Ford Fiesta Hatchback 1.4 TDCi Titanium 5dr

My car

Drive:

The Ford Fiesta 1.4 TDCI offers a reasonable drive, please dont look at this model if your after speed! My previous 1.5 Renault Clio offers much better acceleration and general performance with still great mpg return (65.6 at hand in). However the gears are fantastic, a very smooth transition through gears and the cruise control does help ease off the back ache of constantly keeping your foot lightly pressed on the accelerator. The car tackles hills generally very well and the steering is top notch. 3 out of 5

Economy:

As stated above my old clio returned 65.6 mpg, whilst my new ford is doing 56.2, this is still creeping up but I am really having to cut back to 50 - 55 mph in order to obtain this, how ford managed to get 68 combined is beyond me. the tank is 40 liters so this should cost roughly 50 pounds to top up. 3 out of 5

Interior:

The cabin is spacious, offering plenty of leg room for passenger and driver, the 5 door model gives slightly better leg room for rear passengers and the seating is very comfy. The equipment is generous, my second hand fiesta gave me cruise control, climate control, cd player, radio, bluetooth hands free calling, voice control and 6 speakers. Plastics do look cheap and the leather steering wheel is only partially leather. 4 out 5

Overall:

This car looks stylish, but feels some what lacking a 1.6 tdci may offer more, but for the price I would not recommend from new. If you don't need speed and average mpg return this

My car

I had a test drive in the new Fiesta after trying several alternatives and the Fiesta won hands down. so much so that I have now ordered a new 1.6 TDCI Titanium 5dr. The drive impressed me straight away with everything feeling right, as it did with the previous Fiesta when I had one as a courtesy car. It is true that the rear seat back simply rests on the squab and doesn't fold flat but I reckon that taking off the rear head restraints will help a little. This is a small negative as the rest of the car seems well engineered. I will submit an updated report after I have taken delivery and driven it a little.