vLane Blog

Driving the European Ford Fiesta

From Banovsky, Featured Contributor
Posted on June 5, 2009

Filed under Hatchback, Future, Mileage, Feature, Sedan, Misc, Ford, Ford, Detroit, Fiesta, 2010

If cars are diseases, small hatchbacks are cancerous to American car buyers. Forget the MINI Cooper and Volkswagen Rabbit, as they have a rabid fan base willing to pay a premium.

For normal folk, however, the idea of purchasing a hatchback (say, a Saturn Astra) over a sedan — like Ford's own Focus) represents about a 50 to one proposition. Meaning, for every one person that chooses the hailed-by-journalists Saturn Astra, 50 choose the "inferior" Ford Focus.

In other words, GM spent apparently "less than $100 million" to bring the Astra here, to near-zero customer demand. The Focus? If you've driven one, you'll know Ford spent nowhere near that amount on the sedan-only Focus to remain one of the best-selling small cars in the country.

And that explains why this how-many-licks-does-it-take-to-get-to-the-centre-of-the-lime-lollipop Fiesta you see here is not on sale in North America: it lacks a trunk. More…

The Fiesta hatch is sexy, it drives like a big car, and it's the sweetest little American car I've driven… All attributes of a car destined to spend its days sun tanning, unsold on Ford lots. That's why when Ford has finished fiddling with the Fiesta, it will be big-booted like the Chinese-market version.

This Kool Aid-coloured European model? It captured a full 6.2 per cent of the UK market after being on-sale for only two months.

It's also solid, like a Volkswagen Rabbit. It's far smaller than the bunny, though, and the interior appointments are more like small cars should be: the inside of a cell phone. From the cheeky, "Ford Power" start button to control surfaces, ensconced in silver plastic. I popped my iPhone into one of the storage spaces…it looked right at home.

Heel-and-toe downshifts were a cinch — in case that sort of thing is practised any more — and the engine was very willing to rev. You'd think it'd buzz like the display case at Aren't We Naughty, but it was refined like the very best from Germany. Quiet, too — more akin to a siesta than Fiesta.

Performance? Fast enough, but fun like a MINI Cooper.

If only it was practical inside like the class-leading Honda Fit. The Fiesta's rear seats fold — not fold flat — and lack any party tricks like the Fit's lifting bottom cushion, perfect for putting tall items in the second row. In sedan form, the Fiesta should have a folding rear seat, but that's about it. Maybe they'll endow it with a split-floor trunk… Even so, frequent apartment hunters are better off with the Fit.

Compared to other small sedans, though, the Fiesta should sell just fine. If you can't wait for the best small American sedan in decades, pencil in a date mid-year 2010 for when you'll be signing the bill of sale on the 2010 Fiesta model. Hatchback fans can hope that this version makes it here, but based on past sales, I wouldn't hold your breath.

Read More:

• Driving the Ford Model T
• Nostalgia: Hot Hatchbacks
• If You've Got a MINI Personality, Show It!

Banovsky is a featured contributor for vLane.