My tester’s all-black interior featured a fully padded dash top whose design and textures would not look out of place in a MINI or Citroën. The instrument panel’s one ergonomic fail, besides the clock, is the very low and recessed location of the HVAC controls. The door panels don’t feel as premium, offering hard surfaces to your elbows. Rear passengers don’t even get padded armrests – only solid plastic ones. And speaking of armrests, there is a padded one up front between the cloth-covered heated bucket seats. However, I would need my arms to extend behind my elbows for that armrest to be of any use. And no, it doesn’t slide forward, but does contain two USB slots and a pass-through for your phone’s cable.

Sync 3 worked without a hitch, easily pairing my iPhone and accepting vocal commands despite my French-Canadian accent. The audio system punched above the price class, except for the typically tinny-sounding satellite radio channels. Breaking up the monochrome black seriousness is the ambiance lighting package, whose control is right at your fingertip if your hand is resting on the gearshift. Enjoy driving your passengers nuts at night while discreetly cycling through all the colours that light up the footwells, cupholders and recessed areas of the dashboard. Purple! Blue! Orange! Red! Wheee!

Even though a petite Fiesta is no minivan, I was able to use it as an airport limo to drive my significant other and no-less significant mother-in-law to their flight, along with luggage. Planning to rent a small car on a Euro trip? Take note: the trunk will swallow one standard suitcase and two carry-ons. The second piece of luggage came aboard thanks to the 60/40 split rear seat; no flat-floor here as the folded seatbacks sit one level above the trunk floor. Besides mother-in-laws, six-foot-tall reporters can also fit back there, provided their 18-year-old teenage daughter is at the wheel. This allows me to report that a) it’s a bit noisy in the right rear seat thanks to the surprisingly sporty exhaust note and b) daughter’s same-age friends found my ride to be totally, like, funky.

And all dressed-up as this tester is, “funky” fully applies. Tired of seeing fifty shades of grey? “Electric Spice Metallic” seems to have been lifted out of a Hot Wheels assembly line, and along with the graphics, SE Black trim package and body kit, this Fiesta is one flashy little party on wheels. That eye-popping colour fits the Fiesta’s playful personality and words fail to describe how vivid it looked one very early morning as I got out of the house to begin my commute.

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