How to spec a Ford Fiesta

If you’re looking for a reasonably priced small car you’re almost burdened with choice. From the big-selling Ford Fiesta to the fuel-efficient Honda Jazz and the plush Peugeot 208, there are plenty to consider. The Fiesta distinguishes itself by being the most fun car in the class thanks to its sharp handling, punchy petrol engines, and slick manual gearbox.

If you’d like to know more about the Fiesta you can read our full review, but here we’re concerned with getting you the most for your money when buying one.

We recommend the 1.0-litre Ecoboost 100 engine because it’s muscular enough to keep up with fast-flowing traffic yet it’s also decently economical, returning up to 53.3mpg in official tests. Pairing that with Titanium trim helps to keep costs sensible, while adding creature comforts like automatic LED headlights, a built-in sat nav and rear parking sensors.

There’s still plenty to add from the options list if you’d like to get the most out of your Fiesta, though, so here's what we'd add.

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1. Driver Assistance Pack (£350)

The Driver Assistance Pack (£350) adds automatic emergency braking (AEB) to the Fiesta in addition to other safety features such as blind spot monitoring and adaptive cruise control.

AEB, which automatically reduces your car’s speed if it detects an impending frontal collision, is an important bit of kit: a 2015 study by safety watchdog Euro NCAP found that it led to a 38% reduction in crashes.

2. Parking Pack (£400)

This pack adds front parking sensors and a rear-view camera to the Fiesta, which help to mitigate its limited over-the-shoulder visibility and make it easier to park. You also get a system which (when activated) automatically controls the steering as you park, leaving you to concentrate on the pedals and gears.

3. Winter Pack (£300)

The Winter Pack (£300) helps to keep the cold at bay by adding heating to the Fiesta’s front seats and steering wheel. Considering the inconsistency of the British climate, they’re worth having.

4. Metallic paint (£250 – £525)

Buying a car with metallic paint isn’t just fashionable, it’ll also boost the resale value of your Fiesta when the time comes to move on. Four shades are available on Titanium cars, including Frozen White (pictured; £250).

5. Spare wheel (£150)

As standard, the Ford Fiesta comes with a kit that allows you to temporarily patch up any punctures to make it to a nearby garage. However, these kits don’t always work with larger punctures, so we’d recommend buying a spare wheel (£150) for extra peace of mind.

1. Dashboard camera for integration with Sync 3 (£284.36)

We’d normally recommend getting a dashboard camera because they’re a great way to avoid playing the blame game if you have an accident, and they can even reduce your insurance premium.

However, we’d advise against buying Ford’s offering because it costs almost twice as much as the winner of our 2022 dash cam test, and it only comes with a 16GB memory card. That means you can only record up to five hours of footage before it’s full.

Model Ford Fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost 100 Titanium

List price £20,255

Target price £19,506

Target PCP £214pm

Options we’d add Metallic paint (£525), Parking Pack (£400), Driver Assistance Pack (£350), Winter Pack (£300), Spare wheel (£150)

Total cost of options £1725

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