Hope I'm not disappointing anyone who wants to read about the Flight. I'm talking about the Freestyle, but you see, I couldn't be arsed to suggest a new item, and because the models are so similar, I thought I'd stick my opinion in here!!

Anyway, here I am sitting, waiting excitedly for my new car to arrive! My L reg Ford Fiesta is just about knackered and after spending one helluva lot of money on it to get it to pass it’s MOT, I am a bit sick of shelling out. So what did I do? Get it fixed …again? NO! Trade it in for another second hand car? NO! I went out to good old County Garage and ordered a brand spanking new model.

Most girls splash out on a new lipstick or a new sparkly top when they’re feeling extravagant, but not with me. You see, I don’t do things by halves. Oh no, I go out and buy a new car worth £10,100!! So, now the deals been done, the cars been ordered (from the other end of the country to me which is kind of annoying, but if it means I get my panther black metallic paint then so be it) and I’m being completely impatient and counting down the days until it arrives, when I finally get rid of my maroon shitmobile.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a bad word to say about Fiestas, they’re great cars, it’s just mine took a bit of a battering a couple of years ago when some inconsiderate sod decided to smash right into it and cause a couple of thousand pounds worth of damage. Since then, more things have gone wrong with it than enough. Let’s just hope my new one won’t cause me so much grief!

So the car that I will be driving very soon is a very swish, sporty looking 5-door Fiesta Freestyle 1.8TDdi in metallic black paint with matching bumpers, black interior complete with 14” 5 spoke alloy wheels just to finish off the look! The Freestyle is a similar model to the Fiesta Flight, but has the added features of a tailgate spoiler, front
fog lights, tachometer, white instrument dials, cd player, leather covered steering wheel and electrically operated front windows. However, the Freestyle has no sunroof, but hey, for where I live you don’t need a sunroof because there’s hardly ever any sun!!

You can also pay extra for other options including air conditioning, anti-lock brakes, heated quickclear windscreen, rear parking distance sensor and a sunroof (in case you live somewhere more sunny than me!)

I took the car for a test drive and I’ve got to say, it drives like a dream (compared to the older style fiesta diesel anyway). For anyone used to driving the older diesel model, which can be likened to driving a tank (considering it’s such a small car), driving the Freestyle model is easy, fast and smooth. The turbo is lower pressure than the turbo of other Ford models, such as the Escort, so you don’t really feel the kick and the injection means you’ve got all the extra power from the word go. So whereas the older diesel models were quite sluggish at setting off, the Freestyle gets it’s speed up pretty much straight away and can go from 0-62 in 14.3 seconds.

The power steering means the car is a lot easier to handle and makes parking less of a challenge, for those of us not naturally adept at driving into confined spaces in one go (as opposed to 4 or 5 goes!!) The key is fitted with an immobiliser, which is always a good anti-theft device and there is a visible Vehicle Identification Number. This model is also central locking.

I would say this is a fairly good car for women to drive. It’s small and snappy and easy to handle. Yet it still looks sporty and fashionable. There’s plenty of room in the back for passengers, especially with the 5-door version, and the boot is also really roomy (for all that shopping!) The bigger engine version of this model makes it ideal for motorway driving and long-distance driving and o
n a long run you could get about 70 miles to the gallon. Urban fuel consumption is lower at about 38-40 miles to the gallon, which is more economical than the petrol cars.

Good news for the environmentally conscious person too! The Freestyle 1.8TDdi actually gives out less carbon dioxide emissions in g/km (144) than any of the petrol models (171 for 1.6i DOHC 16v and 1.3i HCS Efi, both with catalysts, and 161 for the 1.25i DOHC 16v).

So the Fiesta Freestyle is a pretty good car all round. The only snag is now that I’ve spent all that money on a car, I won’t have any left for fuel! The exact model I chose cost £10,100 in total that’s complete with metallic paint (£250), without the metallic paint the “on the road” price is £9,850. However, I was fortunate enough to get £1000 for the old Fiesta in part exchange, so that helped lessen the cost.

All I need now is tinted windows and the hip-hop choonz blasting out and I’ll be driving round like a right gangsta’s bi**h!! So if you see me…

… get out of the way, FAST!