Since my Yaris HB is now in its 11th year I've been looking at a replacement. Not unexpectedly it has shown its worth in the long haul with very low running costs and has been extremely well suited to my needs -a runabout that can swallow a surprising amount of cargo with no need for long highway drives. However a major upgrade to the current model is likely 18 months or so in the future and I don't relish the current offering . So I dropped into the local Ford dealer and had a look at a Fiesta (no test drive) that was very much like the one in this test. From the static side I have to agree with the review, a very nice interior , well equipped , good seating position and an actual colour on the outside. I say an actual colour as one of my pet peeves is that most manufacturers go bland, very bland or extremely bland with one colour on the inside (black) and black,white, silver and gray on the outside and little else . Yes I overstate (although not by much) but you get the point . It seems they have bought into Henry F's dictum of "any colour as long as its black"- kudos to Ford for offering something different. So is the Fiesta an option - not really. Despite the long haul example from Car & Driver, Consumer Reports gives the Fiesta a black eye and since long haul reliability is critical (I tend to buy new , maintain and keep for many years) then it s falls off the list. Also the salesperson seemed less than enthused. When I asked what the Titanium version offered over the Se on display , the response was a a rather vague comment that one got different wheels and seating material. I thought the salespeople for NA manufacturers had changed since the days of the Vega and Pinto but seems I was mistaken.
