Close inspection of the latest UK website published data (October 2013) for the 1242 cc '120 gm/km' 60 PS and 82 PS Ford Fiesta engines strongly suggests that customers are being taken for an expensive ride. It appears that the 'entry level' models for each level of trim are only available with the low power engine even though the 'standard' (higher power) engine is (probably) mechanically identical to the low power version and only a different engine management mapping (and maybe some restriction to partially 'choke' the airflow into the low power version) separates the two. That is to say they are charging £500 extra for a different software or firmware mapping in the ECU. The data show that the low power 60 PS (artificially 'limited' engine) offers much slower acceleration and lower top speed but identical official government fuel economy and CO2 figures so there is no VED advantage for the low power version. However the performance (and £500 price difference) is sufficient to bump up the insurance group from 4 to 7 for the 82 PS version. This pricing policy has an impact on driver safety and a large impact on popularity and therefore resale value – so in fact you are being bullied into choosing the high power engine since nobody wants the low power version. Therefore the adverts that say 'From £xxxy' etc are grossly misleading – why can Ford not be honest, stop messing about and just offer one engine variant namely the original standard engine and adjust their prices accordingly?

I suspect that similar examples can be found from other manufactures but how can this artificial price hike be justified? It is also clear that some manufacturers do not adopt this questionable 'sales brochure' approach and offer the full specification engine even in the entry level models.