Car and Driver recently ran a story about a medical courier who racked up 743,000 miles on his 2011 Fiesta – I’ll save you the math, folks, that’s 1.2 million kilometres!

Furthermore, that mega-miler has the much-maligned dual-clutch automated manual (PowerShift in Ford lingo), a dry-clutch design that did not win many fans at launch with its clunky low-speed behaviour. This endurance run shows that the Fiesta is one well-born, solid offering in the subcompact world, a category where cars are often considered throwaway commodities.

Part of Alan Mullaly’s “One Ford” approach, the Fiesta came to us straight from the Old Continent in 2011, with name-appropriate Mexican assembly to reduce the price of admission to this little party on wheels. Launched in cheerful colours and to rave reviews, the Fiesta was an immediate hit with the masses in the land of the supersize. With a full trim range and generous option list, the Fiesta can either be a basic fleet car for meter maids or a chic leather-lined boutique compact for trendy condo dwellers.

No matter how loaded a Fiesta is, the Euro genes can be felt through the seat of your pants, proving that a frugal ride need not be a purgatorial experience. In 2014, Ford created one wild party animal, mating the Fiesta with a tuned 197 hp version of their 1.6L EcoBoost mill and bolting on all the proper go-fast bits to create one heck of a pocket rocket, the Fiesta ST. Automotive journalists are very weak to this sort of bait, and immediately the rest of the Fiesta range dropped off their radar. That’s too bad because the other EcoBoost in the Fiesta family deserves more attention. In 2015, Ford introduced North America to a very European approach to fuel economy improvements: the tiny engine. The available 1.0 litre EcoBoost is a turbocharged, intercooled three-cylinder briefcase that pumps up an impressive 123 hp at 6,000 rpm and 125 lb-ft of torque at only 2,500 rpm.

This week’s ride however has the bread-and-butter 1.6 litre four-cylinder engine, good for 120 hp at 6,350 rpm and 112 lb-ft of torque at 5,000 rpm. My tester also came in two-pedal configuration, mating the four-banger to the six-speed PowerShift automated manual. According to Energuide, this tandem is good for 8.7 L/100 km city, 6.4 highway and 7.6 combined. In late 2013, I recommended a Fiesta to a friend who was on a tight budget, but needed a basic automatic compact with A/C. She’s very pleased with her Fiesta sedan, but the DCT transmission was very balky initially and needed a few software upgrades before things became acceptable.

See also: 2015 Ford Focus and Ford Fiesta First Drive

Having driven that car, as I plopped myself in the driver’s seat of my 2016 Fiesta SE hatchback and saw the “PRNDS” shifter, I immediately wondered how much refinement three model years have brought to this drivetrain. A lot, it turns out. Having just stepped out of a new Focus 1.0 EcoBoost, sporting a conventional automatic, I did not immediately feel the DCT difference. It’s that good. The manual nature of the beast will still make itself known during parking manoeuvres, where you can feel the clutches at work and get occasional clumsy behaviour. But under way, this is nothing like my friend’s old Fiesta was. Shifts are crisp and smooth, no balkiness.

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