[theapollohelios]

Originally Posted by ask99

As much as I concur with safety not being Maruti's priority, that video left me with the opposite conclusion. Seeing the front crumple and absorb all the impact while leaving the passenger cabin mostly intact gives reassurances about the new lightweight platform. It is working as designed. Ideally we would have some photos of the cabin to draw a more informed conclusion.

That should be fine if the metal used to appropriate a crumple zone in the front and back is different from the metal used in the doors and roof. But sadly, that isn't the case. The EcoSport for example has a narrow rear cabin, but a significant part of the rear length is taken up by metal reinforcements for protection from side impacts. The Heartect platform (on which Ignis, Baleno, Swift and Dzire are built) doesn't provide much safety from side impacts. For reference, check out this thread from Team BHP: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-s...ndia-1753.html

Almost always you'll have to make a trade-off (unless you're paying 40L and above where the trade off is the money). Maruti offers great ergonomics, fuel efficiency and interior space. But unfortunately, security isn't one of them.

[nmenon]

I had another chance to check out the Titanium variant (don't know what's going on but the showrooms don't seem to have the Titanium Plus at all on display). The stereo on the Titanium shows details like the exact door open of the car and such vehicle information.

According to the showroom guys the Titanium Plus misses out on this and has a text warning in the MID alone, which is a bit odd.

My timeline has moved forward and may need to get the car soon since we may end up selling our old Alto much earlier.

@Mods do we have any timelines on the Official Review which would certainly be helpful in deciding whether this is the best option?

[nmenon]

Booked the Freestyle Petrol Titanium Plus today, paid 10k at Malayalam Ford, Angamaly , Kerala.

They have promised delivery by 1st week of June with temp plates and requested us to take it to the RTO since the RTO close to them is a different one to the one that covers my address.
Have asked to provide a discount on Accessories i.e rain visors, engine guard and ambient lighting, since we will be making full payment. Didn't see the need for anything else.

They agreed to a PDI at their yard before registering the car in my name. Their only request was that we travel to their yard which is at the other end of the city.

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by nmenon

Booked the Freestyle Petrol Titanium Plus today, paid 10k at Malayalam Ford, Angamaly , Kerala.

.

Congratulations Menon, Wish you miles of smiles with your car. Hopefully you will be starting your thread where you will deliberate more on your buying thought process and driving experience?

[nmenon]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Congratulations Menon, Wish you miles of smiles with your car. Hopefully you will be starting your thread where you will deliberate more on your buying thought process and driving experience?

Thank you for the wishes!

Will definitely start a thread once the car has been delivered and will detail the thought process and the experience.

[sandx]

Originally Posted by nmenon

Booked the Freestyle Petrol Titanium Plus today, paid 10k at Malayalam Ford, Angamaly , Kerala.

Hearty Congratulations nmenon. Great Choice .

I will be closely following your ownership thread as and when you put it up on the forum. Wishing you a zillion miles of carefree ownership on the diminutive yet rugged package.

BTW, which color did you opt for.

[nmenon]

Originally Posted by sandx

Hearty Congratulations nmenon. Great Choice .

I will be closely following your ownership thread as and when you put it up on the forum. Wishing you a zillion miles of carefree ownership on the diminutive yet rugged package.

BTW, which color did you opt for.

Thank you for the wishes.

I've given 2 colour options. The first preference being Smoke Grey and second being black. They had White Gold and White in stock, but none of us liked either colour.

Currently the delivery date is the end of may or 1st week of June.

Will put up an ownership thread once I've put in a few miles.

[YashD]

Had quite a long test drive of the new Freestyle Petrol today and here's my feedback on the same.


° In first look the Freestyle does looks quite good in the beefed up Crossover avatar and that wider tracks adds a lot of character to the vehicle. Infact with the Ecosport standing just beside it, both the car's width felt the same and tbh, the Freestyle felt way more smarter.

° The raised ground clearance along with claddings and roof rails with those smoked headlamps along with C Shaped Bumpers all along are another plus further enhancing the stance of the Crossover and if I may say this Crossover looks way better than the competition including the WR-V.

° I did miss the Projector or DRL element and feel it would have made the car more appealing overall. I guess it could've added the oomph factor. Look at a WR-V during the day and you would relate to what I mean.

° The Crossover I drove had 15 inches 185/60 Section Goodyear Assurance wheels, the Alloys looked sweet with that gun metal finish and gives it that much needed rugged feel though I wish Ford used some other tyres something like the Yokohama maybe?

° The one thing I couldn't understand properly was how are the tail lamps reprofiled?
Both felt same to me.

° Step into the cabin and the first thing you would notice are the Chocolate interiors aka Sienna interior as per Ford. I felt like home in it after driving the first generation i20 for so many years. The color looks quite decent overall and until you park it under the sun, outlook of the interiors seems quite premium. I didn't feel the plastic quality to be on the average side, in fact it felt way better than cars like Ignis, Liva Cross and the likes though definitely not in the league of i20 Active & Cross Polo but then again you're paying almost a couple of lakhs lesser for it too when compared to the Active.

° Not sure about the touchscreen size though the sales executive said its a 7 inch System with the Ford Sync 3 and it felt absolutely brilliant to use. The touch was super responsive, had a lot of options though it did lag a little in between but hey! It's a car's touchscreen so works for me. The sound quality felt superb in the Bluetooth Audio and I feel one should definitely tune the same before playing the music. The Bass was great with pretty decent mid range but Yes! Tweeters would've enhanced the experience further. I wonder why Ford skipped giving two Tweeters on the top end. One funny moment was the sales executive telling me that the Bluetooth Mic is actually a Tweeter.


° Did anyone of you felt the side mirrors to be smaller in size and not good enough? I don't know why but I feel it could've been a little bigger. Also the placement of the knob on the door would have been better atleast for me.

° One thing that appealed me the most about the Freestyle was Ford's new keys. After seeing the kind of keys the old generation Fords had this felt leaps and bounds ahead. It also felt so much nicer to hold and had that perfect weight.

° I knew there were no dead pedals in this but well it didn't bother me much as I was busy enjoying driving this handsome rugged machine on the streets of Kolkata zig zagging through traffic and I'm in love with it. The steering is sharp and direct with enough weight as per my liking, the turning radius felt small and this thing is a hoot around the city. Overtaking cars in the urban traffic felt Super easy, Acceleration is quick and you won't even feel that you're driving a 3 Cylinder motor. Infact in one of the signals a Honda Jazz and I started pulling together and within seconds he was in my rear view mirror. The handling is typical Ford DNA. I know a lot of consumers still prefer the old Figo steering but this one is not at all behind.

° Speaking of performance, One thing I didn't like were the brakes. Even though they're quick and effective it doesn't has that sharp bite or the progressiveness that I like, would call it a little spongy.

° Everyone said that the 1.2K Series engine is peppier but I wouldn't agree with it. The Freestyle may not have that initial grunt until say 1400 - 1500 rpm but the way it picks up from there all the way to 5000 rpm is definitely going to plant a smile on your face. There is plenty of power throughout the rev band and you can keep it pushing all the way to the limiter at around 7000 rpm. Also, do notice the engine note. I wasn't expecting that to be soo nice!

° The clutch on the other hand is light, new getrag gearbox is slick and it's indeed a big step up from the old box. I remember driving the Aspire petrol and I actually had to play with the gear in order to keep that power coming in but this one is brilliantly calibrated. Also, I'm glad that it has the Grand i10 like placement of gears improving the space in the central console drastically.

° There is an extremely rough patch just after my office and asking my sales executive I pushed the car on that patch and my re-action instant was "Arre bhai Bhai Bhai Bhai" the way it swallowed all the bumps and potholes without filtering any of them into the cabin made me super impressed. Infact I purposely took it to every pothole just to be sure if what I felt in the beginning was really this? This car is meant to be driven on bad patches. Keep your SUVs at home folks this would do the job well enough. I drove a friend's Active and even that didn't swallow bumps the way this kid does let's leave the other Cross hatches out of the list itself including the WR-V.

° The sales executive claimed that the annual servicing cost would be around INR 3800 which is super cheap! The company is also giving in the 3rd & 4th year extended warranty right with the car now for just Rs. 7,000 which seems extremely reasonable to me.

Hence, to sum it all up my verdict is I'm buying one! I guess nothing else needs to be said anymore. For 7.8 Lakhs on-road Kolkata, the Titanium+ feels an excellent value for money seeing the specification and equipment on offer, special highlight to the safety features and that thud further re-assuring the decision.

I sold my i20 a year back and from then I have been looking for a replacement. I had tried numerous vehicles including Volkswagen Ameo, Ford Aspire, Verna 4S 1.4, Elite i20, New Jazz, the Nexon etc. but couldn't connect with anyone. Finally the perfect replacement has been found, for me the Freestyle is a Jack of All and meets all my requirements which includes Fun to drive, fully loaded cabin, safety features and a rare design. Being a Crossover & a Ford, I feel it won't sell in huge numbers adding that exclusivity to it. Moreover I'm planning to opt for the Black color and as per my dealer the maximum bookings he has received are for Canyon Ridge and I would be the first customer in Eastern India to book a black Freestyle hence I would get that exclusivity their too.

Now, I just have one dilemma, should I check out the new Honda Amaze too as both are almost priced the same. As per my known Sales executive in Honda Amaze 1.2 V is 7.7 and VX is 8.2 on road which is quite close to each other hence ought I consider it?

[Rshrey22]

The only thing that irks me is the swept back dashboard in the Freestyle that has been carried over from the Figo.

It's a sour element in a car that otherwise ticks most of the boxes. Would it kill Ford to revamp the dashboard and make it look a little more classy and maybe modern, just the way Honda did with the Amaze's facelift (1st gen) ?

[tharian]

Visited the Ford showroom this morning to renew the insurance on my Aspire and checked out the Freestyle.

I liked its stance and the insides look nice and clean too. The dual colors on the dash didn't seem to be a turn off as expected. Overall it didn't seem like a odd ball like some other cross overs.

The instrument cluster was much better than the Figo/Aspire. Couldn't drive it since test cars had gone out for test drives.

A comparison between the height of the Sports and Freestyle

[harish619]

Originally Posted by tharian

Visited the Ford showroom this morning to renew the insurance on my Aspire and checked out the Freestyle.
—-
A comparison between the height of the Sports and Freestyle

Which showroom is this btw? Really looking forward to see white figo sports on display.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by harish619

Which showroom is this btw? Really looking forward to see white figo sports on display.

Metro Ford, Palace cross.

I was surprised to see the Figo S still on display with the new Figo/Aspire coming soon. This car has been on display since a year.

[bhaskar.guru]

Mod Note: Our Freestyle Report has been taken live at this link. Please continue the discussion over on the new thread. Thanks!

Even Elite Ford has the Figo S on display.