[ZB86]

I read all the replies on this thread and the general consensus is "Too late to the party" and not knocking it out of the park for the mass buyer or the enthusiast.

The timing of this product is such that it had to nail at least one segment. This same hatch 3 years back would have made it much easier for it to survive and make a place for itself. Most of the buyers in this segment are already pampered by Hyundai and Suzuki. They might not be the best cars in town but they have some USP for city drive. Talk of Hyundai, it does not have the best mileage, the best engine, but it does the job fine. The perceived fit and finish, and the touch screen is among the best when we speak of Santro, i10, Venue price point. Most do not face any major issue in their years of ownership. I have a i10 automatic 2018 model at home, and it ticks all the boxes.

Suzuki is master of this segment, every second car sold is theirs for a reason. I got an Ignis petrol manual in 2017 and my opinion also is the same. I am not a fan of their build, the wobbly plastics still give me a cringe and my i10 feels like a car few segments above with the way it is put together. But it is a complete peace of mind ownership. Mileage is fantastic, the engine is peppy and with the gearbox it is one of the most easy cars to drive around. It looks cool enough and for city drive there is hardly much to complain.

Does Figo give a better alternative? It probably does, but there is barely any hype. It misses on a very critical feature like Android Auto / Apple Car Play. It is a must in todays time, at least for city drive. Nearly every car in this price point offers it. Ford has given a touchscreen, but without Android Auto, it does not serve much of a purpose. In a segment which is so crowded, every feature which the consumer wants, matters.

Having owned an Ecosport for six years, I am more than sure the steering will be among the best, so will be the drive. But is it enough to lure the potential customers from Suzuki, Hyundai and now Nissan / Renault. Nissan? Renault/Nissan have realized what people want in this price segment and it seems to have worked for them. Their marketing has been good as well, look how much and well they have promoted the Kiger and Magnite.

Ford has been very slack in last few years and it shows. The Ecosport should have evolved and grown to be the champion of its segment. A gradual progression should have been getting something to compete with Creta. There is only so much you can do with the same model. The fatigue shows and it is sad, since their cars are genuinely good.

[kpkeerthi]

I still believe if Ford offered a TC/AT on their diesels they will sell. Why Ford?!

[nettooran]

I believe it is a VFM option for many. A simple no nonsense car for people looking for a city car with occasional highway runs. The safety features are surely going to get a lot of people from VW showroom to this.

For anyone looking for a second car (new) at home, this would definitely find a top place in the list. For a little more than 9 Lakhs on road, you are getting a good deal. The lesser service cost is also a plus.

Wish they can tune in that TC unit for their diesel rocket.

[nettooran]

I believe it is a VFM option for many. A simple no nonsense car for people looking for a city car with occasional highway runs. The safety features are surely going to get a lot of people from VW showroom to this.

For anyone looking for a second car (new) at home, this would definitely find a top place in the list. For a little more than 9 Lakhs on road, you are getting a good deal. The lesser service cost is also a plus.

Wish they can tune in that TC unit for their diesel rocket.

[Sureshmadhan]

I dont know why Ford is late in re-launching automatics on their entry product lines. It had the ATs in its offerings earlier (FIGO and ASPIRE). I believe they missed the bus of initial rush of many members who wanted automatics. TC are way better than AMTs. Of late Ford is focusing to reduce the TCO of its products. With this TC AT it would be an interesting proposition to see how they deal in capturing market. Usually mileage in TC ATs is less than a CVT/AMT.

VW's GTTSI smaller engine (1L) with a turbo would be a trade off with Ford Figo's larger (1.2) NA engine. Reliability of FIGO NA engine has an edge.

[EshanS]

Whoaa and Ford are late to the party. They should have done this during the BS6 launch, or atleast when others were jumping on the ATs probably 2yrs ago.

Has anyone here actually driven the Figo here? Do you know how robust this small hatchback is? and Ford just upped the game by giving it 6 Air Bags making it not only safe and secured but a total VFM product in this price bracket. This car feels heavy and planted unlike Maruti or Hyundai, (pls no offence to others owning one, I personally drive one too).

Ofcourse that Comfortline is going to nudge at this price bracket but we all know here that Ford is slightly easy on the pocket when it comes to maintenance than the Germans. Last week the best offer I could get was Rs 9,90,000 OTR for the Comfortline for the fiery red with added 5yrs warranty and some discounts. Let's see how this one fares with the pricing.

I guess both these cars have aged well in India, and don't feel like actually changing the design as such but a good move by Ford India to consider bringing in a true automatic.

And on the NIOS part, no, both these (Figo/Polo) are miles apart from the Koreans.

[StepUP!]

I am surprised to see the fuel efficiency number. I have Figo DCT which has old 1.5 ltr engine and returns 11-12 kmpl in city. Reviewers are claiming same figure for 1.2 ltr dragon engine. Shouldn't it be more efficient?

Happy to see Ford offering 6 airbags which was missing when I bought DCT. The car is great VFM.

As expected Ford is getting criticized for lack of AA/Apple car play, LED lamps etc . I am not even sure average Janardan understands these AMT/TC/DCT/CVT talk. For him all are automatic. And Maruti automatic gives more kmpl than anything else.

[rainmaster]

Slight tweaking to their feature list might have brought meaningful enhanced driving experience.

• Instead of Auto Headlamps and rain sensing wipers, I would prefer addition of cruise control. Based on my ownership experience, for me cruise control brings lot of convenience during long distance travel.
• Apple car play and Android auto is a big miss.
• No DRLS and projector headlamps, even though it doesn’t add any additional value to driving experience, general public view it as a cool feature.

Nevertheless, Figo automatic is a sensible option for those who are looking for relatively safe, proper automatic (Torque converter) and lower maintenance cost. Figo might not be a direct competitor for Polo auto from enthusiast perspective but still deliver fantastic ride and handling package. No mass market car in India gives Ford’s steering feel and feedback. Figo can cater to niche market who appreciates good driving dynamics and doesn’t want to spend lot of money in purchase and maintenance .

[CarJunki]

Good news for customers who are looking for secure, spacious hatchbacks with proper AT.
If I was in the market for a hatchback today, this will be very high on my priority list.

Somehow, Figo has more space than Swift. Figo can gobble up more luggage than Swift while accommodating the same number of passenger.

[zulfikar]

Why dont they come up with AT in Diesel small cars.

I think there are very very few... only one i can think of is Swift D AT

[akbaree]

Originally Posted by ZB86

...
It misses on a very critical feature like Android Auto / Apple Car Play. It is a must in todays time, at least for city drive. Nearly every car in this price point offers it. Ford has given a touchscreen, but without Android Auto, it does not serve much of a purpose. In a segment which is so crowded, every feature which the consumer wants, matters.

I drive Freestyle and my car has their Sync 3. I cannot even imagine driving a car without Android Auto anymore. It is a MUST HAVE feature IMHO.

[rpm]

Originally Posted by fiat_tarun

........... Like Chiranjit said, most cars with Airbags get the seat belt pretensioners too. The Airbag ECU's anyway have the provision so it's only the cost of the retracting motor which isn't much on the OEM side. IIRC, my 1st gen Figo had this feature so I still think it's there and the customer care agent must have just checked the brochure and replied.

I saw a similar comment in the Kushaq thread saying pretensioners are not present which was incorrect. It was just not mentioned on the brochure.

If it is indeed not there then I'm honestly quite shocked!

I don't know if this information still holds true because it is from 2017 (technically, it's late 2016; 49th week of 2016 to be specific, but I'll just use 2017 because the pdf mentions the year of publication as 2017, and the video was released in 2017 too. If it causes any inconvenience, please feel free to interpret 2017 in the following text as late 2016), but I think I'll share it here anyway. I hope it serves to help the discussion.

The Ford Aspire tested by GNCAP in 2017 has a distinct NO against the FRONT SEATBELT PRETENSIONERS column even though it still offered 6 airbags in the top trim back then (if I'm not mistaken).




I'll reiterate that this is from 2017, and this is the the Ford Aspire, not the Figo. Even though the crash pdf mentions Next Gen Figo at the top, it does not mention Figo under the tested model column, whereas the Tigor pdf has Tiago as well as Tigor mentioned under the tested model column, even if only the Tigor was tested. I'm making no comments about how the Figo will fare compared to the Aspire. I highlighted these differences because I do not know if the Figo and Aspire have the same feature distribution.

[swoosh]

All those who wonder why Ford doesn't bring AT on Freestyle, here's the possible reason.



The team who did the research must be fired. These are the wrong decisions why Ford is struggling in India. Freestyle with AT would have brought decent numbers and given an early mover advantage on CSUV automatic segment.

[anb]

Originally Posted by swoosh

All those who wonder why Ford doesn't bring AT on Freestyle, here's the possible reason.

Attachment 2183036

The team who did the research must be fired. These are the wrong decisions why Ford is struggling in India. Freestyle with AT would have brought decent numbers and given an early mover advantage on CSUV automatic segment.

I think similar research was also conducted by Honda WRV team.

[sangam_mm93]

Originally Posted by gb97ce6

By AT , I am implying a torque converter or CVT or DSG and certainly not an AMT

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

When buying a car two years ago, I wanted the rarer-than-a-unicorn Figo 1.5 Dragon motor + 6-speed TC combo they'd pretended to sell for a while.

Originally Posted by kpkeerthi

I still believe if Ford offered a TC/AT on their diesels they will sell. Why Ford?!

You are not alone!

Originally Posted by zulfikar

Why dont they come up with AT in Diesel small cars.

I think there are very very few... only one i can think of is Swift D AT

Swift was AMT and even MSIL stopped producing diesel engine cars.