2011 Ford Fiesta Up Close

Behind the big guns introduced in Chicago — the Taurus SHO and the Harley-Davidson F-150 — Ford parked a European version of its new Fiesta compact. The car is part of a program that will loan a handful of models to so-called cultural influencers — cool people — before it goes on sale in 2010. I poked around in it and, as a gut check, went across the showroom floor to revisit the competing Nissan Versa, Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris.

My early take: The Fiesta trades quantity for quality. The interior feels high-rent, but larger drivers take warning: It’s no gymnasium inside.

From the driver’s seat there’s immediately less room than Versa and Co. offer. The windows lack Nissan’s elbow-to-ceiling views, and even when you ratchet up the driver’s seat the seating position seems lower than all three competitors’. The front seats feel narrow and a bit constricting, and knee room is cramped on the inboard side by a prominent center tunnel, on which the gearshift goes. Nissan, Toyota and Honda open up the space with shifters mounted closer to the floor, allowing your knees to spill out.

The backseat is more of the same, with marginal headroom for adults and scant legroom. At least the front seats sit high enough off the ground to afford room for your feet. Visibility from behind the wheel is merely OK, with tapered second-row windows obstructing part of the next lane over. At least Ford mounts the center rear seat belt in the seat, not the ceiling, so it doesn’t dangle in your 6 o’clock view (or stay tucked in the ceiling, where a fifth passenger likely won’t use it). Honda and Toyota have ceiling belts.

Now for quality: It’s promising, with soft-touch dashboard panels – Nissan, Toyota and Honda employ cheaper, harder plastics — and high-quality stereo and A/C controls. The steering wheel tilts and telescopes — not something every competitor’s does — and upscale offerings, from push-button start to automatic climate control, stand out in a segment still known for crank windows and no A/C. The dashboard’s futuristic shapes are still within the realm of tasteful car design, and the elements that look deliberately cheap — the headliner, the unpainted plastic door handles — are in mostly peripheral areas.

A Ford spokesman told me the show car, though European-spec, represents something very close to what we’ll see stateside next year. It won’t get any bigger, so as far as quality goes, I hope he’s right.