2014 Ford Fiesta vs Hyundai Verna vs Honda City: Spec Comparison

With the segment leader, new Honda City and the recently dethroned king of the C-segment, Hyundai Verna practically knocking out their opponents from the ring, can the Fiesta in its refreshed avatar stand a chance? The new Fiesta’s second innings is more focused and in tune with ground reality and so we believe it can fight for survival in this shootout, but first, let’s have a look at how it stands on paper… 

Heart of the matter

The Fiesta comes back refreshed and without a petrol engine under its hood. Ford believes there is no market for it and the diesel is the one that will churn them the numbers. The Fiesta has a 1.5-litre engine producing 91PS of power and 204Nm of torque. It’s the least powerful engine in this comparison. The City comes next with a 100PS/200Nm 1.5-litre diesel unit. The Verna is the most powerful car in this spec shootout with a 128PS/260Nm 1.6-litre engine. The Fiesta gets a 5-speed manual gearbox while the Verna and City sport six-speed units.

Features –wise

The C-segment is quite an aspirational one for most buyers. Customers are generally upgrading from a segment below and so very few opt for entry-spec models. Hyundai realized that soon enough and packed the Verna with a bucket load of features when the Verna was launched. This has started a trend now. The City too gets a long list of features and the Fiesta hopes to match these two on this front. Let’s take a look at what’s on offer…

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The Fiesta comes in three trims, Ambiente, Trend and Titanium. The Ambiente gets only a few good features like driver’s side airbag, ABS with EBD and driver seat height adjustment. The Trend gets fog lamps, leather wrapped steering wheel, climate control air conditioning, cruise control, an audio system with six speakers, Aux-in and USB and steering mounted audio controls. On the safety front, it gets an extra airbag for the front passenger. The Titanium comes fully kitted with auto headlamps, rain sensing wipers, alloy wheels, reverse parking sensors, push button start-stop and SYNC, Ford’s latest multimedia system. The Fiesta skimps on airbags, even the EcoSport gets six on the top-spec variant, there’s no reversing camera or leather seats on offer and the rear seats don’t get AC vents and door pockets.

Coming to the Verna, you’d begin to expect a bit more and it doesn’t disappoint. The Verna gets rear disc brakes, rear parking sensors, climate control air conditioning, an audio system with USB, Aux-in and Bluetooth connectivity and steering mounted audio controls, all in the base variant over the Ambiente Fiesta. The mid-spec SX trim gets passenger airbags too, alloy wheels, electrically foldable ORVMs and a cooled glove box. The SX trim with option pack gets all the bells and whistles – curtain airbags, automatic projector headlights, LED lamps, push button start stop and leather seats. 

Honda has split the City into five variants, a base, two mid-spec and two top-end variants. Like the Ambiente Fiesta, the base E variant City is quite bare-bones basic. All it gets is a driver airbag, ABS with EBD, electrically adjustable ORVMs and power windows. Move up a notch to the S variant and you get a audio system with a 3.5 inch screen, USB, Aux-in and Bluetooth connectivity, steering mounted audio controls and driver’s seat height adjustment. Mid-spec SV trim gets touch screen automatic climate control, rear AC vents, cruise control and a front passenger airbag. The V and VX trims get a lot more kit than other cars in this shootout. The VX gets a sunroof, a 5-inch touch screen display, a set of tweeters, alloy wheels, rear parking camera and front fog lamps over the SV trim with the V trim sporting most of these features.

Space Race

Here’s a look at how they measure up – 

(Dimensions in mm)

The Honda City is clearly the largest and most spacious car in this comparison. The Verna comes in second and the Fiesta with its shortest wheelbase is the most cramped on the inside, especially in the rear. 

At the pumps

Ford’s Fiesta has an ARAI certified fuel economy of 25.01kmpl. This puts it right on par with the City diesel, which in top-trim, has a figure of 25.1kmpl. Hyundai’s Verna with its much more powerful engine block scores a very passable 23.5kmpl. All three cars are extremely economical on the wallet.

Price War

Since the Fiesta is only available as a diesel, let’s take a look at how it fares in terms of pricing to equivalent Verna and City variants – 

(All prices ex-showroom Delhi)

Since the Fiesta doesn’t have as much equipment as the Verna or the City, it is understandable why the prices are much lower than its rivals. For a C-Segment sedan on a budget, you can opt for the Fiesta but if you are looking for a feature rich car, it is a toss-up between the Verna and the City.