Diesel Fester

So I managed to pack around 800 kms under the belt of the Fester in 5 days so came away with a reasonably good feel for it.

It was a 1.5 TDCi according to the fob in some sort of reasonably basic spec that extended to electric front windows and mirrors, manual air-con, Bluetooth and not much else.

Looks-wise, a combination of anonymous metallic grey paint and tiddly steel wheels did it no favours, meaning it managed to appear both dumpy and tippy-toed from most angles. At the front, the switch from Aston-style chrome bars across the grille to plastic mesh accentuates the unfortunate resemblance to a barbel. It basically looked like the low-cost rent-a-car it was. But heaps better than an Ypsilon…

Inside, it's sadly a mixed bag with some smart design touches such as the seat fabric and the steering wheel and others that are less successful, such as the button-fest around the stereo system that looks like it was modelled on a mix of a late 1990s JVC stack-system and an old Nokia. It looks like an interior designed by a geeky bloke with no fashion sense and bits of it still whiff somehow of old Escorts. Even the dials, with odd light blue needles and stylised graphics made me think more low-rent video game than car. The quality is mixed too. Generally it's fine but there are too many different shades and grains of black plastic, several of which had got sort of sweaty-looking in 40 degree heat, and the rhino-hide plastic dash reflects more badly in the windscreen than in any other car I can remember driving. The "alloy" interior door handles look smart but have a cheap and uncomfortable casting-line inside them. But all that said, it was a comfortable driving position, even if I could have done with a rake-adjustable steering wheel.

Pulling away in the narrow car rental parking area at Bologna airport, the first thing that struck me was that it felt unexpectedly large. You sit relatively high-up and there's an enormous MPV-esque expanse of dashboard between you and the windscreen that makes the car initially hard to place as you think it larger than it is. But it's just an initial impression that soon wears off. Particularly since it's not actually especially big inside. The front is airy but the back is quite pokey. Visibility is reasonable but some of the switchgear ergonomics could be better – I could never flick the indicators without swapping modes on the trip computer for example. And working out the infotainment system to pair my phone took a bit of time, not least because to start with it was set in German…

Despite being unmistakeably dieselly, the engine was actually quite perky and does its best work low-down, with decent urge when pulling away. It's surprisingly revvy for a diesel, which is a good thing as you do need to row it through the gears to make progress at higher speeds and the slick 5-speed gearbox felt like it had pretty widely-spaced ratios. Slowing for a roundabout but not quite stopping requires you to select first rather than second. But as alluded to, it's a very decent 'box and so this is no particular hardship.

It also punts along nicely enough for a diesel tiddler. This particular example had about 10k kms on the clock (well and truly run in by rental standards) and happily bowled down the autostrada at what must have been pretty much its v-max, scrapping with various faster machines in the fast lane (a.k.a the "Swiss lane" as it was seemingly mostly occupied by Swiss-registered cars going at Warp Factor 9 with complete disregard for Italian law enforcement). The A14 motorway gets quite sinuous as it passes Rimini and you also lose the "Tutor" average speed camera system, so it tends to be where everyone puts their foot down. There's one series of fast S-sweepers (downhill if you're going south) that are quite a test of a car's road-holding if you attack them with, ahem, "brio". On the way down (and on my own in the car), I was behind a modded S2000 which wasn't holding back and had a new 124 Spider in my rear-view mirror and the little Ford definitely held its own through them, again pretty much at v-max. I'll confess here and now that I wouldn't have wanted to take them any faster – the 15" tyres were definitely doing a heroic job and there's a little more bounce to the suspension than is ideal for that sort of situation, but I was pretty impressed. When the 124 eventually passed me, the chap in the passenger seat gave me a broad grin and a thumbs up, presumably because he thought me a certifiable nutter.

On the topic of handling, it does of course handle well, as Fiestas are reputed to do. As mentioned, the suspension can be a little bouncy but then this is not a car intended to be driven on its door-handles and frankly it responds better to a bit of Italianate Queefery than any diesel city car has any right to. The steering is pleasingly accurate, the controls are nicely-weighted (especially the gearbox) and it's generally easy and pleasant to drive. It's also quite well insulated and made a very acceptable motorway companion. And it was also reasonably economical, despite the general thrashing it received. Over 800 kms, it drank around 50 litres of fuel, which is about 46mpg.

So, all-in-all, this car pretty much met my expectations in that it didn't have much aesthetic appeal, inside or out, but made up for it by being really rather nice to drive, even in low-powered diesel form.

It's because they have spare wheels.  Apparently.

No, but mine's petrol and I wouldn't expect to get 50mpg under those circumstances !

So what's your point!? Mine was that the diesel still gave me the thick end of 50mpg under those conditions, which all things considered, seemed pretty good to me.

Nice write up. Not a great looking spec but better looking car than most of the things in that sector.