You forgot one exteremy neat safety feature the Fiesta Trend 1.6 PS has that the Mazda 2 does not nor any of the others like Yaris and Jazz don't. That's the ESP or ESC (that what they call it in the US) short for Electronic Stability Program/Control... It modulates the steering electronically to avoid skidding during evasive manuevers... It is a required safety feature in all 2012 US car models and any car without it can't be sold in the US by 2012... So you can see the importance of it as far as the US DOT (Dept. of Transportation and its NTHSA agency) is concerned...

As for the Fiesta's gearing, the Tsikot.com Fiesta boys found a solution around that and made the shifting shorter and smoother... It involves resetting the ECU but its a simple process and I can confirm its effectiveness... Thanks to ryandude for the tip!