The new Fiesta platform is as significant through Ford’s aspirations for it as it is through any technical innovation. With MacPherson strut front suspension, a torsion beam suspending the rear and a monocoque steel body, there is little here we haven’t seen before. In fact, in the shape of the Mazda 2, we have already seen precisely this platform.
Nevertheless, although the Fiesta is conventionally constructed, there is some neat engineering at work in the body. Despite being stiffer, stronger and built to crash far more solidly than its predecessor, the new Fiesta is approximately 40kg lighter thanks to the increased use of higher-tensile steels in the body, allowing the use of less material overall.
When we road tested a Mazda 2 this time last year, it tipped our scales at 1035kg, so it’s slightly disappointing to see the Fiesta come in at 1090kg despite being longer only by around 50mm, and only a whisker wider and taller.
Regardless, both are at the lighter end of the modern supermini scale and among the smallest, at less than 4000mm long. In the Mazda’s case, its lightness and smallness translates to a lack of refinement on the motorway; perhaps the Ford’s extra 55kg has been used to reduce noise because, as we will see, it is not similarly afflicted.
Visually, the Mazda and the Ford are not proportionally dissimilar either, with steeply rising bonnets, wedged waistlines, similarly angled A-pillars and rooflines that sweep roundly towards the rear. The Ford’s design is relatively faithful to the Verve concept’s. That said, in its time with us, we found a fair number of enthusiasts who preferred the lines of the Mazda 2. We’re also inclined to think the Fiesta’s design works better as a three-door than in this five-door form, particularly on our test car’s alloy wheels, which leave the wheel arches looking malnourished.
