The 1-litre hybrid is good looking, fun and cheap to run

Aside from my mom and dad, the longest relationship I’ve ever had has been with the Ford Fiesta.

Unfortunately, the signs are obvious – it will be over soon.

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Check out the facts.

Ford has no plans to make the Fiesta all-electric.

Bosses teased three EVs last month: Puma, a mid-size crossover, and a sport crossover.

But nothing fiesta-shaped.

And every current car that doesn’t run on batteries by 2030 is dead. So the king is dead. . . Almost.

The facelifted Fiesta you see here could very well be the last Fiesta ever.

Ford has time to develop a new one, but the smart money says it probably won’t.

Would you bother spending millions revamping a new unplugged compact car when it’s phased out in 2029? Probably not.

Especially when its half-brother, the Puma crossover, is making big numbers.

Fiesta is Britain’s best selling car of all time with 4.8 million sales in 46 years.

Everyone has a fiesta story.

I got my first Fiesta when I was 17. I even got to test how flat the seats are, if you know what I mean.

I was fortunate enough to compete in Rally GB in a Fiesta R5 and helped deliver the first current generation Fiestas at Dover in 2017.

All the important moments in my life.

The things that made the Fiesta such a great car in the ’80s still apply today.

It’s good looking, fun, practical, cheap to run and handles far better than anything else for the money.

I may sound like a worn record here, but pound for pound the Fiesta is the best car on the planet.

So what’s new for 2022? Not much, really.

New LED lights all around, Ford badge repositioned from the bonnet edge to the grille, a bit more tech – including a digital cluster on mid-spec models and up – plus trending colors like this ‘beautiful berry’.

There are no mechanical changes because it didn’t need them.

The 1-litre mild hybrid is an absolute peach, reducing running costs and adding a dollop of torque assist under acceleration.

My testing averaged 48mpg, which is gratifying because I wasn’t even trying to be reasonable.

Smiles per gallon is much higher.

Also, this ST-Line Vignale is exactly the model I would have.

Sporty looks, sport suspension, fancy seven-speed auto and packed with all the little luxuries we deserve like heated seats, heated steering wheel and adaptive cruise control.

Small cars are by far the most difficult to get right.

Give people everything they want, but don’t overdo it.

Ford nails it every time.

Other things we love about Fiesta?

Heated windscreen, really practical in winter. Easy refueling (no fuel cap). And pop-out door guards. They don’t need to be explained.

Here’s a car designed by real life people.

To back up what I said earlier, Fiesta dropped out of the top ten sales list for 2022. But that’s not a reflection on the car.

Ford is prioritizing the chip supply of Puma, the plug-in hybrid Kuga and the all-electric Mustang Mach-E.

In other words, cars that lower the CO2 fleet average and make more money.

So Fiesta is as much a victim of this as people who want crossovers.

A friend at Ford also told me that the Fiesta’s electrification doesn’t go any further than the current mild hybrid. Which got me thinking.

The old girl next door has a fiesta that she rarely uses.

If she is willing to part with it I will buy it for my 15 year old son and teach him to drive.

Then my 13 year old can have it afterwards.

This will keep Fiesta in my life for a few more years.

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