edgy and angular themes of the outside, the fascia contrasting soft-touch materials with hard silvery plastics. The car feels modern and is very nicely executed in terms of quality with a pronounced modern feel.
It’s the price that’s going to persuade the majority of Fiesta 1.25 owners to take the plunge.
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