If Carlsberg did test-drives...
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“I still can't believe I'm here!" went through my mind yet again. I was standing outside a small airport in Tuscany, Italy, surrounded by journalists and Ford employees and being offered the keys to a brand-new Fiesta Zetec-S. I'd been thinking those thoughts since about 9pm the night before, when I arrived at the Stansted Radisson and was finally 100% sure that the invite wasn't the wind-up or some sort of disguised sales-pitch that my cynicism had been whispering to me that it might be.
OK, those of you who've been on car launches before are probably saying "it's only a Fiesta", and you're absolutely correct. But for me I'd been given the golden ticket - I was young Charlie and a metallic lime-green chocolate factory was sitting in front of me in the Tuscan sunshine, just waiting to be driven. Despite my best attempts to stay cool, both metaphorically and physically, I'm sure I was grinning like an idiot as I took the keys before the Ford employee realised I wasn't actually a journalist and changed his mind. In a little over 24 hours later the car and I would be back at the airport, but in the meantime I was going to enjoy every second I could...
From the outside the car looks heavily styled and deliberately stylish, with the rising waist-line, strongly-sculpted detail line running back from the front wheelarch and distinctive ‘family’ face. It’s clearly pitched at the internet generation, and looks better than any Fiesta I’ve seen since the original Zetec-S from 2000, although as with almost all modern small-hatches the rear-end looks a little heavy. It even wears metallic lime-green well, which must say something about the design, possibly just that brighter colours bring out the curves and the detail better. Most impressively to my mind, it’s both lower (slightly) and lighter (40kg) than the outgoing Fiesta, despite being safer and better-equipped.
The interior is even more of a revelation than the exterior – you’re immediately grabbed by the thought that somehow Ford kidnapped a Transformer and imprisoned it in the centre of the dashboard, where it now sits as the central party-piece of the cabin. Beyond that, the use of colour lifts the interior above the old-fashioned ‘drab grey/black’, although my advice would be to be careful what colour-combinations you specify. And nearly everywhere there is sculpted, soft-touch this and ergonomically-designed that which the real journalists will “ooh” and “ahh” over, and which in all fairness ARE a major step-up over the previous model – it feels ‘engineered’ inside for the first time. But for me, as a petrolhead, the clincher was the front-seats – comfortable, grippy sports-seats with a huge range of adjustment, which made finding the right driving position and staying there a piece of cake. There is also a lot of standard equipment (note the multi-function steering wheel and USB socket linked to the stereo) and even more options – you can opt for keyless-entry, where you start the engine by pressing a small ‘POWER’ button on the dashboard, which is thankfully gloss-black not the bright green abomination from the Mk1 Focus RS.
On the move my first thought was that the new electric PAS, which I’d been dreading, wasn’t that bad, actually! The weighting was natural, linear and better than my S2000, even if it lacked the granularity of that in the original Mk3 Zetec-S, and turn-in on the stiff-sidewalled Conti’s was sharp without being nervous, just like the original. And my thoughts stayed with that older car when I opened the throttle and was rewarded with a throaty, slightly raspy induction note very reminiscent of the old car, albeit slightly more muted thanks to the NVH engineering. The new 1.6 petrol engine is smooth and free-revving, although it does need to be worked to get the performance out of it. By contrast, the optional diesel is easier to exploit and probably not much slower in the real-world, but for me didn’t suit the character of the car as well, certainly not on our test-route.
A clever manufacturer will launch a car where they can play to its strengths, and Ford did just this on the twisty Tuscan roads, which showed off the Fiesta’s nicely-sorted chassis perfectly. Overstep the limits and the (optional and switchable) ESP will intervene fairly subtly to sort things out. It’s not intrusive either – in the hot dry conditions I only noticed it once following an overly-optimistic entry to a hairpin. Instead, the chassis itself seems quite resilient to understeer, with a large amount of mechanical grip from the 195/45/16 tyres, falling initially into progressive body-roll before steadily sliding wide of your chosen line. Ford claim that the structure is stiffer than the old car, and that the front anti-roll bars are thicker at 22mm, but the car still behaves like the ‘warm-hatch’ it is, not a hot-hatch, and the result is a very fluid drive with soft limits. Despite the stiffer chassis, the suspension has enough travel that it won’t cock the inside-rear wheel, nor will it indulge you in old-fashioned lift-off oversteer particularly readily. But the trade-off for this is a decent level of comfort, and it’s still genuinely superb fun to drive – direct steering, a free-revving engine that has some character to it, and possibly the best chassis in the segment since the demise of the Mk2 Clio.
It’s not without faults though – for starters both the petrol and the diesel feel like they could do with a 6th gear. The petrol gearchange itself seemed to vary a little from car to car – the first one I drove felt more than a little vague across the gate, and didn’t like to be rushed (at odds with the oh-so-up-for-it chassis and the revvy engine), while the second had a more positive shift which didn’t baulk anywhere near as readily. I was also a little disappointed to see drum-brakes on the rear, although that is perhaps not surprising at this price-point, but they bite well-enough, and the progressive, lightly-servo’d pedal is refreshingly ‘old-school’ in this age of overly-sharp responses. In an emergency-stop on broken tarmac we found that the car can unsettle slightly, but that is in-extremis behaviour and I imagine the optional ESP would neutralise even that. My main criticism though, as with many modern cars in this class, would be rear visibility – it’s poor, both straight-behind and over-your-shoulder.
Within this car there is definitely a true hot-hatch itching to get out, but only if Ford can be persuaded to build it. In the meantime, the Zetec-S is an involving, enjoyable, and very insurance-friendly (6E) option for someone who wants a driver’s car on a budget, and with its distinctive looks and for the first time a quality cabin, should persuade at least a few people away from the new Fiat 500 and now-ubiquitous MINI Cooper.
Edited by havoc on Wednesday 3rd September 21:06
OllieBirmingham said:
How come you got to go to the launch then eh?
Sheer luck, I guess.Ford were looking for 'bloggers' (their words) to attend the launch, as an experiment - apparently they've been doing it in the USA for a bit, wanted to try it over here. Out of 3 invitees, I was the only one that could make it.
I got picked through my (long and voluble) membership of PH - someone thought that my ramblings on here made sense and I'd have a fair opinion on the car...
...so here it is! And I could get quite a taste for writing / journalism, let alone another car launch (just tell me where and when!
). Maybe next time I'll have the review on the PH front-page, if I'm lucky.As to it's looks - better in the flesh. Bit heavy from the rear, and better in the lighter colours where you can see the mix of light-and-shade, but a damn sight better than any Fiesta beforehand, and it's got at least SOME individuality...
Schmeeky said:
havoc said:
I could get quite a taste for writing / journalism.
Fair play mate, that was a decent write-up! 
Top job!!
Car definitely looks better than the past few generations of fester's too!!
XJSJohn said:
Schmeeky said:
havoc said:
I could get quite a taste for writing / journalism.
Fair play mate, that was a decent write-up! Top job!!
Car definitely looks better than the past few generations of fester's too!!
Strawman said:
Interesting review, how do the stats compare to the Mini and 500 mentioned?
Price, power & weight?
vs Mini Cooper, it's about £700 cheaper before options (and comes better kitted to start with), is 50-100kg lighter depending on where you look for your figures, and has a pretty-much identical engine. They didn't say so but it wouldn't suprise me if the MINI was benchmarked when developing it...Price, power & weight?
vs Fiat 500 it fits in-between the 1.4 Sport and the Abarth, both in price and performance, but the Fiat is a lot lighter, sharing the Ka platform as I've just realised!
Overall I like the look of the car but I think the dash would take some getting used to. Feel a lot bigger compared to the current car inside will be interesting to see if that pays off with a bit more refinement.
The biggest dissapointment is that there is no mention of a hot or warm model and they still insist that the 90hp diesel with a 5 speed box is enough.
Great styling, some nice build touches, possibly some cost cutting on engine development lets it down.
Good review too. Based on my current car this statement is very true.
The biggest dissapointment is that there is no mention of a hot or warm model and they still insist that the 90hp diesel with a 5 speed box is enough.
Great styling, some nice build touches, possibly some cost cutting on engine development lets it down.
Good review too. Based on my current car this statement is very true.
havoc said:
It’s not without faults though – for starters both the petrol and the diesel feel like they could do with a 6th gear.
I had a discussion on this with a couple of ford people at the London Motorshow and one of them took quite a few notes, whether this feedback is listened to only time will tell. Edited by chris_w666 on Thursday 4th September 13:52
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