The Fiesta has always been an enthusiast’s delight, even in its earlier avatar, now branded Classic, and more so in its sharp looking and feature rich current gen version. The earlier Fiesta too was quite a dapper car, its front being one of the sharper, more fashionable fascias of the lot. Nevertheless, Ford India decided that it was time to add the bold new family grille to the sporty sedan, garnish it with some more chrome, and add some nifty features to bring some more value to the package. So here it is, our two pence on the highs and the lows of the new 2014 Fiesta facelift that left us gasping in awe when we first saw its Aston-ish new face.
Exterior
After the Ecosport, the new Fiesta is the second Ford model to get the new family grille. The new radiator grille’s Aston Martin-ish appearance has been a hot talking point among auto aficionados. We’ll leave the argument about similarities with Astons behind though and evaluate the car in individuality. The smartly rehashed front fascia now replaces the earlier grille design which had a big black plastic slat dividing it in two.
The new grille has twin openings, with the big, bad, aggressive looking upper hexagonal unit adding loads of character and belligerence to the fascia. It’s got five chrome lined slats inside the frame, adding anger and stylishness to the face of the car in equal measure. The air dam at the bottom is lined with chrome at the bottom. Fog lamp housings are new, which, unlike the small body colored recesses on the earlier car, are wide, with ribbed insides and are finished in piano black.
On the flanks the imposing grille (we think it’s a hexagon, technically, Ford calls the shape trapezoidal though) headlamps are restyled, and are termed as ‘laser-cut’ by the official Ford media literature. The smoked black periphery of the headlamps on the earlier model has been replaced by a clear lens look.
Another important detail of the new Fiesta’s front end is the introduction of a power bulge on the bonnet. Two parallel creases travelling from the windscreen to the bumper form a powerful hump over the bonnet. The raised central bulk offers more physicality to the model’s face as compared to the previous version. As another small change, the Ford logo, which was earlier positioned between the bonnet and the bumper, is now inlaid into the bumper’s surface.
Nothing much has changed on the sides, except for the new design alloys. The new 10 spoke 15 inch alloy units are slimmer and lighter than the ones on the previous gen model, and with their star shaped design, are somewhat reminiscent of the alloys we have so very often seen on the Ferrari F430.
The cosmetic surgery continues at the rear with a new design created for the tail-lamps. Unlike the previous version where the reverse lights were triangular blocks, the new tail-lamps have their colors more horizontally aligned to give a wider look to the rear, which we assess otherwise looks rather high. The shape of the integrated spoiler on the boot-lid is also more aggressive on this model – it’s wider and more well-defined. The ford logo at the rear has moved down a little and is now positioned just above the registration plate recess. To make the car look wider from the rear, Ford designers have inserted a slim chrome garnish joining the reflectors at the two ends of the lower bumper, which themselves are positioned further apart to make the car look wider and more squat.
It’s not just the form of the car that the Ford guys have worked hard at though. The new shape has a functional consequence too. The new Fiesta is claimed to have been tested for more than 150 hours in the wind tunnel. The result is a 3 percent reduction in drag, further benefitting fuel efficiency and enhancing performance. The front air-deflector design and enhanced rear spoiler along with under body optimization have helped Ford achieve the feat.
The Fiesta looked sharp in its previous version as well, but the facelift takes the aggression and attitude to a new level. We love way the new Fiesta looks, especially when viewed front on, and from the front three quarters. Looked at in profile, the car somehow appears rather rear heavy. It’s at the rear where the proportions look slightly imprecise, but that’s more a handiwork of the black power suit clad marketing honchos who wanted the boot to be voluminous – quite rightly so, though, for this market. The designers have a done a good job with introducing horizontal elements on the new version, including the new tail-lamp design, a wider spoiler, a slim and wide chrome garnish and wider set reflectors to offset the tall looking boot.
The 2014 Ford Fiesta will be available in six colours including two new shades – Golden Bronze and Smoke Grey.
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