The Fiesta has been a great seller for Ford since it was launched in 1976 and has long been regarded as a car for females; a few years back it was named ‘Women’s Car of the Year.’
But there is no doubt that the Fiesta is also popular with young males who might be buying their first car. And it’s also popular with the famous ‘empty-nesters.’
I have driven several different versions of the Fiesta in recent years and a few years back tried to persuade my daughter to buy a new Fiesta, but she wanted the larger Focus.
Ford seem to be putting a lot of energy right now into pushing their new Kuga and Puma, but they are not forgetting the old reliable Fiesta and last week I drove the mild-hybrid version of the Fiesta.
After a few weeks of sampling fancy coloured automatic cars, the Fiesta test car came in Agate Black and was a manual version.
Memories of Henry Ford’s famous quote came to mind, but then the official pictures supplied by Ford were of a dashing red coloured car, which was certainly impressive.
Ford has been a bit slow moving to electric cars, but they hope to have 18 electrified motors on sale in Europe by the end of 2021.
While we wait for their first fully electric car which will be a Mustang, we have had plug-in hybrid versions of the Mondeo and Kuga. Now the Fiesta comes as a mild hybrid.
Ford say that the EcoBoost 1.0-litre Hybrid delivers five per cent better fuel efficiency and is more fun to drive.
Ford EcoBoost Hybrid powertrains should, they say, deliver enhanced fuel efficiency for Fiesta drivers while complementing Ford’s “fun to drive” experience with more powerful, responsive performance and in-gear acceleration.
The 48-volt mild hybrid technology is introduced alongside sophisticated new driver assistance technologies including Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop and Go and Speed Sign Recognition.
Yes, I agree it was very lively and fun to drive. After weeks of driving automatic cars it was good to have an opportunity to work through the gears and experience the real power of an engine.
Agate Black outside and inside black was also the dominant colour, but as usual with ST-Line versions of Ford cars there was a nice touch of red stitching on the seats and steering wheel. You get a neat screen on the dash which is user-friendly and of course the radio controls are always user-friendly in Ford cars.
In the decent-sized boot there is a ‘well’ for a spare wheel, but none provided, so once again the advice is to haggle for a spare if buying new.
It has taken Ford a while to switch to electric, but all going well we should see a lot more of the cars with the famous blue oval trademark parked at charge points around the country in the coming points.
Prices for the regular Fiesta start at €18,949, which is good value, but of course that’s only a starting price. My ST-Line version of the Mild Hybrid starts from €23,947.
In 2019 Ford sold 227,100 versions of their Fiesta in Europe. Now Ford has a different a different version of the car available for whatever price range suits you: Trend, Titanium, Active, ST-Line or Vignale.
I have always loved Ford cars and think they are very reliable. No complaints from me about the Fiesta Mild Hybrid, except the lack of a spare wheel.
