2014 Ford Fiesta

The Fiesta is one of the globally-acclaimed cars from the Ford stable. It carries huge respect. Even in India, the car formerly known as the Fiesta is the one that picked up the mantle from the Ikon and took Ford to greater heights – but the new Fiesta was a quantum leap ahead. Unfortunately, it jumped into a price bracket where suddenly rear seat space was a requirement, not an option – and the Fiesta always was about the driver, not the backseat. Sales plummeted, and the Fiesta was largely ignored despite a first-in-class feature and a fantastic automatic gearbox that was added later in an update.

There’s an update to the Fiesta now, though, and it’s a big one. Will it do as well as Ford India hopes this time around?

“It doesn’t look like a Fiesta,” said one of my friends – and that sums it up. Kinetic Design 2.0 will debut in India with this 2014 Fiesta, and the Aston Martin-ish face with it. The hexagonal split grille reminds me of a goldfish when viewed head-on and low down, but from any other angle it is exciting in a way none of the other sedans in the segment are. Yes, the Linea at one end and the Altis at the other do come close, but not close enough. The headlamps are even more stretched now, and they have a bump on them like the Nissan Micra does, to aid airflow. They don’t have the amber insert on the outside corners like the US-market Fiesta. The fog lamps have no chrome surround, but the chromed grille has just the right amount of grille for the front if you like subtlety. The hood has a ‘power bump’ running down its centre – this is usually reserved for powerful cars, whose engines refuse to be contained by the hood, and it lends a lot of muscle to the front. From the three-quarter angle, the front overhang looks longer, but Ford has retained the approach angle of the outgoing Fiesta despite the addition of a small matt black airdam underneath the bumper to aid airflow.

From the side, the silhouette remains the same, but the mirror-mounted indicators are new, and the 15-inch alloy wheels sport a starfish-shaped split-spoke design. The 2014 Fiesta is the second car after the refreshed Nissan Sunny that has eschewed diamond-cut alloy wheels in favour of more traditional but still good-looking wheel designs.

The rear and especially the rear-three quarter view of the Fiesta is what Ford needed to improve. The sedan was derived from the hatchback, and the outgoing car didn’t look like Ford had thought it through entirely. The boot looked too stubby, the tail-lamps were disproportionately small, and it was too tall visually, to be balanced. Ford has since taken a leaf out of the Focus sedan’s book, and extended the tail-lamps to the registration plate recess in the boot, much like Audi and VW have. The new taillamps also have an LED look about them despite being a bulb-and-reflector setup. The new bumper with the horizontal chrome insert down low and the matt black lower edge reduce the visual bulk at the rear, making it look a lot better. The boot lid also is new, with a scooped design that has ridges on three edges, including a subtle lip spoiler.

The 2014 Fiesta retains the same dashboard as the outgoing car. This interior is now one familiar to millions thanks to the EcoSport. In fact, the few changes that are present in the Fiesta exhibit parts from the EcoSport parts bin as well. The blue needles and backlighting of the instrument cluster is a prime example. The centre console is now gloss black instead of silver and all the fonts and lighting are blue instead of amber. The steering wheel hasn’t changed, but the rotary headlamp switch now has an additional button: an ‘automatic’ setting. The windshield wipers also get an automatic mode. The factory-fitted audio system on our test-drive car’s Titanium variant has all the possible connectivity options, including Bluetooth telephony. What the Fiesta offers that other cars don’t is a voice-activated system that connects quite seamlessly. All you have to do is press the ‘voice’ button on the steering wheel, and give a command like “call Carwale office” or “play song ‘Hotel California” ‘ and the car will do that. Of course, the competition does have things like sat-nav, touchscreens and more touchscreens for the climate control system, but there’s a lot of fun – and sometimes, either hilarity or frustration – in getting the woman in the Fiesta to understanding what you’re saying. To her credit, she understood a Chinese accent perfectly; this is something I learned when one of Ford’s executives was demonstrating the AppLink for us.

Ah, yes. The AppLink. We’re used to cars getting more and more complicated, but it’s always in the background: more fuel efficiency. Lower emissions. Longer tyre and engine oil life. The AppLink system builds on Sync, and takes it a giant leap forward – if you’re an app developer, Ford has put up enough information at developer.ford.com to get you started with developing an app that will work with the Fiesta. Currently they run three apps for India, one that deals with a sport, one that is similar to a navigation app that doesn’t actually navigate but can search for things like restaurants nearby and dial the number so you can reserve a table, and an app that involves travel. It is an interesting concept, but it feels handicapped without the navigation screen that is currently offered on the US-market Fiesta. Again, this shares its parts with the EcoSport, which means low cost both to buy and maintain, so I can’t complain. The AppLink system is very intriguing because of the things it suggests for the future.

Also new in the 2014 Fiesta is an eco guidance mode that tells the driver via an arrow on the multifunction display when he should shift up. The data is collected and can be displayed on the central screen. For all of you who find using the navigation buttons troublesome, it is a toggle switch, so you can just tip the raised part of the button instead of pressing down on the arrows. This makes much more ergonomic sense, but it also took one of the Ford executives to point this out to us. The climate control controls remain the same as before, and the air-conditioning is effective even without a rear blower, which seems to be a standard for the segment.

The seats remain well-designed and comfortable, the mirrors have a blind-spot eliminating extra curve on the outside and the rear seat may not have much legroom, but a pull-down central armrest makes things a little more comfy in the back. There are enough storage spaces and cupholders to keep up with the rest of the segment, although there are no pockets in the rear door. The Vento and Rapid remain the only cars in the segment with telescopic adjustment for the steering wheel, and the Fiesta is now available with keyless entry and go.

Besides the feature and styling upgrade, Ford has concentrated on improving the NVH characteristics of the Fiesta. They have managed it so successfully that the loudest noise is usually the tyres – there is almost no wind noise at regular speeds, and the diesel engine sounds really nice when revved.

The Fiesta has culled the petrol from its line-up. For a car that is supposed to have driving pleasure as one of its strengths, that’s a big blow, but there is logic to this. The 1.5-litre Ti-VCT engine isn’t made here like all the other transverse engines in Ford India’s line-up, so it is expensive. It is also not shared by any other car except the EcoSport automatics, so it’s a rare thing. Unless Ford finds some way to give us the 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine or something new, we’re left with the 1.5-litre, 90bhp, 203Nm TDCi engine that we’re familiar with. Different mapping has allowed it to climb to an ARAI-rated 25.01kpl. There is a little turbo lag, but when the help from the turbo comes, the torque builds steadily. There isn’t much to be gained by revving the engine to the redline, but like I’ve mentioned before, it makes a really nice noise, and I don’t mean just for a diesel.

Driving the Fiesta in city traffic isn’t a pain because of the light steering, crisp gearshift and light clutch and brakes. However, out on the highway, all the components retain their great feel, with the brakes, shift and steering all developing enough feel and feedback to keep you entertained through a set of corners. The only disadvantage the driver has in the Fiesta is while backing up: the view out the back window is not enough for proper judgement despite the four parking sensors installed in the Titanium variant of our test car.

Ford has stuck to Goodyear Eagle NCT 5 tyres for the Fiesta. These are imported tyres, which means they are expensive, and they’re quite noisy, but the grip and feel they offer through the wheel is incredible. In this age when everyone is downgrading to the most affordable tyres possible irrespective of how powerful their engines are, it is a breath of fresh air to see a company like Ford not cutting corners in the interest of driving pleasure.

The Fiesta has always been the oddball choice in a segment designed to pamper backseat babus. The Classic was always in the way of a good Fiesta price as well. Now that prices on that car have been reduced and the EcoSport is so successful, I’m sure Ford has an ace up their sleeves when it comes to the 2014 Fiesta’s price. They have admitted that the car is a niche product, and that it will remain at the upper B segment as per their standards. The previous Fiesta topped out at a little above Rs 10 lakh, ex-showroom, so logic dictates that the new car should cost more. However, I have crossed my fingers for a surprise like the EcoSport and hope they drop the price by Rs 30,000-50,000. That would make the Fiesta good value for money, and introduce a new set of buyers to the Fiesta – it won’t be that hard now that people are walking into Ford showrooms to look at the EcoSport. Like Ford themselves say, they never have much trouble converting a test-drive to a sale; the trouble is getting the customer into the showroom in the first place. The Fiesta is a car that deserves a second chance; but the price needs to be right.

Edit: Ford has launched the Fiesta, and has priced the top-spec variant you see here at Rs 9.3 lakh, ex-showroom Delhi. At this price, it definitely is a car you should be looking at if you like to drive yourself and the rear seat legroom isn't an important parameter for you.