[parrys]

Today, Ford India has launched the Figo facelift starting at Rs. 3,84,999 (Petrol) and 4,81,999 (Diesel) Ex-Showroom Delhi.



High Points:

• Ford says they have made 140 tweaks and improvements to the Figo in total, of which 10 are styling changes.
• The front end gets Ford's kinetic design language with a hexagonal grille and a redesigned headlamp.
• Also, the headlamps now have a larger reflective area, addressing customer concerns.
• The tail lamp design has been tweaked a little, retains the same form though.
• New design for the 14" alloys on the Titanium variant. Wheel covers for the other variants have been redesigned too.
• Steering column mounted audio controls.
• Enhanced lumbar support & head rest adjustment. New blue seat fabric design.
• Improved engine calibration for better acceleration.
• 'Double bulb weather strips' (rubber around the doors) help keep the NVH levels in the cabin on the lower side.
• Two new colours: Bright Yellow & Kinetic Blue.
• 65% of the Figo's customers so far have been 1st time car buyers!
• Localization is currently at 80-85%
• The Figo is exported to 35 international markets.
• Ford currently has 230 sales & service outlets in 123 cities across India. Company plans to raise the number over 500 outlets by mid-decade.

[CARDEEP]

The Figo is launched @ Rs.3.85 Lacs for the Petrol & Rs.4.82 Lacs for the Diesel variants (a hike of mere Rs.3-5K across variants).

http://www.livemint.com/Companies/Jf...-385-lakh.html

The company is also offering a two-year or 100,000km warranty on the car.

[parrys]

Exterior:

The new Bright Yellow colour.


New front bumper.


Side profile remains the same.






The hexagonal grille, to carry forward the Ford family look.


New headlamp has a larger reflective surface. But the chrome wrapping around it just too flashy. Would have been better to look at if it got the smoked treatment like the earlier generation.


New bezel for the front fog lamps.


Alloys wheels look sporty indeed.


Redesigned tail lamps.


Rear towing hook gets the bright yellow treatment as well.

[parrys]

Interiors:

Dashboard is now Riviera Blue.


Nothing new here.


Steering column mounted audio controls on the LHS,


USB cable in the glovebox.


Blue seat fabric.


The colour combination inside the cabin. Riviera Blue - black.


EDIT on 16th October 2012: Ford invited Team-BHP for a short spin in the facelifted Figo

We got to drive the TDCi (Diesel) Ford Figo so the comments are based only on that particular drivetrain. The diesel engine retains the driveability factor. But, even though it is great to drive in the city and at cruising speeds, the engine lacks the punchy performance of some competitors. Turbo-lag remains minimal and even 2nd gear lift off from 0 kph is not difficult at all.

The interiors see some changes, but it isn't something you will brag about. Where Ford has always been eager to get in new colours on the dashboard, this time it is Riviera Blue. At night, I couldn't tell whether it was blue or black. This shade does sync well with the new blue seat fabric though.

The steering column mounted audio controls bring added convenience, but they aren't perfect. First of all, the keys have to be pulled and not pushed. It should have been either ways. Second, it's placed on the left side. Thus, every time you lift your leg off the clutch, you hit this audio control stalk. For taller people, it definitely will be a concern.







The fleet for the night. 7 cars in total:

[vb-saan]

The blue dash looks a bit better from the previous red, but why is Ford playing around with these odd coloured dashboard for the Figo?


Source

[parrys]

Brochure:

[Vid6639]

Ford keeps trying these new colour themes for the dash and it looks it has paid off. The blue looks sweet. Welcome change from the hideous clay colour and thank god they didn't go the beige way.

Those new alloys looks really good but will be a royal pain to keep clean. The Y design will have a lot of dirt stuck in between the Y arms.

Loving the 2 new colours. Where other manufacturers are now opting for dull colours, Ford has come in with 2 new fresh and bright colours.

Kinetic blue would have been my choice if it was available back then.

[Jaggu]

Love the car in the new yellow yummy mango! Good to see that Ford is adding on more goodies, wish they plonked in slightly better engines and introduced a sports version.

@Vidyut i feel the clay was better than the blue, just me. This would fade in no time and become dull.

[speedmunster]

Kudos to ford for updating the model so early in its life. While most other manufacturers would wait for sales to drop before actually refreshing a model, Ford has gone one-up and updated the Figo within 2 years.
A good all-round update. Miss the silver inserts in the steering wheel though.
IMO, Ford could have done a bit more to the rear. It hardly looks different and would be hard to tell the difference between the old and the new cars in the regular colours.

[tckanth]

A refreshed Figo indeed, looks like Ford is going the Maruti way - making subtle changes to their models.
My 2 cents:
- I hope the larger / increase in the reflective area means improved headlight performance, which I believe has been a regular complaint from most of the Figo owners.
- I wonder what Ford means by "Max. File + Max. Folder - 512" in the USB features. Does that mean even though we have a 8GB pendrive we can only have 512 songs in it??

[vnabhi]

Looks nice in new colours, though yellow is never my favourite colour. Actually the picture taken last month from a rear view mirror gave a disproportionate look.

I'm still going for the old model this week as I'm getting a discount of 35 K on it. With the price increase of the new model, the total difference is 40 K, and there may not be freebies like seat covers, film, body cover etc.

40 K more only for audio controls, improved headlamp throw and better-looking alloys does not seem to be justified, IMO

[MavericK46]

The blue-toned interior does look good in the pics. I'd imagine it would look better in the flesh

That said, when I'd been to the Ford showroom opposite to the Bangalore Palace entrance last month, the salesperson didn't so much as give me an inkling that a refresh was on its way. Business case aside, I think a word from him that a minor facelift is expected would've taken my interest in his showroom a couple of notches higher.
The TD and the enquiries were made on behalf of a buddy who'd now be chuffed that he could either choose to get a sizeable discount on the outgoing model or potentially plonk for the slightly spiffier looking new one

Being a TBhpian has been of help for the umpteenth time now !

[GTO]

Good move by Ford in launching the Figo one day ahead of the copycat new Maruti 800 .

I said it at the time of reviewing the Duster and will say it again : I like my steering wheels to be just that. If there have to be audio controls, I prefer to have them on the column, than create clutter on the steering. The Duster's audio controls were ergonomically perfect, will wait to hear what owners have to say about the Figo's placement.

Thanks for the report Parry.

[acroback]

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

The Figo is launched @ Rs.3.85 Lacs for the Petrol & Rs.4.82 Lacs for the Diesel variants (a hike of mere Rs.3-5K across variants).

http://www.livemint.com/Companies/Jf...-385-lakh.html

The company is also offering a two-year or 100,000km warranty on the car.

Does this show that Ford understands that Indian Market is price sensitive?
I just hope Ecosport lives up to its budget Crossover image with a killer pricing.

[Utopian]

The front looks good with the new headlight design, but I hope that they retain a black dashboard option along with the blue one.
Alloys look super cool.