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What is it?

This is the Ford Fiesta 1.25i Zetec. It’s powered by the smallest engine available in the Ford Fiesta range, and is none the worse for it.

With just 81bhp on offer in a car weighing 1098kg, the Ford Fiesta 1.25i Zetec is not the nippy runabout it was when the 1.25-litre engine appeared two generations ago.

But getting behind the wheel proves that there’s much more to this car than its headlining abilities of low running costs and stylish looks.

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Blimey, getting official...... Victoria Parrott now!

This 1.25 engine is a cracker, it always has been, even when it was fitted to the Mk4 Fiesta.  A lot of manufacturers would do well to bench mark this unit for its free spinning and genuinely interesting nature.  You certainly won't hear any asthmatic wheezes or strained tones from the engine bay with this sweet little engine.

I did always wonder why Ford never fitted it to the lighter (Ford not Fiat) KA.  Would have made it an almost perfect small car. 

TegTypeR:

I did always wonder why Ford never fitted it to the lighter (Ford not Fiat) KA.  Would have made it an almost perfect small car. 

Bye bye fiesta 3 door sales if they'd done that. Price would have gone up a bit as well. I always thought they'd still have made more money; it'd have been more economical and more fun - even if it'd stolen sales from the fiesta it'd have been worth it with increased overall ka sales

Could just be that the 1.25 simply wouldn't fit under the Ka's bonnet (perhaps related to crashworthiness rules). Sure I read that somewhere, but may be wrong. With DOHC, the 1.25 may well be a fair bit taller than the old pushrod 1.3.

What a fantastic little engine! Makes you wonder why they kept the old 1.3 going for so long.