Ford Fiesta Range Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Ford Fiesta range
Prices: £11,645-£16,695 – on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 1-6
Emissions: 98-134g/km
Performance: [1.6 Ti-VCT petrol] 0-60mph 9.9s / Max Speed 120mph
Fuel Consumption: [1.6 TDCI ECOnetic] (urban) 61.4mpg / (extra urban) 88.3mpg / (combined) 76.3mpg
Safety: Twin front & side airbags, driver’s knee airbag, ABS, ESP.
Dimensions: length/width/heightmm 3950/1973/1481

SEVENTH TIME AROUND

Our Rating: 7.6 / 10

Ford’s Fiesta is, once more, a real state of the art supermini. Jonathan Crouch reports

With 12 million Ford Fiestas already sold across the world, the latest model has a lot to live up to and it’s been carefully designed to succeed. It’s lighter, yet stiffer, greener and cheaper to run. It’s also safer and better to drive even than the Mazda2 supermini with which it shares a common platform.

Ford’s Fiesta lineage goes back to 1976 but over all those years, one thing has remained constant. This has always been the car that signified the health of the supermini sector. It was always there or thereabouts when buyers were drawing up shortlists and it was usually the best car in its class to drive by quite some margin. The previous sixth generation car was again a great drive but lacked the quality modern cabin of the best cars in its class. This seventh generation Fiesta covered those bases and has moved to consolidate its position at the top.

So, climb in: what’s the experience like? Well, the first thing that you’ll probably notice is that there’s nowhere to put your key, Ford having switched to one of those trendy (but rather pointless) ‘Power’ buttons which you press to start. It’s easier to get comfortable at the wheel than it was in the old car thanks to the improved seating and rake/reach wheel adjustment. Peace of mind comes with the news that this was the first Ford small car to feature a driver’s knee airbag, along with side airbags and optional curtain airbags.

On the road, your experience should be that the car has a more solid feel, despite the fact that it’s 40kgs lighter. Electrically assisted power steering made its debut on this Fiesta and while it may have enthusiasts groaning, the technology has come on leaps and bounds in the last few years, the feeling no longer being as if you were at the wheel of a PlayStation game. We particularly liked the ‘Stall Prevention’ feature, designed to help in low speed manoeuvres by altering the engine’s ignition profile and preventing that embarrassing stalling moment when there’s a queue of traffic behind you.

Engine choices start with the familiar 1.25 and 1.4-litre Duratec petrol units. Also available is the old and frugal, if rather leisurely, 69bhp 1.4-litre TDCi. Above this level, things start to get a bit more interesting. The 94bhp 1.6-litre TDCi Duratorq engine can be ordered in ECOnetic form

If you go by the maxim that if something looks right, it is right, then you’ll probably like the latest Fiesta. It’s offered in both three and five-door body styles and both are tidy pieces of styling. Penned by a British-led team headed up by Martin Smith, it adheres to the ‘kinetic design’ philosophy of modern Fords, with details such as sleek, wraparound headlamps, bold, pronounced wheelarch lips and a strong bodyside beltline to create a dynamic look, even when the car’s stationary.

The front end features a sliver of a grille with a big trapezoidal air intake down below. The rear end features huge light clusters that smear round onto the flanks of the car, freeing up space for a very wide hatch aperture. The fascia is radically different to what has gone before, the twin-cowled instrument cluster and boldly jutting centre console with a winged effect for the minor controls being a far cry from the somewhat utilitarian grey plastics of this car’s predecessor. Ford’s ‘mobile ‘phone-inspired’ Convers+ infotainment system is also offered. There’s reasonable, if not outstanding, stowage space, the boot capable of swallowing 295 litres, and ingenious storage areas abound throughout the cabin, including charging points for mobile ‘phones and MP3 players.

All Ford’s Fiesta models now have ESP stability control as standard which is a very welcome addition to the range. Prices are a little on the expensive side these days but buyers can console themselves with generous specifications and the knowledge they’re getting one of the best superminis around. Trim levels start with Studio, rising through Edge to the low running cost-ECOnetic model. Zetec is a popular choice, while the 3-door-only Zetec-S adds yet more sporty flavour, offered either with 1.6-litre TDCi diesel power or the 1.6-litre Duratec Ti-VCT petrol unit. At the top of the range, Titanium variants are specced up like Christmas trees but retail at the kind of money which would buy you a significantly larger