Test drive Ford Fiesta 5 doors 2002 - 2005 hatchback

All photos of Ford Fiesta 5 doors 2002 - 2005

All paints of fiesta

At first glance, it may seem that the appearance of the Fiesta model on the Russian market is rather demonstrative, not promising some special financial benefits. And the point here is not only in the situation that has developed in the sector of compact city cars, where there are completely strong competitors and there are already real bestsellers sold out by thousands of circulations. In the end, not to such a titan like Ford Motor, to graze in front of the rivals. The problem is different. It so happened that the source of the main threat to the new fiesta is her closest relative, the Russian -made Focus, which is larger than larger and the choice of all kinds of completions more attractive, and more tempting. However, in the coming months, the demand for Vsevolozhskiy machines will inevitably be exciting, which will result in the absence of living cars dealers in the salons of dealers. And Fiesta will at least somehow eliminate the deficit in the budget class.

On the other hand, the leadership of the Russian representative office of Ford Motor more than once transparently hinted at the possibility of assembling other models in Vsevolozhsk. Fiesta is probably considered as one of the applicants for a local registration, and the solution to this issue will directly depend on the reaction of buyers to the novelty. But we have to find out whether the new Fiesta is a figure, as they say, symbolic, or does this car have its own face and character traits that distinguish it against the background of toothy opponents?

To begin with, initial data. Despite the fact that in Russia the car will go on sale at the end of winter, today almost everything is known about the structure of the offer. The car will be delivered to us in three- and five-door versions, and for two additional doors you will have to pay $ 300. Comletting levels are provided for three by the Ford tradition, they are called Core, Trend and Ghia. A 1.3-liter engine is considered a base engine, followed by engines with a volume of 1.4 and 1.6 liters. The difference in the price of versions with automaton and mechanics will be a thousand dollars.

From the first minutes of communication, Fiesta is wrapped as a very serious car. A strong body playing with fashionable faces, stubborn cheekbones of wheeled arches, fifteen -inch discs. A powerful front bumper with evil air intakes squeezed the radiator cladding in stripes, but that was covered with a net in a combat. For a long time I remembered which car with its hard forms reminds me of the new Fiesta? Of course, Nissan X-Trail! These cars echo each other with basic proportions, drawing window lines, headlights, and at the back even look like twin brothers. Of the Ford cars, the fiesta will be closest to the Mondeo station wagon.

The interior of the car is designed in the style of functional minimalism, so to speak. A minimum of artistic delights, a minimum of buttons and dials, everything is strict and very practical. In any case, how does it work? never arose. But such a rational correctness has and the reverse side to the eye has nothing to cling to. Although there is something unusual. For example, deflectors of the planetary ventilation system. True, exactly the same solution was applied on the Citroen C3, a direct competitor of the fiesta. But the move is one hundred percent original. The indicators of the fuel level and the temperature of the coolant gained an electron-indigenous appearance and were grouped on one display under the tachometer. However, here it was not without its own but: this combination is not read in the best way.

For what Fiesta deserves all kinds of praise is for the ergonomics of the driver's workplace. The chair is perfectly satisfied and reliably holds the body, the steering wheel is convenient, and the transfers lever is high (we recently met the same on Alfa Romeo 147). The microclimate control unit is combined according to the classical scheme, and this is only a plus. In general, spent several minutes in FIEST, and it will seem to you familiar, almost its own. Yes, and we must not forget about amazing visibility. In combination with an excellent sense of dimensions that the car gives, this allows you to immediately fly into the most risky gaps between buses and trucks. For ladies, the possibility of such an easy review of what is happening around will be a real find.

And what is the rear passengers? Quite tolerable! The legs for the legs are not always enough, but in the shoulders freely (of course, two adults or three children), and there are air above their heads. I surprised the algorithm for folding the rear seat: if the back is thrown back in parts, then the pillow is only the whole. So it is not possible to transport the three of them with all the desire to transport the cargo. But I really liked the trunk. Extremely efficient use of space, a very successful shape of the fifth door, is equal to almost the entire back wall of the body. As they say, what is necessary.

The holiday itself begins at the moment when you go on a large road. Fiesta suddenly demonstrates unrealistic agility, amazing not only those around him, but also a person sitting at the wheel. The ligament of the first second is functioning with the highest efficiency, perhaps not least due to short gear rates. To skip from a row in a row, to emerge from secondary streets to loaded highways, stagnant gaining the speed of the right rows of stream continuous pleasure. The car deftly shoots from traffic lights, triumphantly leading at short distances. Of course, then everything falls into place: by 80 km/h the rate of acceleration falls, and after 100 km/h, the uniqueness of the relationship between the movement of the accelerator and the speed of speed disappears. But under the hood, only 1388 cubes! The brakes of such concessions will not wait, but, as it turned out, they do not need them. Neither the work of the mechanisms themselves, nor to the work of the ABS, there were no comments.

Fiesta is magnificent in the turns! The car responds to the driver’s commands with such hunting and enthusiasm with which the puppy rushes behind the ball thrown by the owner. Responses on the actions of the steering wheel are lightning fast and extremely accurate, the feedback level does not allow much to be desired, so it is famously drawing a trajectory of any degree of complexity. It comes to the point that the machine literally encourages an aggressive driving style, provoking overtaking not on the straight line, but in corners, juggling with loss and acquiring the clutch of tires with the canvas. We have never been supporters of the line, but here we could not resist and brought the matter to the drift with a turn. The result by changing the direction of movement to the opposite, Fiesta remained within its strip, thereby proving the perfection of suspension settings. It is no secret that it is precisely such an outcome of the driver’s mistake that is an important component of the active security complex. Summing up the intermediate result, I will say that of those machines that have been at our tests recently, only Mini delivered so much joy. The incident, by the way, is twice as much.

I will not deny that the Ford engineers are a master. But still not sorcerers. Because for controllability, again paid freely convertible smoothness. If with small potholes and cracks the suspension copes easily, then it is much more difficult to work out to imperceptibly to work out more and more difficult. It is good that coating defects do not cause breakdowns and noticeable trajectory deviations.

Is Ford Fiesta a good car? Not just good, but the best if we talk about handling. Excellent in design, ergonomics, dynamics. I don’t know how you are, but personally, I personally do not see the superiority of the focus as unconditional as it seemed before.

The car is provided by the company ‹Yu. S. Impex-Auto.

Text: Leonid Klyuyev
Photo: Roman Ostanin