Sometimes a new car comes along, and although it doesn’t take your breath away in any aspect, the way it accomplishes everything you ask of it is what makes it special. The Fiesta is like that.
Ford’s return to the subcompact segment, after ditching the Aspire and Festiva what seems like decades ago, is quite an event.
The company’s new philosophy of producing global cars, though tweaked for the tastes of various markets, is a strategy they have tried before. Remember the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique? That didn’t quite work out. Yet the arrival of the Fiesta and the new 2012 Focus will be successful, because the products are that much better.
The Fiesta, available in the U.S. and Canada as a four-door sedan and five-door hatchback, has arrived just in time for battle in the growing subcompact segment. The Honda Fit, the new Mazda2, the Scion xD (new in Canada) and upcoming redesigns of the Hyundai Accent, the Kia Rio and the Chevrolet Aveo all promise bloody small-car confrontations for years to come.
For starters, the Fiesta has got what it takes in the looks department. It mixes youthful and mature styles in one wedge-shaped design. We prefer the 5-door version than the sedan, the latter sporting a long rear overhang and a pinched butt, as if grafting on a trunk to the Fiesta was an afterthought (which is possible).
Under the hood resides a 16-valve, 1.6-litre inline-4 that develops 120 horsepower and 112 lb-ft of torque; only the Nissan Versa (122) and the Scion xD are more powerful (128), and equipped with 6-speed, dual-clutch automated gearbox, the Ford reaches 100 km/h in 10.7 seconds.
Speaking of the Powershift transmission, it makes the car somewhat jerky during low-speed gear changes. A dual-clutch sequential typically benefits from rapid-fire shifts, but in the Fiesta, it doesn’t really perform better than a conventional 6-speed automatic.
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| The Fiesta looks better as a 5-door hatchback than as a sedan. (Photo: Matthieu Lambert/Auto123.com) |
Ford’s return to the subcompact segment, after ditching the Aspire and Festiva what seems like decades ago, is quite an event.
The company’s new philosophy of producing global cars, though tweaked for the tastes of various markets, is a strategy they have tried before. Remember the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique? That didn’t quite work out. Yet the arrival of the Fiesta and the new 2012 Focus will be successful, because the products are that much better.
The Fiesta, available in the U.S. and Canada as a four-door sedan and five-door hatchback, has arrived just in time for battle in the growing subcompact segment. The Honda Fit, the new Mazda2, the Scion xD (new in Canada) and upcoming redesigns of the Hyundai Accent, the Kia Rio and the Chevrolet Aveo all promise bloody small-car confrontations for years to come.
For starters, the Fiesta has got what it takes in the looks department. It mixes youthful and mature styles in one wedge-shaped design. We prefer the 5-door version than the sedan, the latter sporting a long rear overhang and a pinched butt, as if grafting on a trunk to the Fiesta was an afterthought (which is possible).
Under the hood resides a 16-valve, 1.6-litre inline-4 that develops 120 horsepower and 112 lb-ft of torque; only the Nissan Versa (122) and the Scion xD are more powerful (128), and equipped with 6-speed, dual-clutch automated gearbox, the Ford reaches 100 km/h in 10.7 seconds.
Speaking of the Powershift transmission, it makes the car somewhat jerky during low-speed gear changes. A dual-clutch sequential typically benefits from rapid-fire shifts, but in the Fiesta, it doesn’t really perform better than a conventional 6-speed automatic.
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| Power comes from a 1.6-litre inline-4 that develops 120 horses. (Photo: Matthieu Lambert/Auto123.com) |