FORD FIESTA
After the josh machine, Ford asked us to Go Fida
THE FIFTH-GENERATION FIESTA WAS LAUNCHED IN Europe as a hatchback in 2002 and three years later we got the booted version. In an ideal world this would have replaced the Ikon, but taking a cue from Maruti that rarely, if ever, discontinued a model, the Ikon continued to be sold and that necessitated the introduction of a new nameplate in India.
Our Fiesta looked nothing like the one in Europe, not only did it have a boot but it had a completely different and, dare I say it, more attractive nose. The underpinnings were considerably more sophisticated than the Ikon and though the added weight meant the Fiesta wasn’t as fizzy as the Ikon there was more maturity and composure in the ride and handling.
The missing fizz was fixed with the 1.6 S launched in 2009. All of Ford’s engineering for India was being handled out of Australia and they threw in revised damper settings making the S genuinely more sporty than the regular Fiesta. The stylists then got to work giving it a lovely body kit incorporating bumper extensions, side skirts, new 15-inch alloys, that boot spoiler and a distinctive Aquarius Blue shade that made it pop in a crowd. What they didn’t work on was the engine and the 1.6 Duratec just didn’t have the oomph to take on the City’s wonderful VTEC. In a straight line it would even get smoked by the Verna’s diesel. Show it a corner though and the tables would be turned. The Verna was from a time when Hyundai didn’t know how to do ride and handling. The City though was dynamically sound but when we tested the two together at the MMRT track it was the Fiesta 1.6 S, despite being down on power, that posted a faster lap time. It was also more fun, the steering more communicative, the damping more sorted, even better-tyred than the second-generation City, which was the best-selling sedan in those days.
Sadly, in a trend that would be often repeated, Ford just couldn’t find enough takers for the sporty Fiesta. And then reverting to type they then applied a mild nose job and tagged on a Classic tag so that this old Fiesta could continue to be sold alongside the all-new sixth-generation.
This new Fiesta came on the back of the One Ford strategy that entailed the same Ford to be sold all over the world and avoid confusion — for reference the earlier Fiesta was sold in South Africa as the Ikon. So we got the same nose as the European Fiesta, the then-new Kinetic design which drew inspiration from Aston Martin no less, while on the inside we got a cabin festooned with buttons, drawing inspiration from the then-cool Motorola Razor phones. Ford even got a twin-clutch automatic transmission, the first at this price point, but then they got much too ambitious with its pricing, pitting it against the City forgetting Honda’s phenomenal brand value and also the City’s enormously more spacious cabin. It bombed and in 2017, the plug was pulled and we never got another Fiesta again.
THE 1.6 S, DESPITE BEING DOWN ON POWER, POSTED A FASTER LAP TIME