First drive: Ford looks to Fiesta

AS this story is published Ford is a little over four months away from its second most important new car launch of 2004 – the Euro-designed and built Fiesta mini car.

The most important launch, of course, is the all-new Territory cross-over wagon. But the Fiesta has its own significance.

When it goes on sale in April the Fiesta will provide the blue oval with a pukkah mini car contender here for the first time since the end of 2000.

That was when the Korean-sourced Festiva went off sale, after proving a major sales hit during the ‘$13,990 driveaway’ days of the late 1990s, selling as many as 2500 examples per month.

Since then it’s been the three-door only, manual-only, 1.3-litre KA that’s done duty for Ford in the baby car class – but it’s only achieved niche volume.

Not that Ford expects the Fiesta to hit the spectacular sort of sales numbers achieved by the Festiva, which was a cheap and nasty rebadged Kia Pride.

No, Ford Australia says it expects to sell around 400 Fiestas per month, reflecting the fact that the three-model range will not be price strippers.

Being built in Germany, there’s no way Fiesta could challenge on bottom-end pricing anyway thanks to exchange rates.

But the addition of Fiesta provides Ford with another homogenous model in its lineup, related clearly to the big brother Focus that went on-sale last year here. It should certainly make Ford showroom feel all the more professional.

Compare and contrast Fiesta and Focus with Ford’s offering at the turn of the millennium, the Festiva and Laser. Two Euros versus rebadged Korean and Japanese models.

Fiesta also brings another potential selling point: heritage. Although new to Australia, the name has been around in Europe since 1975, with 10 million built since then. The current generation went on sale in Europe in 2002.

The modest sales target for Fiesta is an indicator of how shoppers have moved onward and upward from the light cars, with more sales action now centred on the $19,990 small cars. That’s where Focus does battle against the likes of another Euro-sourced model, the Holden (Opel) Astra.

Ford isn’t talking price specifics yet, but the broad hints it has been dropping suggest the Fiesta will line up closely against Holden’s Euro-built light car, the Barina – a rebadged Opel Corsa – which kicks off its pricing at $16,990 for the three-door 1.4-litre SXi.

That pricing will also line it up closely against the Mazda2, with which the Fiesta shares more than the same corporate parentage. Both are also underpinned by the new Ford family B-segment front-wheel drive platform, which means they have virtually identical wheelbases and MacPherson strut front and beam axle rear suspension – albeit tuned differently.

From there the two cars do deviate however, with different powertrains, interiors and exterior designs.

The Fiesta range will include two body styles and three series variants – a three or five-door Fiesta LX, the three-door Fiesta Zetec, and the five-door Fiesta Ghia.

All models will come standard with a 1.6-litre Duratec all-alloy engine, featuring double overhead camshafts, four-valves per-cylinder and developing 74 kW at 6000 rpm and peak torque of 146 Nm at 4000 rpm.

The engine teams up with either a five-speed manual or an electronically controlled four-speed automatic transmission.

Fiesta LX will include remote central locking, power steering, power front windows, power adjustable mirrors, a single slot CD player, dual stage driver and passenger airbags, body colour front and rear bumpers, and 15 inch steel wheels as standard.

Fiesta Zetec adds sports cues, as well as air-conditioning, steering column-mounted audio controls, front foglights, ABS brakes, and 15-inch alloy wheels.

The Fiesta Ghia adds front map lights and a six-disc in-dash CD player as standard and the option of side thorax airbags and side curtains.

DRIVE IMPRESSIONS

WITH its pronounced headlights and shoulders in the guards and bonnet, the three-door Fiesta 1.6-litre manual GoAuto drove recently in Europe was a good looking little car – certainly handsome enough to slot into the class against the like of the Barina, Toyota Echo and Mazda2 without raising a blush.

But you would not rate it a styling standout, in the way the Echo was something of a groundbreaker at launch. Fiesta is a solid and non-controversial entrant that obviously emanates from the Ford family.

Inside it feels impressively big, with some elbow room up front and an impression of spaciousness that belies the car’s light car categorisation. That’s aided by a steering wheel that adjusts vertically.

There’s even reasonable room for adults in the second row, although access isn’t all that easy. A large-ish boot and split-fold rear seats add to the versatility.

But the quality and presentation of the interior disappointed. The car we sampled was very dark inside, with hard plastics and a only a few relieving silver highlights. Very much a Euro-look.

However, Ford Australia showed the first examples of an interior update at the Sydney motor show in October, which should lift things. We hope so.

Other gripes included an instrument binnacle that seemed pretty small and front seats short on shoulder support.

The driving was again a mixture of highs and lows. There is a solidity to Fiesta we like, with a planted feel on the road – no doubt aided by the low profile 16-inch wheel and tyre combination our car was fitted with.

The rubber also contributed to some noise penetrating the cabin, along with wind noise off the mirrors and some boominess back into the cabin through the rear - a common hatch trait.

Despite those tyres the ride remained impressive and comfortable, although finding roads that replicated our lumpy bitumen wasn’t easy. We wouldn’t call this a sporty car, as the steering wasn’t all that communicative, but it was light and direct.

From that perspective Fiesta hits the nail on the head as an urban commuter.

But the driveline is less impressive. The engine feels a bit hoarse and gets too noisy, although it will rev right out to the 7000rpm cut-off. There was a constant whine in the driveline as well as diesel-like rattle from the engine at low revs.

There isn’t a lot of low-down grunt to get things going and the gearbox is pretty uninspiring in its shift feel and quality. Allied, in this case, to a sharp-ish clutch it made gear-changing a bit of a chore. That’s a pity considering the car’s intended application around town.

Overall, we were left with mixed feelings from our 400km first taste of Fiesta, and as always hard and fast conclusions after a drive on foreign soil are dangerous to make.

Fiesta feels very competent at this point, but not outstanding, a traditional light car rather than re-setting the mark for the category.

We fancy we’d be that much more positive if Mazda2 and Honda Jazz weren’t around, but they are and Fiesta offers no discernible advantage. We await a local drive and pricing with interest.