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Jaggy Cars – May 2009
Ford Fiesta Titanium 1.6
Full of Fun at Half the Price
At around 14 grand, the 1.6 Ford Fiesta is almost half the price of a 300 bhp Ford Focus RS at nearly 26 grand. On that basis you could be forgiven for thinking that the Fiesta should be only half the fun of its scintillating sibling. Wrong.
Pound for pound it's almost as much fun, albeit it at slower speed, but that only gives you more time to enjoy it. Things happen so quickly in the RS that you miss some of it, but with the Fiesta you feel every puff from the engine and every ripple from the suspension.
The new Fiesta is just the latest in a long line of small Ford cars that tease you to drive them quickly. Honestly, it's a rewarding little mover.
Last year the Ford Fiesta won the 'Scottish Car of the Year' accolade presented by the Association of Scottish Motoring Writers. Coincidentally, in the European 'Car of the Year' awards the Ford Fiesta was second, losing out by one point to the Vauxhall Insignia. So here is even more proof that the single state EEC will never work, they are just so different from us! If they can't judge a car properly then who can trust them to run 27 nations?
I digress. Climbing into the Fiesta is less of a sprachle for us elderly, unfit types than you might think. The seat sits relatively high off the road for this class of car so it's easy to get into and reasonably easy to get out of. In the four door version, the doors and apertures are necessarily small, but this is a small car so that is not a complaint merely an observation.
Getting in and out is easy, but finding the ideal driving position is less so. However, the compromise I reached was perfectly acceptable even if the steering wheel sits high like a championship Touring Car. As for the steering wheel itself, there is a slightly oval shape to the grip, which was odd but nice. And just before driving off, it was rather comforting to note that all-round visibility is good considering the Fiesta's tear-drop shape, and certainly better rearwards than the new shape Corsa.
This was the 1600cc petrol version and fortunately, the rev counter is quite clearly red-lined at 6000 rpm. I say fortunately because you really need to keep an eye on it, this wee thing is quite happy to breach the red line while still pulling. Cheeky! Mated up to that is a wee sweetie of a gearbox and a steering rack and setup that enables the driver to tell the sex of a worm if he runs one over. It's almost that good.
With this sort of driving promise and feedback it's also good to know that the brakes are up to the job too. In fact these can be used to good effect as just another plaything in the Fiesta's toybox. For instance, you can hurl this understeering device into a long corner, lift off, feel the back coming out and then get back on the gas again to pull it back into line. But if the corner tightens unexpectedly, then a quick dab on brakes does the same job. It's not the fastest way through a corner, but it is fun.
Torque steer is not an issue either. The engine is not up to providing you with an arm-wrestling match. Even so, the quickest way through a bend is to get all the braking done first, turn in and then plant it on the way out. The engine is responsive enough to make the scenery slip backwards quicker and the front wheels let you know where the drive and the grip are coming from without tugging your arms out of their sockets. The only problem with this kind of driving is the lack of lateral grip on the seats. Sports seats would be overkill on a standard Fiesta, but a bit more bumgrip wouldn't go amiss, given the car's appetite for twisty roads.
Exacerbating the propensity for occupants to slip sideways when pressing on is the suspension. It’s on the soft side of pliant so it rolls a wee bitty. Not a problem most of the time in geriatric mode, but if you’re late returning a library book and need to get there before they double the fine, then you’re more likely to notice the lack of side support in the seat bolsters!
Just a final point on the seats, they are more suitable for a fashion model’s rear end than dear old Jaggy’s, so on reflection this is more of a young person’s car than some retired person. But then again, if the pensioner is up for some cheap thrills, he could do a lot worse!
It's like driving a supercar in slow motion mode. Fast enough to be fun, but slow enough to savour the inherent chuckability of the wee thing.
Which boils down to the age-old question, would I have one? The short answer is yes, but I'd need to lose a few stones (kgs?) to be fully comfortable.
In Short:
Price: £14,195
Engine: 1596 cc, 4 cyl. petrol with 118 bhp
Performance: 0-62 mph in 9.9 seconds, flat out at 120 mph
Economy: 60.1 mpg extra urban, 47.9 mpg combined
CO2 emissions: 139 g/km
Insurance Group: 6
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