Ford Fiesta Review

If you’re after a good value small car that’s fun to drive, then the Ford Fiesta should be right near the top of your shopping list. It’s a great value package that has decent amounts of tech, and a fantastic range of punchy petrol engines. Downsides? The boot isn’t as big as in rival cars, and nor are the back seats.

It goes up against the Volkswagen Polo, Vauxhall Corsa, Peugeot 208 and – if you’re on a budget – the Dacia Sandero.

The current generation of Ford Fiesta’s been around since 2017, and it brought a more modern feeling interior than its predecessor thanks primarily to a bright infotainment screen. It’s a little bit outdated and the screen isn’t all that sharp, but you can still plug your smartphone in to use Android Auto or Apple CarPlay – leaving you free to use your favourite mobile sat-nav app, as well as Spotify or similar for your music. 

Ford updated the Fiesta in 2021 and added a standard-fit digital dashboard in place of traditional analogue dials – it looks fabulous and really modernises the interior. 

The Fiesta’s interior quality is great for the price – there are some cheap-feeling plastics low down on the doors and centre console, but all the bits you touch feel pleasant, including a leather-wrapped steering wheel on most models.

The very latest version of the Fiesta is only available as a five-door model, but you’ll still see sportier-looking three-door versions of the previous-generation car for sale at Motorpoint. Pick the five-door if you’re going to use your back seats – it’s far easier to get in and out than in the three-door model.

Once you’re in the back seats you’ll find that even six-foot-tall adults are surprisingly well catered for, with decent headroom and knee room. That said, a Skoda Fabia or Honda Jazz have yet more back-seat space. 

The Fiesta’s boot space is average for a car this size at 292 litres – but there’s still enough room for some carry-on bags and a big food shop. Again, the Fabia and Jazz are leaders in this class for carrying stuff.

The Ford Fiesta’s engine lineup is mercifully simple – you can pick from a 1.0-litre turbocharged ‘EcoBoost’ petrol engine, a 1.1-litre petrol that offers cheap insurance or a rapid 1.5-litre petrol in the Fiesta ST hot hatch. Some of the petrol models come with hybrid badges, but they’re really just mild hybrids that use a small battery and tiny electric motor to make a negligible difference to fuel economy and performance. They certainly can’t drive on electric power alone.

We’d pick a 1.0-litre EcoBoost with 100 or 125hp. Expect to get about 50mpg from it, and a 0-62mph time of under 10 seconds. They all feel more than fast enough.

This is where the Fiesta excels – it makes every drive fun. There’s something about the way it steers and grips that just puts a smile on your face. Sure, the ST-Line models are probably a bit too firm if you live somewhere with bumpy, pot-holed roads, but by and large, the Fiesta just works really well on UK Tarmac – probably why it’s such a big seller over here. 

The range-topping Fiesta ST model is guaranteed to make you drive like an absolute yob, and it’s one of the finest hot hatches money can buy.