MOTORING / Road Test: A very moveable Fiesta: The XR2i was too hot for insurers. The Si is cool, says John Simister

Ford's Fiesta XR2i was once the perfect hot hatchback for people who knew nothing about hot hatchbacks. Why else would they favour a Fiesta when they could have, say, the faster, better-handling, more sophisticated Peugeot 205 GTi?

But that is history. And what history does not so stridently record is that the last XR2i, with the Ford 16-valve Zetec engine, was rather good. Wider tyres and a decent engine fixed the XR2i's twin ills of stodgy steering and a raucous motor.

Sadly, another illness precipitated the fast Ford's premature death, and that of its bigger XR3i brother. It was an illness of society - car crime and soaring insurance premiums. But worry not: the extrovert XRs have been reincarnated in sober garb, and given a new Si identity. They have been rehabilitated for polite society, designed to be attractive but not too provocative.

Do you believe all this? Well, those fair-minded, charitable organisations, the insurance companies, do. With slightly less performance, more subtle but still- present go-faster addenda in the 1990s idiom, just as much street cred for any thief who follows fashion, and no more security equipment than the old car's alarm and immobiliser, the Fiesta 1.6 Si is in insurance group 8 ( '8e', in the new classification). The XR2i was in group 14. Does that make sense to you? No, nor me.

Still, if it's as good as the XR2i nearly became, while being cheaper to insure than any other sporty hatchback, it might prove an interesting prospect. Actually, it is a lot better in one key way: it has power steering, something the last, fat-tyred XR2i sorely needed. Its other plus is the price: only pounds 9,595 for the 1.6 three-door which most closely corresponds to its predecessor. There is also a 1.4-litre version at pounds 9,450 (less power, softer suspension, insurance group 7e), and (not part of the XR2i range) five-door variants of both at pounds 9,850 and pounds 9,995.

The Si is instantly identified by its face, whose bumper incorporates an oval air vent on its upper edge, representing Ford's new 'corporate' visage. The trouble is, it sits just below a crease line on the lower edge of the bonnet (an essential part of the frontal styling on other Fiestas), where it echoes the shape of the air intake. Perhaps we shall get used to it, but at the moment the Si's frontal aspect looks like a transplant that has not taken.

Does that make it all show and no go? The 1.4-litre version, with a paltry 75bhp, is exactly that. You would be daft not to spend the extra pounds 145 for the bigger engine. For while this 1.6-litre, 16-valve motor's 90bhp is well down from the 1.8-litre XR2i's 105bhp, adding half a second to the 0-60mph time (now 10.4 seconds) and knocking 5mph from the top speed (now 110mph), what has not changed is the engine's eager pull in the higher gears. This makes the Fiesta nippy in traffic and a ready overtaker on the open road.

But there is a key difference. Since February, in the laudable cause of better crash protection and along with driver's-side airbags, all Fiestas have had stiffer, stronger bodyshells. The body structure now transmits less noise and vibration, so the engine sounds quieter. This also helps to close the performance gap between XR2i and Si, because you feel more inclined to let the new car's engine run free.

Another advantage is that it gives a more supple ride without spoiling the sharp handling. That sharpness - made possible by power steering - is helped by much quicker-reacting steering than that of the XR2i (2.8 turns of the wheel from one extreme to the other, compared with 4.6 turns).

Bonnet crease apart, the Si is a tidy-looking car that has aged well. The same cannot be said of the interior, whose hard plastic surfaces and fussy facia are unmistakeably mid-1980s in design. The floppy gear-lever gaiter is a mess and the steering wheel centre looks cheap. You can clearly see the thin parts where the airbag is designed to burst through, although they are meant to be hidden.

But to carp about that is to miss the point. Here is a low-cost way of having fun in a new car, and almost anyone should be able to afford the mystifyingly cheap insurance. Better than an XR2i? It looks better, steers better, sounds better and costs less. QED.

SPECIFICATIONS

Ford Fiesta 1.6 Si 3-door, pounds 9,595 1,597cc, four cylinders, 90bhp at 5,250rpm. Five-speed gearbox, front-wheel drive. Top speed 110mph, 0-60mph in 10.4 seconds. Fuel: 32-37mpg.

COMPARISONS

Citroen AX Forte, pounds 8,860

The old AX GT under a different name, but the light weight, compact size and eager pace remain. Few cars feel handier, than the AX, and its 1.4-litre engine makes the Forte friskier than the Ford, despite the power deficit. Insurance group 9.

Peugeot 106 XSi, pounds 10,550

With a 95bhp, multipoint fuel-injected version of the AX Forte's engine, the sportiest 106 looks like the spiritual successor to the 205 GTi, and drives like it. Insurance is group 10, but you can save money and buy a 106 Rallye (1.3 litres, 100bhp, group 9, lots of noise, pounds 9,095).

Renault Clio RSi, pounds 10,800

More expensive to buy and insure (group 11), the Clio outsmarts the Fiesta with peppier performance, better refinement and more fluid cornering. One of the best hot hatchbacks.

Rover Metro GTi, pounds 10,195

Unfashionable among hot-hatch fanciers, the Metro has a 16- valve engine, delivering 103bhp from 1.4 litres. Handling is tidy, but steering is dead. Group 11.

Vauxhall Corsa SRi, pounds 9,275

With 82bhp, a low price and insurance down in group 6, this could be the most sensible warmed-over baby hatch of all. Pity, then, about the sloppy gear change and bouncy ride.

(Photograph omitted)