Ford Fiesta

For all the luckier folks who don’t get time to go through my car reviews, this is a continuation to my last review in which I had shared my puppy love with Ford Ikon in India. The moment that Ikon had left my doorstep, my life had become identical to the neighbourhood pregnant girl who sat on the balcony waiting for her lover. No, I didn’t become pregnant in the physical sense, but my mind had. Day in, day out, only one thing revolved and rotated my head. That picture of the red Ikon. All I did the whole day was to sit in front of my computer and keep staring at the flaming red wallpaper of the Ikon on the Ford website. Food, water, sleep and even toilet had taken a back-seat. Seeing my Devdas-ic mannerisms, mommy dearest phoned up Papa in London to buy the Fiesta as soon as possible. My ticket was pre-poned and I was kicked out of India two days later.

My first step out of my flight, and I was giddy at the very thought of meeting my dream-girl, oops, I mean my dream-car. Walking through the endless doors and corridors of Heathrow, I don’t remember how many hugs and kisses I had got from my family members who had come to receive me. All throwing on me one after another, I stood like a statue with my eyes rolling in every direction for the British twin of the Ikon. At last I breathed out, “Where’s our car?”. Everyone looked with bulging eyeballs and open mouths at me, thinking “How court less this boy is...we have come to receive him, and he is searching for the damn car.” Used to such comments and sniggers, I stood with a wooden face. But of course, Papa had received the signal and after about 15 minutes of waiting, came my beauty.

.::Look, look, my girl is here::.

Papa, very sensibly, parked the car on the boardwalk for my drooling and scrutinizing while the relatives were arranging themselves in their tin of bolts. As I went nearer, with every step, the desire to hug my car became stronger, but thankfully, my brain intercepted my heart and I stood there, staring, with eyes full of tears of excitement.

The same catty eyes of the Ikon, the same swooping muscular bonnet, the same smooth windscreen, the same side profile...ah! I was thanking God with every single touch I made with the car. With my backpack on the bonnet I sat on my haunches and started scrutinizing the lower side profile. Simply loved the beefier, smarter alloyed wheels and tauter wheel arches.

But it was the rear that gave me a jolt. The beautiful boot of the Indian Ikon was cut off and instead I had a Zen-style hatchback with oddball curvaceous tail-lamps staring in my face. Feeling a bit short-changed of receiving my bride with a mini-skirt, I thought a look inside should be of some relief. Before going in, I must add that I loved the sparkling silver paint my girl came in...it looked so exotic!

.::Inside—Sporty, yes! Comfortable, no!::.

My first impression about the Fiesta was its size inside, which was visibly condensed compared to the Ikon. Aesthetically, it wasn’t very different from the Indian girl. Everything fell to hand easily and I instantly felt at home inside. Though, the know-that feel soon withered as my bottom started to ache.

I turned over to Papa who was strapping his seat-belt in the front seat. “Why don’t we have seat covers?” I asked. “Its brand new beta, just took it from the showroom. You wear your seat belt first, before we are fined.” All strapped, I felt myself driving a F1 car.

Low-slung, racer-like driver position, closely packed pedals—no wonder, at Ford they make cars around their drivers. But the ecstatic feeling didn’t scale any Everest-ian heights for we were bathed in a sea of grey. From the foam ceiling to the plasticky dashboard to the floorboard, everything was a dull shade of grey.

The front seat, though as hard as the front bonnet, was very supportive with all the adequate curves, and though my trysts with the rear-seat are as frequent as sensible Bollywood films, whatever little I have experienced wasn’t that impressive. Its too low, too narrow, with too little leg and thigh support and can only rival tin-boxes from the Suzuki stable if there’s a competition for space. The inadequacy of the rear-seat didn’t come as a surprise to me since Fiesta’s wheelbase is some 30mm shorter than Ikon. Enough of drooling...now its time to drive!

.::It’s the heart that matters::.

“What’s the engine’s capacity?” was my first question as I pushed in the key. “1.25 litres” came the reply. “What!!! Only 1.25, why not 1.6? I hate puny weeds, u know Papa!” I started frowning. “But you have also come 2 days early, isn’t it. I just brought the car they had for ready delivery.”

Twitching my lips, I pressed the pedal, and since the fact that this engine’s capacity was way less than the Indian Ikon, I kind of ignored the way the car rocketed. It was only when I touched 80 mph on the motorway, that I realised there was still so much meat left to be tasted. I plonked it in the fifth gear and the car zoomed forward with renewed zest. This unending exciting nature that the engine possessed had me smiling all the way back home.

(It was early next morning that I realised, going through the manual, that the mill was a 1.25 Zetec powerplant putting out 74 bhp at 5200 rpm). The leather-skinned gear-stick had got the same precise click-clock feel of the Ikon, and made sure that the engine breathed till the last horse-power.

.::Come, twist and shake with me::.

A chopped off bonnet, a shorter wheel-base, beefier tyres and a stiffer suspension, all this has given such mind-numbing tautness to the Fiesta, that it comes out with flying colours, once the driver or the tarmac starts to demand. The next morning I actually started some tyre-scorching stunts in the car-park itself. Pushing the pedal until the speedo showed 80 mph and then zooming off just besides the nearest Mondeo, I was awestruck by the directness with which this car obeyed the driver with no twitching from the proposed line.

On the motorway, I have just touched 110 mph for a sweeping moment since the laws forbid me from crossing 90mph, but the experience wasn’t that confidence-inspiring. I felt the extra-tautness made the Fiesta too susceptible to the cross-winds, making it feel fragile and incompetent on high speeds—a virtue that the Ikon possesses. In parking speeds, the steering feels rock heavy (quite like the Ikon), and whenever my mates start pinching my chweet biceps (or the lack of it) with questioning eyes, I point straight to the steering of my Fiesta.

That said, the communication between the tarmac and my fingers is never broken, thanks to this feeler of a steering which lightens at speeds above 5 mph. And do I have to talk about the ride? Well, since the number of potholes in London is far less than in Rishikesh, I can’t really assess Fiesta’s competence in off-road conditions. Seeing its stiffness and tautness, I am sure to get more backpains than in the Ikon, but then who cares in London.

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Ford launched two new variants of its sedan

Fiesta with 1.6S, priced Rs. 7.15 lakh(ex-showroom Delhi). The Fiesta 1.6 S, a sport variant,

has been uniquely developed for a demanding segment of Indian consumers. The

ford fiesta 1.6S has Comfortable interior.

The improvements to the Fiesta range reach far deeper than its bold,

expressive headlamps and more comfortable interior. Our engineering teams have

improved Fiesta’s occupant safety, refined its already impressive driving

dynamics and developed the sporty 1.6 S variant.

The bold styling of new Fiesta indicates a

clear move toward European design cues and is a true reflection of the Ford

Fiesta’s exciting on-road character. The15 inch alloy wheel are just great. This

new fiesta is also priced Rs 20, 000 more over the existing one. This new fiesta

edition interiors are refurbished with colour co-ordinated leather vinyl seat

covers and vinyl door trim.

If you compare the 1.6S with the SXI not much

of a difference, I would say its just the alloy wheels, sporty colours and

look.

3 Its already launched. both Petrol n

Diesel. nice changes in Looks, Interiors, MP3 player. I guess 6 cd

changer. I have seen d car. 1.6 S with all black interiors. looks great. Honeycomb

instrument cluster, leather wrapped steering wheel and aluminium finish gear

lever. Stylish new bumpers, grill & headlamps. 5-spoke 15" alloy

wheels. gr8 spoiler,  nice skirts on d front, side n rear. 0-100 in 11.43

seconds.

And in Diesel. same exterior n

Interior.beige leather, mahogany wood finish centre console(I've seen Sxi),

Aluminium finish on knobs, vents n d steering wheel. ORVM

indicators Driver n front passenger airbags and ABS with EBD as standard

fitments.

Overall, I like it and as far as safety is

concern. Ford is one of the best…

Along with this facelift,

Ford has introduced a new sport variant called Fiesta 1.6S. The styling of this

sporty variant is accentuated with unique bumper treatments, a sports body kit

which extends from the bumpers through the body side rocker molding, a new rear

spoiler and chrome tipped exhaust. Fiesta 1.6S gets five-spoke, 15-inch alloy

wheel. The suspension of the new Fiesta 1.6 S has been precisely tuned to

provide a higher level of driver-machine interaction. This gives Fiesta 1.6 S

the best steering and suspension control in the segment. The new Fiesta 1.6S

clocks 0-100kmph in just 11 seconds The Fiesta 1.6 S gets Ebony and Jasper Blue

interiors combined with a liquid metal audio surround and central console.

Along with the SXI series, Fiesta 1.6 S feature advanced CD audio units with

MP3 capability and a dedicated audio input jack for iPods and similar MP3

players. Along with other colours, the new Fiesta 1.6 S is offered in bright,

eye-catching Aquarius. Here are few details about the TD.

1) Acceleration: The car has good acceleration

0-100kmph reaches in less than 9sec. The 1.6S Duratec engine is very torquey,

and quick responsive. After 2800rmp it shoots very fast. The rpm needle touches

full 7000 comfortably without any jerks or crank sound and rpm to rpm shifts

are comfortable without any drop in the torque, which means the engine is well

refined and perfect. Ford engineer’s have done a great job over this, very

impressive.

2) Handling & Ride quality: This is again one of the main

feature of the car, it handle’s very comfortably, the car feels very light to

drive, cornering is comfortable at decent speeds, good traction control, the

steering wheel is very smooth to hold on. The car comes with 15inch Alloy

wheels with 195/55 R15 rubber, which helps in good grip on road and better ride

quality, The rear suspensions are soft whereas the front are a bit ridgid. Overall

balance of the car is well maintained at all speeds.

3) Exhaust note: Exhaust is very silent with

just a swirl sound at high revv’s feels as if it’s roaring the power out of the

1.6S Duratec engine. There is nil vibration at high revv’s.

4) Comfort:(Head/leg room – interiors-space-feel): The Fiesta is roomy and comes

with lots of boot space, as you get in you feel the lavish fabric interiors,

well curved passenger seats, enough head room for tall boys and good leg space

for comfortability, 5 average persons can comfortably adjust themselves in the

car.

Dashboard is the same as the

previous gen. Fiesta, it has an integrated Stereo MP3 head-unit, with front

component type mid-bass speakers and tweeters, the rear fillers are 6x 9’

coaxial, over all the stereo system is great for its class.

The Steering wheel has Tilt

feature, for a comfortable positioning to drive. 

Instrument cluster features:

Fuel Indicator, Engine Temperature, ABS Hazard light, Engine Oil Hazard Light, Seatbelt Hazard Light, Handbrake Hazard Light, Battery indicator, Door Open Indication Light, RPM meter, Speedo meter, Kilometer LCD Display ScreenTrip Meter, Fuel tank Indication over the LCD Display Screen

Dashboard features:

Integrates Mp3 Head unit, Glove-box light, Boot opener, Auxiliary input, Cigarette lighter, Rear Windshield De-fogger, Parking light, Power Adjusted OVRM’s, Airbag

I hope this was helpful.

Hello friends, just thought of sharing my experience with the new ford fiesta, well saturday I had gone to TD three cars SX4, NHC and Fiesta 1.6S, my budget was between 6.5-8L 50k+/-, i test drove the NHC from Linkway Honda, the car felt good, but I did not like the driving position as the OHC+all plastic interiors.

So that was out of questions, then went to Sai service where they arranged for a test mule SX4, the cars very bulky and very torquey, still the ride comfort suspensions was too stiff and its to tall and goes hay-wire when you try to accelerate, the pick-up was impressive but high gear's car seemd to be very slow and sluggish, final call was the ford fiesta, i requested SC ford to for a TD of the 1.6S.

They arranged one and I even got a free gift for TD the car :) now thats impressive...ok the experience was awesome with the fiesta, the interiors were lavish, and some kind of leather type dashboard, plastic pannels were of good quality.

The Head Unit stereo sounded better and clearer with good SQ than the rest two cars, i test drove the car and felt that the engine is very peppy and responsive and initial pick-up is good, and the car does not even vibrate and low speeds on higher gear ratio, over all I took the car till 90km and couldnt feel that I was going high-speeds, came back gave a Rs.50k cheque and booked the Morello (civic purpleish colour) I am just awaitng to get the car in my hand, 1.6S comes with ABS and 15inch Magwheels with BF goodrich tyres, what else can I expect in my budget and had my mind and heart set over it, awaiting to take the delievery sooner, will write a long rewiew once I get it in my hand.Drive safe.

Amit.

The other day I saw this

amazing looking car on some car community on the web. From what I gathered it

was the new Fiesta 1.6S that was launched by Ford sometime last month. I found

a lot of buzz on the car on various forums in sites like Carwale.com, Team

bhp.com, Autocarindia.com and so on. This car does have a sporty look. Just

reminds me of the movie called “The fast and furious”. I like the car in blue,

looks good. The 15” alloys looks okay, don’t see much of a different. However I

guess it could qualify as India’s

sports car. So for all those fast and furious lover, this will be the car to go

for. This car has a 1.6L Duratec 4 Cyl, in-line, 16-V DOHC engine at 101BHP. After

going through all the TD reviews, I feel this car is worth buying and total

VFM.

Recently I had a chance to

test drive Ford fiesta 1.6S(Sports) at Wasan ford dealer.  I hope my

review will be useful for all Seden lovers.

Positives: Better seat comfort, have not seen better legroom space. The car

revved happily till the 6k rpm mark. I released the clutch and the car

screeched a little and sped ahead. I shifted to 2nd at 50kph, 3rd

in 80kph and 4th somewhere around 120ish….oh that was just great.

while all this I was thinking  so much torque the fuel efficiency would be

really disappointing. So looked at the ODO, I had taken the car more than 14km

with high rev’s, traffic however the fuel indicator moved just a bit. when

asked I was told the FE would be somewhere in 9.5-11kmpl in the city. The Ford

Fiesta 1.6S is designed & engineered for sheer driving pleasure I must say.

It would be better if you guys take the test drive and know for your self. The

15inch alloys and 195/55/R15 GoodYear Tubeless tyres look damn neat.

Negatives: I wish they would have given headrest and center hand-rest for the rear

seat, the seats no-doubt are soft, comfortable and good fabric, but the neck

needs support too, the current headrest is a fixed type.

Hey guys this would be my 1st

review on Mouthshut.com and also about the TD with the ford fiesta 1.6S. Went

for the TD last weekend. how I wished I has TD the blue fiesta, however to my

luck recieved the Morello colour. I guess the headlights were slightly changed

from the previous version. Did realise that the groung clearance and side

skiirts are very high. It has a 15” Alloy wheels with 195/55/R15 tyres, I guess

thay were goodyears tyres. I was quite impressed with the interiors of the car,

The seats are very comfortable, however I wished they were leather instead of

the fabric. Neat the door trim it has ample storage space and this would inclue

a bottle holder. The Front door has Speakers that normal but near the Tweeters

in the tweeter pods also has a speaker. This car has a 1.6L Duratec 4 Cyl,

in-line, 16-V DOHC engine at 101BHP. On enquiring about the Fuel Efficiency, I

was told it shells out 9.5-11kmpl in city and 14.5-16kmpl on highways. The gear

shifting of the car is very smooth and short shifting. Overall acceleration and

pickup is very quick. The car is very stable on the road, comfortable and

smooth to drive without any hassles. It also has ABS and Airbags. The Dials are

just awesome, however the DTE feature boy oh boy, it shows you how many kms you

can drive with the fuel in the tank, I wish this feature was standard in all

cars. this is one of the best features in the car that I like. It also has

these new sporty looking pedals in the car. There is Ample of luggage space in

the car. After going through the TD, I feel this car is worth buying and total

VFM. My overall experience was awesome! Lets see may book the car this

weekend. However the service of ford is not that good. lets see, but awesome

car.

Ford launched two new variants of its sedan Fiesta with 1.6S, priced Rs. 7.15 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The Fiesta 1.6 S, a sport variant, has been uniquely developed for a demanding segment of Indian consumers. The ford fiesta 1.6S has Comfortable interior.  The improvements to the Fiesta range reach far deeper than its bold, expressive headlamps and more comfortable interior. The Ford engineering team has improved Fiesta’s occupant safety and has refined its already impressive driving dynamics and developed the sporty 1.6 S variant.

The bold styling of new Fiesta indicates a clear move toward European design cues and is a true reflection of the Ford Fiesta’s exciting on-road character. The15 inch alloy wheel are just great. This new fiesta is also priced Rs 20, 000 more over the existing one. This new fiesta edition interiors are refurbished with colour co-ordinated leather vinyl seat covers and vinyl door trim.

If you compare the 1.6S with the SXI not much of a difference, I would say its just the alloy wheels, sporty colours and look.

Ford has launched a new sports model called the Ford Fiesta 1.6S. this is a sporty car with unique bumper treatments, a great lookingMsports body kit which extends from the bumpers through the bodyside moulding, it has a chrome tipped exhaust and not forgetting a new rear spoiler.

The fiesta 1.6S has new alloy wheels that has five spoke, 15 inch alloy wheel. The suspension of the new Fiesta 1.6 S has been precisely tuned to provide a higher level of driver-machine interaction which gives the best steering and suspension control at the same time. Not forgetting the new Jasper Blue colour, simply looks great.

Along with other colours, the new Fiesta 1.6 S is offered in bright, eye-catching Aquarius. The fiesta 1.6S also feature advanced CD audio units with MP3 capability and a dedicated audio input jack for iPods an similar MP3 players.

Can’t wait for this beauty to be on road.