Fun, funky, striking, and award-winning, the Ford Fiesta seems like it has every ingredient to create the ultimate recipe for success for the American automotive brand.
Ford Motor Company has always marketed the Fiesta to an international audience, manufacturing the model across the world; the Fiesta is produced in the United Kingdom, Brazil, India, South Africa, and other countries.
Ford has enjoyed a fiesta with their Fiesta, as sales figures indicate the model's massive popularity in South Africa. With over 250 vehicles sold in July 2019 alone, according to the latest NAAMSA vehicles sales report, the Fiesta is a beloved funky hatchback.
While it's been unable to knock its rival, the Volkswagen Polo, off pole position as the best-selling hatchback in the country, the Fiesta is totally deserving of its enormous success. Let's look at what makes it so special.
The various Fiesta models have seen a back-and-forth trend of square and curved designs, always catering to popular tastes at the time of their release. This is one of the reasons the model has maintained its popularity over so many years.
Ford introduced the Fiesta in 1976 as a boxy, supermini, two-door hatchback. The small chassis was powered by a petite 1 L engine, something which Ford has mastered over the years. Production started in Spain, the United Kingdom, and West Germany, and was made available to most of the rest of Europe.
The 1983 second-generation Ford Fiesta featured a similar design but with improved build quality. It also offered added features such as the continuously variable transmission (CTX) and a variety of dashboard trim options.
Ford included a curved design with the third-generation Fiesta in 1989. By 1995 when it released the fourth-generation model, the automaker had ditched the boxy design altogether and released a sedan as well.
The fifth-generation Fiesta of 2002 reverted back to a square design and later on, in 2005, it saw a body update which had more modern-looking headlights and rear-light detailing.
The sixth generation, launched in 2009, saw Ford move to a completely new design once again, with an arching shape flowing from the long headlights.
The latest, seventh-generation Fiesta of 2017 features a rather similar design to its predecessor but with more modern detailing around the lights and bumpers.
The Ford Fiesta offers a striking and sharp design that looks both modern and classic at the same time. The Aston Martin lookalike grille is no mere coincidence, as Ford's head of design, Ian Callum, previously worked as Aston Martin's chief designer.
Apart from having a standout exterior, the interior looks more space shuttle than space saver, with buttons and switches surrounding the dominant SYNC infotainment screen which sits in the middle of the dashboard. Connectivity is enabled via Bluetooth and easily syncs with your mobile media content.
Safety features include hill launch assist, airbags (dual, curtain, and front), electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), and reverse parking sensors.
The baseline Ford Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost Trend 6MT offers 74 kw and 170 Nm of torque while producing 97 g/km of CO2 emissions. It has a combined fuel cycle of 4.3 L/100km. The 1.0 L engine received the Engine Technology International Engine of the Year Under 1 Litre award consecutively between 2012 and 2017.
Ford assembles its vehicles in South Africa and offers great service through an extensive Ford dealership network, with branches located across the country. You can test drive and purchase a Ford Fiesta at any of these dealerships.
Ford South Africa also offers Ford Credit, a finance solution to help buyers purchase their new vehicles. Options include the new vehicle trade-in value guarantee, an added balloon payment, a 90-day payment holiday, and a 5% discount for students on their first new Ford vehicle.
The entry-level Ford Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost Trend 6MT retails from R278,200.
The Ford Fiesta model is protected by Ford's comprehensive four-year/120,000 km motor warranty, a five-year/unlimited km corrosion plan, and a three-year/unlimited km roadside assistance plan. The Ford Fiesta Service plan is valid for four-years/60,000 km and service intervals every 15,000 km.
The service plan is only valid if services are completed at Ford-accredited service centres. You can find out where these are located by connecting with your nearest Ford dealership.
Ford South Africa offers customers Ford Protect, their comprehensive car insurance policy which offers credit protection, extended cover, a deposit protector, and the Return To Invoice policy. In the event of an accident, this pays you out the original car purchase price minus either the vehicle's market value at the date of loss or the amount paid out by your car insurance company.
Ford is listed as one of the highest risk vehicles for theft in South Africa, according to Ctrack, a vehicle tracking and recovery agency. This will likely be factored into your Ford Fiesta car insurance quote, so keep this in mind when comparing insurance prices.
One of the best ways to find a good deal on your car insurance is to use our hippo.co.za online vehicle insurance comparison tool. You don't need to own a car to find out how much cover would cost for it – simply input the details of the car you're looking at buying and get a range of car insurance quotes to compare side-by-side within minutes.
Prices quoted are correct at the time of publishing this article. The information in this article is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal, or medical advice.
