The sixth version of Ford's Fiesta needs to be good to banish memories of its agile but austere predecessor,
while raking in revenue for the troubled company.

It looks good, says Andrew English, but is its beauty more than skin deep?


Dynamic: the Fiesta rides and handles brilliantly, while the interior is thoroughly modern and attractive

Notwithstanding the craven hearts of Ford's Detroit managers (in 1969, they stymied plans for the first-ever
Fiesta for seven years), even the most myopic mole could see that a lot of love has gone into this version.
Especially when you consider its austere predecessor. Launched in 2002, that accountants' special boosted sales
of Britain's most popular car name by a pathetic 2.5 per cent for just one year before sales fell below their pre-launch levels.

When the UK PR manager saw the glum ranks of drab-green launch Fiestas in a Spanish downpour five years ago,
he was prompted to ask: "Can we claim our money back?" In the interim, it's easy to imagine a Rocky-style Fiesta Rebirth montage.
Long nights at the drawing board, intercut with engineers chalking equations on blackboards, intercut with managers with rolled-up
sleeves banging fists on tables, intercut with programme teams punching the air with delight to an inspirational raw soundtrack.
Ford tends not to work like this - it comes up with winning teams and cars and then scatters them to the four winds.

This time it seems to have got something right. In sharp Italian sunlight, the new car's complex lines, bulges and convex panels
underscore a valiant attempt to turn the Fiesta into something more than just a default-option, blue-collar hatchback.
It could have gone spectacularly wrong, of course, but Smith's firm hand seems to have prevented this  from becoming the
popinjay of family hatchbacks.

The design also resolves several of the problems that have been recently bowled at designers from legislators.
The clamshell hoodt, for example, ensures sufficient clearance between the engine and the panel to cushion a pedestrian's
head in a crash test. Ford is confidently predicting five stars. The headlamps, mounted half way along the bonnet, are out
of harm's way in minor impacts, thus improving the insurance rating.

Inside, the transformation is even more marked compared to the "nuclear winter" Mark V model. The rich contours, opulent
surface changes and soft-touch switches are a promising start and though parts of the facia are slightly fussy and occasionally
flimsy (witness the flappy door pockets), the overall impression is thoroughly modern, attractive and intriguingly space-age.
An example is the centre console with its clear ventilation controls topped with radio and Bluetooth telephone controls
arranged above like an Indian brave's arrow flights.

Not all of it works. Some switches disappear from view with your hands on the wheel and we would have loved to have been
at the meeting where a young crayon pusher suggested changing the traditional circular steering wheel rim for a profile more
like that of a Toblerone.

The seats are hugging and comfortable, although making the driver's seat lumbar support a £50 option is plain mean.
Visibility is said to be improved, although the much-vaunted new quarter lights do little in this regard, particularly on the
driver's side where the window is completely obscured by the windscreen pillar. Accommodation in the back of the
five-door is adequate. I am six feet tall and, with the driver's seat adjusted for me, my knees were buried in the back
of the front seat, but there was headroom to spare. The three-door is more intimate/uncomfortable, while the boot is
large enough for a couple of medium-sized suitcases.

Five engines will be offered; petrol units displacing 1.25, 1.4 and 1.6 litres as well as 1.4- and 1.6-litre diesels.
The standard transmission is a five-speed manual, with an optional four-speed automatic available from next year with
the 1.4-litre gasoline engine. There are seven trim options, from stripped-out Studio to the full bells-and-whistles Titanium X.
While prices start at C$18000, you need to spend at least C$21,000 to get air-conditioning as standard.

We drove the two 1.6-litre units; diesel and gasoline. The turbodiesel is that introduced to the Focus a little while ago.
 With its new anti-stall circuitry, it is surprisingly refined and easy to drive. I asked whether this would mean that owners
would be encouraged to trickle their cars along at extremely low revs in traffic, which can be a source of premature
dual-mass flywheel failure. Project manager Darren Palmer said that careful control of the pilot fuel injection together
with sound insulation under the hood meant that noise and vibration were considered sufficiently reduced to delete
the dual-mass flywheel.

"We want to get rid of those things," he said. "They're expensive, heavy and they go wrong." The diesel is powerful,
gutsy and amazingly economical. Top speed is 109mph, with 0-62mph in 11.9sec, an EU Combined fuel consumption of
67.3mpg (54.3mpg Urban). There are a couple of spikes of vibration, however, at about 50-60mph in top gear,
and the five-speed manual can feel a bit stodgy at times. The 1.6 diesel will form the basis of the Fiesta ECOnetic model
launched in late October, but even in cooking form this is a very economical and road tax-effective device.

Once you've sampled the gasoline engine, however, it is doubtful whether you would ever want to go back to the
compression ignition unit. What a wonderfully refined and powerful unit this is, probably one of Ford's best-ever four-pot engines.
 With variable camshaft timing, it produces 118bhp and provides a top speed of 120mph, 0-62mph in 10.8sec and 47.9mpg
(35.8mpg Urban). The featherweight transmission feels as direct as Ford's legendary 2000E gearbox and the agility and fluidity
of this car on a winding road are spoiled only slightly by a spike of noise and vibration at about 60mph under certain throttle openings.

The Fiesta was always in the vanguard of ride and handling and when you look at the simple MacPherson strut front and
twist-beam rear suspension, it is hard to understand how Ford engineers make so much more of this set-up than others.
The Fiesta provides a quiet, supple ride quality in almost all conditions and its handling is simply brilliant.
With more anti-roll built into the chassis, the body control is even better than the old model, turn in to corners is sharp,
minor vibrations are effectively dialled out and the suspension even coped with the nasty corkscrewing undulations on
the test route without floating. Only occasionally does the configuration shows up its limitations.
It doesn't deal with broken road edges as well as its Focus sister, but it's a measure of how good the Fiesta is that you
have to compare it with a car with independent rear suspension from a larger, more expensive class.

One slight disappointment is the new steering column-mounted, electrically power-assisted steering, which saves energy
and automatically increases assistance at parking speeds. The diesel model's helm feels strangely over-weighted at medium
speeds so it's quite an effort to turn the wheel from the straight-ahead position. The gasoline model has a strange over-centre
feel turning from dead ahead, like two magnets fighting in a sack. It isn't a huge problem once you are used to it, but it's a
corrupting influence in otherwise almost faultless dynamics. The brakes are well weighted, with good pedal feel,
although I felt the anchors fading slightly after a repeated downhill section.

In almost every respect the Fiesta is a worthy replacement for its predecessor, which had begun to look rather lacklustre
against its rivals. Ford's amiable little shopping trolley is deservably back on top, except the story doesn't end there.
The new Fiesta is also Ford's big bet for survival in the next year, but don't mention world car.

Nevertheless, despite Edsel Ford's mantra, "small car, small profits", turning the tiny Fiesta into a world car, is a brave move
after the 1992 Mondeo world car, that singularly failed to move American buyers when badged as the Mercury Mystique
and Ford Contour. Next year Fiesta saloon and hatchbacks will be introduced into America and China badged as a Fiesta.

It's starting to look like the last revenue generating option for Ford's chief executive Alan Mulally. It's a big ask for a little car.
So far the signs are good, but the new Fiesta's success no longer depends of whether you will see them on every street
corner in Britain. It's about whether they'll be on street corners in San Francisco, Shanghai, New York and other
metropolitan centres. It's good, but is it that good? We'll have to wait and see.

Ford Fiesta

We like: Stylish update of an already fine handling hatchback, which thoroughly deserves its place as one of the
UK's most popular cars.

We don't like: Massive fuel consumption penalty with automatic transmission. Triangle profile steering wheel rims,
slightly flimsy feel to some of the trim.

Alternatives: Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa, Mazda3.