We are mightily impressed with the new Fiesta. Never before has a small car brought together qualities like spunky style, refinement, comfort, interior quality and handling so convincingly in a single package.

Having a 1.4 Titanium for the weekend, I seized the chance to take it on a road trip from Jo’burg to Sabie to find out what it is really made of.

Packing the car for the trip, I could not help but admire the lines once again. Fiesta is especially pretty in three-door form. From that large trapezoidal lower grille and razor-sharp, back-swept headlights that give it an aggressive face to that raising beltline that runs up the side to that really cheeky rear end – this car borders on stunning.

The generous boot swallowed a horde of luggage with plenty space to spare and getting comfy behind the wheel was no hassle with a multitude of steering wheel and seat adjustments at my disposal. The seats proved very supportive and certainly weren’t uncomfortable over the near-400km journey.

The interior is every bit as appealing as the car’s exterior. The dash is funky and outlandish, without being too over the top, while ergonomics presented no problem, and there are lots of nooks and crannies for odds, ends and litter.

I decided to keep fuel consumption as low as possible, without driving too slowly – which meant sticking to the speed limits, avoiding gear changes as far as possible and using every bit of momentum to my advantage. I was never expecting the car to match the optimistic-sounding claimed rural consumption figure of 4.7l/100km, which albeit is measured at much lower speeds and altitudes, but I wasn’t too disappointed with the 6.5-6.6l/100km average that the on-board computer fed me.

As has always been a Fiesta tradition, ride quality was good and the handling and steering excellent. It was a great pleasure to confidently chuck it through those sharp bends on the Long Tom pass, just a pity this car didn’t have the urge to power out nicely.

Which brings us to this car’s biggest drawback. Unless you work the gearbox heavily, it’s rather sluggish at altitude and feels very flat in the lower rev range. I once owned an older-generation Fiesta 1.6-litre, with the old-tech Rocam motor - which was 1kW less powerful than this modern 1.4. Yet the old car felt far punchier and a lot more flexible, albeit that it had a better power to weight ratio.

But there is an easy remedy for this Fiesta’s performance deficit — a mere R7000 extra will get you the 88kW 1.6-litre version, and if you’re spending this kind of money already, it shouldn’t make a huge dent on the monthly installment. Thus, there’s no doubt in my mind that the latest 1.6-litre Fiesta is the best small hatch you can buy right now.

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