[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by theexister

Even I had started getting this noise once in a while. I think its the same old handbrake rod or harness at the rear which was reported a lot when the Fiestas had been launched.

I actually looked under the rear left wheel & you can clearly see two rods really close by & they will touch under certain conditions. I noticed that very small ( size of mustards) get caught in this gap giving rise to a sharp abrasive noise. I cleaned it out once & put on some grease & there has been no noise so far. Try it out.

Thanks theexister. I got it rectified by Mody Ford on Saturday. When I told them that I was disappointed that the sound had not been set right, on getting a post-service feedback call, they requested me to bring the car over on any day. I took it last Saturday, and a senior supervisor was deputed to take me for a test drive.
Barely had he started taking a reverse, the sound showed up on a slight incline. He did the reverse again and identified the issue. It took hardly 15 minutes to fix it. Guess what it was??
It was a sound emanating from the folding rear seat harness. He flipped the rear seat forward (I never used this feature so far), and got the harness cleaned , and probably greased, while I was sipping coffee in their AC lounge. Now that squeak has totally vanished, and I am a happy customer.

[theexister]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Thanks theexister. I got it rectified by Mody Ford on Saturday. When I told them that I was disappointed that the sound had not been set right, on getting a post-service feedback call, they requested me to bring the car over on any day. I took it last Saturday, and a senior supervisor was deputed to take me for a test drive.
Barely had he started taking a reverse, the sound showed up on a slight incline. He did the reverse again and identified the issue. It took hardly 15 minutes to fix it. Guess what it was??
It was a sound emanating from the folding rear seat harness. He flipped the rear seat forward (I never used this feature so far), and got the harness cleaned , and probably greased, while I was sipping coffee in their AC lounge. Now that squeak has totally vanished, and I am a happy customer.

Good to hear.

Once I heard a lot of noises coming from the rear of the car & was perplexed at this. I had no idea that the rear seat could fold but accidently one day my wife tried folding it & voila it was up. Only then I noticed one of the seat beat buckles had fallen in, I think during one of the visits to the accessory stores, and this was making that racket.

[silver_shadow]

i just found this old thread. i was wondering if anyone knew whether it's possible to get fiesta ABS for an ikon? what would be the approximate cost and is it worth it (i'm guessing that it is)?

[Torque123]

Hi Guys,

I got my Fiesta 1.6 SXi with ABS in January 2008. It has been 4 months since i got the car and i have nothing to regret about. In a couple of instances i have compared the car with swift because i owned a swift before and i found a huge difference in certain areas.

Pre purchase - I had ONLY 2 cars on my mind before buying this car. One was Fiesta and the other was Verna CRDi. Both cars are equally good in their own way but i preferred Fiesta over Verna because of its looks and interiors.

Booked the car on Jan 1st 2008 as i wanted a 2008 model. The dealer said it will take 3 weeks time for the delivery of the car as i wanted a 2008 model. They also gave me 15k corporate discount in addition to mudflaps, idol, perfume and car cover. I had to push a lot for the car cover though. As promised i got the deliver of the car on Jan 24th in perfect condition.

Now my car has done 3700 kms and has also gone through the first service. First service bill was zero as they did not change anything. Just checked the car throughly, washed and polished it. It is due for 2nd service in week's time. Till now i have gone on 2 longdrives. One being to BR hills (roads were not good after Mysore) and the other to Mysore.

The good things that i feel about the car are:-

1. Excellent power (the car loves speed is what i can say. I have done a max of 140).

2. Build quality and suspension are very good. To me the car feels rock solid after driving swift for one and a half years. The "thud" sound which you get after closing the door was not present in the swift. The car's suspension has the ability to manage bad roads with ease. The suspension is a little stiff compared to Verna.

3.Interiors of this car make you get the upmarket feel.

4.Aircon is wonderful. It cools almost instantly with fan speed at 2. Also there in no power loss when the aircon is on. In swift this was a big problem.

5.Lots of storage places and also the rear center arm rest. The DTE is something which is very very Handy.

6. Good after sales service. (When i had left the car for first service there were no dents. But when i got it back from the service station (Metro Ford) there was a one small dent on the dickie door. I called the service guys and informed them and they did the required work without creating any nuisence and apologized for the inconvinence caused).

The few negatives i found in the car are:-

1.Indicator and wiper levers on the opposite side were of a problem initially (now have got used to it though).

2.The aircon is a little noisy with speeds of over 2.

3.Ford should have provided an mp3 player.

4.Tyres should have been a little wider. (I am going to upgrade them shortly).


It was a while since i wanted to share my experience but finally its here. I also have one question. Is it possible to get a driver's arm rest fitted in this car? Any one who knows about it please let me know where it can be done in Bangalore. Below is a pic pf my car. Have not taken many snaps though.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by Torque123

It was a while since i wanted to share my experience but finally its here. I also have one question. Is it possible to get a driver's arm rest fitted in this car? Any one who knows about it please let me know where it can be done in Bangalore. Below is a pic pf my car. Have not taken many snaps though.

Good review Torque123. I am glad to know that you are enjoying the 'sexi'
to the hilt. Your list of pros and cons mostly matches with my review.

I too would like to install an armrest between the front seats. I found this feature only in Verna Petrol cars. Do share any info on this.

[silver_shadow]

Originally Posted by silver_shadow

i just found this old thread. i was wondering if anyone knew whether it's possible to get fiesta ABS for an ikon? what would be the approximate cost and is it worth it (i'm guessing that it is)?

ok i stumbled across a few threads after i posted and it seems that it's not feasible because of the ECM part at least that's what i gather.

[Zodak]

Hey Guys,

Even I just bought a 1.6Sxi 20 days back and agree totally with torque123 with regards to pros and cons.I more feature which my fiesta has is indicators on OVRMsthey look just amazing . Would surely write a 1000Km review this weekend.

[vnabhi]

Welcome to the club, Zodak! I am sure you will enjoy your car as much as we are enjoying ours.

[kanchan]

Hi Suman (or any other Fiesta owners),
First of all, a BIG thanks to all of the Fiesta owners whose reviews help me a lot to take the final decision. I have recently booked 1.6 zxi P Fiesta (Platinum). I am just curious about the following things before I finalize the following things.

1. I have read (most probably) in this thread that Fiesta is providing MRF tyres which is under sized and mony of you have upgraded your tyres to Michelin 185/65 R14 XM1+. Can you guys please help me out to decide whether I should go for this upgradation right now or later on (after using this original MRF tyres for few thousand KMs?

2. Teflon coating is not recommended by our forum but should we go for other coatings like under body coating, interior coating or interior coating? (as sales person seems to keen on providing me the total coating package but I am not convinced )

I am going to post a detailed review soon after getting the delivery.

I am not sure I am posting this in proper place or not (as I have read about the tyre upgrade in this thread so upadating the same). If not (Moderator) Please remove this to the correct section.


-Kanchan

[suman]

Hey Kanchan, I think you should use the stock tyres unless you have one hell of a need to upgrade immediately. I changed mine after 50k kms - yes, I didn't like them but unless you are contemplating serious performance driving, I don't think there's a need.

I'd gone for Waxoyl treatment on my car - with two free treatments at the end of every 6 months; I was happy with the shine & the protection. Underbody coating - generally a good idea before the monsoon sets in.

Just my two cents.

PS: You should bargain with them & ask them to give you all the coating & treatment free

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by suman

Hey Kanchan, I think you should use the stock tyres unless you have one hell of a need to upgrade immediately. I changed mine after 50k kms - yes, I didn't like them but unless you are contemplating serious performance driving, I don't think there's a need.

I'd gone for Waxoyl treatment on my car - with two free treatments at the end of every 6 months; I was happy with the shine & the protection. Underbody coating - generally a good idea before the monsoon sets in.

Just my two cents.

PS: You should bargain with them & ask them to give you all the coating & treatment free

I've also gone for Waxoyl--both exterior and underbody.The car shines like brand new even today, after 14 months.

[suman]

Heh-heh, in case some of you are wondering, it just means that she's covered 64 k kms in about 32 months; 3 years around the corner & going very strong!

The 60k kms service was done in early August - the fuel filter assembly is changed for the first time at 60k kms; was wondering if it would be expensive but it wasn't - just Rs 377.75 plus VAT. The Wiper Blades had also become a little noisy at the highest speed setting so they recommended changing those as well - Rs 355.54 plus VAT for the pair. Apart from that, the usual Oil, oil filter & air cleaner filter were changed. Ford have increased the Labour charges for the Service. Total cost of the service was Rs 3,394 (Material Rs 1,978 plus Labour Rs 1,416).

Dramas during service: My driver is one of those wonderful personalities who observes everything very closely. The only problem is, he reacts a little too late. So, I get a call from him saying "Sir, inho ne toh alignment & blancing (balancing) bhi kiya - maine mana kiya lekin yeh bola ki free hai". Obviously, he did not stop them & was calling me AFTER it had been done. I was quite irritated & gave him as well as the Advisor a piece of my mind because I hate getting all this done at the workshop - invariably I have problems later. In any case, it was done so I told him to move on & hope for the best.

Dramas after servicing: Now, sure enough, half an hour later I get a call from him "Sir, yeh to thoda left ki taraf ja raha hain.....". Bingo, now I had an alignment issue on my hands. Of course, the workshop asked me to send it back but I wasn't having any more of it so I gave him another piece of my mind & told him we'd tackle it later. I was convinced that the balancing would also turn out to be imperfect so the next day I sent him to Lajpat Nagar & asked him to get the wheels balanced (life time free balancing because I purchased the tyres from there). I get a call from him after an hour telling me its done & everything was fine. Now read this conversation -

Me: Aap khare the balancing machine ke paas?
Him: Nahi sir, unho ne bola ki sahi hai
Me: Matlab aapne kuch dekha hi nahin? Kuch weight lagaya ya nahin?
Him: Sir, yeh toh maine nahin dekha
Me: Toh aap ko kaise pata chala ki sahi hai!!?? Chalo, aap Ansal Plaza HP Pump ke peeche Tyre alignment ki dukaan hai, udhar pounch ke, mujhe phone karna.

Twenty minutes later -

Him: Sir, ye dukaan toh bundh hain, aaj Tuesday hain.
LOL......

Anyway, to cut a long story short, he went the next day, dished out Rs 200 - the guys "supposedly" aligned it, didn't bother to test drive it, I again got a call from him half an hour later saying the problem remained. So I sent him to Chanakyapuri (the place I used to get it done earlier), the next call I received freaked me out completely -

"Sir, inho ne toh inside-outside kar diya".
Me: Inside-outside? Matlab?"

It turned out that they had made a brilliant diagnosis that the tyres needed to be turned inside-out on the rims! (And he was again informing me AFTER it had already been done). I asked the alignment shop guy on the phone why the hell he had fiddled around when the tyres were hardly 10k kms old, his answer was that they were doing it on brand new cars, what was I cribbing about! I spoke to Ishan as I was not comfortable with this diagnosis, he wasn't very impressed either but told me to let it be for the time being if the problem went away. They then made the final adjustments, took a test drive, my driver was euphoric about the fact that the problem had gone away & was effusive in his praise & told me that this is where we should have gone in the first place etc etc..........So, another Rs 281 poorer (this place charges 250 plus Service tax!) & another hour older, my phone rings again:

Him: Sir, pata nahin kya ho gaya....us time to bilkul sahi tha, abhi to phir se left ki taraf ja raha hain.

Back to square one. LOL!!! The next day, I sent him to our local puncture repair guy & had the tyres turned back the correct way.

Eventually the issue was resolved by taking the car to Tyres Shoppe in Noida (I've mentioned that on a separate thread) - the toe was out; the balancing was also majorly "off" and was fixed. Net-net result - the car is running fine now although he still imagines a "wee bit" of movement to the left which is more psychological than anything else! I took her upto 130 on the mini expressway in Gurgaon & she was dead straight, so......

Other than this, she's running beautifully - I had the pleasure of spending some time with her last month when the Beast was in the workshop, please refer to my thread in Shifting Gears for my experiences. Spent Rs 100 this morning on a new bonnet opening lever which my driver had managed to dismantle - I thought that was bloody cheap! Also had the hand brake cable sprayed because that irritating squeak had surfaced after the monsoons.

A very important & relevant update: The Michelin Energy XM1+s have completed around 13k kms & we are all very happy with them. The family feels that the ride quality is streets ahead of the stock MRFs & I also find the handling has improved several notches. Thanks a ton, Ishan for convincing me to buy these - although I'm a little apprehensive of late after Ishan's own experience. In fact, I've cautioned my driver who, ever since the tyres were fitted, was treating the Gurgaon potholes & ruts like it was the expressway - I've been keeping an apprehensive eye open for any unnatural signs. Nothing yet, so far so good. But, superb tyres!

My very pleasant ownership experience continues with the 1.6 Duratec marvel - long may it runcheers:. To round it off, here are a couple of snaps taken a few days back - doesn't she look good?

[kpzen]

Sir
Nice update.
I think u have mixed up alignment and balancing. If your car is going towards one side it has to be an alignment issue. Balancing needs weights and alignment needs setting of toe and camber angles.

[suman]

Thanks Prajesh!

Originally Posted by kpzen

I think u have mixed up alignment and balancing. If your car is going towards one side it has to be an alignment issue. Balancing needs weights and alignment needs setting of toe and camber angles.

Actually, both were out. I get my balancing done every 5k kms, it was due at the time when I sent it to Lajpat Nagar (I only get balancing done there). When I went to Tyres Shoppe, I decided to get it rechecked because I could feel a vibration around 120 & had a hunch that the Lajpat Nagar guys hadn't done it properly (normal feature anywhere if you don't stand in front of them & supevise). Turned out my hunch was correct.

The car pulling to the left was an alignment issue which came to light after they rotated the wheels & did the alignment at the 60k service.

[benbsb29]

Suman, what exactly is the problem with the XM1s, you were referring to?
Looks like you finally started using the camera that you have.