Charged Light Brigade - engine downsizing and turbocharging (Part 3)

Fiesta appears in its element here, cocked a rear tyre on occasion

No question which is the road-going champ here. Think of the Sport as a Fiesta ST junior and you’re kind of near the money. All the great Fiesta hallmarks are here in spades, and it has unquestionably the most interesting electric steering of any light car. Push hard in close confines and you’re hard pressed to even get the ESP light flickering, let alone feel any brake intervention. Impressive it is. Even without the torque vectoring of the ST, this has sweet balance in turns, with zippy steering, and little body lean, also both features of the RS, but there’s a bunch less understeer with the Fiesta. If you really overcook things going in, the rear steps out under brakes when cornering. Yes, you can back it in. The Fiesta Sport’s really quite a special drive. It corners so well that there’s too much tyre squeal; a move up the Continental rubber ladder to ContiSportContacts might be in order. As with some other sporty Ford product, the handling doesn’t come at the expense of ride quality, which seems to improve as rates rise. The RS is slightly bonier, and care needs to be taken over speed bumps in town, to prevent suspension bottoming out. By comparison, the Polo TSI is tamer than this pair, and feels more like a regular supermini. Steering is without vices but at the same time does without much in the way of road feel.

Comfort and convenience

Where the Fiesta cleans up dynamically the Polo sets the high bar for the final section, its finish and ride refinement a notch above the other pair. It’s quieter out of town, and is the only one to feature soft touch dash plastics. The control layout is simple, logical, and it has the best split folding system. The clever badge-operated fifth door is a plus too. Rear seat head and leg room is the poorest of the trio, however.

Polo’s conservative elegance suits many

The Fiesta and Holden have a few obvious cost-cutting aspects, but aren’t without their charms. Like the RS with its MyLink app-based infotainment set-up, Fiesta has some modern cues too, like its Sync system. An odd thing we’ve noticed before with the Barina is a recirc system that doesn’t filter out all extraneous smells, letting some diesel fumes into the cabin. The RS has touch-sensitive buttons for power and volume settings on the head unit, which don’t always work first time every time, and its double unlocker remote can be a pain. Its left foot rest or dead pedal seems vestigial and is set too far away, rather like the indicator wand which is a bit of a stretch.

Where should your money go?

Barina overhauling Polo again. RS can hike

Barina gets the nod for value, especially if you don’t mind the manual, but we’d suggest you pay the extra for the Fiesta Sport auto because it is simply more fun to drive than the Holden and the VW. The engine is a real star turn also. The Polo TSI you’d rate highly if finish, refinement and economy top the list of your must-haves.