Choosing the ST doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice practicality – it had the same 60/40 split folding rear seats as the standard car and an identical 253 litres of boot space, which is on par with most other small cars of the time. Inside there’s a decent-sized glovebox and a few storage areas for odds and ends. However it was only available as a three-door and access to the rear seats isn’t particularly easy.

Safety

The Fiesta gained four stars out of five for occupant protection in Euro NCAP crash tests, but that was a long time ago, and things have moved on significantly since then. Amazingly only two airbags came as standard – if you wanted side airbags they are an optional extra along with electronic stability control. It did, however, come with ABS with electronic brake force distribution as standard along with a Thatcham-approved Category 1 alarm and immobiliser.