Ford India has just launched the Fiesta Automatic, which is available with the 1.5-litre TiVCT petrol engine producing 110 BHP of power and 140 Nm of torque. The 6-speed dual clutch Powershift AT gearbox is a segment first. Ford has also launched a new colour in the Fiesta range, known as the Paprika red and has offered black leather upholstery on the automatic variant. Ford claims that the Fiesta’s Automatic gearbox needs absolutely no maintenance and thus the American automaker proudly offers 10 years or 2.4 lakh kms warranty (which ever is earlier) on the transmission. The reason for this low maintenance is the use of dry clutch. Other features of the Ford Fiesta Automatic include the hill assist and hill hold.
The Fiesta Automatic boasts of the best in class fuel efficiency of 16.97 km/l. Ford has priced the Fiesta Powershift Automatic at Rs. 8,99,000/- (ex-showroom, Delhi) for the Style variant and Rs. 9,70,300 for the Titanium+ variant. This is a price difference of Rs. 75,000/- on the Style variant over the manual version and Rs. 26,000/- on the Titanium+ variant. The reason for this is, that there is a Rs. 75,000/- discount on the new Fiesta at the dealer level. You can read the review of the Fiesta automatic here.
The new Ford Fiesta is an excellent car, which has not done quite well due to the premium pricing adopted by the company. Due to sales being less than average, you see very little new Fiesta cars on the road and thus the vehicle looks even better, as its not easily visible. The Fiesta continues on the Ford DNA of being a sharp handling car with excellent high speed dynamics and good ride quality. The rear seat legroom could have been better while the diesel engine could produce more power to rival the highly powerful Hyundai Verna. In Europe, Ford will use the 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine in the Fiesta Facelift, which is expected to arrive by May 2012. The EcoBoost engine will be sans a turbocharger though.
