Test drive Ford Fiesta 5 doors 2013 - NV hatchback

Test drive Citroen C3 and Ford Fiesta: Roads of Little Joy

The class of cars is slightly smaller than Golf (B+) in Russia is almost also popular as in Europe. But most of the machines sold with us (Logan, Aveo, Accent, Rio) are more likely to the Low Cost category, low -budgets. The Kolesa.ru portal remembered the not so popular cars of the Ford Fiesta and Citroen C3, for which manufacturers are not ashamed: normal cars for normal money and no Low Cost!

Overlooking the sky
Fiesta is the most compact car in the Ford model range, represented in Russia. Citroen C3 is not the most, there is still C1, but C3 and Fiesta are considered female machines. Mostly due to design and compact dimensions.

Two pretty compacts are somewhat similar to each other, and not only with color. They have almost the same trapezoidal air intakes, stretched headlights, outlined front wings, entering the bumper, side mirrors on their legs but the contour and strokes in the design of C3 are more smooth, and FIESTA has more sharp. It seems that the same trend is visible in the behavior of cars on the road, but more on that later.

Citroen has more glazing area, which should affect the visibility from the driver's seat, but the view of both cars is about the same. It’s just that Citroen has a huge optional windshield Zenith, which opens the view of the sky, stars and everything that is exactly above the head. The spectacle is unusual and amazing, it’s a pity for a short while: from autumn to spring, such glass will get dirty for several hours, and the wipers, of course, do not get to its upper part.

Space for life
It turned out to be easier to get behind the wheel in Citroen: mainly due to the fact that the Frenchman’s steering wheel is adjusted in height and depth, and in Fiesta only in height. The pillows of the seats of both cars are short. But the Ford back provides just magnificent side support, while the back is more flat in C3.

The quality of materials is high there and there; The plastic is soft, the adjustment is high -quality, nothing rattles and does not dangle.


At the back in both cars. There are slightly larger space above the head of the Fiesta passengers, while the salons are the same in width to the centimeter. Before planting back both there and there, it is necessary to raise the headrests, otherwise they will unpleasantly cut into the back. However, this is right, because only with the raised headrest of the passengers’s neck will be protected in the event of a frontal clash

Of the obvious deficiencies of the Citroen C3, a parking brake lever can be distinguished, it is almost impossible to reach with a horizontal armrest. As for Fiesta, it caused difficulties that a stylish audio system with an abundance of buttons on it caused difficulties (it is good that the remote control is put on the steering wheel where the main keys are duplicated) to understand which of the buttons did not answer immediately.


The trunk, according to passport data, is more spacious in C3: 300-1000 liters against 281-979 liters in Fiesta. But according to our measurements, Ford was less than a height by almost 5 cm, and the luggage compartment of the hatchback with a blue oval is 3 cm deeper.

Mudly tough
Fiesta reminded of a small stool on wooden legs, and Citroen C3 is the same stool, but with rubber marks, so that it was not so much knocking on parquet ... If without metaphors, both cars are harsh and have difficulties with sound insulation of motor compartments and suspension. In terms of controllability, Ford liked a little more due to more acute reactions and a responsive chassis, while C3 does not have such an informative steering wheel and a more smooth tread. At the same time, both cars are equally shaking on strong irregularities, such as tram tracks and railway crossings. But on the flat road, Citroen is a little more comfortable due to the better smoothness of the course and smaller longitudinal swing.

Under the hood of Ford Fiesta is a 1.4-liter 96-horsepower engine with a 4-speed automatic, and Citroen dispersed a 1.6-liter 120-horsepower engine with the same type of transmission and number of gears. Despite the fact that Fiesta is almost 50 kg easier, the Frenchman’s advantage was noticeable. However, this was still clear from the passport, since it was stated that up to 100 km/h Citroen is accelerating by 3 seconds faster.


At the same time, Fiesta was not puzzled in a compact brutal appetite: in the city, in snow porridge, the hatchback consumed 13.8 liters of fuel! Citroen is noticeably less than about 11 liters. At the same time, the C3 motor is 200 ml more, which means it seems to be more

Who is how much
The basic Citroen C3 with a 1.4-liter 75-horsepower engine and a mechanical checkpoint costs 429,000 rubles, and with a 95-horsepower modification of a 1.4-liter motor from 530,000 rubles. With an automatic machine, C3 exists only in a version with a 1.6-liter 120-horsepower BMW development unit such a car will cost no cheaper than 566,000 rubles.

The minimum equipped Ford Fiesta with a 1.25-liter engine and mechanics costs 100,000 rubles more than the basic C3 529,000 rubles. With manual transmission and a 96-horsepower engine 1.4 compact Ford costs from 546,000, and adding an automatic transmission costs another 30,000 rubles more. With the most powerful 1.6-liter Fiesta engine, it is sold for 596,000 rubles (prices are indicated for a 3-door modification, five-door hatchbacks are 10,000 more expensive).

Question for 600 thousand
Having 600,000 rubles, you can purchase Citroen C3 with a 95-horsepower 1.4-liter engine in the top version of Exclusive with additional options: ESP, a full electric packet and rear parking sensors (only 595,000 rubles). In addition, the car has front and side airbags, ABS, panoramic windshield Zenith, climate control, steel wheels R15, radio with CD and MP3.

For the same amount, you can purchase a 3-door Ford Fiesta Trend with a 96-horsepower 1.4 and mechanics (566,000 rubles), and add lateral airbags, electric windows and air conditioning (all options 36,000, the price of the car is 599,000 rubles), as options), And the Trend equipment list already includes ABS, front airbags, electric grinders, 15-inch steel wheels, radio with CD and MP3

What else?
As mentioned above, the+ segment is one of the most densely populated on the market. The next generation of Opel Corsa (from 455,000 rubles, read a test drive), shortened in size, but not at a price of Volkswagen Polo (from 472,000 rubles, read the test drive, to read the test drive. ), registered in the Russian Federation, Skoda Fabia (from 399,000 rubles, read a test drive) and in many respects unified with C3 of the French relative Peugeot 207 (from 488,000 rubles, read test drives).

Summary
The differences between the compact Ford and Citroen are evident, but it is difficult to highlight the absolute winner. Citroen is much cheaper and tangibly more comfortable in motion. But Ford compensates for the disadvantages of a more spectacular appearance (and the design of the salon), as well as the best ergonomics of the driver's seat and a slightly more spacious rear seat. But C3 has one indisputable advantage of the size of half a wings, which the fiesta simply has nothing to answer. And not only her alone


Cars were provided by Alarm Motors Ozerki, the official Ford dealer, and the Russian representative office of Citroen.

Author: Denis Kamenev
Photo: Roman Ostanin


 

A source: Wheel magazine [December 2010]