How does the new Ford Fiesta stack up against its competition?

The Fiesta is available with the option of 1.5-litre petrol and diesel engine. India is the first market to get these new Ford engines. They have been derived from the Ford’s 1.6-litre petrol and diesel engines. At present both the engines come mated to a five-speed manual transmission but we do expect Ford to introduce its dual clutch PowerShift transmission sometime by the end of this year.

v/s Hyundai Verna: The Hyundai Verna was launched a couple of months ago and is clocking more than 4000 units per month at the moment. The new Verna is loaded with a lot of goodies like electric folding mirrors, reverse camera and push start. The Verna comes with four engine options and offers manual and automatic transmission variants as well. The Verna is a great value for money car. The styling on the Verna is also good enough.

v/s Honda City: Honda City has been the best seller in this segment and is only offered in petrol. The new City was launched in 2008 and is powered by a 1.5-litre iVTEC engine and comes with an option of manual and automatic transmission. With the rise in petrol prices, the advantage that the Fiesta will have over the City, is that the Fiesta has a diesel engine option and the City is the oldest of the lot, even though it doesn’t look aged.

v/s Volkswagen Vento: The Volkswagen Vento has been the closest competitor with the City so far. The VW badge and the overall build quality has attracted many buyers. Not to forget the powerful diesel motor, which we fell in love with. The Fiesta, on the other hand has very contemporary design and it comes loaded with first-in class features like voice recognition and cruise control.