Bucket Seat: 2018 Ford Fiesta - First Impressions

This week see's the launch of the all new Ford Fiesta in South Africa, a car which played a big part in forcing the trend of the compact hatchback in the country. Over the years it's grown in size and become quite a great looking car, and this new variant is spot on in terms of styling and interior design. While we may not be attending the launch, we are hopeful of receiving one to test in the not to distant future but for now lets take a look at what Ford tells about this all new Fiesta. 

As mentioned before, new styling, Ford say the new design follows an evolution of the old which is very evident but they also made it more contemporary but just a bit so much not to lose its "Fiesta-ness". After all, Fiesta does mean festive, if the car looked boring they should change its name to "Siesta"....okay enough of the dry jokes from me.  They have managed to make the car look more elegant with the bold styling, silver finishes and the nice LED loop the front headlights make. It definitely looks more mature than the outgoing model. The car has also grown a lot with an additional 71 mm in length and 13 mm in width. Ford says this gives the car a more premium appearance but for me, that just means more cabin space which is a major plus for a big guy like myself. 

Moving under the hood, Ford retains its multi award winning 1.0L Ecoboost petrol engine in the Feista line up, I mean if the engine won the "International Engine of the Year" award 6 times, why change it. The car is available in both 6 speed manual and automatic, with the latter having a conventional six-speed torque converter transmission. The Ecoboost engine produces 74kW of power and 170Nm of torque. More than enough to run around town with. If you prefer a diesel engine, Ford have their 1.5L TDCi turbodiesel engine and is exclusively available with a six-speed manual gearbox producing 63kW and 174Nm of torque. The Fiesta now also features stop/start technology, further enhancing it's fuel efficiency. 

Getting into the Fiesta, while you must take into consideration this isn't a luxury car so don't expect plush interiors to match the exterior, while I say that, Ford have done a relatively good job. The materials look solid and nothing cheap about it, the driver set-up looks great an the new large infotainment touch screen which has SYNC3 loaded on is perfect. SYNC3 also integrates with your mobile device so if you have Apple Car Play or Android Auto, everything gets displayed via the cars screen, rather than you having to check your phone all the time which adds to the safety of the you and your passengers. 

Overall, Ford look to have a great car hitting their showrooms, while many are used to having cars like this for students and so on, with the ever increasing price of petrol, which is said to go over the R15 a litre mark in June, a car like the Fiesta could be for anyone that wants to save on their trip to the petrol station. It has all the creature comforts, looks great and is pretty nippy. If you wanting something a bit faster, the Fiesta ST is due sometime during this year but Ford SA won't giving a date as yet, so watch this space. 

Pricing for the Fiesta range is as follows.

Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost Trend 6MT	R261,900
Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost Trend 6AT	R277,300
Fiesta 1.5 TDCi Trend 6MT	R292,500
Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost Titanium 6MT	R295,500
Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost Titanium 6AT	R310,600

Bucket Seat: 2018 Toyota Yaris - First Impressions

Own it! That's the tag line for the new Toyota Yaris which is being launched this week in my beautiful province, just 20km up the road from my office, so getting there wouldn't have been a problem for me, hashtag just saying Toyota. Okay, enough with me being grumpy for being over looked for the launch because I'll be getting to spend a week with this latest generation small hatch from the Japanese giants. Well I suppose I can't really call it small anymore, since its arrival in 2005, the car stayed relatively the same size with a gradual growth in size as it went a long, if you recall, late last year I had the Yaris Pulse, which is a great car but I did make mention that the finishes and quality of certain interior finishes weren't the greatest. 

Getting to the all new Yaris, it has grown, a lot, it actually looks like a baby Auris, in fact I won't be surprised if some confuse the two when they see it on the road. When I say its bigger, I mean in 165mm in length and 5mm in width so its much longer than the old one which is very evident from the outside. The design while similar to the Auris has some details that differentiate the two. The lights  are a little longer and has a sweep to the end, their are more details in the front grille which takes some design cues from Lexus. There are some nice aerodynamic design elements which create a flow to the overall design from the front to the back. The c-pillar at the rear is blacked out and with the swooping rear wind shield, gives the car a very sporty look. 

Moving onto the inside, Toyota have totally reconfigured their dash and made everything central again, which I love! From the pictures the interior does look miles better than the old one. Also the large touch screen infotainment system finally has Apple Car-Play and Google Android Auto integration! Hooray! If you don't have those fancy phones, you'll be please to know that the car still has normal Bluetooth for telephone and audio streaming as well as satellite navigation! From the pictures, it seems like they've adopted climate control air conditioning as well but I think those are reserved for the higher end models. 

Power wise, all models of the new Yaris will be powered by the 1.5L, four cylinder petrol engine. Which utilizes a dual VVT-i and DOHC 16 valve layout. The engine pushes out 79kW and 140Nm of torque. The car is offered in both manual and automatic, with the manual being 6 speed shift with a top speed of 180km/h with the auto buyers have a choice of either the 5-speed transmission of Toyota's "Multidrive" CVT. The car is front wheel drive  so with the CVT, the car is enabled to react faster to acceleration input. I did find the Pulse to be a bit sluggish but that had a bigger gearbox and an older CVT system so perhaps this has fixed that issue. Will have to wait for the test unit to come in so I can confirm it. 

Pricing and Models:

1.5 Xi MT        - R230,800
1.5 Xs MT        - R253,400
1.5 Xs CVT      - R268,500
1.5 Cross          - R268,500
1.5 Sport           - R286,000

Bucket Seat: KIA Picanto 1.2MT Smart

So a couple weeks ago I spent a week with the new KIA Picanto, it was my first time driving one of these ultra small hatchbacks and truth be told, before getting it I was a bit pessimistic about driving it. I mean you see these cars on the road, they are like half the size of a normal car and all you can think about is how safe is it really? Some even go as far to dub the cars in this segment as "a coffin on wheels", that is quite a statement hence I thought I'd use the time with the car to not only see what it had to offer but to also dismiss these absurd fears that many seem to have about them. Give this KIA and others like it some voice that their are actually better than many think they are. 

DESIGN

The car I received was the range topping 1.2 Smart Manual Transmission, the Picanto comes in four variants, Start, Street, Style and Smart with differences in the range are the cosmetics and extras with the choice of two engines. The Picanto has grown and matured through the years and it's reached the stage where it's design is aimed and appealing to the younger market, during my time with the car it was the youth that it got turning heads and getting a second look. The design is spunky, the car has a pretty stout stance but the design of the car is very bold that add's bulk to it. The colour in which I got it from was "Lime Light" which made it even more outstanding, there are 11 colours for you choose from, again giving you the option to make your little Picanto unique and to your taste.  The addition of the new LED lights in the front and back add to the character of the car and apart from making the car visible to others, it looks really cool! On the interior, they have made some changes but the key one being the large infotainment touch screen display which was also in the Rio but more about that later. 

PERFORMANCE

The Picanto is ultimately a city car, with it's size and weight, the two engine sizes the car comes in is perfect for it. The 1.0 litre engine is an in-line 3 cylinder, 12 valve DOHC engine, while the 1.2 litre which I had has an in-line 4 cylinder, 16 valve DOHC. The max power output on the 1.2 is 61kW with torque coming in at 122Nm which is more than enough power to carry this 1.3 tonne car around. The 1.2 is pretty nippy and with the short wheel base makes the car extremely fun to drive around. The turning circle on the car is amazing and best of all, parking the car is effortless, be it alley docking or parallel parking but if you still have difficulty, the Picanto comes with rear PDC's and a reverse camera. On the road, the car drives well, even with it being light it sits great on the road and the economy with fuel consumption makes my wallet smile. With the tight turning circle it makes cornering fun and really does make the drive all that more enjoyable. 

COMFORT

It is a small car, so don't expect much in terms of space, while the drive and front passenger can sit pretty comfortable in some rather nice seats I must add, not sure how comfortable the rear passengers will be. In saying that I did have 4 adults in the car a few times and surprisingly didn't have much complaints. On the road, the ride quality is faultless, not much wind noise in the cabin and it feels pretty solid. Which comes back to the safety concern which is raised by many. A motor manufacturer isn't going to produce a car on the market that isn't safe, the Picanto uses more than 44% advanced high strength steel in its chassis and has received a 4 star NCAP safety rating which is pretty good if you ask me. 

TECH

With the infotainment center, the car like the Rio has the build applications for Apple Car Play and Google Android Auto. Since it took me a while to hack the Android Auto with the Rio, I was ready to test it out fully with the Picanto, while this isn't an advertisement for Android Auto, but it just works so well with the car. Voice commands not even with a touch of a button, just tell it what you want and it will do it, from getting your directions, choosing music, reading texts and whatsapp messages or calling someone. The KIA also has a great entertainment center should you not have any access to these apps all which is easily accessible and manage on the large touch screen. The car also came with a glass sunroof, handy little extra when you 

VERDICT

To put those myths that I spoke of earlier to bed, yes the Picanto is small, yes it is light in weight but it is no where as unsafe as perceived to be, in fact its the total opposite. With a high NCAP safety rating and multiple airbags, it's one of the safest cars in its class on the road today. It's a cute but funky little car, definitely great for young drivers, the added technology and features that is available with the Picanto is also a major draw card for the people who are more in-tune and want to have the latest tech in their car. With the great drivability of the car, easy maneuvering and comfort of it, really adds up to one exciting package and great for urban driving. So whether it be a city run around or something for a first time driver, the Picanto really is a great all round car. 

SPECIFICATIONS

Engine	1.2 litre, in-line 4 cylinder DOHC
Gear Box	5 Speed Manual
Power	61kW
Torque	122Nm
Top Speed	170km/h
Fuel Tank	35L
Price	R 195,995

Photography by: Malusi Msomi aka DBN Spotter

Twitter: @dbn_spotter

Instagram: dbn_spotter

Website: dbnspotter.com

Behind the scenes video of the shoot.

Drone footage by Avish_Karr & mvrc1988

Camera footage by amg133