[LandCruiser]

2 Weeks report

I had taken delivery of my Fiesta 1.6 sxi Moon Dust Silver on 5th of April. As on 17-Apr I have driven 850 kms in the car.
Thought I shall write this small review on the experience so far.

BSS (Before sales service):

A sales guy named Kumar from MPL ford was handling my booking. He was pressing me to book the car before 31st March and said that from April 1 the prices will increase in the range of 10-15k. So I was keen on booking it before that. He arranged for a person to buy my santro. Santro 2002 LS model which had run 52k was taken for 2.1 Lakhs. Then I booked the car on 29 March. The loan amount 4L was approved in a day and I gave him a cheque on March 31. But told him not to invoice it the same day and requested to wait until Monday because I wanted to show the colors to my Dad and finalize. But same day evening he said everything is done already and he can deliver the car on Monday. I had tentatively told him I will take the silver color. Then I went to the showroom the next day with my Dad and we decided on the same color. But I wanted to go for ABS model which they did not agree to. They said invoice was done already. Because of this issue the argument went on for couple of days. They demanded a price hike of 10k approx for with ABS model and quoted a wait time of 3 weeks. So i decided to go with non-ABS model.

Any question asked to the sales guy he will give some rubbish answer. When the car is locked or unlocked using the remote there is no sound coming up like in Cobra or some other models. He said pcch pccch no sir it will not give any sound. You ask him what is the mileage before first service he said (after booking) 8kms.

Delivery:

Took the car on 5th april evening from MPL ford. Prior to taking delivery i had insisted to see the car. They took me to the yard and showd tottaly dust covered car with full of bird ****. This was the case with all the cars. My goodness. I raised alarm but he said everything will be taken care before delivery.

On the day of delivery i found the following defects:

1. Front chrome grill full of scratches
2. A small coin sized dent on the bonnet
3. Some gum like thing on the boot
5. A small round of oil spill on the front pillar (it doesnt go)
6. Absolutely no fuel in the car. He said the car can run 100 mts at least and I have to fill it before that!!!!

I made sure that i go there well before the sun goes down so that i can inspect all these. Finally i got in written from them to rectify all these in the first service or anytime before that.

After Delivery

I had filled HP power 10 litres and then went back home and to temple. The rear reading light on the left didnt work when we checked.

The registration, insurace, total maintenance documents have not reached me after 15 days. I have the number, invoice and insurance cover note only.

Experience

The car is smooth, silent and well refined. Nice to drive.

Mileage

So far i am getting in around 11.6 kmpl with very light footed driving.

Ride & Handling

Low speed ride not very impressive but at better speeds it is good. Still I feel that this is better than honda city. It absorbs most rough patches but come potholes kind of it is jittery and a big thud and rattling in the dash.

I am getting few squeaks from the rear in the last two days. Have to check this.

Have not driven aggressively to test the handling yet. That will come later. But the car behaves well. Felt little tram railing effect from the wheels running along with the road contours. Steering feedback is good. At slow some speeds at certain angles suddenly and temporarily it feels over light for a moment and get backs to normal.

Exterior:

Headlamps are very good. I like the alloywheels also which is somewhat unique compared to anything in the market. Paing quality looks average. I am not very impressed. Fog lamps and rear fog lamps are good too. The car looks like a grown up ikon but definitely feels american inside and outside.

The side view mirrors are very stylish in its class. I have grown up hating santro's ugly ear like side mirrors and have hated the side mirrors of honda city.

Interior:

Interiors look very modern. I wont say the dash is plasticky. It is good. The steering looks good and works good. From the air vents to the AC to the Music system i like everything. The leather seats are OK.There are many storage places for bottles, cellphone, sun glasses, tissue box, coins etc. I didnt like the soft spongy type of material in the roof and rear parcel tray. Dont know if it is technically good or bad but i have seen that it collects dirt well in Ikon.

AC

AC works well but the blower gets noisy in 3,4 speeds. But 2 is good enough even in the hot sun. I use it mostly in speed 1. I see that the speed 1 itself is powerful that the santro's speed 1. The chrome ring around the AC vents reflect in the side mirrors sometimes it is irritating.

DTE

DTE digital meter is a nice feature. Mostly it is accuratate, but it is for fun. Dont know if one can rely to the level of 1 km accuracy. Then you might be in trouble with few drops of fuel left.

Audio system

6CD changer has minimal functions. There is no equalizer settings or preset. 6 speakers are good and are adequate. They wont blast the music though. I might consider switching to a pioneer later.

Engine and transmission:

Engine is very smooth. It lacks power between 1000-2000 RPM. But then from 2000 it pulls very powerfully. After 3000 RPM a nice sound comes.

Gearshift is very smooth and slick. Reverse gear takes few seconds to engage. If done too fast it gives a big noise. I believe the gearbox technology is different from japanese, korean ones. The gear lever could have been an inch or two short. I feel like holding a walking stick at times :-) Probably it helps when sitting with the seat pulled back to full length.

With AC on at speed 3 still the car pulls well. Doest switch off if you release the clutch too quick. Just touch the accel pedal and it gets the revs it needs.

The car feels light and quick. With tyre pressures 30,30 the car is quick. If it is 35,44 then it is slow and the suspension feels hard.


Fuel efficiency

In 800 kms it has given 11.6kmpl.I have been using xtrapremium and shell super so far. First time filled 10l of HP power.

Brakes:

Brakes are very very good.

Pros:

Ride and handling
Smooth and powerful engine
Goodies and VFM
Mileage (considering it is 1.6 and quick)

Cons:

Rear leg room
Front seat support
Small irritations (AC vent reflection, no equalizer, tall gear lever etc.,)

[yogi1771]

hi landcruiser even i get similar squeaks from the rear but on very uneven roads(where there is continous rumble) but it dissappears on normal roads or even okay roads so it was diificult for the service personal to find the prob if u do find out the prob plz pm me thanks

[suman]

Hey LC, good objective report

[venkatrx]

Hey LandCruiser,

Excellent report !!

Very detailed, do post your views after driving 5000 kms.

PS : AC duct chrome reflected in side mirrors....funny.....miscommunication problem, the interior designers probably never spoke to the exterior designers ... he he he

[yogi1771]

Originally Posted by yogi1771

hi landcruiser even i get similar squeaks from the rear but on very uneven roads(where there is continous rumble) but it dissappears on normal roads or even okay roads so it was diificult for the service personal to find the prob if u do find out the prob plz pm me thanks

hi landcruiser did u find out the reason for the squeaks frm the rear

[sumitsingh]

Hello Everyone,

I need some help urgently regarding the following. I am going in for the ZXI model of the Fiesta and would like to know whether the dealership can do the following before I go ahead and ask them:

a) Can they put the Electrical rear view mirrors that are available in the 1.6 SXI on the 1.6 ZXI

b) I don't like the OEM stereo that comes with the Ford 1.6 ZXI. Can I ask the dealer to take that back and use that money for getting some other accessories. Any indication on the price?

Thank you for your help and any advice you can share.

Thanks

-Sumit

[sumitsingh]

Hello All,

I have booked the 1.6 ZXI platinum color with ABS and expect to the delivery by the 20th May. Booked it from South City Ford in Noida. Got good service.

One question though.. am getting accessories worth 9000 free. What apart from the mud flaps, mats, etc.. what else would should I get from the dealership?

thanks,
-Sumit

[suman]

Originally Posted by sumitsingh

Hello All,

I have booked the 1.6 ZXI platinum color with ABS and expect to the delivery by the 20th May. Booked it from South City Ford in Noida. Got good service.

One question though.. am getting accessories worth 9000 free. What apart from the mud flaps, mats, etc.. what else would should I get from the dealership?

thanks,
-Sumit

Hey Sumit, CONGRATS!!!

You should get 2 years additional warranty worth 9,250 or Total Maintenance Plan worth 13,000 approx (ALL consumable & labour except rubber & fabric free for 30k kms or 2 years).......depending on how much mileage you normally cover.

Cheers!!

[sumitsingh]

Apologize for the message being posted so many times.. Can some one please delete the additional posts.. The computer is acting funny..

Thanks for your inputs Suman.

Regards

-Sumit

[LandCruiser]

I sent my car for first service on 27th April. The defects during delivery were not fixed as MPL service said they have some formalities like getting letter from the showroom etc and they need 2 full days for rectifying the dent in the bonnet. Full bonnet work and repaint! This is still pending.

I decided to go on a long drive after first service and test the car fully. So on 6th May went to Bangalore from Chennai. As soon as i crossed the city limits early in the morning started pressing hard. The car simply flies. I touched 160 on the golden quadilateral stretch. The road was very straight and gaining speed was not a problem. I could see other cars disappearing as dots in the rear view mirror. Amazing!

Easily you can go past 100 and above without having to stand on the accelarator. At 3000 RPM in 5th gear reaching 100 a nice boom sound comes (whenever crossing 3000 RPM in other gears too). I was real happy about the speed of the car. Suspension was like a cushion on all the roads.

But as i said earlier at very low speeds like below 30 on bad roads with potholes the car jiggles a lot. Kinda severe body shake and roll. At high speeds the body roll isnt much.

I left the golden quad and went via chittoor ghat roads, which is shorter distance than via hosur. Then i started having few problems. The roads here lot of bends and steep ones. At high speeds the car didnt have control and tried to go out of the road. Couple of times trying to overtake and because of some car coming in the opposite direction tried to dive behind the vechicle in front and dangerously the car fishtailed.

I kicked myself for not getting ABS car. What i experienced is that, you hit on the brake and the steering doesnt respond!! It feels kind locked. So i decided to somewhat slow down or not exceed 110, 120. May be it is wrong to take curves in speeds above 120.

While coming back i came via hosur and it is the full stretch of good highway in the golden quad. As the curves here are large and designed to take speed, there was no such problem even near to 140. But still i found the following issues:

1. Steering vibration close to 120 and disappears after a while as the speed increases.
2. Hit brakes card at top speeds and the steering vibrates again.
3. At top speeds the brake feel and braking is not very good..
4. Fishtailing happens (loads of understeer!!)
5. Crosswindes, tail wind etc cause the car to little bit move out of path, but doesnt go unstable.

May be ABS will help avoid braking and steerability problems. Other things exist.

The steering column can be seen just above the clutch from inside the car. Couple of times i overstepped on the clutch and hit on the steering rod.

Though i have mentioned some problems here the car is very much fun to drive. Probably i was over excited and accelerated all the way into curves. But 1,2,3 are definite problems. Like a black spot in a white paper.

Also as I hit high speeds quite often the mileage i got was just near 12. In city it was 11.3. May be next time i should try to be soft with the car and check the mileage.

A failed reading lamp that costs Rs.600 was replaced due to the Total maintenance plan without any payment. Good.

The stepney wheel thread is quite long and may be it will be difficult in the night to put it in place as experienced during a demo that i asked during the service.

But this car is solid even though there are some problems. I will post some pics from my trip soon.

[LandCruiser]

Forgot to mention, the engine is very very smooth. And inside the car you feel wind noise etc only past 100 and at high speeds. I loved it. The way you can overtake and vanish in front of other cars is awesome.

[yogi1771]

hi members my car(fiesta 1.6) battery suddenly conked of,even my aunt's friends car(fiesta 1.6) battery had conked of in similar fashion does the fiesta have any issues with the battery has anyone had similar probs,bye the way was very much impressed with service provided my shaman motors had called up the breakdown service they were their within 20mins jumpstarted my car drovedown to the service station battery was replaced with a new one(under warranty) everything was checked oil,brakefluids etc and finally a nice wash

[sumitsingh]

Hi Everyone,

I took delivery of my 1.6 ZXI platinum color Ford Fiesta on 23rd may and thought would share some thoughts with the group.

Shortlisting and Booking Process:

I couldn't have imagined that something that comes naturally in the form of recommending cars to others would become such a difficult thing when it comes to selecting my own car. I was all over the place while looking between the Swifts, corollas, citys , ikons.

Then, finally narrowed down the segment and list to the City, Aveo and Fiesta. The City was out because I believe that Honda cars are less speced and highly priced and inspite of honda adding 'value' to the newer model, I felt lack of optional features like ABS is bad on Honda's part.

The fight was between the Aveo and Fiesta and realised that I should either go for the Aveo 1.6 LT with the options pack ( would cost about 8.0 lacs on road in UP) or the Fiesta 1.6 SXI with ABS ( would cost about 7.9 lacs on road in UP).

The Aveo was out since heard too many bad things about the safety aspect of the car in the international market. I took the test drive of the 1.6 Aveo and 1.6 Fiesta back to back and came very impressed by the Fiesta's drive, gear change, AC performance and quietness of the engine.

The back to back test drive really changed my inclination from the Aveo to the Fiesta and hence started discussing the Fiesta purchase. Got quotes from the South City Ford Motors in Noida and found the deal to be a good one. I got a 9250/- corporate discount, 8000 cash discount and 8000 finance discount with a 3% discount merged in the loan amount EMI itself. Effective finance for 5,50000/- came in at about 10.25% for three years.

I booked the 1.6 ZXI with ABS on the 2nd May and was promised delivery on the 20th May. I didn't like the alloys and leather interiors that came with SXI and hence decided to go in for the ZXI.

Delivery:

I took delivery on the 23rd and was very happy with the entire process and professionalism shown by the dealership and salesman during this time. I would recommend them to anyone considering a ford right now.

Got the following additional accessories like teflon and antirust coating, car cover, gear lock and autocopy installed at the dealership itself.

Driving Experience:

I have had the car for 3 days now and have driven for about 150 Kilometres. I can say that the car feels very very smooth. Something which I immediately felt when i took the test drive between the Aveo and Fiesta. More reports at the first service.

Likes:
- Distance to Empty indicator
- Gear Shift
- Acceleration
- Engine Quietness
- Interior

Dislikes
- No option of Airbags ( Very very bad)
- Not too many accessories available at the dealership
- Radio Antenna cannot be folden down ( Causes a great deal of problem in trying to put the car cover all by myself)
- No MP3 support in the music system provided

Hope this helps others.

-Sumit

[yogi1771]

hi sumitsingh regarding the antenna u can turn them and remove it i do it that way

[yogi1771]

hi members just returned frm my native place udupi a trip of 15 days had taken my car(fiesta 1.6sxi) totally covered 3000kms with 80%highway driving and 20% city (with very bad roads in udupi and mangalore)
got a mileage of about 14-15km/litre(100% ac on) was a pleasure driving on the highways the car handles really well and the ac was top notch never had to increase the blower speed above 2,problems faced,a tank full of adulterated fuel in udupi the car would stall every now and then had to take it to the authorised service centre in mangalore after that the car was fine,rear bumper came loose there was a constant squeaking noise frm the rear(thankfully on my return journey) car gone now for 2nd service lets hope all the problems r sorted out
p.s-the pump where i filled fuel in udupi is the one next to diana(store cum a veg restaurant very famous in udupi)