Ford Fiesta review – design
Looks like a gentle evolution of its predecessor. It’s not universally successful, but sporty models have attitude and the bright orange Fiesta ST Performance Edition is quite appealing
The Fiesta has been Britain’s best-selling car for decades now and Ford clearly didn’t want to upset the apple cart with an all-new design, so the eighth generation of Fiesta is reassuringly familiar while looking ever so slightly more grown up, too.
It’s larger than before – 71mm longer, 12mm wider and with a 4mm longer wheelbase – but the overall look is very familiar with high-mounted swept-back headlamps, a swage line that rises to the rear lights along with a tapering window line. New light clusters at the rear endow it with a more sophisticated look, if perhaps not appearing quite so neat as those on the older Fiesta.
Different model lines come with different wheels and styling, the most obvious being the sportier ST-Line, ST and the Vignale. The latter features unique front and rear bumper assemblies along with the Vignale-style satin aluminium grille as seen on other Fords. The 17-inch alloys on the ST-Line and Vignale models certainly fill the arches well, but we’d avoid the optional 18s as while they do look good they take the edge off the chassis’ fluidity.
The Fiesta ST is fairly subtle, but its ornate alloy wheels do stand out from the crowd. We prefer the more motorsport-inspired multi-spoke units of the ST Performance Edition though, which also gets a bright coat of orange paintwork.
