How much of a hybrid is the new Ford Fiesta Hybrid then?
Not a lot. You can’t plug it into the wall, or silently waft about exclusively on electric electricity. No, this is a delicate hybrid. Absolutely nothing scary here.
Fundamentally, it’s the hottest 1.-litre turbo engines from the Puma crossover, dwelling everyday living a very little decreased down in Ford’s phenomenally popular supermini.
They’ve been boosted by a 48-volt belt-driven starter-generator motor which is juiced by a wee lithium-ion battery pack. So teeny in reality, it doesn’t try to eat into the Fiesta’s boot place or steal any legroom. Even the gasoline tank’s the identical dimensions as a non-hybrid Fiesta. Intelligent packaging, that.
Definitely, the flipside is you’re not having much in the way of electrical enhance. Ford says the 14lb ft motor chips in to deal with off turbo lag when you cannot be bothered to alter down a gear. The engine by itself has sprouted a larger turbo and a lower compression ratio, for the reason that of the e-assistance when starting off.
Hardly a Porsche 918 Spyder, is it?
Nope. This isn’t what you’d connect with ‘a numbers car’.
There are two flavours of energy output: the hen korma 123bhp model, and a slightly warmer hen korma 154bhp model. And rather of the common oh-yeah-suitable million-miles-per-gallon claims, Ford states that at very best, this zap of electroboost could possibly give you a five for each cent economy improvement.
Positive, there’s also cylinder deactivation to permit the car or truck operate on two cylinders when cruising, but massive whoop. The 197bhp Fiesta ST offers that. Has done for years.
Go on then, how cost-effective is it?
We buzzed all around in a Fiesta ST-line X fitted with the lesser 123bhp motor for 200 mixed-self-discipline miles and averaged 46mpg. So you see, Ford’s forecast was right. The hybrid raise gives you a minimal little bit back again, but does not flip the Fiesta into a total tee-totaller. We ended up way off the 57.6mpg formal declare. It was the fault of the dealing with, honest.
For some true-planet context, my other 50 % owns an aged-condition Fiesta fitted with the lowly 74bhp tri-cylinder motor. It tends to mooch about city, praying we won’t at any time point it at a motorway, a hill, or a notably steep speed bump. It hardly ever fails to do less than 43 miles per gallon.
What Ford’s completed in this article is carry out conscience-easing peace of intellect to the Fiesta. You really do not even have to try out to travel it meticulously, and it’ll quietly sip a little bit much less petrol. In the meantime, you can get on with enjoying daily life. Starting up with charging close to some corners.
The added excess weight hasn’t blunted the handling then?
Nope, this is even now the cheekiest compact motor vehicle dollars can acquire. It is great. And apart from, the EcoBoost Hybrid only weighs all around 30kg additional than the outgoing, non-hybrid version. You are going to never notice.
What you will place is the re-gen outcome when you carry off the throttle. To harvest vitality for the battery, Ford’s put in a regenerative braking program that will get to function the 2nd you simplicity up on the gas. There is even a minor graphic on the dashboard to reveal the place the electric power is being despatched – battery-wards when you coast, or to the wheels as you accelerate.
The sluggish-down influence is pretty pronounced if you are upgrading from an previous Fiesta. For the to start with week, you are going to discover your self at a going for walks speed 50 percent a mile before the roundabout you intended to freewheel up to. Brake pedal sense alone is high-quality, though.
So are all the controls. The gearshift is wonderful – just as perfectly, due to the fact Fiesta Hybrids are manual only – the steering has a lovely oily slickness to it, and the full automobile has a feeling of poise that tends to make it really feel like a much extra costly, effectively-honed merchandise. If McLaren or Porsche came over all city stylish and made a decision to establish a VW Polo rival, it’d manage like this.
Anything else?
Many thanks to the heftier electrical architecture, the new Fiesta is also keener to slash the engine at a red light.
There is actually a sub-menu to choose when you want this to occur if which is unnerving for you (great concept, Ford), but understand to belief the laptop or computer and it’ll quietly destroy the thrummy engine as before long as you fall down below 15mph. Start out-up is ultra-clean and instantaneous.
But this isn’t the only compact hybrid town car vying for my hard cash, is it?
Lord, no. There’s now some thing named the Renault Clio E-Tech, which promises to use F1 technology to make excursions to the shops cheaper.
It’s massively extra difficult that the Fiesta. It’ll run at up to 40mph on e-electricity alone, and prices cannily begin a couple hundred quid less costly general than the Fiesta. It is much more cramped in the back and not as great to push, though.
Then there’s the hottest, alternatively fantastic evolution of Toyota’s hybrid-only Yaris, which ultimately seems to be as intelligent as it is underneath. Driven with treatment and focus, some of the extra state-of-the-art hybrid superminis will be far more frugal than the Fiesta, no doubt.
The Fiesta is a more simple brew. It asks really substantially almost nothing of you, it is stunningly great to generate, useful at anything else and now goes a minor even more on a tank. This one is not the gateway drug into electrified motoring you could possibly anticipate, but it is the best day-to-day supermini on the planet.
9/10
£22,285 (ST-line X 5dr)
1.-litre 3cyl turbo plus e-motor
123bhp, 155lb ft
-62mph in 9.4sec, 126mph
57.6mpg, 109g/km CO2
1217kg
Not a lot. You can’t plug it into the wall, or silently waft about exclusively on electric electricity. No, this is a delicate hybrid. Absolutely nothing scary here.
Fundamentally, it’s the hottest 1.-litre turbo engines from the Puma crossover, dwelling everyday living a very little decreased down in Ford’s phenomenally popular supermini.
They’ve been boosted by a 48-volt belt-driven starter-generator motor which is juiced by a wee lithium-ion battery pack. So teeny in reality, it doesn’t try to eat into the Fiesta’s boot place or steal any legroom. Even the gasoline tank’s the identical dimensions as a non-hybrid Fiesta. Intelligent packaging, that.
Definitely, the flipside is you’re not having much in the way of electrical enhance. Ford says the 14lb ft motor chips in to deal with off turbo lag when you cannot be bothered to alter down a gear. The engine by itself has sprouted a larger turbo and a lower compression ratio, for the reason that of the e-assistance when starting off.
Hardly a Porsche 918 Spyder, is it?
Nope. This isn’t what you’d connect with ‘a numbers car’.
There are two flavours of energy output: the hen korma 123bhp model, and a slightly warmer hen korma 154bhp model. And rather of the common oh-yeah-suitable million-miles-per-gallon claims, Ford states that at very best, this zap of electroboost could possibly give you a five for each cent economy improvement.
Positive, there’s also cylinder deactivation to permit the car or truck operate on two cylinders when cruising, but massive whoop. The 197bhp Fiesta ST offers that. Has done for years.
Go on then, how cost-effective is it?
We buzzed all around in a Fiesta ST-line X fitted with the lesser 123bhp motor for 200 mixed-self-discipline miles and averaged 46mpg. So you see, Ford’s forecast was right. The hybrid raise gives you a minimal little bit back again, but does not flip the Fiesta into a total tee-totaller. We ended up way off the 57.6mpg formal declare. It was the fault of the dealing with, honest.
For some true-planet context, my other 50 % owns an aged-condition Fiesta fitted with the lowly 74bhp tri-cylinder motor. It tends to mooch about city, praying we won’t at any time point it at a motorway, a hill, or a notably steep speed bump. It hardly ever fails to do less than 43 miles per gallon.
What Ford’s completed in this article is carry out conscience-easing peace of intellect to the Fiesta. You really do not even have to try out to travel it meticulously, and it’ll quietly sip a little bit much less petrol. In the meantime, you can get on with enjoying daily life. Starting up with charging close to some corners.
The added excess weight hasn’t blunted the handling then?
Nope, this is even now the cheekiest compact motor vehicle dollars can acquire. It is great. And apart from, the EcoBoost Hybrid only weighs all around 30kg additional than the outgoing, non-hybrid version. You are going to never notice.
What you will place is the re-gen outcome when you carry off the throttle. To harvest vitality for the battery, Ford’s put in a regenerative braking program that will get to function the 2nd you simplicity up on the gas. There is even a minor graphic on the dashboard to reveal the place the electric power is being despatched – battery-wards when you coast, or to the wheels as you accelerate.
The sluggish-down influence is pretty pronounced if you are upgrading from an previous Fiesta. For the to start with week, you are going to discover your self at a going for walks speed 50 percent a mile before the roundabout you intended to freewheel up to. Brake pedal sense alone is high-quality, though.
So are all the controls. The gearshift is wonderful – just as perfectly, due to the fact Fiesta Hybrids are manual only – the steering has a lovely oily slickness to it, and the full automobile has a feeling of poise that tends to make it really feel like a much extra costly, effectively-honed merchandise. If McLaren or Porsche came over all city stylish and made a decision to establish a VW Polo rival, it’d manage like this.
Anything else?
Many thanks to the heftier electrical architecture, the new Fiesta is also keener to slash the engine at a red light.
There is actually a sub-menu to choose when you want this to occur if which is unnerving for you (great concept, Ford), but understand to belief the laptop or computer and it’ll quietly destroy the thrummy engine as before long as you fall down below 15mph. Start out-up is ultra-clean and instantaneous.
But this isn’t the only compact hybrid town car vying for my hard cash, is it?
Lord, no. There’s now some thing named the Renault Clio E-Tech, which promises to use F1 technology to make excursions to the shops cheaper.
It’s massively extra difficult that the Fiesta. It’ll run at up to 40mph on e-electricity alone, and prices cannily begin a couple hundred quid less costly general than the Fiesta. It is much more cramped in the back and not as great to push, though.
Then there’s the hottest, alternatively fantastic evolution of Toyota’s hybrid-only Yaris, which ultimately seems to be as intelligent as it is underneath. Driven with treatment and focus, some of the extra state-of-the-art hybrid superminis will be far more frugal than the Fiesta, no doubt.
The Fiesta is a more simple brew. It asks really substantially almost nothing of you, it is stunningly great to generate, useful at anything else and now goes a minor even more on a tank. This one is not the gateway drug into electrified motoring you could possibly anticipate, but it is the best day-to-day supermini on the planet.
9/10
£22,285 (ST-line X 5dr)
1.-litre 3cyl turbo plus e-motor
123bhp, 155lb ft
-62mph in 9.4sec, 126mph
57.6mpg, 109g/km CO2
1217kg
