[Glass]

Originally Posted by karanraheja

Quite surprised about that JK ! I thought Fiesta had one of the slickest gearshifts around!!

I second (or third) that. The gear shift - well defined, 0 or 1 but not spongy 0.5 - is one of the nicest areas of a Ford car. The sound of gear change is also pretty neat.

[jkdas]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Surprised to hear this. My Fiesta 1.6's gears have been butter smooth from the first day! Even the car I had TD'd had the same.
Perhaps you did not press the clutch all the way down. My son had made this comment, but when I told him to depress the clutch all the way in, he stood corrected.

Originally Posted by karanraheja

Quite surprised about that JK ! I thought Fiesta had one of the slickest gearshifts around!!

Will drive it today or tomorrow. I too was surprised coz I had to 'search' around for 3rd gear or so. Maybe the car wasnt taken for 1st service yet was it was driven straight to bangy and back.

[Crazy_Eddy]

Me and resident racer boys bottle and Rahul , checked out the Fiesta 1.6 S and SXI back to back. It looks like Ford are indeed running behind on 1.6 S availability. As many folks have mentioned, dealers do not even have a TD vehicle for the same. However MPL Ford Chennai, were gracious enough to roll out their Showroom display vehicle for the TD !

Did a short run over a stretch of bad roads and the S suspension is noticeably stiffer, but IMHO the ride still wasn't bad. Steering feedback felt a bit more, you knew what was going under the tyres - probably due to the low profile tyres. But the SXI felt more 'mushy' over the bumps and likewise for the steering. We were nowhere near a racetrack, so we could not test the handling (but neither was it a priority for me). In both cases, the car felt quite solid over bumps and there were no traces of rattling.

Racer boys^^ had a few opportunities to hit the rev limiter on the main road, and the engine felt pretty good. I wasn't listening too hard, but apparently the engine notes between the S and SXI were a tad bit different as well. The steering felt a bit chunky in both cases, but it was uniform and wasn't a strain while turning.

Now onto some problem areas :
- The horn is incredibly hard to press! Pressing it along the sides is almost pointless as the horn only responds when pressed properly in the centre. I'm not sure if this is a scenario with only the present models (both the S and the SXI cars were the same), but in the land of 'Horn OK Please' this seems to be a setback. I thought I was over-reacting, but all 3 of us echoed the same thoughts. It may probably loosen up over time.
- The left/right indicator lights on the instrument panel are absolutely not visible during the daytime. Apart from the clickety-click sound of the indicator being active, it was hard to make a visual confirmation. And yep, I made ye old mistake with Ford cars of hitting the wiper switch instead of the turn indicator


I also felt that the clutch was a bit heavy compared to say the Swift/SX4. Fumbled with the gear-shift the first few times, but thats probably because I'm used to taller gear-shifters.
I felt the seats were a wee bit too short.

[bottle]

Yup as mentioned above tested out both the Fiesta S and the SXI. Found the sports to be more composed over bumps and less likely to stray from the driving line possibly due to the wider tyres and stiffer suspension. However bumps and bad surfaces were a bit more apparent but hardly bone jarring.

The car themselves especially the S looked stunning but frankly I have to say I was seriously disappointed with the interiors. I have sat in the older version of the Fiesta and kind of felt some of the plastics especially the glove box lid and the plastic around the gear lever were of very low quality comparitively. Also the plain black instrument cluster of the older fiesta appealed more. This one seemed to have some distracting pattern all over it.

Gearshift and pedals and all were pretty standard and comparable with my palio. Gearshift was quite slick and though very slightly vague.

Another thing that surprised me (though I;m not too sure about it) was the turn radius. Though it was supposed to be 4.9 I kind of felt while making a U-Turn that it was going a bit wider than expected compared to a Cedia (also 4.9) which seemed to turn in sharper.

[radiokidb]

Same thing happened here in bangy, metro ford didnt have a td car and rolled out their showroom display model. And i must say i was expecting a bad pre sale experience but they were very courteous and called me back several times to ask when i wanted a td!

Finally got to td it(due to a delay on my part) and i absolutely loved it!(talking about the 1.6 S) As stated above, i found the clutch a touch heavy as well(compared to a swift d). I found the gearbox a delight to use and all my shifts clicked into place very nicely. Im 5'6" and for me the driving position felt great

The steering felt meaty and the thing was absolutely planted while making some mildly exciting turns. Got a change to hit the rev limiter a few times. Pity it just falls short of hitting 100 kph in 2nd. Indicators were indeed impossible to see during the daytime and i have to agree with the point on the quality of the dash. It looked quite bad and I thought it was dirty but infact it was clean. Disappointment for sure. @ bottle, that distracting pattern is a honeycomb design for the instrument cluster. on a side note I hit the wiper switch as well :P

Did not get a chance to compare it to the sxi though as metro ford did not have a td car available at the time. Now i just have to convice dad!

[vnabhi]

Perhaps you can see the indicators if you tilt the steering. I have no issues with my sxi, but it is a 2007 model. Or is the new honeycomb grill the culprit?

[sathee46]

Just got a courier from Ford with a Memento & a letter in it saying "We're pulling all stops to get your car delivered to you ASAP", Just called Ford here in chennai, and they confirmed the delivery in the 1st week of August (But still did'nt fix a date though, Need to check with my mom for that)

So hope one more week's wait for my baby.

[GTO]

Thats a sweet way to welcome someone into the family. Nice gesture by Ford.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by GTO

Thats a sweet way to welcome someone into the family. Nice gesture by Ford.

I am not commenting about the after-sales, leaving it open to discussion, but in terms of pre-sales experiences, Ford India is quite good.

[libocta]

hi All,
Am in the process of choosing between G3HC & Fiesta... the situation is already complex with so much confusion due to New city now in showroom yet...

and the Fiesta's current offer of 20k seems to be getting over this month end,
Though 20K is not so big in overall scheme of things, wanted to understand what could be the chances of Fiesta having some equally good offer next month (esp considering festival time and City launch)????
Heard from a friend that Ford generally has some offer or other...

[autoenthusiast]

Originally Posted by libocta

hi All,
and the Fiesta's current offer of 20k seems to be getting over this month end,

My Friend, usually you should get a much better discount or a better scheme in November, with the launch of the new City and the Linea (Linea expected in Nov) you should have some juicy discount offers from Ford & Maruti

[sathee46]

I think they are offering 20K worth of some jewellery now. I think you would definitely have some discounts all the time with the dealers

[pramod]

Originally Posted by hillram

I liked the S with a sporty touch..but i feel it should have been atleast a 1.8 powered engine.But ford wont change this..

There is no need for a 1.8 litre. The 1.6 Petrol has enough in it to keep even the hard core rallyists happy. You do 180 Kmph with little effort if you have the road to do so. You do 100 Kmph in 2 \nd gear. And for the size of this vehicle, 1.6 is the max you can feed in.

[TheHorse]

Seems like Ford has started becoming customer centric these days..feeling the competition heat, huh?
I registered on ford india website to download fiesta brochure 3 days back and Talera Ford comes to my home with brand new Fiesta Tdci SXI the next day for test drive. They caught me there totally unprepared

Originally Posted by GTO

Thats a sweet way to welcome someone into the family. Nice gesture by Ford.

[Glass]

Originally Posted by TheHorse

Seems like Ford has started becoming customer centric these days..feeling the competition heat, huh?
I registered on ford india website to download fiesta brochure 3 days back and Talera Ford comes to my home with brand new Fiesta Tdci SXI the next day for test drive. They caught me there totally unprepared

I am sure it was a mix-up from their end in managing the brochure/TD requests than their being customer centric. I guess some one else who requested a test ride got a brochure.