Ford Fiesta

My mouth is dry, my tongue tied and my knees are just ever so slightly wobbly. Gosh this is a beautiful little car. Just look at these pictures of the new Ford Fiesta and tell me you don't want it parked on your driveway, I know I do. Just not in Squeeze Green, thanks. Yikes.

From its rising waistline and falling roofline to its slash-like head-lights, gaping grille, and compact tail-gate the Fiesta is as gorgeously proportioned as Tyra Banks or Hugh Jackman, depending on whether you're a tail or a no-tail. And it gets better on the inside; the mobile phone-inspired centre console, supportive front seats, excellent driving position and the first-rate quality of the fit-and-finish make this look and feel like a much, much more expensive car. It starts from just $15,750, but, that said, the model you get for this, the CL, has fewer creature comforts than my pen.

While just being as marvellous to look at as any one of the Pussycat Dolls would be enough for most people, I expected more from the new Fiesta. Ford does too, but for entirely different reasons. You see, until a week ago last Tuesday, Ford's F truck was the best-selling vehicle in the whole of the United States of Barack Obama. Now it's not. Big cars are out and small cars are in. And that's why, friends, Ford is hoping this very Fiesta will help to dig it out of the brown stuff, and fast. The Fiesta will be built on three continents and sold on five, it is, says Ford, its most significant product since the Model T. It's the first new car in Ford's global ‘One Vision' strategy and so it has to be, because it'll be sold in so many different places, one-size fits all.

Anyway, I actually own a previous generation Zetec so my expectations of the thing were high. But not only did the new Fiesta Zetec live up to all of my expectations, it actually surpassed them. It's a cracker.

For a start it's a touch heavier than the old car, but not by as much as you'd think from looking at the muscular-looking little brute (about 40kg) and the engine has been tickled to produce a poofteenth more oomph. The 1.6-litre four-pot now makes 88kW and 152Nm, although, so flexible is this little engine, you'd swear it was more.

There's one other engine available in the line-up Down Under, but it's a smaller, less powerful 1.4-litre four-cylinder. And it's only available with an automatic gearbox. You wouldn't want that one.

Ford Australia would dearly love to get its hands on a diesel (in Europe you can choose from either a 1.4- or 1.6-litre four-cylinder diesel), given our deepening fondness for the stuff, but there's no word on when. Hold your breath though; it'll be sooner rather than later. And while I'm on the subject - of engines not diesel - there's no word on a sportier Fiesta, ah-la XR4. But you can bet your pants there's one in the pipeline.

While just about every other small car is about as much fun to drive as a shopping trolley and demonstrates a similar reluctance to turn corners, the Fiesta isn't and doesn't. Quite the opposite, actually, it absolutely loves bends and the harder you drive it the better it feels: tight, poised, and balanced and, for a sensible small car, it's actually a hell of a lot of fun. And I'm talking big-stupid-grin kind of fun. Enough room for four people, too.
Ford has replaced the old Fiesta's hydraulic steering set-up with an electric-assist system from the Focus and while there's a very slight wooliness at medium to high speeds, it's every bit as direct and fast as that on the old car. As for the suspension, well, besides a few tweaks, it's been largely carried over from the previous generation, with Macpherson struts up front and a torsion beam rear axle. And it's excellent. Indeed, nothing else in this category rides or handles half as well, not even the closely related Mazda2 (about 50 percent of components are shared).

More of a leap ahead of the old car than just a small step forwards, this new Fiesta is a vehicle we all have to take quite seriously. And that should ensure its place as one of the best, if not the best, small cars on the market. It's a wonderful opportunity, so don't screw it up, Ford.

Isaac Bober

Price: $20,250 (three-door Zetec)
Fuel Economy (comb): 6.1L/100km
Performance (0-100km/h): 10secs (est)
Tech: 1600cc, 4cyl. FWD. 88kW, 152Nm
Weight: 1091kg