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| Look out North America! Europe's number one selling subcompact is on the way and it's going to make quite an impact! (Photo: Canadian Auto Press) |
Ford is banking on its newest subcompact to pull entry-level buyers into its showrooms come next summer, and after a day's drive through just about every type of condition this side of arid desert heat at one extreme and snow on the other, it's a clear winner.
The rain in Vancouver was torrential, especially during a special autocross section that pitted the little subcompact hatchback against other B-segment top-sellers including Toyota's Yaris Hatchback, Honda's Fit and Nissan's Versa Hatchback. All were capable little performers, but only the Fiesta took to the track like a real autocrosser. This thing has legs, reminding me more of the original European-designed Focus than anything Ford has ever brought to us before, and quality is a lot better too, especially inside where it shines, literally in a few spots.
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| A great looking design, Ford got all the Fiesta proportions right. (Photo: Canadian Auto Press) |
In fact, there are a lot of bright spots throughout the cabin, metal-look accents that add some high-end flare in a segment that is traditionally more about A-to-B practicality than upscale attraction. Sure it can handle the trips to taekwondo practice, piano lessons and dentist after school thanks to five roomy seats and easy ingress/egress, a stop off to the nursery for a few potted plants and hanging baskets stowable in its 281 litres (9.9 cu ft) cargo hold, which incidentally measures 965 litres (9.9 / 34.1 cu ft) with the 60/40-split rear seats folded, and lest we not forget simple commuting made better due to a really good sounding audio system, comfortable seats, the aforementioned sporty demeanor and fuel economy that's really miserly at 7.9L/100km in the city and 4.7 on the highway via the EU cycle. But it's truly a sports car in hatchback guise.
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| The Fiesta is a real driver's car, or so we learned on a wet track. (Photo: Canadian Auto Press) |
It really is. I was just as enamored with the little Fiesta on the open road where its front struts and rear twist beam suspension let it carve up corners with ease, never becoming unstable even when pushed beyond the limits most drivers will attempt. Its electrically assisted steering system responds quickly to input too, and feels really good, which is normally not the case for such systems.
