Brush Steel Ford Ikon 1.4 TDCI Duratorq Review

[Dieseled]

Hi all,

This was due for a long time now but January was very busy and I just couldn’t take some out to pen down my review of my latest buy – Brush Steel Ikon 1.4 TDCI. Here it goes

The Need

I bought my first car in Jan 2005, an Alto LX it was a dream coming true as it was my first personal car and it was everything I ever wanted but the years passed on and the needs got bigger.
Alto even though it was a perfect car – superb AC, great handling , exceptional efficiency and very low maintenance , I started to get bored of it and that’s an honest confession. The lack of space, sudden drop in power when AC switched on , lack of power steering and power windows started to grow on me.
Also I got married in Nov 2007 and changed my job in May 2008 and was now expected to come to work on my own (unlike my previous BPO job where I used to travel by office cabs and Alto was only for weekend drives and occasional office parties). My daily office drive was now at least 50 kms, which amounted to a monthly expenditure of > INR 5000 for fuel. Also after getting married the weekend trips to nearby Hill stations and places like Jaipur, Agra became frequent and I was not enjoying those drives on my Alto for various reasons like lack of safety, power and the thrill of driving on the Highway. So now started thinking about a more powerful and a more spacious Diesel car.

The Hunt

I started looking for my next car during Aug-Sept 2008, my options were – Swift DDIS, Dzire DDIS , Indica TDI/Dicor, Indigo TDI/Dicor , Indigo CS TDI /Dicor , Vista Quadrajet , Fiesta TDCI , Verna CRDI and Fusion TDCI.
All the above mentioned cars except the Swift and Vista were eliminated on the following pretext
Dzire – Oh my Holy Lord ! what did MSIl do with such a huge potential this car had if only they could’ve designed it in a much better way. Honestly I would’ve bought an Esteem DDIS any day if only MSIL designers were not blind. The car was big no-no and was turned down by the entire family on the basis of looks and lack of rear leg room.
TATA cars ( all except Vista ) – My wife like the Indigo , especially because of roomy interiors and good ride quality but Poor quality interiors, bad driving position ( especially the steering which is way too higher than what I would have liked), noisy engines and poor reliability and personally speaking I just didn’t see myself driving the car.
Fiesta – Everything nice about the car, the handling, fuel efficiency, great driving posture. The only problem – Money , too expensive for me didn’t want to spend too much money at this point of my career and with that kind of money I would any day buy the Vena with 110 horses and the VGT.
Verna – This along with Vista were my final choices . I loved it , my wife and family just wouldn’t think of any other car. Nice interiors, good rear seat comfort , awesome power , great looks the car had everything I ever wanted. The problem again – Money , just didn’t want to pay an EMI > 10K, so ythis car was dropped.
Swift – Very nice car, everyone knows about the MJD , so I won’t eat up your time, the car was eliminated on the basis of rear seat comfort and lack of boot.
Vista – a perfect diesel hatch and I would rate it higher than Swift on the basis of practicality, VFM and space but again it did not have a boot and did not want to wait for Indigo Vista which will take another 3-4 months to come out.
All these decisions, test drives , excel sheet calculations happened between – Sept – Nov when Ford came out with the IKon TDCI and it was like a dream – Fiesta’s TDCI in IKON for 5.19 L , I had to pinch myself to realize I wasn’t dreaming. Called up South City Ford the same day (my office is at Okhla ) and went for a test drive, loved every bit of the car and decided that this would be my second car.
Came December and as always we buy new cars in January only ( just a personal thing ) , sold my Alto, foreclosed my loan with ICIC I and was waiting for January to come.

Dealership woes:

Paid a cheque of 10K to South City Ford on 16th Dec and told them categorically that I would take the delivery in the first week of Jan. The sales guys ( as always ) was very confident and told me not to worry. Called them again on 22nd of January to check if the car is going to be there and to my horror this is what the guy says “Saar, Brush steel is not possible if you want I can arrange Silver”. Got really angry didn’t feel like arguing with him, called up Harpreet Ford the next day, the sales guy confirmed a Brush Steel TDCI is available with them , went to their showroom and paid a booking amount of 40K and came back. Called up Axis bank ( from where I’ve taken the loan )and told them about the change of dealer.
So Finally on 9th February ( as decided, my dad is an astrologer so have to do these kind of things according to him ) took the delivery of my dream diesel .

Accessories added so far :

Auto cop remote central locking – INR 3500 from the dealer.
Multicop gear lock – INR 1500 from the dealer.
Side Strips – INR 500, dealer ran out of them so bought it from outside.
Ganesh Idol, Ambi Pure

Ice

HU - Pioneer DEH-3190UB - INR 6200
Rear Speakers - JBL GTO938 - INR 3200
Front speakers ( doors ) -Sony Xplod XS-GTF13252 ( wanted to install JBL in the front as well but the 4" JBL didn't fit in properly and Sony ones were the only which were fitting perfectly.) - INR 1500
I had Pioneer 6388 speakers in my earlier car which I really liked but JBLs are in a different league altogether.
Prices are all from grey market.

Accessories on my Radar

Seat Covers – next 3 months , Budget – 5k to 6K.
Sun Film – next month ( it’s still Winters in Delhi ) . Budget 1.5k . Suggestions required ?
Alloys – 6 months from now , budget – 15 K Max.

Review

Oh what a transformation from driving a petrol to common rail Diesel. Had to completely unlearn my petrol driving habits and change to late upshifts.
The power delivery is very linear, I still feel a slight turbo kick in around 1800 RPM but its not as pronounced as its in Fiat’s MJD or Verna’s VGT. The car is a boon to drive in city traffic. The clutch felt a bit hard initially but it has settled down along with the gears nicely now after 2600 kms on odo.
The suspension is very nice, a bit on the harder side but no one’s complaining.The car’s handling is also superb , I mean you can take a turn at 70 with no worries as was the case with my Alto.
Car’s rear seat is awesome , the back inclination angle is just perfect and you can easily go on a long drive for 4-5 hours without feeling any fatigue.
Driving posture is just lovely as I love low seating and low steering. The steering is very sporty and has a very good feedback ( unlike my Santro which makes me feel nervous once I reach 80 or so)
For the time being I’m following 2000 RPM rule for changing gears ( for City driving ) but still occasionally take it past 2500 or so when trying to overtake or if on a flyover. Took the car to Jaipur for the Valentine weekend and drove it around 2k – 3k RPM ( as the run in period is now over) and the car felt very nice on the highway as well, suspension , power delivery , handling were all just perfect and behaved the way an Ikon should.

Fuel and Efficiency

I only used Indian Oil fuel in my cars and that too from my trusted pump at GT Karnal Road. The fuel used till now is Extra Mile Diesel , the car is giving mileage of 19 ( city 50%, Highway 50%). Will give more details about this later once the engine opens up a bit more and I start using AC as well.

So this is all about what I like about the car, thing I did not like :

• No rear defogger or any option for the same.
• Power Windows switches are positioned a bit lower that they should’ve been.
• NVH is high , especially when the engine is cold but after a coupke of kilometers its much better , it has settled down a bit more now with 2.5 K on ODO , and with my ICE on I’m not complaining.
• Hate the ORVMS , they are small , can’t be painted and look very odd, but I guess I’ll have to live with them.

So that’s about it guys, pictures will be there in my next post. Please let me know if you need more information on the car, dealer , accessories etc.

[Proxima]

So FINALLY you have your review up. Congrats! Enjoy the car and keep updating the thread.

I think people here do not advice the use of premium diesels for common rail engines. You might want to look that up.

Drive safe.

[cooldude1988765]

Congrats on your ride.
Please do not use extra mile. A lot of people have reported of excessive black smoke in a short while.

[condor]

@Dieseled, Congrats ! Do post some pics.

Brushed Steel is a very nice color : dust doesnot stand out so much as it does on P.Red or Black, or the other darker colors.

* You will get used to the power-window switches
* Why do you say that the ORVM's cant be painted ?

ORVM's may be smaller than on other cars, but the curvature of the mirror itself should take care of angle of view. It's about how big the image is, not a problem about the coverage itself.

Happy & Safe driving !

[Sowmya]

Congrats !!! Have a safe drive.

[rippergeo]

Congrats on the car, the ikon TDCi seems to be the best overall package among affordable diesel cars right now. You didnt say anything about the brakes, that was the only doubt I had about the Ikon.

You'll soon stop bothering about the mileage one of the perks of driving a Common rail.

Manufacturers set up their cars for the worst possible fuel available in the country, so using premium fuel doesnt really add any benefits, unless your car is highly tuned. Also- there are reports of excessive smoke with Premium fuels on the common rail engines, dont know why. have experienced it first hand on all our cars- 1 maruti/2 hyundais and a ford

[benbsb29]

Congrats on your new car, Dieseled.

Coming to what you'd mentioned, the side strips cost just Rs.500? I thought they were around Rs.1000/-. Proxima, please take note.

The ORVMs can be painted. You would need to leave the bendable portion unpainted, while the actual ORVM cover, as well as plastic which is attached to the door is painted. I have a pic of an Ikon with the ORVMs painted, but will need to fish it out from my comp at home.

Originally Posted by Dieseled

Things I did not like :

• No rear defogger or any option for the same.
• Power Windows switches are positioned a bit lower that they should’ve been.
• NVH is high , especially when the engine is cold but after a coupke of kilometers its much better , it has settled down a bit more now with 2.5 K on ODO , and with my ICE on I’m not complaining.
• Hate the ORVMS , they are small , can’t be painted and look very odd, but I guess I’ll have to live with them.

Other than these, what do you feel with regards to the storage space inside? That has been among my biggest woes with the Ikon.

Since you havent opted for a boot release, do check out the DIY which Condor had come up with for the Ikon (thread created by me). Surely would help.

I am curious to see what this brushed steel color actually looks like. Please do put up pics of your car. More, the merrier.

EDIT : @RipperGeorge : The brakes have been improved on the new model, with a more assured braking feel.

[mail4loys]

Congrats and enjoy your new ride!!!

[Dieseled]

As Promised attached are the pictures, some of these were taken on my way to Jaipur on the 14th

[benbsb29]

This color does look better than the usual silver.
As for the boot mat which you have, is that from the dealer? How much did it cost you?

Also, the side strips dont seem to have been stuck properly, to my eye.

[condor]

The boot mat looks good & sturdy. Details, pls

Are the side strips that of the Ikon or the Indica / generic ?

@Benny, this color is actually good. The silver is also not of the regular hue - and is a nice one too.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by condor

Are the side strips that of the Ikon or the Indica / generic ?

@Benny, this color is actually good. The silver is also not of the regular hue - and is a nice one too.

The side strips look generic to me.

The silver looks fine, have seen a few around. There's one which i regularly find in my office parking lot.

Dieseled, here is a pic of a member' car which has the door handles, side strips as well as the ORVMs painted. Source pic belongs to audiophile.

[white_vdi]

congrats Dieseled on your new ride!
that is a nice upgrade from the alto. do get the ORVM and side stripes painted.


OT : who is the guy in the 1st and 3rd pic? is that rahul?

[condor]

@Dieseled, get the B-pillar blackened : it will look very good on light colors like you have.

[audiophile]

Nice rite @Dieseled. Great to hear that the new ikon has positive feedback.