Review of the new Ford Fiesta Silver Special Edition

Silver is a colour that seems to be firmly in vogue with car manufacturers at the moment. Check out the latest ads and the vehicle featured regularly takes on this neutral metallic hue. Buyers are responding too, with silver shades being fingered more regularly in the brochures and the number of silver cars on the road apparently growing. Never shy of climbing aboard a bandwagon if there are sales to be gleaned from it, Ford have come up with a value added special edition model of the Fiesta and called it Silver. So now, if you want a car to match the contents of your cutlery draw, you can have one and save money into the bargain.

Fortunately for those who prefer other colours, there are other hues you can specify for this particular car - namely Sea Grey, Verdigris and Ocean Blue. It seems a bit churlish not to get into the whole silver thing in this instance, particularly as it works well with the way the body side mouldings, the door mirrors and the door and tailgate handles are all finished in the exterior colour chosen. There's also silver on the steering wheel and gearknob.

But we're getting off the point, which is that this Fiesta special edition comes with features that add up to £550 for no extra money over standard prices starting from £9,295. So as part of the deal, you get powered and heated door mirrors, a leather steering wheel with aluminium trim and 15-inch nine-spoke alloy wheels.

Engine-wise, this car is available with the 1.25-litre petrol engine for the base price, with 1.4-litre petrol power for £9,595 or with the 1.4-litre TDCi diesel engine for £10,195. Whichever version you choose, you'll need to settle for three doors, the only bodystyle on offer.

Though the entry-level 1.25-litre petrol engine has its charms and the 1.4-litre TDCi diesel offers 60mpg frugality, most Fiesta Silver customers will probably end up going for the mid-range 1.4-litre petrol engine, if sales of previous Fiesta special editions are any guide. With 79bhp on tap, this little 1.4-litre unit has to work pretty hard to haul all that equipment along. No good then, expecting especially sparkling performance: sixty from rest takes 12.2s on the way to 104mph.

"This Fiesta special edition comes with features that add up to £550 for no extra money.."

Having said that, of the car's top rivals, only Skoda's 1.4-litre Fabia is significantly faster and some (like the Volkswagen Polo) are a lot slower. Anyway, the Fabia pays for that pace at the pumps, so you could argue that with a 44.1mpg combined fuel return, the Ford strikes a good balance between power and parsimony.

Most should find the engine to be smooth and unobtrusive, provided it's not revved too hard. You may find yourself doing just that however - nor only to make it over steeper hills. As with previous generation Fiestas, this car is a great handler - and it may well bring out the Colin McRae side to your character, assuming of course that you've got one. The steering's great, the grip impressive and the body roll well controlled. That may sound irrelevant if all you want to do is tootle to the shops and back but should you ever be in an emergency, having a car that changes direction easily, controllably and predictably could just make the difference between having or avoiding an accident.

While we're on dynamic excellence, the ride is also very good, one of the things that makes this a small car you could quite happily use on longer journeys. To that end, the spacious cabin will be a boon. Headroom in this three-door model is 8mm less than in the five-door variant, but the rear is no longer cramped or claustrophobic, rakish rear notwithstanding. Rear passengers also benefit from class leading knee clearance and because there are no rear doors, the shoulder room of 1,355mm is also top of the shop for a three-door supermini. There are stowage bins to the side of the rear seat and entry and exit from the rear is easy due to the long doors. As a result it's a bit of a stretch for the seatbelts when seated up front.

Ford have appreciated that the bits of the cars we physically touch most often lend the strongest impression of quality. The location of the gear lever (on a kind of raised pedestal) is particularly good. Another example of intelligent design comes in the shape of rear head restraints that are deliberately uncomfortable when not slid up into their deployed position, thus encouraging rear seat occupants to utilise them properly. This also gets around the issue of encumbered rear vision when rear head restraints are traditionally fitted.

As with most of today's special edition models, the Ford Fiesta Silver operates on the premise of giving you more equipment for less money that you'd have needed to specify an identical car from the options list. The old 'more for less' ploy is guaranteed to bring in the buyers and why not? If you want filled-out Fiesta with a trendy colour scheme, the Silver is arguably the only way to go.

TOP 5 FIESTA DEALS

The results below show the top FIESTA deals on buyacar

Ford Fiesta 1.25 Zetec 5dr [82] Hatchback
Price £10,348 Read Fiesta Reviews	Save £2,597
Ford Fiesta 1.25 Studio 3dr Hatchback
Price £8,338 Read Fiesta Reviews	Save £1,157
Ford Fiesta 1.6 TDCi [95] Titanium ECOnetic 5dr Diesel Hatchback
Price £13,113 Read Fiesta Reviews	Save £3,332
Ford Fiesta 1.4 TDCi [70] Titanium 5dr Diesel Hatchback
Price £12,402 Read Fiesta Reviews	Save £3,143
Ford Fiesta 1.4 TDCi [70] Zetec 5dr Diesel Hatchback
Price £11,454 Read Fiesta Reviews	Save £2,891
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