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Govender goes to Glasgow for the launch of the Fiesta Si and Ghia

THE FIESTAS owe their dramatic transformation to their great rival, Vauxhall's delectable piece de resistance, the hard-to-beat Corsair, which has run rings round not only other competitors, but has given Ford a hard time in the sales charts.

When they placed the Corsair in their sights in pursuit of their goal to steal a march on that car, Ford planners, engineers and designers not only acknowledged that it was a gem, but they also got their target right. Having driven every single Corsair model in the last two years, and this includes the street-wise Corsairvan, my conclusion on the strength of their near flawless road holding, stability, handling, structural and engineering strength and formidable reserves of power, was that it was invincible.

While I am still of that view, I am also convinced that the new Fiestas, particularly those equipped with the new 16-valve Zetec-SE 1.4i engine, pose a very credible challenge to the Corsair's supremacy. As the race hots up between Ford and Vauxhall, the latter will no doubt go into a higher gear to maintain their hard-won lead, we can expect even more exciting developments.

The African saying that when two elephants fight it is only the grass that suffers does not apply here. The customer will be an even greater beneficiary, certainly quality wise, as GM and Ford slug it out.

The most powerful engine ever for the new Fiestas, the 16-valve Zetec-SE 1.4i is, I understand, wholly British. This needs to be stressed, not as a flag-waving exercise, but as a reminder that despite the British tendency towards self-deprecation, their technical and engineering abilities should not be written off.

The Fiestas still look as gentle as kittens, but that is deceptive - they pack a Tyson-like speed wallop. There are other pluses too:

Uprated firmer suspension and bigger brakes

They are available with the new Ford B5S 5-speed manual transmission

And they cost only 415 pounds more than the Fiesta with the 1.25 litre engine.

The five-door luxury Fiesta Ghia has, what Ford describe as the "free revving" 90PS 1.4i engine, and the three and five door sports versions also have the same engines. With acceleration from 0-60mph in 10.8 seconds, these Fiestas make some bigger cars look distinctly pedestrian! Both the Ghia and SI models come with power steering.

As the new Fiestas are highly prized by some of the world's brightest rogues it is reassuring to learn that the reputable Safeguard engine immobiliser is standard on all models.

The Fiestas are comfortable and spacious, and even the Japanese so generous with equipment that you normally have to pay extra for, will be impressed by the quality and quantity of standard equipment.

Unostentatious but tasteful and striking design styles enhance an interior with a bright, cheerful facia which will lift the spirits of the most jaded and downcast drivers and passengers. Who said that cars, allegedly bereft of artistic joie de vivre, are mainly for the materialistic parvenu, the type which knows the price of everything but the value of nothing?

On a modest but endearing scale the Fiesta's unpretentious designers have consciously or sub-consciously identified the aesthete in some of us!

Not since the launch or relaunch of the stately Vauxhall Frontera about two two years ago in the Northern Ireland countryside were my reflexes tested so merceilessly. On that occasion the Frontera literally leaped from a treacherously slippery, mud-drenched hilltop into what appeared briefly to me like outer space. Within seconds, though this felt like eternity, I was back again on yet another devilish stretch of muddy road, to steer my way out of trouble.

I may have had similar heart-stopping moments on the teasing, tantalising and tetchy test routes in rustic Scotland, mapped out for us by our Ford hosts, had it rained. Fortunately it didn't. To be fair there was some straightforward driving on an uncrowded and well behaved motorway. But as the for the rest of the journey, you had to be on full-scale nuclear alert on roads that twisted and turned like an inebriated contortionist. Hair pin bends, blind rises and deceptively straight forward corners which turned out to be not so straightforward, and the sudden appearance of strictly one-lane bridges and roads so narrow as to leave no room for the famous Dublin girl's wheelbarrow, produced both angst and a sense of triumphalism.

All the while one could not help thinking: what manner of man could have discovered such a ruthlessly tough route. Give the man his due. My companion and I, a witty, happy and care free Londoner, despite some anxious moments, had a jolly time. The important thing was that we survived the expetience, which translates thus: The Fiestas, both the Ghia and Si models, behaved impeccably.

They loyally stuck to the road at some ferocious speeds, were unruffled by sudden twists and turns, and maintained an even keel on the few occasions we had to brake hard. My co-driver, younger and more adventurous raved about the Ghia, while I, a little more conservative, am still enthusiastic about the Si. ?The new Fiestas, though they are powerful, give no comfort to the sexist macho. Their gentle and refined exteriors and their cultured interiors together with highly pleasurable handling characteristics, make them ideal for sensible drivers of both sexes and refined trim create an ambience that At level, subjected to so rigorous a test as that provided by the masterminds behind the Fiesta launch. Although did not experience such dramas thrill-packed , there were some anxious moments. It could have been worse or shall I confess even more exciting.

Years ago on an Alfa Romeo launch, some time before Fiat took over, we tested the product in this part of the world, but the roads were a piece of cake. All the more reason to marvel at the ingenuity of the team that discovered this obscure but inscrutable route.

My co-driver, and I shared a mutual admiration for Ford's mischieviously good humoured Livingstone. Still, despite some narrow misses, we felt elated, even smugly triumphalist at the end of it all.