Ford Fiesta (08 on) - Review

Review by Dan Harrison on
Last Updated: 25 August 2011
The Ford Fiesta is a small car with big ideas. As well as being stylish and good to drive, it borrows many innovations from larger Fords, such as keyless entry, Bluetooth hands-free phone compatibility and a system to prevent mis-fuelling. The Fiesta also has a few tricks of its own - it'll play MP3 files from a USB stick through the stereo, comes with a knee airbag as standard, plus has a dash inspired by a mobile phone. But that doesn't mean that it has betrayed its small car roots. It's better value than ever, cheaper to buy and costs less to run than the old car - there's even an ECOnetic model which costs nothing to tax. Overall it's one of the finest small cars you can buy.
4.5 out of 5

Other Ford reviews

4.5 out of 5

Safety

The Fiesta was awarded a top five-star rating in Euro NCAP crash tests, along with four stars for child safety. All cars have dual front, side and driver’s knee airbags, seat belt pre-tensioners, all-round three-point seatbelts, and Isofix child seat mounting point while further front side and rear curtain airbags are optional. An alarm, immobiliser and remote central locking are all standard, while Titanium models get keyless entry and start.

NCAP Test

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Provides motoring consumers with a realistic and independent assessment of the safety performance of some of the most popular cars sold in Europe.

Visit Euro NCAP for more info

  • Adult Occupant Rating

    5 out of 5
  • Child Protection Rating

    4 out of 5
  • Pedestrian Test Rating

    3 out of 5
4 out of 5

Reliability

This Fiesta feels as well built as many other Fords, such as the Focus and Mondeo -both renowned for their reliability. The quality of the interior especially stands out as being several steps ahead of the old car, both in its build quality, choice of materials and design. The car’s development saw it cover 2.2-million road test miles to iron out potential teething troubles, but only reports from owners in the coming years will prove how reliable this Fiesta is. The outlook does, however, appear very good.

Car check problem points

Body

No problems reported.

Engine/Gearbox

No problems reported.

Other

No problems reported.