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Old 31st May 2019, 18:01   #1
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Ford sibling rivalry: Figo Blu or Freestyle?

Hi everyone.

Could use some expert advise/friendly suggestions.

Here's my story:

After waiting for 2 years, I'm finally in the market to buy a hatchback. (I posted about Abarth Punto vs Figo 1.5D back in May 2017 here (Insomnia - Punto Abarth vs Figo Diesel)). Anyway, long story short, I didn't buy the Abarth (various reasons), and felt the then Figo was a little outdated (no touchscreen etc). Now, the new Figo is finally out, but it has a sibling that's proving to be hard to overlook.

I'm looking for a fun to drive hatchback. My dilemma is between the Figo 1.5 (D) and the Freestyle 1.5 (D). (I'm not looking at petrol)

What's common:
1. Same brilliant 1.5 oil burner
2. Same interior space (though the dash colour is different)


What's different:
1. Ground clearance: Figo's 168 mm is decent, but having driven my old City on the notorious streets of Bangalore has frequently brought tears to my eyes. So, the 190 mm GC on the Freestyle looks 'Oh So Good' at least on paper. (Plus, a slight muddy off-road challenge which one occasionally encounters while travelling looks more doable on the Freestyle)

2. Body Roll: With great GC comes great body roll; it's not that evident, but when you drive the siblings one after the other, the roll is clearly noticeable in the Freestyle esp. around corners. Feel the Figo handles better; perhaps this is because the top end Figo (i.e. Blu) has the same stiffer suspension as the last gen Figo S. (It's technically the upgraded Figo S).

3. Cladding: All that exterior faux plastic cladding on the Freestyle is just for show some might say, but a touch here and there in traffic, the plastics provide a bit of protection from dents and scratches. Not a big point to note, but just saying.

4. Traction Control, Hill Assist, Active Rollover Protection: The Freestyle has ALL of these, the Figo - NONE. How important are these?

5. Android Auto/Apple Conn.: The Freestyle has Sync 3 system (seen on the New Ecosports and New Aspire) supporting these; the Figo doesn't and comes with a "simpler" preloaded maps touchscreen unit. Never had a car with a touchscreen, so I dunno if 'less is more' or 'more is more'.

6. Price (On-road): Freestyle: 9.93L | Figo 9.13L (yeah, Bangalore's crazy expensive!)

I'm having a hard time deciding between the two. Freestyle is practical with all the features, albeit expensive comparatively. Figo, better driving with lower GC (which is both a positive and a negative) and stiffer suspension, but sans a lot of "cherry on top" features, and almost a lakh cheaper.

Which of the features on the Freestyle are absolute must-haves in your opinion?

Ultimately, which would you feel is a better pick?

Thanks a bunch in advance!
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Old 31st May 2019, 19:11   #2
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re: Ford sibling rivalry: Figo Blu or Freestyle?

Just yesterday, i & my friend test drove the Figo Petrol and the Freestyle diesel. My friend (a Bhpian) is contemplating to replace his petrol Dzire.

Both of us liked the Freestyle over the Figo.

I will suggest you the Freestyle too.

Reasons-

1) With full load, the GC will come handy, when you cross those big road humps in Bangalore! We did some mild off-roading too & the car came out with flying colors. Where any other hatchback would have scrapped, this car didn't scrap.
So you can take it to some offbeat location's too, during your holidays.

2) Traction control - This can help you to have more control while driving on dirt road, sand or slush.

3) Active Rollover Protection - This is a very good safety feature, which should not be overlooked either.

4) Regarding the cornering ability, the Figo Blu should feel more planted because of the lower GC, but with traction control and active roll over protection the Freestyle should be a safer bet. I zigzagged the Freestyle in triple digit speeds (on an empty road) and felt it to be enough poised for our daily drive purpose.

5) Hill hold assist is also a good feature which can be handy while climbing up a flyover with full traffic or a traffic jam. You do not have to use the handbrake or heel/toe while going up on the incline.

Hope this helps.

Last edited by Samba : 31st May 2019 at 19:26.
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Old 31st May 2019, 19:16   #3
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re: Ford sibling rivalry: Figo Blu or Freestyle?

Quote:
Originally Posted by foxworkz View Post
4. Traction Control, Hill Assist, Active Rollover Protection: The Freestyle has ALL of these, the Figo - NONE. How important are these?
This sums it up.

Considering that the difference between the two cars is only 80k; which gets you the above safety features and some convenience features (Sync3), the Freestyle seems to be the obvious choice.
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Old 3rd June 2019, 09:03   #4
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re: Ford sibling rivalry: Figo Blu or Freestyle?

Quote:
Originally Posted by foxworkz View Post
Hi everyone.
Ultimately, which would you feel is a better pick?
I am assuming you are looking for Titanium+? If yes & you are OK with the brown dash, I would choose Freestyle anyday. 80k more actually gets you loads of usable features:

1. Safety features like TCS, HHA, ARP were unheard of in this segment till Freestyle came in.
2. Sync 3. Grab it before Ford decides to remove it from freestyle as well. Its one of the best touch-screen systems this side of 12L
3. Ground clearance of 190mm. This will give you that extra peace of mind in Bangalore. Although I haven't scraped my current car yet(Jazz CVT with165mm GC, been 1.5 months), but that constant fear does stay at the back of my mind while negotiating the pathetic suburb roads.

The above 3 are worth more than 1L IMHO. So 80k is actually a great deal. I would have picked up the freestyle eyes closed, if they had an Auto but only Ford knows the rationale behind their stupid variant distribution

Last edited by SoumenD : 3rd June 2019 at 09:22.
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Old 3rd June 2019, 09:07   #5
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Re: Ford sibling rivalry: Figo Blu or Freestyle?

I'd pick the Freestyle too. Not just because of the safety features, but even the SYNC3. It really is a top-class system (Figo's ICE is "meh"). And don't worry about the 80k difference. In the eyes of the market, the Figo is a FLOP, while the Freestyle is doing just about okay (nothing great though). IMHO, you'll easily get a good part of that 80k difference at the time of resale.

The Freestyle looks better as well. I hate the stickering & blue highlights of the Figo Blu.

Last edited by GTO : 3rd June 2019 at 09:10.
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Old 3rd June 2019, 17:13   #6
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Re: Ford sibling rivalry: Figo Blu or Freestyle?

I took delivery of My Freestyle Titanium Plus last month and its worth the extra money spent, especially Sync 3, Hill hold assist and she can hold corners really well, Go for it!
Attached Thumbnails
Ford sibling rivalry: Figo Blu or Freestyle?-img_20190531_065049.jpg  

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Old 5th June 2019, 18:56   #7
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Re: Ford sibling rivalry: Figo Blu or Freestyle?

Wow, every single person recommended the Freestyle. Opting for the safety features plus the Sync 3 (which BTW the sales exec. rumoured is no longer on the upcoming, revised, cheaper, less-feature loaded 2019 Ecosport) became a no brainer, after literally everyone pointed them out.



Took the TD again today and the Freestyle just felt right.



Booked the Oxford White Titanium+!


Thanks everyone. Pics coming soon!
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Old 5th June 2019, 19:58   #8
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Re: Ford sibling rivalry: Figo Blu or Freestyle?

Piece of advise: You may have heard of feature deletions on EcoSport. The news was out just couple of days back. Even the Titanium+ variant wasn't spared. In case Ford gets the itch to "rationalise" Freestyle, I am pretty sure Sync 3 will make way for the basic 9 inch touchscreen unit, if not the safety kit. So, make sure you follow up with your service advisor to ensure you get a model that has all these features currently advertised for Freestyle. If it comes to that, there may be ready old stock at any one of the dealers. Never know, you might get lucky!!!

Last edited by strawhat : 5th June 2019 at 20:00.
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Old 28th June 2019, 14:43   #9
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Re: Ford sibling rivalry: Figo Blu or Freestyle?

Booked a Ford Figo Titanium diesel as my budget was 8 lakhs. At this price you only get Trend and below variants of Freestyle and lose on features.

If my budget was 9 lakh+ I would have definitely considered Freestyle Titanium Diesel over Ford Figo Blu Diesel.
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Old 26th September 2019, 02:59   #10
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Re: Ford sibling rivalry: Figo Blu or Freestyle?

I hope this thread isn't dead as yet!
I have a similar dilemma. More so, given the random discounts on offer these days ..
I have been looking at a hatchback for around 7 lakh to replace my (pre-owned) ageing Getz GL.
Options ranged from i20 magna, freestyle trend/titanium, i10 grand sports, or the nios magna.
Now, the variant choices are based on the discounts on offer and hence a bit lopsided to be honest. While, I am tempted to go for freestyle, I am quite skeptical. A late entrant to this list (although not a hatch) is honda amaze.
Any inputs from the community would be vastly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

P.s. am looking for manual petrol.

Last edited by sooshan : 26th September 2019 at 03:02.
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Old 26th September 2019, 06:50   #11
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Re: Ford sibling rivalry: Figo Blu or Freestyle?

Quote:
Originally Posted by sooshan View Post
Options ranged from i20 magna, freestyle trend/titanium, i10 grand sports, or the nios magna. A late entrant to this list (although not a hatch) is honda amaze.
P.s. am looking for manual petrol.
There are quite a lot of discounts running on various cars. Even dad is considering replacing his 8 years Santro.
Coming to your answer, my priority order would have been Freestyle>Honda Amaze=Grand i10 Nios>i20. It totally depends upon your usage. If you drive too much in traffic, a car with a smaller foot print will be better. Hyundai i20 is a great car too but feels sluggish (personal opinion).
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Old 26th September 2019, 23:34   #12
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Re: Ford sibling rivalry: Figo Blu or Freestyle?

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Originally Posted by MrBeast View Post
There are quite a lot of discounts running on various cars. Even dad is considering replacing his 8 years Santro.
Coming to your answer, my priority order would have been Freestyle>Honda Amaze=Grand i10 Nios>i20. It totally depends upon your usage. If you drive too much in traffic, a car with a smaller foot print will be better. Hyundai i20 is a great car too but feels sluggish (personal opinion).
Interesting... while I am tempted to lean towards the freestyle, there are a couple of fact that seem unsettling to me. Reviews on the petrol motor not being as peppy or exciting as the diesel being one and one that mentioned that ford is handing over its India operations to mahindra in its JV!!!!
Also, the amaze came in picture primarily because of the boot space and rear seat luxury it offered (In-laws have one!)
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Old 27th September 2019, 22:05   #13
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Re: Ford sibling rivalry: Figo Blu or Freestyle?

Quote:
Originally Posted by sooshan View Post
Interesting... while I am tempted to lean towards the freestyle, there are a couple of fact that seem unsettling to me. Reviews on the petrol motor not being as peppy or exciting as the diesel being one and one that mentioned that ford is handing over its India operations to mahindra in its JV!!!!
Also, the amaze came in picture primarily because of the boot space and rear seat luxury it offered (In-laws have one!)
Ford 1.5L TDCi has a league of its own, you can't compare it to the 1.2L Dragon engine. However, the dragon engine isn't that bad. Take test drives of all the vehicles and then decide. Yes, there are news that Ford is going to leave India but it will be existing in the JV, so I don't think after sales will be a major issue. If you are planning to keep the car for long, I don't think that resale will be a major concern for you either.
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Old 27th September 2019, 22:37   #14
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Re: Ford sibling rivalry: Figo Blu or Freestyle?

Fair point. I am not worried about resale value. I would ideally like to keep the car awhile.
After sale services and parts supply are my concern. Someone I happened to speak to about ford had a not-so-great info of a lot of cars having to wait for parts to be imported if the issue in question is from parts that arent kept ready stock.!
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Old 27th September 2019, 22:46   #15
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Re: Ford sibling rivalry: Figo Blu or Freestyle?

Quote:
Originally Posted by sooshan View Post
Fair point. I am not worried about resale value. I would ideally like to keep the car awhile.
After sale services and parts supply are my concern. Someone I happened to speak to about ford had a not-so-great info of a lot of cars having to wait for parts to be imported if the issue in question is from parts that arent kept ready stock.!
I don't think it is true. I have a Ford Aspire which we bought in 2017 and so far I haven't experienced any major after sales issues, TOUCHWOOD. There were a couple of problems which were rectified in no time. If the part was not in stock, it took maximum of 2-3 days for it to come. There were days when Ford After Sales was a mess, but I feel nowadays, it is no less than companies like Hyundai and Maruti. Also, I spoke to lot of Ford owners and hardly anyone complain about service issues or any other after sales related stuff.
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