Ford Fiesta 1.4 - Petrol & Diesel Test Driven

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Originally Posted by GTO

Firstly, the 1.4 Petrol. ...Let me assure you that this 1388 cc baby is NOT SLOW from any perspective. ...Braking in either car is superb...The ride quality was extremely European in nature, with that sturdy and heavy feel which the Japanese can only dream about. Overall, the car is well planted on the road.

The handling is not razor sharp, but it is good enough to please 99% of the car buying janta. However, the steering feels lifeless at some speeds and does not provide enough feedback to the driver.

Having driven a colleague's Fiesta 1.4 EXI petrol (I had mistakenly quoted it to be a 1.6 earlier) solo from Pune to Bangalore (890 km door to door, including a brief detour into Hubli to find an ATM) yesterday, I completely agree with the above.

It is on such long drives that one discovers the real strengths and weaknesses of any car. I missed the space between my legs and the steering wheel (as compared to my Indica). Used to the conventional indicator / wiper stalk placement, I did switch on the wipers during some emergency turn-ins (when one has to abort an overtaking move and come back to one's lane on single lane roads). The horn (the #1 safety device above ABS / airbags on our highways ) button has no recess for the thumb and I felt it took some effort to honk.

The engine is really smooth and loves to rev. I felt roll-on times were a little longer than what I expected (no stopwatch measurements, just gut feel). I also felt under-thigh support was a wee bit less compared to the Indica. Overall, a very enjoyable experience. Wish Ford has offered ABS on this version.

Before anybody flames me, my obvious comparison on ergonomics would be with my current car, the Indica.