Ford Fiesta crowned Britain's best-selling car for 12th successive year

But what makes the capable little hatchback so popular - and what does the vehicle offer to lease customers?

Here we take a closer look at the range - and try and work out where the sweet spot is in terms of engines and trim levels.

Astonishingly, 2020 marked the 12th successive year the Fiesta has captured the top spot as Britain’s most loved passenger vehicle, with more than 49,000 sold in the 12 month period.

Since 2009, Ford customers in Britain have purchased close to 1.3 million Fiestas.

And in 2020 those sales came in spite of various lockdowns caused by a global pandemic.

Lisa Brankin, managing director, Ford of Britain and Ireland, commented: “I want to thank our customers for continuing to show their confidence and trust in the Ford brand in what was an unprecedented difficult year.”

Whatever way you look at it, the Fiesta - facelifted in the summer of last year - offers some serious value for money.

The first thing to note is that there’s an almost mind-boggling array of trim levels - ten of them, to be precise.

First you’ve got the base ‘Trend’, followed by ‘Titanium’, ‘ST-Line’ and ‘Active’ - with each of those latter three also boasting an extra ‘X Edition Version’ as well.

You’ve then got the swanky ‘Vignale’, which features different bodystyling, active cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, and active park assist.

And leading the pack is the sporty ‘ST’, of which you can have the ST-2 or the range-topping ST-3, which trumps the other ST by having things like bigger alloys, an uprated sound system, red brake calipers and a mechanical slip differential to improve grip.

If the budget is tight, then the bottom rung Trend is still really well specced - coming with rear privacy glass, full mobile phone connectivity with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and DAB Radio, as well as an 8 inch infotainment touchscreen.

It’s even loaded with driver assistance tech such as lane-keeping alert, lane-keeping aid, speed limiter and hill start assist.

But for our money, and for just a little more in the way of monthly outlay, the ST-Line Edition looks like a winner.

Here you get larger 17 inch metallic alloys, an ST-Line body kit including a rear spoiler, rear parking sensors, sat-nav, a sportier suspension set-up for better handling, a leather flat-bottomed steering wheel, as well as cruise control and keyless start.

Engine wise, the choice is a bit of a no-brainer.

In all the normal Fiestas - aside from the performance ST - there’s a choice of three different 1.0 litre EcoBoost engines, with either 95 PS, 125 PS or 155 PS.

The least powered version is still a brilliant engine, but doesn’t feature mild hybrid technology like the other two do.

And in terms of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, there’s virtually no difference at all between the 125 PS and 155 PS mills - with 54.3 mpg and CO2 of 117 g/km - so why not go for the most powerful and comfortable option?

Of course, petrolheads will be reading this and craving a bit of the ST, which has been universally praised by both critics and owners.

Here you enjoy a 1.5L EcoBoost engine with 200 PS, and which can accelerate you from 0-62mph in just 6.5 seconds.

It’s a car that well and truly looks the part, too, both inside and out.

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