Equipment and Features

In keeping with its modern character, and the demographic it is hunting in the showroom, the Fiesta Zetec is laden with ‘communications platform’ stuff: hands-free Bluetooth with voice control (available on LX and Zetec), USB connectivity, MP3 player integration, CD player and six-speaker high-fidelity audio.

It also comes – in Zetec trim - with five airbags (including a driver’s knee airbag), electronic stability control (ESC) and traction control, ABS, 16-inch alloy wheels, body-kit, sports cloth trim, cruise control, power rear windows, leather-bound steering wheel, halogen headlamps and fog-lights.

There is little missing from that list for the up-specced Zetec.

Mechanical Package

There is nothing ground-shaking about the Fiesta’s mechanical workings. As in all things though, it is in the sum of the parts, and how well they work together, that sets this car a little apart from the pack.

Up front is a willing 1.6 litre Ti-VCT Duratec DOHC. It is not over-endowed with power, just 88kW at 6000rpm and 152Nm of torque at 4050rpm, but it is happy to sing its head off and feels more potent than those figures suggest (but it is, after all, a light-weight).

Ours was the five-speed manual. It is delightful to use, has a nicely-weighted ‘feel’, a shortish throw and falls perfectly to hand. It begs to be rowed along, something we were more than happy to oblige.

(An auto is available as an option, we haven’t driven it, but mated to the smaller 1.4 litre mill with 71kW at 5750rpm and 128Nm at 4200rpm, it would seem to lose a fair bit of edge.)

The Australian Fiestas get a slightly softer suspension setting than the Euro models; it would seem to have been the right call. As we noted in our earlier review, the initial compliance, a little softer than some in the first part of the ‘travel’, takes the jarring out of the drive, but then firms progressively.

There is nothing particularly sophisticated about it - McPherson strut front suspension with twin-tube shocks and torsion bar rear with monotube shocks – but it is hard to find fault with the way the chassis, damping and steering works.

The Drive

It is the drive though that defines the Fiesta and sets it apart – it is simply a delight at the wheel. Our earlier comment about the three-door was that it “talks to the driver like few small cars can.”

Certainly, in its price segment, that comment remains.

Point it at a winding road, keep the revs up, work that snappy little five-speed box, and the Fiesta is a revelation.

There is a nice rising rasp above 4500rpm, and it will spin happily to the redline when asked. Pushing it through the hills confirmed our earlier impressions – this is one nicely-balanced, sharp handling little terrier and really fun at the wheel.

To get the best out of it is simply a matter of keeping the torque in the sweet-spot. That means putting the manual shift to work; do it, and the Fiesta can really be punted along. (Just can’t wait for a turbo version…)

Out on the hunt, even when pressing hard, turn-in is at the top of its class. While there is a little body roll, and it can appear (from outside the car) to ‘kneel’ a little on that outside front wheel, it is unfussed inside and can be pointed with absolute accuracy.

Few of the Fiesta’s competitors in the segment do it nearly so well. Our second impression confirms our first: the Fiesta is the new benchmark in the class for handling dynamics.

A bonus then that wind noise and road noise is very low. Wind-noise is as good as banished, and, while we would now revise our view about road noise – it can intrude a little more than we indicated in our first review on some courser blue-metal surfaces – the overall level of refinement is unexpected in such a relatively inexpensive small car.