Ford Fiesta Powershift Automatic
Price: Rs 9,13,900 onwards
Specs: 1.5L Ti-VCT petrol engine; 16.97 kmpl consumption; Dual Clutch PowerShift technology; Electric Power Assisted Steering; Hill-Launch Assist, Grade-Assist; Climate control
Ease is something that comes free with a car that has automatic transmission. Your left foot on the ghost clutch, your right on the brake/-accelerator and you are set for the drive. After Ford launched its Fiesta global car, it was a matter of time before it came up with the automatic variant. The Fiesta Powershift AT does not disappoint.
Plush interiors and a ride quality that you can forever look forward to-that is what the Fiesta provides. The suspension is so good that it takes in the rough of offroading in its stride with as much equanimity as it does the macadamed smoothness of the highway (this also implies it has high clearance). The acceleration is beautiful, from the stop-still at the P gear position to full power. Its steering wheel seemed docilely, if super efficiently, responsive to our needs. And thanks to the Electronic Stability Programme, even at high speeds, this Ford is very stable. It doesn't wobble any while crashing past the cat's eyes on the roads.
Even on uneven stretches, the steering does not go all over the place. The ease of use of this car is not limited to its being an automatic. In fact, it will take you a few hours to understand what everything in the control panel of the Titanium variant does. Our favourite was the Bluetooth which has been integrated with the onboard entertainment system. It is easier to set up Bluetooth on this car than some of the others which sport the capability and once you are paired you can actually dial a number using the cars full dialpad alongside the music system. We couldn't play music from our phone through the system, but then you have USB line-in, a CD slot and radio with screen display to take care of that.
The striking feature of this car has to be its fuel efficiency, which Ford claims is best in class at 16.97 kmpl. We could not put that to an actual fuel run test, but during our rather long drive we could see the fuel gauge needle remaining comfortingly steady. We were not terribly impressed by the rear view mirror, which somehow could not show us much during reversing. Maybe this is why Ford added a rear parking sensors to the car. Or perhaps since cars in this segment anyway come with parking sensors, the company did not pay much attention to reversing using human visual capabilities. Overall, the Fiest PowerShift is a great option if you want an automatic sedan. And Ford has been soft with the price.
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