[GForceEnjoyer]

Introduction:

A car is supposed to transport you from A to B in reasonable comfort without a fuss. It is also expected to be reliable and efficient as well as cheap to maintain in the future. On the side, it is supposed to look attractive and fancy enough to look good in front of your neighbours. That’s the definition of a car we’ve evolved to accept as an average Joe, and most cars are designed to cater to just that. Their literal definition is even simpler; Merriam-Webster defines a car as “an object moving on wheels”.

Then there are the people who are different. To whom a car does not provide merely utility, but emotion. To the people for whom cars aren’t just a way to express financial progress, but passion. The ones who live for every rotation of the crankshaft, every rev match, and the feel of having the reins to a beast under your feet and at your fingertips. Some cars cater to them too. Most of them are purpose-built for it and of course purpose-priced for it. This is the story of one that wasn’t, but ended up being exactly that, disguised as your average car.

In September of 2006, my parents started looking for a car to have in addition to the 2004 Ford Ikon 1.3 Flair we had in our garage at the time. The criteria at the time were simply “Sasti, sundar aur tikau”, which when translated from Hindi to English means, “Cheap, beautiful and durable”. What they didn’t fully know yet, was that their new acquisition would have massive shoes to fill. The Ikon had nurtured them to expect character, and whether they knew it or not, ensured that their next acquisition would be a worthy successor. Here is my comprehensive review of the car I came home from the hospital for the first time in, one I am lucky enough to still have in our garage.

Likes:

• Ride Quality: A very well-judged suspension setup that’s compliant enough to be comfortable but tips in the favour of handling and high-speed stability.

• Driving Dynamics: The chassis is taut, and the car maintains its line astoundingly well for a front-wheel-drive car with an open differential; no drama whatsoever.

• Engine: The 1.6 Liter Duratec engine is a gem, period. Rev happy, punchy and with a linear power delivery, it aches to be redlined at the sight of an open road and sings beautifully while it’s at it.

• Steering: A brilliantly calibrated hydraulic unit with superb feel and feedback; easily the best in the business.

• Build quality: Not a single rattle after over 110k kilometres on a variety of road conditions; Delhi-NCR’s largely good roads, half-completed roads riddled with craters and Hyderabad’s back and car-breaking rumble strips (this deserves a post of its own ).

• Reliable mechanicals: The original suspension lasted over 100k kilometers before needing an overhaul; mind blowing in Indian conditions and barring one major issue (more on this later) the engine has so far been extremely reliable along with the bulletproof transmission.

• Interior design: While it certainly doesn’t look cutting edge today, it has aged extremely well for a car launched in 2005, visually and physically.

• Sound system: Punches (pun intended!) way above its weight with its bass and commendable clarity. There is also minimal distortion at higher volumes.

• Practicality: Well shaped boot with 430 Cubic Litres of space and several nifty storage spots in the interior make for a car that can carry a surprisingly large number of odds and ends.

Dislikes:

• Exterior design: While not bad in any way, it does look a little staid, specially from the front. This is something I feel the 2008 facelift remedied.

• Safety equipment: While it does have ABS and EBD, there are no airbags.

• Sound deadening: Definitely not the quietest C2 Segment sedan, even in its day. Getting quieter tires definitely helped (Yokohama Earth 1). However the sound of rain at highway speeds completely drowns out the music and can honestly get deafening.

• Fuel economy: As expected for a relatively old school naturally aspirated engine, it is not the slowest of sippers. 9-10km/l in the city and 11-13km/l on the highway.

• Equipment: It could have done with a little more, especially AUX and MP3 capability.

• Electronic issues: A few gremlins and some part failures as well.

• Spare part prices: Not a fault with the car; due to the model being discontinued, some parts carry eye-watering price tags. I only expect this to get worse now that Ford has exited India.

• Service experience: Again, not the car’s fault. We had an alarming number of downright horrible experiences, a reasonable number of unremarkable ones and only one outstanding experience so far (more on this later).

[GForceEnjoyer]

Cars considered:

• Chevrolet Aveo: The car that got the closest to being chosen over the Fiesta. Poor NVH levels and inferior seating comfort were some of the things to swing the decision in the Fiesta’s favour.

• Hyundai Elantra: Yes, this car was a segment above the Fiesta, but due to it being the cheapest D1 Segment sedan, a test drive was taken. The poor steering feel, looks and rather floaty suspension worked against its advantage of interior space.

• Honda City: Rejected without a test drive due to its looks.

Why the Fiesta was eventually chosen:

• Ride quality: It was immediately evident that the suspension tuning was head and shoulders above the others.

• Interior: It looked much more modern compared to all the other cars and was user friendly.

• Perceived quality: The doors felt solid and shut with the revered, reassuring thud and the interior felt well screwed together.

• Refinement: Vibrations from the engine were nearly intangible at idle and even when revved, the creamy smoothness remained.

Booking and delivery:
After a lot of hunting for offers around Delhi-NCR, the deal was made with Southcity Ford (now defunct) for just under 7 Lakh rupees. The model chosen was the top end 1.6 SXI with ABS. We actually had to wait for the chosen colour (Paprika Red) to become available, since stock had just started to arrive. Now this is where we made a mistake: not performing a PDI and opting for home delivery of the car. On the original date of delivery, the salesman called about a delay in delivery mere hours before the scheduled time. Then the car was finally delivered after a couple of days and getting caught up in celebration, it went unnoticed that the bumper had been replaced and the paint touched up. So, there was the culprit behind the sudden delay!

Anyways, on to the review.

[GForceEnjoyer]

Those familiar with Fords of the time will immediately spot the resemblance to the larger Mondeo, especially the trapezoidal air dam at the lower half of the bumper flanked by round fog-lamp housings. It is a purposeful and simple look. The contours on the hood flow into the sides of the diamond mesh grille, which has a neat chrome border. The windshield washers though an eyesore, do the job well. A slightly more exciting design would be welcome, but this one definitely isn’t bad either.


The chromed out twin barrel headlights have a separate bulb for the low and high beams, as well as for the parking lights. All bulbs are halogen, including the turn indicator. A black surround instead of the chrome one would look more tasteful according to me. A strange issue has plagued the left headlight for all our time owning this car; the low beam bulb sometimes simply stops working. However, a mild slap on the hood near the headlight almost always resolves the issue!


Remove this little circle to gain access to the front towing hook.


The ORVMs are well suited for the size of the car and give great visibility all around. They are electrically adjustable but not foldable.


The side profile has a traditional three-box silhouette and is really well proportioned; this car is a proper three-box sedan. The Fiesta has strongly flared wheel arches, which highlight the rather small 175/65/R14 tires. The wheels remind me of Lincolns from the early 2000s. Anyone else see the resemblance?

A character line runs all the way to the boot, parallel to the gently rising window line. The chrome side moldings seen here are standard on the top end SXI variant only and do embellish the (elegant but otherwise somewhat bland) side profile. The front bumper has unfortunately sustained some scratches in an accident.


The side indicator. Note the Ford logo on the lens.


Pull-type door handles, which were only just beginning to become common in 2006.


The licence plate housing is in the center of the boot, as it is traditionally with sedans. The taillights are reminiscent of the W203 Mercedes C Class and gel fantastically with the rest of the boot. The bumper protrudes out a healthy amount and does well to cushion minor impacts, preventing damage to the boot lid. The roof swoops neatly into the C-pillar and the almost Hofmeister-like kink at the base of the rear window.


430 Litres of space combined with a pretty usable design means that you can pack in quite a bit of stuff. The rear bench also folds down as a whole. Note the metal seatback; it is to prevent items in the boot ending up in the cabin in the event of a collision.


Exhaust is tucked away neatly.


The wheel arch at the front is fully clad...


...And so is the one at the rear! No cost cutting here, good job Ford.


Ventilated disc brakes (258 mm) at the front.


Drum brakes at the back.

This car can be turned into a serious looker by adding side skirts, a spoiler and bigger wheels aftermarket… Oh what am I talking about? Ford already did this part with the Fiesta S. Does anyone know if the OEM body kit is available for over-the-counter purchase?

Some parting shots taken near Rachakonda Fort.


The licence plate visible here is no longer valid, so I did not bother censoring it.

[GForceEnjoyer]

Interior:


This was out of the fresher crop of designs back in 2006 and follows a pretty minimalist philosophy. While it won’t really wow someone used to the latest cars today, the design has surely aged well and cannot be called outdated. The dual tone theme is quite pleasant; black on grey? Beige? Greige?? Some care does have to be taken so as to not soil it though.

The finish on the top of the dashboard could have been more appealing, especially when one notices under careful observation that the plastic used is in fact of very good quality.


Pretty chunky steering wheel that feels fantastic to hold, both in the 9 and 3 o’clock as well as 10 and 2 o’clock (not safe in a car with airbags) positions. Classy silver inserts and stitching.

The control stalks are in the LHD configuration, which can be disorienting at first sight. However, it is easy to get used to. The stalks themselves are well finished with no rough edges and while their operation isn’t damped, they function with a satisfying “click”. The indicator sound is a tad too loud in my opinion (based on my experiences with the facelifted car, I believe they quietened it).


The surface of the leather wrap is showing its age after over 15 years but is thankfully physically intact.


Large and simple gauges. Looks really nice even today, although the unit found in the 2008 facelift onwards looked more modern. This one still has its own charm and is very easy to read. The MID is simple with a DTE, single tripmeter and odometer. It has to be said though, the DTE really has a mind of its own and I have seen massive fluctuations to the tune of 40-60 kilometres of range within half a minute. To reset the tripmeter, simply press the stalk for a few seconds.



The red backlighting for the needles contrasts really well with the green used for the digits and MID. Looks really sweet at night.


Euro-style headlight switch. Pull out once to activate rear fog lamps and again to activate both front and rear. The leveler switch is on the left. While all icons are backlit, metal inserts would help elevate its looks.


Small storage compartment for the driver to store little items like change or toll receipts.


The OBD II port is located here, below the steering column.


An unusual but surprisingly convenient location for the boot release. You need to be below 7 km/h for it to work.


Conveniently placed ORVM adjustment knob taken from the common Ford parts bin. Well finished too.


The climate control knobs are plain but simple to use. Their feel when operated is nothing to write home about though. Individual buttons have been provided for the recirculated air and A/C on/off controls. Note the checked finish on the surrounding trim (hydrographic finish according to Ford). The A/C itself isn’t particularly effective, despite what its 154cc compressor would have you think. However, this is something I haven’t seen echoed by any other owner on the forum so time to get it checked perhaps?


Simple round A/C vents work well. The silver insert looks good, but scratches easily. They can be swiveled to be pointed in any direction or shut off completely. When they are shut no air flows through at all. The blower itself however is noisy at speed 3 and frustratingly so at speed 4, almost drowning out the stereo.

The little recess visible is what Ford called the “idol stowage area”. Despite the name, please do not put anything that is heavy and/or unsecured here, as it can turn into a flying projectile in an impact. The perfume bottle seen here is firmly attached using double sided tape.


The windshield A/C vent runs across the entire width of the dashboard. TIP: to defrost the windshield, turn only this vent to full blast.


The stock stereo with a 6-CD changer. The unit is simple to use and has a decent number of features for the price. However, MP3 and AUX capability is sorely missed. The sound quality is a big plus though, with brilliant bass and commendable clarity with the right settings. Distortion at higher volumes is minimal too. You can tune it to your liking by pressing the silver knob on the left. Press repeatedly to cycle through the options and use the knob on the right to tune each individual parameter. Otherwise, this knob doubles up as an FM/AM frequency tuner, and the knob on the right as a volume and power button. Unfortunately, discs skip and sometimes get stuck in slot 5 and 6. Any help on the following would be welcome.


The switch on the left is for the rear defroster with a dummy button next to it; the only one in this car. Something found only on the international model maybe? The hazard light switch takes centre stage and is an easy reach for both the driver and front passenger. On the right is a display which houses the clock and outside temperature display (the latter only being displayed when the ignition is on). The first digit of the minutes display however, randomly switches back to zero for around half a minute. The interval between happenings can range from two hours to two months; another unexplainable electronic quirk of this car.


The gear lever looks really elegant, especially with that silver insert. It is also ergonomic and grippy to hold. The bin behind it can swallow a surprising number of odds and ends. No armrest provided unfortunately. Note the perforated leather upholstery on the seat.


The handbrake lever feels solid to operate and looks great with the leather wrap and silver release button. The center console surrounding it, however, is one of the few flimsily built parts on this car. It wobbles alarmingly even with slight pressure.


A very generous glovebox with several thoughtful touches like the coin holders on the side and the pen/pencil clip. It is illuminated but not cooled; sufficient. The lid doesn’t feel particularly high quality and is unfortunately misaligned when closed, but it has held up well over time just like the rest of the car.


Two reading lights on either end with central light that can be set to turn on when the door is ajar. All three have a theatre-dimming effect.


The hood release is located in the front passenger’s footwell, another carryover from the LHD configuration. If the driver needs to open the hood when driving alone (for example at a high security location like a 5-Star hotel), they will have to reach all the way across. And if they are an individual with short arms, they will have to get out, walk across to the passenger side door, bend down and then release it, embarrassing them in front of the frustrated drivers impatiently waiting behind. The plastic around the lever has inexplicably developed a crack too.


Both the sun visors get vanity mirrors and are perfectly sized for the windows.


Simple door handles. Note the exposed screw: there was a cover on it that fell off soon after purchase. Push them all the way in to lock the door, tug them a little towards you to just unlock it and pull it outwards to open the door. A somewhat flawed design I must say, since someone has to merely pull the handle to open the door regardless of whether it was initially locked or not; specially if there is a kid in the car. Thank God I didn’t pull any such tricks as a kid. But then again, my parents used the child lock feature on both the rear doors!


A simple design on the door pad that does not look outdated at all. On the top end SXI variant, the inserts are perforated leather. However, there is no cushioning! Something sorely missed. The door bins are colossal though, capable of swallowing even 2 Litre bottles. The plastic quality on the top of the door pad unfortunately takes a dive compared to that of the dashboard.


The front seats are quite supportive despite the slightly underwhelming lumbar support. One does not get tired easily on long trips.

[GForceEnjoyer]

Interior: Continued


Reading lamps have been provided on each side for the rear passengers as well, nice touch.


While the seat is pretty upright, it is very supportive on long trips. The cushioning is on point too. The large windows make the cabin feel very airy.


Legroom is unfortunately poor at the rear, especially if you have a driver with even moderately long legs. I have effectively no legroom at 5’9”, and God help any potential future passengers who will have to ride in the back with the front seat in my driving position. Worse still, the bottom of the front seats has a rod covered only by leather and no foam, making it a painful experience for your shins if you want to stretch out. Ever since I was allowed to sit in the front at the age of 12, I have been doing almost exclusively that.


No three-point seatbelt for the middle passenger, not cool. They make do with a lap belt.


Rear armrest is set at a comfortable height and is leather wrapped too. However, the cupholders really cannot hold anything larger than a cup!


The rear speakers (part of the 6-speaker OEM system) produce really good bass, especially considering there is no subwoofer.


The front speakers are housed in front of the grab handle.


Tweeters are housed in the A-Pillar. For its price, the Fiesta is equipped with a terrific sound system. Enough to keep the audiophile in me happy.

After over 110k kilometers, there is still not a single rattle in the cabin. This car has been driven across a significant portion of north India and a respectable portion of south India with a huge variety of road surfaces. Hyderabad’s rumble strips (I will have to pen down a post on this too ) seem to be designed to absolutely annihilate your car’s suspension as well as any retaining parts throughout the car, yet it has held up to this involuntary abuse astoundingly well. While the perceived quality of certain trim pieces may not be mind-blowing, their actual build quality certainly is. This is a testament to the “Built Ford Tough” slogan even though the slogan itself wasn’t used for this car!


A parting shot.

[GForceEnjoyer]

Note: I am currently 15 and do not have a licence. Everything I have penned down here is based on my experiences riding shotgun as well as through interrogating my parents. Underage driving is a strict NO. With that out of the way, let’s get on to the good stuff.

Driving the 1.6 Litre Petrol Manual:

(Please ignore the dusty engine bay, it's been a while since it was cleaned.)


The 1.6 Litre 16V DOHC engine was developed jointly by Ford, Mazda and Yamaha and makes 101 horsepower at 6500 rpm and 146 Nm of torque at 3500 rpm. As soon as you turn the key to position II, the instrument cluster shows a flurry of activity. The tachometer needle moves out of its resting position to arrive at the 0 on the scale, while the fuel and coolant temperature gauges move to show their respective values being fed to them. Then, as you turn the key to position III, the starter motor brings the engine to life with the slightest of shivers felt in the cabin. When cold, the tachometer jumps to approximately 1150 rpm, stays there for around 20 seconds and then drops lazily back to idle (850 rpm with the A/C on, 750 without). Those with a keen ear will notice the mellifluous exhaust note; audible only to those who look for it. At idle, the engine seems almost unnaturally refined for a four-cylinder (there is a reason for this, more on it later).

As you gently move off the line, the accelerator pedal obeys even a millimetre flex of your right foot. The fantastic low-end torque ensures you move without a fuss. First gear is very short, and you need to shift quickly to second to keep the revs below 2500 rpm as you warm up the car. The shift action is a touch notchy but slick, with pretty well-defined gates. Upshifting early each time, the car effortlessly moves along with the engine remaining nearly silent. The suspension does a fabulous job at keeping the car stable and keeping out any unwanted pitching. Now, you patiently wait for the coolant temperature gauge to arc its way ever-so-slowly towards the halfway mark (trust me, it takes longer than any other car I’ve ever experienced), then wait twice that time to let the oil get up to its operating temperature.



At long last, that time ticks past. The traffic suddenly thins, and you are left with a long, smooth, and arrow-straight road. As soon as you rev match your downshift into second, a lot of things happen. The engine changes character in the blink of an eye, going from a docile thing to a beast ready to roar. And oh, does it roar. As soon as you bury your right foot into the carpet, the car leaps forward like an animal that’s been straining at the leash forever. The tachometer and speedometer move with a newfound sense of urgency, charging towards higher numbers. It openly sings an unforgettable tune as the induction roar fills the cabin (sometimes I wonder what Yamaha’s role in developing this engine was… Lexus LFA anyone? ).

As you cross 3500 rpm, the engine has a truly manic pull right up to 6400 rpm before leveling off. The rev limiter kicks in at 6675 rpm. You can touch 90 km/h in second gear if you really want to! Third gear is a useful tool to slingshot past traffic at highway speeds. 101 horsepower isn’t much by today’s standards but that definitely doesn’t stop you from having an insane amount of fun; you WILL be grinning ear to ear if you get assertive with your right foot.



As you turn off the straight road onto another inexplicably empty, winding road, the suspension tuning immediately comes to the forefront. There is not a significant amount of body roll, and the car remains composed, actively encouraging you to push harder and harder into the corners. It’s only if you really, really push it that some understeer comes into the picture, but a set of wider tires would solve the issue. As the road straightens out ahead, you bury your right foot into the carpet once again; but the car isn’t done impressing you yet. Despite being FWD with an open differential, the power is put down shockingly effectively accompanied by absolutely beautiful mid-corner rotation. It feels like you are a pole around which the entire car rotates. You are always in the centre of all the action, making the Fiesta and a winding mountain road a match made in heaven. Mid-corner corrections and undulations do nothing to unsettle it either. The chassis is very taut, which, coupled with the relatively light kerb weight makes this a very fun car to chuck around.

A fly in the ointment (a sizeable one at that) however, would be the brakes. The stock 258 mm discs are just about capable of handling spirited driving, but the bigger issue is pedal feel: it feels like a sponge due to how over-assisted it is.

But this car STILL has more to impress you with! The steering. Words aren’t sufficient to express the sort of feel this hydraulic unit gives you; I suppose the closest would be “supernatural”. It is communicative in the literal sense, it lets you know in painstaking detail what the front wheels are up to, and about the surface they are on. You will know if a tiny stone goes under only the left tire and a slightly larger one only under the right tire. It weighs up with speed, providing to you superlative confidence. It is also incredibly direct with no play even in the dead centre position.

It is disheartening to note that the days when this characteristic could be found in everyday cars are nearly over. With the advent of Electronic Power Steering, any feel and feedback has to be engineered into the system which pushes up the cost. This is why the most communicative steering racks are reserved only for high end sportscars.

As you come off the winding road, you realise how much your arms have worked. You turn on the stereo, slot the gear lever into fifth, take a deep breath and settle into a relaxing cruise on the way back home. Now this is where I feel a sixth gear would be welcome. The existing five gears are well thought out: there’s just the need for a taller overdrive gear. The engine spins at 2800 rpm at 100 km/h and 3300 rpm at 120 km/h, and a sixth gear would help reduce noise in the cabin as well as improve efficiency.



In the city you can expect around 9 km/l in usual conditions, while on the highway you can expect around 12 km/l. Note: if you manage to keep a steady speed for an extended duration of time on a good road (Hyderabad’s ORR or the Yamuna Expressway for example), you can make that figure climb to around 14 km/l. This can get you quite far on one tank of fuel (45 Litres). All above figures were arrived at after calculating using the tankful-to-tankful method. The lowest figure so far has been 8.2 km/l in terrible traffic during heavy rains in Hyderabad (although I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a lower figure we missed during the car’s initial 6 years in Delhi-NCR; the traffic during rush hour is insane). The highest was 14.3 km/l on the way back from Gandikota (also known as the Grand Canyon of India) a week before the first lockdown in March 2020 when the roads were virtually empty.

The suspension consists of MacPherson struts at the front and a twist-beam at the rear. The front wishbones are attached to a welded subframe which is directly attached to the bodyshell. The setup is typically European in nature: compliant but not plush with a hint of underlying firmness. At low speeds, the ride quality is definitely not the most absorbent, but it’s not too stiff so as to be uncomfortable. In fact, it smothers most smaller bumps really well. It does sometimes produce thuds disproportionate to their size though. As you speed up, the ride keeps getting better and better. The car dismisses most bumps with aplomb and recovers quite well from undulations and dips in the road. High speed stability is excellent, and the car can cruise at 120 km/h all day. It is to be noted however that the suspension does let you know what’s going on down below at 120 km/h, which can get a little tiring on less-than-perfect road surfaces. In that case, slow down to around 105 km/h and cruise all day with the engine purring away in the background. Lane changes can be made with the highest level of confidence and without making your passengers aware of anything.

[GForceEnjoyer]

Technical stuff:

The platform:
This car is based on the global Mk5 Fiesta built on the first version (B3) of Ford’s global B-car platform which was jointly developed with Mazda. The car was initially codenamed B376.

The engine:
The Duratec branding of this engine is a misnomer, since it has no relation to the original Duratec V6 which was co-developed with Porsche. The inline 4-cylinder ones were originally called Sigma, then Zetec-S (the Zetec trim level in Europe was different) and finally Duratec. It was jointly developed by Ford, Mazda, and Yamaha.

When first introduced, it used technology which was cutting edge at the time, such as a ladder style main bearing (bearings that hold the crankshaft in place and allow it to rotate) and crank case (housing for the crankshaft, integrated into the block in modern engines) assembly, a plastic inlet manifold and powder metal connecting rods (rods which connect the pistons to the crankshaft). While the original was SOHC, the engine was reworked later, one of the changes being adding DOHC (note, this is different from the Twin Independent Variable Camshaft Timing, TI-VCT for short, which was introduced much later with the next generation Fiesta).

Both the cylinder head as well as the engine block are made of Aluminium, which provides good strength to the internals. This means that a mild increment in power should not pose any issues with reliability if they are done well. It also means that simply changing the high-pressure fuel pump and throttle body opens up lots of tuning possibilities.



This is the resonating air box. While it looks like merely an engine cover, there is more to it. It improves airflow to the throttle body, as well as helps meet noise regulations. It does that by quietening the sound of the air being sucked in. The inside of one looks a bit like a maze; it is made that way to cause destructive interference where opposing sound waves cancel out. Its workings are similar to that of a muffler, albeit without the use of any/much fibreglass and other such insulating materials.



A hydraulic dampening mount (the metal part below the coolant reservoir) is attached to the cylinder head and suspends the engine from the top, meanwhile torque restrictors do the job at the bottom. This arrangement is a major reason for the top-notch refinement of this engine since it absorbs a significant portion of unwanted vibrations. However, any repairs involving the same are not going to be cheap at all. I know, since replacing one hydraulic dampening mount due to cracked rubber had a five-figure price tag attached to it.



There is very little space between the engine and the firewall (note the silver heat shield). The exhaust manifold is at the back of the engine, hidden below the resonating air box. Equal length headers with a 4-1 setup. There is really little space between the engine and firewall.

Transmission:

The fiesta uses Ford’s tried and tested iB5 manual transmission with 5 forward gears and 1 reverse gear. It is based on a heavily updated version of the BC5 series transmissions used from 1976. The changes include a hydraulically operated clutch and a cable-based shift mechanism.

The gear ratios are as follows:

• 1st Gear: 3.583

• 2nd Gear: 2.038

• 3rd Gear: 1.413

• 4th Gear: 1.108

• 5th Gear: 0.878

The smaller yet significant things:



When operating the windshield washer, the wipers perform two courtesy wipes after the jet of water has been sprayed to ensure no washer fluid remains in the driver’s line of sight. There are also 6 intermittent settings: an extremely rare feature at the time.


(Note the key position markings).

There is a safety mechanism to stop the driver from trying to crank an already running engine. The key cannot be moved to position III with the engine running.



The ashtray is damped, which is a really nice touch. The 12-volt socket is located inside. The recess located next to it can easily hold a very large smartphone and still have it visible to the driver for navigation directions.



Pedals are well spaced, although there is no dead pedal. There is enough space to rest the left foot. The footwell has quite a lot of exposed mechanisms, but thankfully no hanging wires.



You can insert the tips of the rear seat belts here when not in use.



Push hard on the sides of the glovebox after opening it and it drops down further to reveal the fuse box. Located on the left side of the firewall as Ford clearly didn’t bother engineering it for RHD cars. Thankfully, it does not intrude into the glovebox itself like it does on some other cars. The lamp is smartly placed to also illuminate the fuse box after moving the glovebox down.



A blank circle can be seen when the glovebox is open. It’s where the passenger airbag on/off switch would usually be located.



The grab handle. Can be found on all sides apart from the driver's.



The double stitching on the leather upholstery looks sweet.



These plastic flaps can be inserted into the seat belt buckles. The only possible use for them I’ve been able to come up with is to stop the buckles falling below the seat cushion if it is lifted.



This interesting little label can be found on the sides of the front seatbelt buckles.



The nifty little cupholder at the back of the centre console is extendable if you need more storage.



The rear licence plate light assemblies are made in France.



The crash-protection structure in the front is partially covered by plastic, giving the hood a tidy look.



Unfortunately, no underbody protection has been provided, not even for the oil pan. Be careful over large speed bumps.



The inside of the boot lid is uncovered! Not a pretty sight. Wiring for the licence plate lights is also exposed.



A little vent is located in the front wheel arch. For dissipating air drawn into the air dam maybe?



The plate containing information about the tire pressures to be used is found in the passenger side doorframe. Again, a LHD configuration.

[GForceEnjoyer]

Ownership experience:

Now Ford had quite a bad reputation in the past when it came to reliability and aftersales. I will elaborate on both. This is going to be a long read, so buckle up.

Reliability and Service:

This particular car has been driven in metropolitan cities with good roads (Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad, although Hyderabad’s rumble strips are working against any car plying on the road), but also been taken on long trips to multiple locations. The odometer stands at 110k+ kilometers today, and out of those, the car has broken down once: when it was relatively new due to overheating on the way back from the office (the cause was a leaky hose pipe). Other than that, the only expenses have been damage due to accidents and wear items such as the timing belt kit and suspension.

So, this car has been very reliable, as it is always serviced on time at authorised Ford aftersales centres. The mechanicals are also solidly built and have handled Indian conditions incredibly well. A few electrical gremlins come and go, such as the clock suddenly deciding to travel through time or the low beam bulb of the left headlight taking a day off (pun intended!), but nothing major here. However, the bad reputation with service is sadly well deserved.

Issue 1:
The major mechanical issue which I mentioned in the likes and dislikes section was a blown head gasket. During a drive back from Warangal, we noticed the car behaving strangely to throttle input, sometimes sluggishly and sometimes jerking while accelerating. I was 7 at the time, so this is all I can recall. We drove gingerly back to Hyderabad as we were not too far off, and immediately took the car into the Fortune Ford service centre in ABIDS. We were in for a very unpleasant surprise when we were informed that a blown head gasket was causing coolant to enter the cylinders as well as into the oil. We were so incredibly lucky that the engine did not suffer a catastrophic failure on the drive back (I wonder if the overheating issue during initial ownership caused the head gasket to fail prematurely at roughly 55k kilometres?).

The story gets worse in a completely unexpected way. After paying an extremely large bill, repairs began. When the car was delivered to us after a few days, the engine was back to normal, but the shift action had changed. It was no longer buttery smooth or as precise as before. Upon pressing my dad for further details, I got to know that shifting felt notchy and not in a good way. So, after opening up the engine, why had the transmission characteristics changed? What was not put back together properly?

Issue 2:
This was by no means the first or worst such experience. In fact, the first encounter we had with Ford aftersales (Southcity Ford, Delhi) was a nightmare. There was a manufacturing defect with the brake discs, causing juddering. To simply get them to honour the warranty, we had to fight tooth and nail. After a painstaking series of arguments, the replacement was finally carried out.

Issue 3:
The next ordeal took place after the warranty had expired. During a routine service, we were told that the hydraulics for the ABS system were defective. I was never able to find out exactly what was wrong so please bear with me. Anyways, it raised our suspicions: an issue that was supposedly there from the start is only diagnosed after warranty? Since we had paid 25000 rupees to purchase ABS as an option, we obviously wanted it working, so we reluctantly shelled out 90000 rupees to get it fixed.

Needless to say, we switched service centres after that to Harpreet Ford (Okhla). The experience with them was satisfactory, with the odd slip-up occurring once in a while (wax on the windshield, grease on the interior, etc).

Issue 4:
However, this was not the only downright terrible experience with Ford aftersales. Our next story is with Fortune Ford Kondapur. The timing belt kit had to be changed as routine maintenance, and our usual choice of service centre, Fortune Ford Tolichowki was closed for repairs. Well, they first took an excruciatingly long time to procure the required parts, causing severe inconvenience due to downtime (we had not purchased a second car at the time).

This was by far the worst service experience throughout all the years of owning this car. It was returned to us with the door pad covered with grime, swirl marks on the exterior and worst of all, one cylinder not firing. I was horrified to hear the sound of the car from outside and as we went on a test drive, both me and my dad started to regret it. The entire car was rocking back and forth at idle and while accelerating. However, when lifting off the throttle and engine braking, all felt normal. My first thoughts were “It feels like a three-cylinder, and a very unrefined one at that”. Well, my hunch at the time was right since the engine was indeed running on three cylinders!

We immediately took the car back to the same service centre despite the horrible experience. Why? Because they caused this issue while fixing something completely irrelevant so they should solve this too. Two days went by without a word from them despite attempts to communicate. Finally, a text was sent from them saying that they were unable to understand what was happening and would have to use trial and error. Apparently, no codes came up while using an OBD II reader. Exasperated, we gave them the go-ahead. Replacing the fuel injectors was deemed unsuccessful, and so was cleaning and then replacing the spark plugs.

More days passed. Finally, they said that the issue was with the fuel rail and that they had fixed it. I was a little perplexed since an issue with pressure in the fuel rail would usually cause erratic performance in general and not just one cylinder not firing. And it would have had to be caused either by the high-pressure fuel pump not functioning properly or due to one or more injectors being faulty and getting clogged/stuck in a certain position. Both would have had to throw up codes on the OBD II reader: the former showing a generic fuel pump primary circuit malfunction, and the latter showing a misfire in all affected cylinders.

Anyways, I did not voice these doubts at the time and never needed to: after my dad asked when we could get the car back now that the issue was resolved. They sent a text saying that this was not tested on our car, but on a petrol Figo! This was the last straw, since not only had they taken a ridiculous amount of time, they hadn’t even touched our car. After a heated phone call and another couple of days later, we were told that the issue was with the ignition coil. Since the car had been returned to us with a failed ignition coil, why did they not figure this out at the centre? After waiting for the part to come in, the car was delivered back to us and thankfully all was in order. Needless to say, that was the first and last time getting the Fiesta serviced there.

A dilemma: To sell or not to sell?
After this ordeal the topic of selling this car came up. Naturally, I expressed my opinion against doing this and also showed GTO’s following post (Want to sell your car because of repairs? Think again!). However, the abysmally low offers due to this car being registered in Noida at the time were enough to end this consideration. Since the Fiesta was about to turn 15 in just over half a year, we decided to get an NOC and re-register the car in Hyderabad.

At the end of the day, it comes down to how much the car means to you. I am going to leave my thoughts out here since I was obviously not financially or legally involved with this car in any way. We had known for well over a decade now, that we had picked up an insanely fun-to-drive car. Even the most mundane drives were made interesting by the engine’s aural company, the steering feel, the suspension… I can go on and on. GTO’s saying comes to mind. I’d rather have a car that spends 2 weeks in the garage but provides me with 351 days of driving pleasure rather than one that spends 2 days but provides me with no driving pleasure.

That was not the only reason for keeping it; scrapping a well-maintained car just because of repairs made no sense. I also realised that this would be a great first car for me to learn on when I turn 18, since it has no fancy driver aids, is manual, isn’t a large car and doesn’t have too much power for a newbie to handle.

After its last service where we got the engine mount and suspension replaced, the car literally felt brand new. The service experience that time was also great with no delays whatsoever and a top-notch quality of workmanship at Fortune Ford Tolichowki.

TLDR for reliability: This car has been reliable enough with regular wear items replaced and one major issue, as it is well taken care of.
TLDR for aftersales: Below average at best. You really need to find a competent aftersales centre or independent garage. Part prices are sky-high as it is a discontinued model. I only expect this to get worse considering that Ford has exited India.

So, to sum up, this is a car that appeals to the head as well as the heart (more to the heart than the head though). Despite the aftersales horror stories, the fact is that the car is so good that parting with it would be a bigger loss than any expensive part purchases. This is one of the cars that built Ford the fun-to-drive reputation in India, and having owned one for 15 years and counting, we can testify to that!

Thanks for reading; this is my first review, so I was very excited and had a great amount of fun while writing it. All photos were taken on my humble Redmi 9 Prime.

Drive on and keep enjoying those G Forces!

A parting shot.

[GForceEnjoyer]

An interesting series of events occurred while I was writing this review. Turns out that a fellow BHPian, @Siva Prakash resides in the same location as me, actually saw me taking these pictures for the review and shot me a PM. In fact, we both own Fiestas and photographed our cars in the same location for our respective reviews! (This story was shared with the respective user’s consent.) Two BHPians residing in the same location owning the same car is an insane and very amusing coincidence. There are also two Fiesta reviews on Team-BHP with the respective cars having been photographed at the same location. Cheers!

[Rudra Sen]

Mod note: Thread moved out to Long-Term Ownership Reviews. Thanks for sharing.

[arun1100]

Great review and ownership experience of the Fiesta 1.6; looks magnificently maintained! A good car to own even today considering the support provided by Ford India interms of spares and service. I find the spares to be nominally priced to even keep the Fiesta as a secondary car.

I own a 2012 Fiesta Classic 1.6; I have shared the ownership thread in this Forum. Have clocked 65k kms in a decade. The original Fiesta's quality especially in the interiors is far better than the Classic.

Few pics of my Fiesta!

[GForceEnjoyer]

Originally Posted by arun1100

Great review and ownership experience of the Fiesta 1.6; looks magnificently maintained!

Thanks a lot!

I find the spares to be nominally priced to even keep the Fiesta as a secondary car.

Yes, the regular service costs are quite low for a discontinued car. It's only when something significant needs to be replaced that it can get expensive.

I own a 2012 Fiesta Classic 1.6; I have shared the ownership thread in this Forum. Have clocked 65k kms in a decade.

I remember reading it some time ago (before I joined Team-BHP). That's one well maintained car, wishing you many more miles on it.

[Shreyfiesta]

Superb review, with a great eye for the small details! Attention to detail is fantastic. The way you have kept it in stock condition is worth appreciating. This reminds me of our family's 2007 1.6 ZXI in Paprika Red which we replaced with a Cruze in 2013. I have shared a thread about the complete timeline of Ford Fiesta brand in India.
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...one-sedan.html (A tribute to the Ford Fiesta, Ford India's smilestone sedan!)

[hajaar]

I had one of the first fiestas - a silver 1.6L petrol SX (?). I don't remember the exact lettering but it was the highest trim available.

It was a great car; fun to drive... when it worked. I had too many issues with it - the engine being replaced after owning it for 15 days, the serpentine belt getting cut, and finally, the dash dials stopped working whenever I drove on a bump.

Sold it for a civic. I have fond memories of the car, but I will never ever buy a ford again, that was one of the reasons I chose my Fortuner instead of the Endeavour even if the endeavour was cheaper by a huge margin and had way more feature.

[Shank0447]

A Great review,which is really elaborative and pays details to every aspect of the car and the experience the owner had with it.
This review encourages me to write a review on my buddy innova too,I too was a kid when my bud came to me and still am not old enough to drive him.