Facelift at a bargain

The Ford Fiesta was a much loved car in the Indian market, much like the Ikon was in its heyday. It had both petrol and diesel engine options on offer and had a certain approachability to its price. The brand’s slide in terms of sales and to some extent recall happened when Ford decided to bring in the new sixth generation Fiesta at a more aspirational price and also decided to retain the old Fiesta, rebranding it the Ford Classic as an after-thought.

The competition is quite strong in this segment and overall sales have been steadily climbing. With players like the Honda City, Hyundai Verna, Maruti Suzuki SX4, Fiat Linea and the Volkswagen Vento vying for a share of the pie, the new Fiesta’s sales has been buffeted during the last three years.

Now, Ford is priming itself for a 5-year, aggressive, market recapture strategy with new models in the pipeline. But, one of the first products that is being repositioned is the Fiesta.

After getting a small facelift in September 2012, just about a year after its launch, the sixth generation Fiesta saloon now gets another makeover and is being introduced as the 2014 Ford Fiesta. There are elements that are very recognisable as being from the previous iteration, but the facelifted new Fiesta gets a lot of changes and additions. There is also a mix of design elements both global and local that make the 2014 Fiesta look more like its global counterpart and yet also includes India-specific changes.

When we step up to the new look Fiesta in Bangalore, where Ford had organised a pre-launch test drive, the car’s design feels distinctly European and young. There is a lot more aggression in its looks with the highlight at the front being the new trapezoidal bonnet grille and the new design, pealed-back style headlamps. In the front fender, the thinner airdam with chrome-lipping and the elongated fog-lamp slots offer more balance to the design.

The ridged bonnet lid is also new as are the LED turn indicators in the stalked door mirrors. At the rear, the new Fiesta is much the same, with some changes being made to the tail-lamp combination and design. Ford designers have also added small air scoops and deflectors to improve the aerodynamism of the Fiesta’s design.

The Fiesta was already fairly aerodynamic, but the small changes in the face-lift result in a three per cent reduction in the co-efficient of drag of the car taking it down to 0.30 from 0.33 (Cd value). This improvement in Cd combined with some tweaks to the diesel powertrain’s tuning have apparently resulted in a six per cent increase in fuel efficiency of the car. The new 2014 Fiesta just manages to cross into the 25 kmpl mileage range.

Ford has taken a bit of a gamble with the decision to keep the choice of powertrain to simply one option with the new Fiesta. You can only get the 1.5 TDCi diesel engine paired with a 5-speed manual transmission now. There is no petrol engine or an automatic gearbox to choose from. Ford officials say that with an overwhelming majority of its sales coming from diesel engine variants even for the other models, they have opted to keep it to just that with the Fiesta.

The 4-cylinder, 1,498cc TDCi engine generates the same 91PS of peak power and 204Nm of peak torque. The engine is a trusted Ford workhorse, though it is certainly not the peppiest in the segment. The Hyundai Verna would still feel quicker off the block than the Fiesta. Respectable amount of low-end torque is available only after the needle crosses the 1,800 rpm mark in the Fiesta. Past 2,000 rpm, the engine really wakes up and delivers enough pulling power upto 4,000 rpm, after which it starts tapering off.

In the ride and handling department, the new 2014 Fiesta feels very much like the previous version; after all there has been no change to the underpinnings of the car. The Fiesta’s straight line stability is very good and the EPA steering feels well weighed and precise to inspire confidence during cornering at moderate speeds. The tech-heavy steering with pull-drift compensation etc. feels comfy at slow speeds and could do with a bit more precision at higher speeds.

Ford has chosen to add more in-cabin features and is using that as a differentiator compared to the other cars in the segment. Inside the Fiesta, the dashboard layout and design remain the same. One does get the sense of the dash being narrow or enveloping you when you sit behind the wheel. But the 2014 Fiesta does get a lot more equipment in the form of rain-sensing wipers and automatic headlamps etc., though most of it is only in the top trim Titanium version.

Some changes to the colour theme apart, the rest of the cabin elements are all similar to the previous version. The other noticeable change in the cabin is the extension of the Ford Sync feature in the infotainment system, which now includes the Ford Applink. The new Applink feature enables the driver to use simple voice commands for accessing information and staying connected such as getting info about restaurants and places of interest. It also enables you to access apps in your connected smartphone, in addition to making phone calls.

The emergency assist function from Ford Sync, which was introduced in the EcoSport has been carried into the 2014 Fiesta also. The overall functionality of the new Applink feature is limited by the amount of embedded info that the current partners like MapMyIndia and ESPN Cricinfo offer.

The 2014 Fiesta has been priced aggressively lower by Ford. There are three trim variants on offer – Ambiente, Trend and Titanium – priced from a low ₹7.69 lakh to ₹9.3 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The base variant is quite Spartan in terms of features, but still gets ABS with EBD and a driver’s air bag as standard. However, there are quite a few convenience features that have also been included.

By keeping the powertrain option to just one in the 2014 Fiesta, Ford may be betting on lower carrying and logistics costs, and higher volumes. However, there is a risk of it fading away from the minds of petrol engine buyers.

For now, the Fiesta should benefit from the killer price it has got. Will the competition follow suit?

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