The Chennai-Bangalore Highway
Being a weekday, the highways were relatively empty. This is a good thing if you have a car to test. At high speeds the Fiesta was a revelation. It was absolutely SOLID at high speeds with no wiggles or shakes trying to reduce your confidence. We were amazed by the composure of this car. This car gives you the confidence to drive spiritedly.
Next in line were the brakes which were spot on. Got a firsthand experience due to a wandering cow Indian roads are generously bestowed with. We could feel the ABS working to keep us on the tarmac. The bite was adequate and the feedback was inspiring too.
We realised soon that the best of the car was yet to come, after we gave it some handling tests. It lived up to the reputation of its maker and its predecessor. None of us had much of an idea as to what pull drift compensation means or does (for those of you people who also do not know what it is, a warm welcome to the club and all we can tell you is this is a feature in this car) but the steering felt perfectly balanced. It was sharp and nimble and kept giving enough feedback to correct and re-correct while doing high speed turns.
As if to help further reaffirm the handling characteristics, the rain Gods decided to bestow us with a sudden burst of heavy rain. We utilised it to the maximum and were convinced that this was easily one of the best handling cars that we had ever driven. Handling was and will be the trump card of the Fiesta.
Other Interesting Features
The lazy post lunch break was the time to test the voice activation system. The lady (she is called Kate by the way) responds to a set of commands. There are set commands for radio, AC, phone etc. This means that she cannot decipher whatever we say, but instead we need to learn her language. Even though this might sound as a dampener to some, considering the fact that voice recognition systems nowadays can get trained to your voice and understand it more and more as usage increases, we feel this is a beginning in the right direction by Ford.
We tried the blue tooth connectivity and were impressed with how easy it was. Iphones are notorious for blue tooth connection issues. But pairing ours with the system was a breeze. After the pairing, the lady somehow adamantly chose the number 9 even when we were saying ‘dial’. Some mock American accents made matters worse. Ford, apart from making the lady strict with her rules also seems to have given her a temperamental character.
Even though not the best utility, voice activation is a fun thing to have. But the same can’t be said about the cruise control system, especially in the perspective of our country. As with any cruise control system, the car maintains the set speed. Press the accelerator and speed increases. Take your leg off the pedal and speed settles down to the set speed. In our country, open highways are a rarity. Rarer still is the ability to cruise at constant high speeds on these roads. We tried it in the highways and couldn’t keep it running for more than a few minutes. We felt that this is a nice tool in the wrong place.
The rear parking sensors, though basic did their job well. As long as your building’s watchman doesn’t have this tendency to stick right behind the car guiding you out through the gate, your patience shall not be tested!
The stereo system on the other hand was surprisingly very good. There were AUX and USB options available. The sound clarity was top notch even from AUX input.
The Crux of the Matter
All along the way, we kept receiving stares from passersby. This might have been more to the new-ness of the car than due to the looks of the car and the Fiesta might not be as ‘flowing’ is design when compared to the new Verna. But there is no denying the fact that this car does have its appeal. Once in peak Chennai traffic, there was this guy in the new Verna who desperately wanted to overtake us. We were wondering if he was trying to prove a point. But to our amusement, we found him turning around to take a look at the Fiesta’s front after he has overtaken us. He just wanted to know how this car looked.
The new Fiesta then is an all new package complete with garnishing. Ford has made a master move by retaining the previous generation as Fiesta Classic and dropping its price. Both the Fiestas reflect two sides of the spectrum. The recent advertisements by Ford show that it is pitting the Fiesta Classic petrol against Maruti Suzuki Dzire and Tata Manza. And it has accepted the fact that the Fiesta Classic diesel is one of the most favoured among cab drivers in this segment.
The new Fiesta then is the next step. More niche, more style, more sophisticated and more expensive. There have been talks about how the prices of the Fiesta were more when compared to its closest rival, the new Hyundai Verna. This can be attributed to two factors. One, a lot of features like ABS with EBD, dual airbags and audio controls on steering wheels come as standard on the Ford. Second, the Hyundai Verna comes with four different engine options. That gives Hyundai that much more flexibility with their pricing.
The Fiesta is a potent package. Yes, its interiors could have been much better. And it has got a petrol engine which does not give it the zip that the design seems to indicate. But it is an all rounder. A very able one at that. It can surprise you with its design, it can amuse you with its niche features like voice activation, it can make you super excited with its precise handling and it can make you smile with satisfaction with all the safety features that it possesses. The previous Fiesta was marketed with the tag line “Go Fida”. We see no reason why the new one should not have a similar one. Something like “Go Fida. Again!”
If your attention span bar still has a long way to go before showing ‘Empty’ read on, the next pages cover the Engineering and Design of the all new Ford Fiesta in detail.