New Ford Fiesta review (2013) – Hands on

The Ford Fiesta is a contemporary motoring icon. First launched in 1976 and still going strong today, it has been a staple of Britain’s roads and was frequently voted the most popular car in the UK. With over 15 million sold and the first new models rolling off the production line at Ford’s Cologne factory before Christmas, 2013 Fiesta is an incredibly important car for the company. As well as protecting a 35 year legacy, it also has to introduce a whole host of gadgets and new technologies to the supermini class – previously unexplored territory for the company.

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Old meets new… the Fiesta has come a long way in 35 years

We were lucky enough to get the opportunity to put the new car through its paces this weekend on the demanding city streets of Rome, where the locals tested our reactions as well as the new tech. To see what next year’s connected cars will have to offer, read on.

STYLE ICON
The Fiesta underwent a radical design refresh in 2008, which brought the car up to date with plenty of flowing curves and smooth lines. Apparently meant to appeal to Ford’s young professional target market, we think it looked attractive enough to begin with but for 2013 Ford has added even more design flourish. Both the front and rear bumpers have been swapped out for newer, more aggressive ones and the light clusters have been upgraded too. The front headlights now have daytime LED running lights, which look fantastic and also help draw attention to the car to oncoming traffic.

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The new front grille bears more than a little resemblance to an Aston Martin

Several new colour schemes are being introduced for 2013, along with matching interior fabrics and coloured LED mood lighting around the dashboard, centre console and even around the cup holders. It all feels surprisingly futuristic for what is essentially a mass market car, and that’s before you start to explore the in-dash information/entertainment system.

THE STEREO THAT TALKS BACK
Ford sees the Fiesta as a “fun” city car, and so has put a lot of effort into its in-car entertainment system. Ford’s Sync in-car entertainment and control module makes its European debut in the 2013 Fiesta. Developed in partnership with Microsoft, the in-dash system uses voice control to simplify tasks that would usually draw your attention away from the road and give you greater control over your connected devices, as well as satellite navigation (which will be coming in the new year and unfortunately wasn’t available during our first drive with the car).

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The in-car computer can be controlled from the centre console, or through voice recognition

Its main use is for controlling music playback, from a smartphone, tablet or USB flash drive using the USB port recessed into the centre console, or via Bluetooth. Using a USB cable, Sync accesses your device and pulls a complete list of all your music files, building a database of searchable track and artist names using the ID3 tags saved to your MP3s.

It took less than a second to construct a database when we connected an iPhone filled with around 200 songs, after which we could choose tracks using voice commands. During our time with the car, Sync had yet to be updated to support more than 4,000 audio tracks per device, but Ford already has an update waiting in the wings to support larger media libraries. The car itself has no internet connectivity, so Fiesta owners will need to download updates like these from the Ford website and install them using a USB flash drive.

Of course, drivers can also use their connected phones to make calls using Sync’s voice commands. When pairing a phone over Bluetooth, it asks whether to download its phone book to the car, letting you call people by name rather than by number. If you have several passengers that want to play DJ, you can pair multiple phones for music but Sync will default to the master phone for making calls.

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You’ll need to enter a PIN to pair a Bluetooth device

Accuracy is crucial to any voice control system, so we were very happy to see Sync recognising our commands almost every time, even picking up foreign band names which were tricky to pronounce. One of the Ford demonstrators even rattled off an international phone number, speaking quickly and with an accent, which was picked up perfectly by the system. We tried the same experiment with both Siri and Google Now on two smartphones, but both required us to slow down our delivery to correctly pick up the full number. The only disadvantage is that you aren’t able to change how Sync recognises certain words – if you pronounce a band name in a certain way and Sync fails to detect it, you have to prompt the system to read out its ID3 tag so you can adjust your own pronunciation, rather than correct the system.

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Sync had no trouble picking out artists as we named them

Sync is compatible with all major handsets, including iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry OS and even Nokia Symbian, but you aren’t able to choose tracks by artist over Bluetooth – instead, you’re limited to simple play, pause, next and shuffle commands.

According to Ford, the voice control and steering wheel-mounted buttons could potentially reduce the time spent looking away from the road to change a music track on your phone from almost 30 seconds to virtually zero, helping drivers stay alert and aware of their surroundings while still giving them control over music and phone calls. We certainly found it useful when navigating the center of Rome, as we had to pay especially close attention to the local drivers in order to avoid returning the car covered in dents and scratches.

LIFE SAVER
Although it’s very much focused on fun, Sync is a lot more than a simple entertainment or communication system. It was also designed with driver safety in mind, as it can call for assistance if the car is ever involved in a crash.

The Emergency assistance mode uses any paired mobile phone to place an emergency call in the event of a collision, reading out GPS coordinates to the operator in their native language anywhere within Europe. Because it dials the internationally recognised 112 number rather than a dedicated Ford helpline, your smartphone will automatically search for any available signals across all network providers – this means that even in a tunnel you should still be able to get through to the emergency services when you need them the most.

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Remember to pair your phone – it could save your life

Unlike the rival On*Star service, which charges its American customers a monthly fee for a dedicated hotline, Ford’s Emergency Assistance is free for the lifetime of the vehicle because it uses your own mobile to place the emergency call.

Ford put the system through its paces during crash testing for the Euro NCAP safety exams, and are confident that it will still work even after an extreme collision. It’s located in a different location to the rest of the in-car entertainment system, and should your smartphone get damaged in the crash, it will scan for and connect to any previously paired phones with Bluetooth within range to dial for help. It’s a great system for peace of mind, although of course we’re hopeful that it won’t be needed by the majority of Fiesta owners.

PARENTAL CONTROLS
With research suggesting 51% of accidents involving young drivers are caused by speeding, Ford has tried to make the Fiesta a safer car for learners and the newly qualified. Ford knows that the Supermini car class has proven incredibly popular with parents of young drivers, which is why the new MyKey system will debut with the new Fiesta. It’s an extra level of control aimed at parents who don’t want to hand over the keys to the powerful family saloon and want to keep a watchful eye on their children’s driving.

As well as a single master key for the car’s owner, Fiesta owners can buy up to eight extra MyKeys per car to give to their children. Once programmed, several safety measures will be automatically enabled when one is used to start the engine. Several are permanent, including Belt Minder – an audible warning that mutes the car stereo until all passengers have fastened their seat belt. Audible warnings are nothing new, but by muting the stereo young drivers are particularly likely to pay attention.

The low fuel warning indicator will also kick in 1.5 times earlier than it would with the master key, giving young drivers plenty of time to look for a petrol station. Finally, speed warnings are customisable from 45mph upwards, letting parents flash messages onto the dashboard when their children exceed a certain speed. An audible warning sounds until the car’s speed reduces.

Perhaps more important are the optional safety measures, which can be toggled on and off using the master key. Parents can set the car’s maximum speed, in order to prevent reckless driving and speeding fines. For the UK, the lowest setting is 80mph – we asked Ford why the limit couldn’t be set any lower, to discourage motorway driving, but were told that safety should be paramount and there must always be enough room to safely overtake on any UK road in order to conform to certain regulations. In practice, putting your foot flat to the floor when approaching 80 will see the engine back off, slowing down and refusing to go higher when the system is engaged.

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It can’t stop you speeding, but warnings will persist until the car decelerates

Secondly, the Audio Limit lets parents limit the stereo system to 45% of its maximum volume. When asked why this percentage was chosen, a Ford representative told us tests had proven 45% was the loudest that drivers could still hear approaching emergency service vehicles and react appropriately. During our test drive, 45% still sounded very loud, but we admittedly could hear the sirens of an approaching ambulance.

Available for both standard keys and keyless ignition Fiestas, MyKey will hopefully ease the minds of worried parents. One thing to remember is that the master key will always take precedent over any MyKeys also in the car – this is only a problem for keyless ignition models, but still worth keeping in mind when asking your kids to pick you up from the pub.

DON’T GET TOO CLOSE
Keeping drivers safe on the road is always a huge priority for car makers, and here we’re seeing technologies previously seen on larger cars have trickling their way down. We’re familiar with some already – hill start assist and radar-assisted reverse parking have been available for some time. Others, such as auto city stop, have only just reached the Fiesta range after making a debut on the Focus two years ago.

Each new Fiesta is fitted with 7 airbags as standard, but they can’t protect you from low-speed collisions. This is where Active City Stop comes into play – it begins by pre-charging the brakes, to shorten the stopping distance should you need to hit them quickly. Using a forward-facing infra-red laser mounted next to the rear-view mirror, it scans the distance to an approaching reflective object. If the car senses that you’re getting too close and will have an accident, it hits the brakes for you.

Ford says the system will completely stop a car travelling at speeds less than 10MPH, and significantly slow the car down between 10MPH and 20MPH, reducing damage. It can’t operate at speeds above 20MPH because the laser only scans around 12 meters in front of the car, and will only react to objects large enough to bounce the beam back to the car – meaning it won’t stop should a child run into the road, but it will stop you hitting the bumper of the car in front when sat in traffic.

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Active City Stop – great for keeping this dent-free

Deliberately driving at a wall can be a little unnerving, even if that wall happens to be made from foam blocks, but we are happy to report the system works perfectly on the new Fiesta. The brakes are applied sharply, bringing the car to a rapid stop, but we didn’t feel any discomfort because of the slow speeds involved.

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED – ECO WARRIOR
Even with traditional petrol-driven cars’, Ford is keen to reduce your impact on the environment by encouraging more earth-friendly driving styles. This will in turn improve fuel economy for the car owner and relieve stress on the engine, saving them any potential issues down the road. As part of this green push, Ford has brought EcoMode from the Focus and added it to the new Fiesta.

Eco Mode monitors your driving style and scores you with green petals based on your speed, anticipation and how often you shift gears. If you shift early, brake softly and keep your speed to a conservative average, new petals are awarded to indicate a change in driving style. If you over-rev the engine, regularly shift gears unnecessarily and brake heavily, these petals will be taken away. Once all five petals have been earned and a flower formed for each category, an achievement-style icon appears on the dashboard.

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Each new petal earned indicates an improvement

Such a ‘game’ might seem trivial, but it’s a simply way to monitor your driving style over a long period of time. The petals are consistent between journeys, so when you lend the car to someone and it comes back with fewer petals than when it left, you know they haven’t been driving with the environment (or your engine’s health) in mind.

The effects of good driving on fuel consumption can be as high as 30%, even for drivers that have been on the road for years and consider themselves safe behind the wheel. This can quickly add up to savings at the fuel pump, so there’s real incentive to pay attention to your performance.

FULL POWER
Environmentally friendly driving will only get you do far, both in terms of Saving the planet and fuel economy, which is why Ford will be bringing its award-winning 1-litre EcoBoost engine to the Fiesta for the first time in 2013. A One litre, 3 cylinder petrol engine doesn’t sound like it would set pulses racing, but the EcoBoost engine has a Turbo-charged trick under the bonnet. The variable valve timing, direct injection turbo charger produces the same torque as a naturally aspirated 1.6 block, yet stays environmentally friendly, producing less than 100g/km of CO2 – meaning it will be exempt from road tax.
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Small yet mighty – this engine feels very powerful inside the Fiesta

The engine itself is tiny, weighing significantly less than Ford’s previous generation engine, which helps keep the weight of the car down. Compared to a focus with the same engine, the new fiesta is nearly two seconds quicker from 0-60, proving how capable it can be in a smaller, lighter car. Although it’s not available to buy, Ford recently demoed a Formula Ford racer running one of these, and it was monumentally fast.

In practice, the engine feels like an ideal match to the fiesta chassis – it’s incredibly responsive and has plenty of torque, particularly in low gears, letting it comfortably reach motorway cruising speed. Of course, it’s best for city driving where it feels very responsive, showing little signs of turbo lag in first gear. We were genuinely surprised how aggressive the engine note sounded, which has apparently not been tweaked by Ford’s engineers in any way. From inside the cabin, you feel as though there’s a much larger engine beneath the bonnet when approaching higher RPM.

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Other drivers will be seeing this view a lot once the lights go green

Being designed for low revs, with very long gears, drivers are encouraged to shift up at 4,500rpm but it will reach as far as 8,000 at a push in first gear – it’s not recommended, for both engine maintenance and fuel economy, but we were impressed with its range all the same. We were also won over by the clutch, which we could feather comfortably without getting tired during city driving – it was easy to feel the engine through it, with a clear bite point that covered a wide range. For city driving, it’s a fantastic little engine that proves small can be mighty.

CONNECTED CARS GO MAINSTREAM
When it launched in 2008, the previous Fiesta just missed out on the connected car boom. Ford is looking to put that right with the 2013 refresh, adding plenty of new features and bringing in familiar ones from other models. With an industry-wide push towards more accessible technology, we were certainly impressed with how much effort Ford has gone to in order to give the fiesta greater appeal to the tech-savvy.

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With 45 different models to choose from, it could be a tough choice

It is, however, important to keep in mind that many of the gadgets we looked at are optional extras. Although every new Fiesta will come with MyKey as standard, only one key is provided at the dealership – you’ll have to buy additional ones separately. Sync will only come as standard on the $14,245 Titanium edition or higher, and with the range comprising 45 different models with over nine trim levels, it could be difficult to find the features you want unless you spend a lot of time with the brochure. The base model starts from $9,795, but with optional extras factored into the total price, the Fiesta gets dangerously close to C-segment cars like the Focus. (UK pricing to be confirmed)

What we can say for sure is that seeing such an extensive feature set on a mainstream supermini is still a good move on Ford’s part – it shows a willingness to bring new technology to a lower price point than many of its rivals, which should be applauded. Many of these features would only be available as after-market bolt-ons on other cars, yet Ford has integrated them effectively. If you’re looking for your next new car, want something the kids can drive but want to retain a little control and still get something that’s fun on the weekends, the new Fiesta will be one to look out for when it goes on sale early next year.