Ford Fiesta Vignale review (2017-2020)

The Fiesta Vignale’s interior is nicely designed, with a touchscreen mounted high on the dashboard, dials and buttons for the ventilation below it, and a mixture of analogue and digital instruments behind the multi-function steering wheel.

Driving position

The smart seats are quilted leather (the front ones are heated, along with the steering wheel – cosy), and there are coloured panels on the dashboard.

Lumbar adjustment is included for both front occupants.

Tech and features

As part of Ford's Vignale package, a reversing camera, adaptive cruise control (which uses radar to maintain a set distance from the vehicle in front), traffic sign recognition, a multitude of airbags and a large glass sunroof are included.

The sunroof does eat into rear headroom a little, so taller adults may want to stick to the front.

Interior space is fairly good for the supermini class – you won’t find more room in the Audi A1 or Mini Hatchback.

The responsive touchscreen measures eight inches. It comes with sat-nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and features large icons to make life easier on the move.

The Bang and Olufsen sound system is fitted as standard to all Fiesta Vignales and sounds terrific.

You might think a luxurious Fiesta wouldn’t be as sharp to drive as the rest of the range – it is. In fact, it’s great fun to drive wherever the road takes you.

Handling and ride comfort

The Fiesta Vignale’s body control is reassuring on twisty country roads, and the luxury supermini also feels stable in strong crosswinds on the motorway.

It’s a dream in the city thanks to compact dimensions, light steering and suspension that deals with potholes effectively.

You get a choice of petrol and diesel engines in the Fiesta Vignale: a characterful 1.0-litre turbo petrol motor with a choice of power outputs and a 1.5 TDCi turbodiesel.

All are good choices, although the zingy petrol units are surprisingly powerful yet economical.

Boot space

Superminis aren’t renowned for their luggage-swallowing abilities, yet the Fiesta Vignale’s boot is reasonably usable.

There’s certainly enough room for a handful of supermarket bags.

The rear seatbacks are split, so you can expand storage space to take a buggy, for example, and still fit a child seat.

Although, with the seats folded, there’s a step in the boot floor.

An adjustable-height boot floor was available as an option on the Vignale when it was new, which largely does away with that step.

Storage solutions

Elsewhere, you’ll find cupholders, a decent glovebox and reasonable storage in the door bins, plus oddment space in front of the gear lever.

The Vignale is fairly pricey to buy as a new car, yet is terrific value when used because someone else will have taken the depreciation hit, leaving you with a well-equipped second-hand bargain.

Fuel economy

All the Ford Fiesta Vignale’s engines are economical, with average economy for the petrol and diesel edging above 50mpg on longer runs – easily as good as the Audi A1 or Volkswagen Polo.