Ford Fiesta ECOnetic 2010 Review

Ford Fiesta ECOnetic

Price Guide (recommended price before dealer and statutory charges):   [$24,990 driveaway at time of publishing]
Options fitted to test car (not included in above price): nil
Crash rating: five-star ANCAP
Fuel: Diesel
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 3.7 combined cycle
CO2 emissions (g/km): 98
Also consider: Hyundai i30 CRDi ($22,890); Volkswagen Polo 1.9 TDI (from $22,990); Citroen C3 HDi ($23,990); Peugeot 207 HDi ($29,490)

About our ratings

Ford's Fiesta ECOnetic stepped into a fairly crowded marketplace in the last few weeks of 2009 and laid immediate claim to the coveted title of Australia's most fuel-efficient car. That explains the advertising festooning the sides of the press fleet cars claiming it's more fuel efficient than a hybrid, given the most prominent previous claimant to the most fuel-efficient was Toyota's Prius.

But any such claim pitting the little ECOnetic against the much larger Toyota is specious. Ford dealers won't be inundated with trade-in Prii any time soon. The ECOnetic is more likely to steal market share from other baby diesels like Volkswagen's Polo, Citroen's C3 and Hyundai's i30 CRDi, not to mention the petrol brigade. And not without reason, for it puts up a mighty challenge to such competitors -- and even BMW's much costlier MINI D -- on a number of fronts.

This generation of Fiesta has attracted plaudits for its smart, distinctive styling. But more importantly, it's also drawn plenty of praise for its behaviour on the road. It's praise that's deserved. It's not up to the MINI for style, nuggetty solidity, blinding charisma and road genius (nor does it match it technologically -- it doesn't have auto stop/start and it could arguably do with the sixth cog the MINI gets), but it's close enough that a fair few buyers might be measuring the value of the MINI badge against the several months' mortgage payments marking the difference in price.

All the more so because the Fiesta is a true four-seater with decent bootspace...

The ECOnetic is all about fuel-efficiency, an end towards which Ford has put considerable thought. Extensive use of high-strength steels has kept weight down to 1088 kg -- very light even for this class. The 1.6 litre common rail turbodiesel is tuned for it and kept lubricated with special low-viscosity oils. It's matched to a dedicated transmission with a shift-up indicator in the tacho to help the driver. Ford's shod the 14-inch steel wheels with low-resistance Michelins and to help reduce drag they've redesigned the wheel covers and dropped the ride height slightly.

The result is a legitimate claim to the nation's best fuel-efficiency figure, a combined 3.7L/100km. And at 98g/km CO2, it's only the second car (after the Prius) to come in under the 100g threshold.

We had the ECOnetic over the Christmas break, during which it was subjected to a 50:50 mix of city and freeway driving in and around Sydney -- up the Central Coast, out to the Blue Mountains and down the South Coast.

It performed well, returning an average 4.4L/100km over nigh on 1000km. That's not in keeping with Ford's claim of 3.7L/100km, but there were several mitigating factors: the aircon was on virtually the whole time and it spent a fair amount of that time with multiple bums on seats with luggage in the boot. Most importantly, beyond driving most of the time in accordance with the suggestions of the shift indicator, I put no conscious effort into keeping fuel consumption down.

Given all of the above, 4.4 begins to look very impressive indeed.

Diesels are different to petrol engines. The proliferation of oilers coming on to the market is putting an end to any perception among the general populace of kilowatt figures as a driving pleasure ready reckoner. The ECOnetic, for example, puts out just 66kW, but the 200Nm peak torque served up from just 1750rpm makes it a joy to drive.

The powertrain package is designed to get you into the high gears and making best use of all that twist ASAP. To that end, the shift-up indicator works well as a retraining device for drivers inured to petrol power. It's useful early on, but once you're used to the dynamics of the oiler (that is, its skew towards low-end torque over power), it becomes redundant. You get a lot of pull from low revs, so you find the indicator telling you to change up surprisingly early, keeping you busy with the stick in the early stages after take-off and relaxing as you get into the upper-end cogs.

The car compensates for all that early activity by reducing the downshift requirements in changing direction, taking what would normally be second-gear corners in third or even fourth and accelerating out from down around 1000rpm without batting an eyelid.

Lightweight, rigid bodywork over stiffish McPherson struts up front and torsion beam rear end keep it flat and composed even through quite vigorous cornering. But there's a price in the ride and in road noise on rough tar, and it's not helped by the stiff-walled low-resistance tyres, but it's still not unduly intrusive.

The electrically assisted rack and pinion steering is well matched to the chassis, nicely weighted and communicative, but it's clear this drivetrain is more about maintaining momentum in upper gears than point-and-squirt cornering. It makes up for it in ease on the freeway.

The safety package is first class with a five-star ANCAP rating, seven airbag -- driver and front passenger, driver's knee, side torso and head -- antilock brakes and stability control.

Indoors is generally a nice place to be. At $24,990 the ECOnetic is not the cheapest model in its class. But that is a driveaway price, and you get a fair bit for your money.

An audio system that matches or exceeds anything you'll find in its class includes single CD, USB and auxiliary mini-jack inputs and wheel-mounted controls. A minor bone of contention here is the placement of the USB in the console. Poking out at an angle under the handbrake renders it vulnerable and while the sticks come cheap, repeated banging by fingers reaching for the brake could damage the socket.

On the upside, the display provides more information off the stick than those of some much costlier luxury cars. The system is easy to learn and use and, unusually, comes with standard bluetooth and voice control for phones.

Ergonomics are good, with clear, well laid out instruments. The centre dash panel housing the audio and ventilation controls takes a little learning in the early stages, but not in any way that makes it stand out adversely from the pack.

Thumbs-up to Ford for coming up with a wheel-mounted cruise control so good that, matched with that torquey little mill and well chosen gear ratios, it compensated amply for the lack of an auto transmission option (though we believe the lack of an auto option will undoubtedly cost Ford sales).

It's the simplest, most intuitive cruise I've ever used -- one look and you've learnt it, after that you can set and vary your pace foot-free for hours, cancelling to slow down, resetting and accelerating with nothing but tiny movements of your right thumb, no thought required. This helps make it unusually relaxed on freeway runs for a car of its size, something made all the better by plenty of midrange mojo to take advantage of overtaking lanes.

The interior finishes are a mixed bag, with door caps and console of cheapish hard plastics -- the industry standard at this end of the market -- offset by classy, textured soft-touch material over most of the facia.

The seats and driving position are not to everyone's taste, but I had no trouble getting comfortable and staying that way, including for runs of several hours' duration. The seats could be a mite more supportive under harder cornering and braking conditions, but this isn't a car made for such hard-man stuff.

Rear leg-room doesn't match the baby Hondas or Hyundai's i30, but it's usable. It seems a little churlish not to extend the electric windows to the rear.

Visibility all round is adequate, at least until you put three adults in the rear, at which point the narrowness of the rear window can be a problem.

Complaints otherwise are few and mild. There's no spare wheel -- just a 'temporary mobility kit', ostensibly to save weight. With a good few hundred revs between the 1750 peak torque threshold and the speed at which it's spinning in fifth at freeway speeds, the gearbox could do with a sixth cog. Nor does it have an auto stop/start 'microhybrid' package.

The success of Ford's first branded effort at bringing green motoring principles into a mainstream market segment lies in the Fiesta ECOnetic's early sales figures. It was a smash hit in Europe from day one in 2008, and it looks set do as well in Australia, with dealers selling whatever stock they can get their hands on fast.

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