Economy Drive

It’s one of the most efficient cars around but what’s the diesel Fiesta like to live with?

- Ryan Bubear

At first glance, our little Fiesta appears fairly ordinary, effortlessly blending into daily traffic thanks to its soft lines and subdued Magnetic metallic paintwork. But under that familiar skin, it’s actually rather an unusual machine. You see, this 1,5 TDCi Trend derivative is one of just two diesel-powered hatchbacks (alongside the more expensive Mazda2 1,5DE Hazumi, which benefits from an automatic transmission) in this class.

Why the dearth of small oil-burning hatches on local soil? Well, while South Africans certainly aren’t averse to compression ignition (the overwhelming majority of bakkies sold here drink from diesel pumps, after all, as do a healthy number of SUVs), demand for light hatches fitted with such powerplants has certainly waned. Indeed, according to Ford’s figures, the TDCi-badged variant accounts for less than 10% of local Fiesta sales.

Of course, it doesn’t help that diesel variants are generally more expensive than their petrol counterparts, nor that downsized turbopetrols have become increasingly efficient over the past few years. Then there’s the fact our market – in some aspects, at least – is forced to take its lead from Europe, where diesel is facing an uncertain future (Volkswagen, for instance, hasn’t bothered developing a TDI-badged version of its sixth-generation Polo).

Still, there’s certainly a case to be made for the Fiesta 1,5 TDCi Trend, thanks to its potential to return frankly fantastic fuel economy While the Blue Oval brand claims a nigh-impossible combined figure of 3,30 L/100 km (a number that sees it ranked as the most frugal conventionally powered new car in the local market), we managed a still-stellar 4,71 L/100 km over our six-month test despite the Fiesta spending the overwhelming majority of its time trudging through the daily commute (and notwithstanding the surprising omission of a stop/start function).