Crossover Fiesta is big on comfort
SUV-lite Ford is great to drive
DO you remember the Rover Streetwise? It was a version of the 25 hatchback that had a raised ride height, plastic addons and a faint whiff of off-road adventure about it.
When Rover went bust in 2005, the Streetwise bit the dust as well. In a small way it was an influential car. Volkswagen copied the concept with its Polo Cross and now Ford has done the same with the Fiesta Active.
It’s a simple recipe and a cheap way of cashing in on the raging popularity of crossovers. Ford has a full range of SUVs but an extra one doesn’t hurt. So, take one Fiesta and fit longer springs so it sits 18mm off the ground, set the wheels 10mm wider apart to give the car a more planted look, and then add plastic cladding below the waistline and roof rails on top to give it that adventure lifestyle look.
Dacia pulled the same trick with the bargain basement Sandero hatchback, added the name Stepway, and watched it outsell the standard model.
We drove the Fiesta Active on the same launch that we drove the fantastic new Fiesta ST200. And yes, the former was a bit of an anti-climax compared to the 200bhp hot hatchback. An odd pairing by Ford, almost guaranteeing that one car would be eclipsed by the other, but the Active does have some rather unexpected charms.
For starters, we tested a version fitted with a top-of-the-range
engine, a 140bhp version of Ford’s three-cylinder onelitre Ecoboost.
That’s quite a lot of power in a small car, so a 9.4sec 0-62mph sprinting time is not surprising. The engine drives through a slick six-speed gearbox. No four-wheel drive of course, but the Active does have a traction control system that’s programmed to give more wheel grip on slippery surfaces.
First pleasant surprise is that the Fiesta Active is not at all bad
Traction control gives more grip on slippery surfaces
to drive. It’s the same weight as a normal Fiesta meaning it’s less lardy than the typical crossover. Ford hasn’t just raised the suspension and left it at that, it has fitted revised steering knuckles so that the geometry remains the same as the standard car’s despite the longer springs.
Also, the suspension dampers feature hydraulic bump stops, as used in rally cars and in the new Citroen C4 Cactus, that do good things for ride comfort by gradually absorbing big bumps. As a result the Fiesta Active has a more comfortable ride than most crossovers.
What the Fiesta Active doesn’t give you, because it is essentially the standard car with a few add-ons, is the interior space that a crossover like Ford’s EcoSport provides. Rear legroom isn’t quite up to that provided by VW’s Polo, although it’s not cramped.
The quality is good and the infotainment works well and is straightforward to use. The seats, and this is the only thing inside the car that sets it apart from a regular Fiesta, are trimmed in a rather more durable fabric than the normal Fiestas.
If you want more space and perhaps some genuine off-road ability then you’re better off with a fully-fledged crossover. But there are a couple of reasons why the Fiesta Active makes sense.
The ride height increase makes the car slightly easier to get into than the standard Fiesta and that plastic cladding will protect it from dings in supermarket car parks. It is not going to outsell the standard Fiesta, but the Active does have a place in the catalogue.