This is a revisit of the already cool Ford Fiesta, where this round the car is equipped with the ever popular Engine of the Year for 2012 and 2013, the turbocharged Ecoboost 1.0-litre, that could easily produce 123hp/170Nm of power, making other engines of up to 1.6-litre unmatchable. This 3-cylinder unit is even rated with fuel consumption of 5.3L/100km, which save you some trips to the gas station. Comparing this engine side by side makes one feel the Ecoboost is of complicated technology, as it does not looks tiny in the cramped engine bay. In fact, it looks a bit messy with the turbocharger and the top air duct. Even the battery in the Ecoboost variant is larger!
Aside from the engine, this Fiesta is almost identical to the Sport variant of the Ti-VCT, except for a different skirting upfront that comes with the LED daytime running lights. Priced almost RM10k more from the 1.5-litre Sport variant, at RM97k, this little car is in fact expensive. To offset the price, Ford makes this one of the safest car in this category by having 7-airbag, which include a driver side knee airbag! Unless you wanted a hatchback car, with a turbocharged engine, at this price, the Honda City is still the best value.
The Fiesta's handling is always superb, and now the 20-year-old Ti-VCT engine is being swapped out with the Ecoboost engine, retaining the 6-speed Getrag's powershift transmission, which could further make this car a very interesting unit. However, a 1.0-litre small hatch with close to RM100k mark could be difficult to make it popular on our road. If premium automobiles were priced by the premium engine, comparing this to a Mini Cooper S 2.0-litre at RM249k, all of a sudden, it even make the Fiesta not worth the money as it does not fall into the premium category.
Even before one show interest, Ford's salesperson is already offering a RM7k discount for the car manufactured in 2013. This means there might have plenty of stock in the warehouse as we are already moving into mid 2014. Wait for the 2014 unit, RM1k discount will be offered as well. Push the salesperson harder, I think could easily get better discount as this could not be the fast moving Ecoboost.
