Ford Fiesta 1.25

As can be seen from my previous car reviews my car purchasing tends towards the cheap and basic, meaning I have had some pretty hefty bills to deal with when MOT'ing my beloved rustbuckets so this year it was time for something alittle different according to my family.

So armed with Nanna's cheque book my Aunt, Mum and Step Dad embarked on an adventure which was to end with the purchase of two shiney new cars for my sister and I (to make the drive look prettier I suspect). After a few days of looking (and from all accounts several near disasterous arguements over if we would like a KA, or a Smartcar.....) I was visited at work by my Mum armed with two car brochures, one for the new shape Fiesta and one for the Suzuki Swift and asked to choose a preferred colour for my 'mums new car', in both cases there was a metallic blue which I liked lots.

Roll forward to the end of March two very hungover young women are falling across their mothers drive way for Sunday lunch to be confronted with a room full of family (Dad and Mum in one room was enough of a shock to begin with) and two car keys and log books...sent back outside we found sat on that same drive we had literally seconds earlier walked across (we were VERY hungover it has to be said) two brand new Ford Fiesta Style's, complete with ribbons and balloons!!

Unsurprisingly I was handed the keys for the 'Ocean' blue car while my sisters choice had been for a metallic black.

Given our hangovers we could do little more than goldfish impressions for the next 24 hours (along with regular checks to ensure that the shiney new cars really were still there).

Six months and 3500 miles later I feel that I am familiar enough with the car to write this review.

The Fiesta Style models are the mid range option, having enough bells and whistles to keep most people happy along with a 1.25 engine which wont terrify insurers when its being driven by a young person. As standard you get central locking, cd player, heated rear windscreen, 12v power socket, AUX point for connecting MP3 or similar music devices.

In terms of space and comfort the drivers seat at first I found to be a little hard but then given the seat on my previous car had all but collapsed that is no bad thing. Passengers report plenty of space in both the front and rear seats and even the tallest people I have had in the car haven't struggled for head or leg room.

For storage there is a fairly large glove box (certainly its bigger than those of my previous cars), a small 'shelf' below the air vents next to the gear stick, three deep cup holders - if anyone saw the TopGear test with the Marines you'll know that just how handy those cup holders really are - behind the gear stick, the door pockets are deep enough to hold most things but I have found that the positioning of the speakers means anything which might rattle does if you listen to anything with any sign of a beat, and a smaller secondary compartment to the right of the steering wheel and below the light control. More than enough space for all the assorted odd things I tend to carry with me, there is however only one seatback pocket, this is on the passenger seat. In the back of the car are wells where in a 5 door car you would expect the door handles to be but since I dont use the backseats I tend not to consider those.

The drive felt very different to my previous car, but I find handles well, taking in to consideration the vast difference between the previous car with no power steering and this which does have the PAS as you would expect I much prefer to the driving experience of this Fiesta to my old clio.

In terms of speed I'm no girl racer so the 0 - 60 simply doesnt interest me, suffice to say it is a car I am happy to drive at 30mph around town but feels just as comfortable doing 70 to 80mph on the motorways, and I believe though I have never tested it that it has a max speed of 92 mph. The engine is much quieter than the Clio's was and there is a distinct lack of road noise (I can finally turn the radio below volume 10 and still hear it).

My driving does tend to be a very mixed bag, my 'commute' to work is only around 4 miles of town driving, but every other weekend I'll throw a change of clothes in to a bag and head for Essex to see Mr Scuba, and at least twice a month I'll pack up my diving kit and go to the coast or up the M6 to my local 'puddle'. The only occasion I felt that the engine was struggling I was carrying two full sets of dive kit and two spare cylinders (4 12ltr steel cylinders in total), but on a typical trip with just the one set of kit and one spare cylinder the engine doesnt seem to be working much harder than it does on an equivalent trip with no heavy kit in the back.

Fuel consumption is good, and seems to be improving (though I had thought by now the engine would be throughly worked in) the 250 mile drive from home to Mr Scuba's takes around 1/2 a tank of fuel assuming I stick to a steady 65 - 75 mph, increasing the average speed to 70 - 80 mph uses a fairly shocking 1/4 tank more for the same journey (as tested on my last trip). On average when doing mostly town driving I fill up roughly every 300 miles. The fuel tank contains 42ltr.

The exterior has a completely different look and feel to it than the older Fiesta models, the new shape is much sleeker than the preceeding models and seems to have divided opinions some people love it while others hate it, personally I possibly wouldn't have choosen it for myself but now I have it I adore it for its shape.

My main niggly annoyances with it are the slope of the bonnet, if you're as tall as I am (5''4') I can't see the end of the bonnet which has made parking an interesting experience whilst I got used to the car, also the windscreen seems to be a long slope compared to the more upright slope of the Clio - yet the car itself feels taller than the Clio, this means there is also a very wide feeling dash which initially added to my uncertainty in parking accurately. There don't seem to be any particularly annoying 'extra' blindspots comparing the two cars which is great, I think this is down to the length of the windscreen slope and the small window in the triangle in front of the door.

Overall I am more than happy with my lovely new car, and I remain stunned that my family would spend that much money on me for no reason other than they thought my sister and I would like to have new cars!