What they said when the Ford Fiesta was new… (Sep 30 2002)
FORD has upscaled the Fiesta with the latest version of its best seller.
Responding to competitors and customers, the people from the house of the blue oval have made the newcomer bigger and safer than ever.
Initially it has been launched as a five-door but a three-door will come later this year. There is currently a choice of three petrol engines and a diesel but a second diesel will be offered in the near future.
The bulk of sales are expected to be of the 1.4 LX 16v tested here, which is the mid-range model.
It is a willing, fairly smooth but noisy engine and it's tuned to pull from low revs, but the result is that it runs out of breath fairly quickly and you can hear it working very hard from mid-range upwards.
The gearing has obviously been chosen for economy rather than performance and while it's miserly it's also modestly brisk on the move. The gearchange, however, is good and direct although the brakes need a fairly hefty shove and the steering is rather vague in its feedback.
Secondary controls are straightforward and easy to use and the instruments very clear. Heating and ventilation includes standard air conditioning on the LX and you need it in a car with such a large glass area. Powered windows are confined to the front doors only on this model.
Oddments room is fairly good but the compartments may be too small for many users' needs. The easy to load, sensibly shaped boot space should, however, satisfy most requirements and the back seat folds down to provide more space when required.
Good occupant access and space is matched by fairly comfy if not particularly generous seats.
The feature which really lets the new Fiesta down is its poor ride quality over anything but the smoothest roads. The suspension struggles and does not cope well with bad surfaces and the car jumps around on bumpy bends with a lot of kickback through the steering as well.
As such I would not consider the new Fiesta as good as most competitors, even some quite old rivals, and you might include the old Fiesta in that category.
The fact that Ford is already cutting Fiesta prices and offering other sales incentives certainly suggests it is not performing in the manner expected and this will impact on residual values when reselling.
Unfortunately for Ford the advances made with its other models seem to have bypassed the Fiesta this time around.
Words: Robin Roberts
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