Active, ST-Line, Vignale, Titanium: the 4 high quality finishes of the new Fiesta range
A new Fiesta? Yes Sir, yes Madam: the 7th generation! Ah....
To renew its favourite city car, Ford has nevertheless put its heart and soul into it, particularly on the latest technological equipment, the simplification of the dashboard, and the multiplication of premium finishes with high added value (which Ford hopes will represent 60% of sales). But who knows?
The theory of evolution... invisible
Sometimes being conservative is good. But when you replace a car that is almost 9 years old, you make sure that it is noticed. Ford decided that the Fiesta 7 would look like the Fiesta 6, even if it meant losing its personality (no more vertical taillights, no more ribbed hood). We will see, at a time when aesthetics is guiding the choice of many motorists, whether this strategy pays off....
To compensate for the timidity of its design, the Fiesta has a wide range of finishes, especially premium ones. Because apart from the low Essential and Trend finishes (of which Ford has not published any pictures) and the sporty ST version, there are no less than 4 finishes with different temperaments that will be placed at the top of the range, each with different calendars and shields. There is the Fiesta Active, slightly elevated, with SUV presentation. Then the traditional Titanium finish, cosy and well endowed. Then the Vignale finish, synonymous with luxury and over-equipped. And finally, the ST-Line finish, whose sporty presentation is similar, as its name suggests, to the turbulent ST. But Ford is not satisfied with that and has provided its city car with a host of safety systems rarely assembled on a model of this size. I don't inventory it for you, because everything is noted in the table below. The dashboard has dropped its "spaceship" appearance to return to something more reasonable and homogeneous, even in Essential finish or the touch screen of 6.5″ or 8″ (depending on the version) is replaced by a kind of practical console with its display 4.2″. But in any case, Ford had the good taste to keep the heating/climate settings separate without having to enter the system, which is much more ergonomic.
Ford has not ruined itself for the chassis, which is only an evolution of the previous one. But does this conservatism at least make it possible to keep 3 and 5-door versions, which is becoming rare among the competition. In terms of petrol engines, there is something new at the bottom (with the 1.1L Ti-VCT of 70 or 85 hp) and at the top (with the surprising new 197 hp 3 cylinder 1.5L Ecoboost engine that will soon be fitted to the ST). As a result, with the 1.0L Ecoboost that already existed, the Fiesta is the only city car to have a petrol range only in 3 cylinders with such a wide range of powers. On the other hand, there is no change for diesel with the recent 1.5L TDCI, which remains faithful to the 4 cylinders.