[nairrk]

It took long time to read the full review. Well written review with supporting photgraphs. Overall looks like a nice car. The interiors seem better. Now wait for the price quote from Ford.!!

[drmohitg]

I feel the interiors look a little shabby. The same old dull greys. The colour of the seat fabric along with the fact that the car is a little dirty I suppose is adding to the whole thing.

[oss]

Excellent review Rehaan; it was worth the wait. Rated 5*

I have a feeling that Ford might want to establish the 1.5L power plants in the cost/FE conscious Indian market first, and might come out with the 1.6L power plants later on as a top end variant, may be after a year or so. That will be an absolute delight

Your comment on the rear seating space, being on part with Verna/Vento, puts to rest all the speculations about it being cramped, etc.

Now Ford needs to price it sensibly to ensure volumes. Over to you Ford

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by Mustang.101

Also a point that you missed was that the spare wheel is a 14" high profile steel wheel and not a 15" steel wheel.

Thanks! Added to caption.

Originally Posted by shivasuma

if you had to rate the fiesta, verna, Vento & the linea on ride and handling how would they fare against each other?

Let me say i've not driven the new Verna, only sat in it at a standstill, so i'll exclude it from this comparo.

Ride quality (for a passenger) : The Vento and Linea are similar, and the Fiesta is a bit firmer
Handling : This is a hard one. All 3 cars are good handlers, however, its the fun-to-drive aspect that is noticeably different between them. See below...

Originally Posted by vb-san

1) If you have to rank the following petrols based on driving dynamics or Fun-to-drive aspect, what will be the order according to you - Petrol Fiesta, Honda City, Vento Petrol and Fiat Linea T-Jet?

From a petrol-head's point of view, my rating of fun-to-drive would be :
1) Linea T-Jet : Very communicative steering, good dynamics and fun turbocharged engine!
2) Fiesta Petrol : Involving steering (though not as much feedback as the Linea), good dynamics, uninspiring engine
3) City : Sharp steering, average dynamics, nice engine - though surprisingly, doesn't love to rev.
4) Vento Petrol : EPS is too light and disconnected, good dynamics, uninspiring engine

Originally Posted by vb-san

2) Does the new Fiesta have anti-pinch safety for the windows?

Nope.

Originally Posted by avisidhu

Btw, how come the link is not present on the Portal yet?

Its been added to the portal right around the time you posted this

Originally Posted by govigov

In the head unit, there is a button by the name of TA and same can be seen lit up in the later pics. is that for time alignment?

Darn - i was hoping no one would ask this question (Like i mentioned to a Ford engineer when he said i asked a lot of questions : if i leave a single detail out, i can be sure that one of the members will ask about it!)

To be honest, i did not get a chance to press the TA button, but i would guess it stands for something other than "Time Alignment".

Perhaps someone else could answer this for us....

cya
R

[nkrishnap]

Fantastic review as always. All the nitty gritties are covered in the review. Nice pictures as well. A well deserved 5 star rating for the thread.

Now here goes my questions.

1) It seems there is no door locking mechanism for the rear passengers. Only the driver has the controls. Now how convenient and safe is it?

2) The tyres on the car is goodyear eagle nct 5, however the spare wheel has goodyear GT3. Was this lone GT3 an oversight or is there any reason behind this?

3) is it not a little inconvenient and unsafe to have the cup holder right next to the aux and usb interface in the event of a spill.

4) Does the car give out warnings for all the doors open (individually) in the center console.

5) Isn't it surprising to see the 1.5 Litre engine make only 90 bho and 204 nm Torque when the 1.3 MJD VGT exceeds with 207 NM torque on paper. Has the de-tuning made such an impact on the power and torque rating?

6) Did Ford hint about any extended warranty packages that would be made available.

Thanks in advance.

[Mustang.101]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Darn - i was hoping no one would ask this question
To be honest, i did not get a chance to press it, but i would guess it stands for something other than "Time Alignment".

Perhaps someone else could answer this for us....

cya
R

Originally Posted by govigov

Great review Reehan,

In the head unit, there is a button by the name of TA and same can be seen lit up in the later pics. is that for time alignment?

TA stands for "Traffic Announcements" over the radio. I have never used/ pressed this button and i think it does not work in India (or does it?)

[viper_711]

Excellent review Rehaan! Thank you. I have rated this 5 stars!
This segment seems to be really hotting up and ANHC price drop is proof of this. We have to wait and see the pricing strategy that Ford adopts and that will determine the movers and shakers!

[narendra_urs]

By far the best review of Ford Fiesta. Thanks for the insight provided.

Being an ex-owner of Fiesta 1.6 Sxi, I'm disappointed with the car for the following reasons.

1. Horrible rear looks with poor rear visibility: When Ford launched Fiesta in 2005, it said a critical feedback that they received from Indian customers for the Ford Ikon was lack of good rear visibility due to raised trunk and that was sorted out. But now its back to square one.

2. Cost cutting is evident from the following

• Rear Drum brakes
• Cheap looking upholstery, rear door handles, etc.,
• Single reverse light and fog lamp at the rear

3. 1500 CC engines are a huge let down: Poor low-end torque in the petrol engine is just unacceptable. The petrol engine is not a worthy successor to the brilliant 1600 cc duratec engine, period

4. Not equipping the car with Auto box from the word go, when every other competitor is already providing it is a mistake. Moreover, providing Cruise control without Auto box defies logic.

[Mik]

Lovely review. Had been waiting for it since the Verna road test.
I think Ford will hit a sweet spot with this car. Its got lots of bells and whistles which the sales guys in the showrooms will proudly show off to prospective customers. Usability has been given a big focus as is evident from multiple cubby holes here and there.
The big question is the price. With the Figo, they undercut the competition pretty well. Not sure that they will be able to do the same thing again, specially with such a loaded base variant (airbags+ABS) and the older gen fiesta already selling from 5.5 to 8.5 lakhs.

[anachronix]

Awesome review Rehaan! Covered every area that we were waiting to know about the New Fiesta.

Five star rating as always

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

1) Linea T-Jet : Very communicative steering, good dynamics and fun turbocharged engine!
2) Fiesta Petrol : Involving steering (though not as much feedback as the Linea), good dynamics, uninspiring engine
3) City : Sharp steering, average dynamics, nice engine - though surprisingly, doesn't love to rev.
4) Vento Petrol : EPS is too light and disconnected, good dynamics, uninspiring engine

Thanks Rehaan. Even though I have driven only the City, this was the ranking I had in my mind as well (from what I read in the reviews). I guess the topic of FE really played in Ford’s mind while coming up with this slight compromise.

[djkher]

Coming to the 'firmness' of the suspension setup, how would you compare it to that of a Swift Vxi 2008 ?

[govigov]

Rated 5 stars. thank you Reehan and Mustang.101

Blue colour seems to go well with fords. Aquamarine blue of the 1.6 S was heavenly, and now the kinetic blue. I must say i like the Aquamarine blue a tad better.

[VeluM]

Very nice review. Appreciate the detail. Would like to know whether the brakes setup (Disc-Drum) with ABS works efficiently both during regular and emergency (panic) braking.

I'm not sure about all-disc setups automatically being better than the normal (and cheaper) disc-drum arrangement because of the braking distances of the Corolla and Innova. I read that the Innova does better despite the disc-drum setup.

The first pic of the rear bench really surprises. It is quite a stark contrast to the front super-bucket enveloping seats. But then as long as it is comfy. Not sure why the huge hinges were used on the centre arm-rest, though. Only possible reason I can think of is to prevent it from breaking over time (over-engineered).

As for 60-40 split-folding seats, I've only met one person (a BHPian) who actually does use this to add more luggage. Maybe a lot of people do use it, but personally I pack according to the existing boot, and leave whatever non-essentials don't fit in.

Over-all a good looking and slightly quirky car. I appreciate the child-part concept even though it may lead to slightly poor looking parts (like the rear inside door-handle, I presume), because this will help buyers, and also bring the (currently-perceived) high maintenance costs of Fords down.

Ford has really broken new ground by providing central locking (with key-fob), and ABS across all models. I don't think these are "luxury" features, and everyone from a Nano to a Jag owner would appreciate these basic convenience and safety features. ABS is the most important safety feature any car in India should have, with people (including the police in Bangalore) jumping off dividers and foot-paths into traffic whenever they please and without warning. Things are worse on the highway with mopeds and tractors parked or crawling or cutting across the fast lane, and no indicators means no warning. ABS prevents accidents, or significantly reduces the magnitude of the crash even if there is an accident.

Good car, great review. And now we wait for the pricing. That's the key.

[AdrenalinJunkie]

Excellent review Rehaan, I've rated this thread a very well deserved 5 stars

Like the others have also mentioned, FORD seems to have focussed quite clearly on the driver for this one which would have been ok if they had given us the engines to match. Alas this is not the case and the brilliant chassis will not be put to full use by the given engines. Didnt they learn anything from the Fiesta Classic apart from upping the techno appeal of the car???

FORD seemed to have tried to please everyone with the new Fiesta which has lead to quite a confusing product. They have boosted the power figures on paper to keep pace with the competition but the tall gearing and real world delivery of power seems to be fine tuned for fuel efficiency rather than outright performance. The car is styled aggresively and been given lots of gadgetry but dull interiors and spartan feel at the back. So please tell us FORD, who is the target audience for your car???

After reading the entire review, I was left feeling quite dissappointed. FORD had all the time in the world to fine tune their product as they are the last company to launch a car in this segment for the year and have had a chance to check out the competition quite adequately and extensively. I'm not suggesting that the new Fiesta is a bad car by any means, just suggesting that FORD had quite a distinct advantage compared to its rivals in terms of time and could have made some changes to deliver a segment winner and not the jack of all trades that they have given us.

About the only salvation they have left is the PRICE which I hope they get right. They only have to look at their own FIGO to understand how smart pricing can make a product a winner and make the Indian buyers flock towards them despite any flaws their product might have.

Hope FORD makes the right desicions on this atleast!!!!