Best Small Car under $20,000

The winner:

Ford Fiesta

Ford’s Fiesta CL knocked off 2008’s top tiny tot, Mazda’s 2 Neo, to grab the honours in this year’s Small Car Under $20,000 contest.

It was the first dCOTY win ever for Ford’s smallest car, but while the baby Ford grabbed the vote of every single judge on the panel, the result was not without its controversy.

Ford’s Fiesta CL knocked off 2008’s top tiny tot, Mazda’s 2 Neo, to grab the honours in this year’s Small Car Under $20,000 contest.

FordFiestaManual

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It was the first dCOTY win ever for Ford’s smallest car and seized back some pride for the Blue Oval after Mazda’s 6 stole the Medium Car crown from its bigger brother, the Mondeo.

Unlike some categories, choosing the winner of the Small Car Under $20,000 contest wasn’t a drawn-out affair. The baby Ford grabbed the vote of every single judge on the panel, leaving the outgoing champ sprawled out on the canvas.

Indeed, the biggest bone of contention was whether the Fiesta should be assessed as one car or two. With manual and automatic versions powered by 1.6 and 1.4-litre engines respectively, there were certainly enough differences to warrant splitting them up, and both models were put under the relentless gaze of the dCOTY microscope.

Nobody thought the 1.4 auto was anywhere as good as the 1.6 manual. All agreed that the 71kW 1.4 sorely lacked performance out on the open road, and really needed to be caned within an inch of its life just to maintain station over our rather hilly road loop.

Some judges thought the auto’s performance shortfall was enough to cast serious doubt over whether it really deserved to share any dCOTY glory with its manual sibling, especially when automatics are the favoured option for the majority of light-car buyers.

In the end, though, the general consensus was that the Fiesta was primarily an urban car. While it wasn’t its happiest at highway speeds and in the hills, its grunt shortcoming probably won’t be a problem for target buyers in its natural habitat.

The Fiesta 1.6 manual? The whole Drive team loved it. Everybody raved about the 88kW 1.6-litre four’s added flexibility and high-rev zeal, the supple ride and the athletic handling’s ability to raise smiles both on the road and track. Some even went as far to suggest that the Ford’s driving talents would have qualified it for genuine hot hatch status only a decade ago.

There were many more positives to note with the Fiesta range in general. The cabin’s space, comfort and style all received high marks, as did its stylish, modern ambience. The classy soft-touch dash – something you can’t always expect these days, even on much more expensive cars – was also widely appreciated.

Talk of safety, too, brought no major snags. There were some rumblings about having to pay extra for the full safety motzah on lower level models like the CL, but all agreed the optional safety pack was both comprehensive (you even get a driver’s knee airbag) and competitively priced.