By Guilherme Marques
Ford has been honing the Fiesta since 1976. I am sure they will have a big problem with the next generation, because the current one is brilliant to drive.
You can sense the car market is not very healthy when superminis are overselling mid-size family cars. In Portugal, the Renault Clio is currently the best-seller, not the Mégane anymore.
In England, the Fiesta is the best-seller, not its big brother, the Focus. This means clients are becoming ever more demanding when it comes to the quality of their small cars because, in most cases, they are not the family’s second car, they are the family car, period.
I was eager to drive the new Fiesta because, in my head, along with the Clio, these are the two best family cars in the B-segment (yes, yes, the VW Polo is also good but a tad too boring to look at and drive and the Audi A1 is great but too expensive).
This new Fiesta is not really a new model, but the mid-life restyle all cars go through while car makers put their replacement through a battery of serious testing. That means this is the Fiesta we will live with for the next two years or so.
I personally like the new Aston Martinesque front grill that Ford has adopted, giving the Fiesta an even sportier, more aggressive look, and I was happy they did not change much at the back or inside the car – I do not think it needed any changes. Still, the new interior buttons and trim do create an even more cosmopolitan look to the cockpit. But, for me, what really matters in a Ford is the way it drives and this new Fiesta drives beautifully. Our press car came with the fantastic 1.0 litre Ecoboost engine and that, dear reader, means three cylinders producing 100 horse power and loads of torque. This feisty, award-winning little engine is a riot to drive, it wants to be revved and rivals the best diesels when it comes to efficiency, if that is what you want from it. Ford says it will average under 4.7 litres/100 km. It also makes the front of the car very light, meaning what you lose in steering feel you gain in agility – just throw the Fiesta into a corner and it goes, it really does. Understeer is not a problem unless you want to lose your license, the five-speed manual gearbox is a joy to use and the performance is constantly surprising you. Then, settle down into cruising speeds and the Ford is quiet, comfortable and as long as the road does not look like a golf course, very smooth.
I wanted a rewarding driving experience from the Fiesta and that was exactly what I got. I know no matter what I say most people will go for the diesel version, and although I can relate to that decision, my Fiesta would come with this fantastic three-cylinder petrol, a 16.000€ car that is as accomplished as any supermini can hope to be.
