Ford Fiesta, Hyundai i20, Toyota Yaris: three small cars in the test

Fiesta instruments are now digital

For this, the Cologne-based company has given an important technical update to the interior. An XL screen now sits enthroned in front of the driver – as in the larger siblings. If you switch between the different driving modes, you get lively transition animations, very similar to the Hyundai. With both, however, we miss a real added value compared to analogue instruments, for example a large navigation map that can be displayed or a completely reduced mode that is little distracting.

New cockpit: In front of the Fiesta driver, a large display now replaces the analog instruments – with no real added value.

In the Yaris, it pinches at the knees

In general, the rounded Yaris remains the most unconventional. With a length of only 3.94 meters, finding a parking space is even easier than with Ford (4.07 meters) and Hyundai (4.04 meters). If you get in at the back, however, the small door cutout bothers you.

The smallest in the test: the Toyota Yaris measures just 3.94 meters, which unfortunately is clearly noticeable in the knee room in the rear.

The space for knees in the back is rather puny, that for the suitcase (286 liters) is fine. The sports seats included in the style trim, together with the high-placed shift lever, almost radiate rally flair.

Four travel most comfortably in the i20

Anyone who gets into Ford and Hyundai, on the other hand, quickly sees red – i.e. the many red seams that await in the ST-Line and N-Line. The Hyundai is overall rather sober and sporty, the short overhangs guarantee together with the longest wheelbase (2.58 meters) in the trio for the airiest interior.

Relatively large: Four passengers are best accommodated in the i20. However, you are not allowed to have a lot of luggage with you.

If you regularly drive four people, the Hyundai is clearly the best choice. However, the mild hybrid battery steals a whopping 90 liters of cargo space at the rear, leaving only 262 liters.

In the Ford, the energy storage device sits under the passenger seat to save space – making 292 liters of loading volume. In terms of passenger space, the Fiesta sits somewhere between Toyota and Hyundai. The soft sports steering wheel and the padded headliner feel good, but Ford simply took the titanium seats and reupholstered them. Ergo, lateral support is now missing, and the driver and front passenger spend fast corners either on the armrest or on the door panel.

The Ford is the only one that manages 200 km/h

Which doesn’t go with the dynamic talents of the man from Cologne. The one-liter three-cylinder makes 125 hp and 210 Newton meters, is coupled to a crisp six-speed manual transmission. Its electric support acts as the starter in city traffic, and anyone who gets stuck behind the truck on the freeway hears the soft whine of recuperation. The Fiesta sprints to 100 km/h in 10.6 seconds and has a top speed of 200 km/h.

Vibrations are annoying in the Fiesta

The Ford unit actually only has one weakness: low-speed cruising (more precisely: partial load below 2000 revolutions) acknowledges the EcoBoost with significant vibrations. Unfortunately, the six-speed manual transmission is graded in such a way that you get stuck in fourth gear in this area at a city speed of 50.

Unfavorable: The gradation of the six-speed gearbox does not fit optimally to the three-cylinder – low-speed cruising leads to vibrations.

The consequence: You drive in third gear instead. In the consumption test, we of course stuck to the shift indicator and changed gears early, which then resulted in consumption of 6.6 liters. But in everyday life that should increase your thirst quite a bit.

The i20 is by far the thirstiest

On paper, with 120 hp and 200 Newton meters, the Hyundai is slightly weaker, but is 0.1 seconds faster when sprinting to country road speed. Hyundai was only able to deliver it with a double clutch – it’s definitely fun, shifts quickly, even double-declutches when shifting down.

Not very economical: despite being a mild hybrid, the i20 with dual-clutch transmission consumed 7.7 l/100 km on average in the test.

However, it also makes the i20 very thirsty: the test shows 7.7 liters, and the mild hybrid, which works imperceptibly, doesn’t help either. In previous tests with a manual transmission, we measured 6.4 liters. If you choose the sporty N-Line, you also have to put up with the rather boomy sports exhaust – especially when idling, you urgently need a flap to turn it down.

Under the hood of the Toyota is a growling 1.5-liter naturally aspirated engine with 125 hp. While there isn’t much going on down there – very similar to the one-liter turbos – the drive happily revs up to over 6000 tours, it takes 10.6 seconds to reach 100 km/h. The translation of the great six-speed box should be even shorter, but the linear power delivery still makes the difference In a mood, the Toyota consumes the least: 5.4 liters went through the injectors in the test, which should also have something to do with an unladen weight of only 1081 kilograms. Ford and Hyundai weigh around 100 kilograms more. More details about the test can be found in the picture gallery.