[limited-edition]

Prologue:

Cobb: What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? An idea. Resilient... highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed - fully understood - that sticks; right in there somewhere.

Buying Decision:

One sunny day, Dec 2009 such an Idea stuck my mind. When I was munching and browsing through a magazine to see an Estilo ad "Should I buy a Car?", it just became clear to me that my next step must be a four-wheeler. New house was to be ready in next couple of weeks, so new house can always have a new car. The idea became more planted, the transformation time from "Should I buy a Car" to "I should buy a car" was minutes. Decision was made.

On Initial analysis the purpose of the car was to rest at home. Dad won't drive, so the plan was to keep it home, drive when I was around and parents can use freelance drivers near my locality. Budget, 3L and not more. Alto was ruled out as its the most common car, in my locality Alto population was too high.

In Kerala, we don't have many business men. Most of previous generation people will be Govt: employees who uses a 2 wheeler to travel to office. Most of them owned a car @ home, and it will be an Alto / 800. The point was to have a Maruti. I have heard people making fun of guys who decided to buy something other than Maruti.

Personally I don't like Maruti, its not that they make bad cars. I know that they make very good cars, their service industry is unmatched and many other things in favour of Maruti. But for me, it was never a Maruti. Liked Hyundai,Ford,VolksW (read all cars except anything from MSIL). Of this list only Hyundai had cars under 3L, the Santro. Got online to check price of Santro and the research started.

All of my friends told me sense, "Santro's design is aged. They are gonna stop production any-time soon" for me it was like non-sense. I still continued the research, called couple of dealers checked prices and offers, Santro GLX, thats gonna be my first car. My Colleagues suggested me to get the i10 with irDe engine, that way I don't have to shell out much of money and people won't notice if its a cheaper version. i10 irDe will be my first car. Called my friends to get their opinion, it was like exact opposite from what I heard from colleagues. If you are buying i10 then it must be 1.2 Kappa2, if you want that irDe thing, then settle in for the Santro.. Grrrrrrr. Confusion, things are not as easy as it looked. Picking a budget car seems to be tougher than what it looked from outside.

After the housewarming, I got swamped up by work. Research practically stopped. I got back to the car thingy in a couple of months, my budget had increased. I don't know how, but now it stood around 4L to 5.5L. Now I was not checking on Santro or i10 irDe any more. I was into Figo ℗,i20℗,Polo℗,i10℗,Micra℗. Of the list my favourite was Figo, I had this thing for Ford, loved em with out reason. My friends told me, Figo/i20 petrol is not worth. They told me "Both are underpowered engines, you must not fall for it". But from my point, running was too little, so why invest for Diesel? and who the hell cares about performance ? The idea was to have car!!! and not more, better if its more branded and costly in the eye of common man. Myself and my friend was planning on cars, a Figo℗ and Figo (d), unfortunately I could not get things in time, and my decision had to wait. Friend went for Figo(d)ZXi. Now I was checking on i10,Figo petrol versions, I was hoping to get models with ABS on both of them, that way I can get ABS. Figo(d) Titanium costs 6.18(L) on road, where Figo℗ titanium costed around 5.1(L). The idea was to save 1L ;-) and still get ABS. I had done enough research on ABS and traction control, knew more about them than the car that I was planning to buy.

By this time I had zero-ed the decision to Figo. It was just a question of when I am booking. Now I was on road research, when ever I find a Figo, I will check if its a petrol. The more I checked, more the bothered I am. I can't even find a petrol Figo on road. Everyone is against my decision for petrol Figo. Again my friends are talking sense, I know it.. But I am not buying it. I don't know why. Finally I made my decision, add in the extra 1L go for Figo Titanium. Checked final prices, got a quote so I can start loan formalities. Made booking for Sea Grey Titanium @ Kirali FORD, Kochi. Car was in their yard, so basically zero waiting period.

Now, I checked with the bank. He said I am through, just get down there with documents. SBI gives loan for 85% of OnRoad price and for 7 years, with no pre-payment charges @ 10.45% interest rate.
I took leave for 2 days, as the bank I am dealing with is in my home town.

Day 1: I visit SBI, with all the documents, photos etc.. The guy tells me that he needs invoice in some specific format. So I need to get it done again. Me gets out, calls my Sales agent and tells her what I just heard from bank. She understands what I am asking for and she faxes the same to my number. Now I head back to bank, submits papers, signs couple of documents. I had calculated my loan amount and set the same in application i.e.: 5,25,300 what is exactly 85% of 6,15,000. The guy happily accepts papers, checks my 3 years Form 16 and tells me that I can get loan unto 8,00,000 , so he tells me to check some other cars too. Me smiles and asks to get this done asap, so I can get back to my work.

Day 1: Night 8PM, I am happily watching movie. Hoping that everything will be ready by tomorrow, so I can start back to office tomorrow evening. "Ring .. Ring", my land line hits its high notes, I am not bothered, its mom who gets calls in it. Now, she is calling for me. Perplexed me picks up the phone, its the bank guy!!!. He tells me that he can't get me the loan. What??, yes I heard correct, chill rolls down my body. The guy is still explaining something, and I am not listening any more. I said, lets meet tomorrow.

Day 2: Morning 10AM, he explains that my company is not listed in his so called "Listed Company", so he can't approve me the amount. I had provided him with Form 16 of past 5 years!!!, still he says he can't approve me the loan. I had HDFC bank right behind my tail, as my salary account was with them. Those guys had been calling from day 0. I opted for SBI, as they give loan for OnRoad price and for 7 years. Now I guess that is not gonna work anymore, switch to HDFC. Me started to leave the cabin, the bank guy calls me back and tells me that he can give me loan for 4.3L and not more. Now the tough part comes up, SBI is lower on interest + 7 years. Or pick HDFC, I had to make a quick decision.

I don't know why, but I always trusts SBI or any other OLD age banks for no reason. The same thing happened again, choose SBI. Loan amount 4.3L, tenure 7 years, no prepayment charges, so I can close the loan when I wished to close it. Once the decision was made, things went rocket fast. SBI transferred the amount to dealer via net banking.

Now my budget has been cut short, Bank had directly made me short by around 1.2(L). I have to re-think on my variant choices.

When I checked EXi Variant couple of months before (i.e.: when my friend booked ZXi) it had Tachometer,2 Din Music System(No BT + USB), Body Coloured Door handles, Body Color Mirrors + Rear Defogger. When I visited showroom for booking (I wasn't bothered about EXi/ZXi as I was booking Titanium) I noticed that rear defogger,body coloured door handles + ORVM was missing from a display car. Noticed that id did not have key hole in the boot-lid. Casually enquired if it was the base version, Sales girl told me that its the new EXi. Me nodded and asked if they have stripped out anything else. She said Stereo is also missing and nothing more.

Me decided to fall down to EXi variant. Made call to Sales girl to check if she can get me the 2Din stereo + fog-lamps + Body coloured Doorhandles,ORVM. She said it can be done, as Rear defogger was not an important thing for me, going on a mental calculation I could see that I can save at lease 20k by sticking to EXi. Here is the math.

ZXi - OTR 588000
EXi - OTR 547000 Do not have De-fogger,Electrical ORVM,Body-Coloured DoorHandles + ORVM,Stereo+Boot Light

Now, for me Defogger,Electric ORVM and Bootlight was not of much appeal. The things I wanted from ZXi was , 2Din BT stereo Body Coloured door-handle and ORVM.
So when I convert EXi to my version of ZXi, all I needed to add was 2Din BT stereo and a small Paint job. Total cost will come around 19k. That way I can save 20k :-), and get my version of ZXi, and make a fool of Ford!!!. I was feeling like brightest guy, who just saved 20K.

Me made a final call to make sure if she was correct about the difference between EXi and ZXi. She was confident and told me those were the only difference.

Day 3:When I reached back, and visited dealer it was already late. Made the rest of the payment @ dealer. When I checked if I can visit yard, she said it not near and I have to visit on my-own. I was not interested/ignorant in doing a PDI. Slept Sound as tomorrow, registration will be done and I can own the car by the evening.

Day4: I got couple of calls from a registration agent, to provide him with some documents so he can get the car registered. Provided those, and in the evening sales girl called me to update me that car is ready for delivery, they are just waiting for tax receipt and number, which she expects in next 30 minutes time. So if I want, then I can take delivery today. I was excited and visited showroom with friends. There it stood, lovely sea-grey figo. It was ready with all the accessories and freebies that I had requested for. Here are the details

Freebies : Mudflaps + floormats.

Accessories :
FogLamps : 3800
Car-Cover: 1500 (As of now, I feel that it was total waste of money, as I am not using it at all)
2Din BT Stereo + usb cable: 17000
Paint Job: 1800
------------------------------


Vehicle was registered and about to be delivered. Sales Girl wanted me to get-in and check things. Beamingly, I got in closed door and looks at the console.. SHOCK!!!!!, me just gets out and asks if this is my car? she thought if I was joking. Tacho was missing.. Hell, I really wanted the tacho, but it was missing. Asked sales girl, why the tacho was missing, she said what sir? what is missing. She didn't even know what tachometer was, I was feeling like cheated, if I knew that tacho was missing in EXi, then I would have went for ZXi. Angry me, started to loose my cool, asked her to check with service station and find out the cost of Meter console with tachometer, so I can upgrade my current one with one having tacho. She made couple of calls, and told me that it costs 7k, I was not ready to spend the 7k more to get just tacho. Vehicle is already registered, it cannot be undone.

Lesson Learned: Must do PDI + do enough research on the version of car that you are gonna register. Apart from this incident, I like the experience. They gave me a box of chocolates, which I gave back to her. I was trying to loose couple of pounds and get ready for my wedding due next year.


Summary:

Cars Considered:

Santro GLX - Aged design
i10 - Didn't like design and steering
i20℗ - Missing outright performance
i20(d) - Out of Budget
Micra (p/d) - Didn't like design + price
Liva(p/d) - LowQuality Interiors + Meter console in middle of dashboard
Punto(p/d) - Loved this car, quality,riding everything. Rear space and size of car and the service network by Tata was negatives. Dropped the car, major reason being service by Tata.
Jazz - Priced little over my budget, but its a petrol car for 6.5L.
Figo℗ - Unrefined engine + Tad underpowered.
Figo - VFM,great steering. Proven diesel mill. Virtually 0 turbo-lag.


Did not consider any of cars from Maruti or Tata. No offence, its just me.

Life with Figo:

I did not get any warranty card or manual for the ICE unit, when I asked for manual they told me that it was not being shipped for units those are sold individually, while they are providing manual with Zxi and Titanium editions. I am not sure if the audio unit is being shipped with a manual and ford guys missed it. I borrowed my friend's manual without which, it would have been a hard task to master the audio unit. The one thing that I am still not sure of is the warranty for ICE, do anyone has any Idea how that works?

The Ride before first service.

Second week after the delivery I scratched the car with a bus, it was not his fault at all. It was brilliant me who successfully scratched the left side above the front wheel arch against a bus. The wheel arch got damaged so badly that my passenger side door stayed locked as it was getting jammed against the damaged wheel arch. Left side ORVM also got broken down and little scratches on the door handles. Took the car straight to Ford Body shop, they got it fixed in 5 days. Claimed insurance, as the total estimate for the fix was 24000 Rs. They got it done for 12300 Rs. I had only paid 500 Rs, its the fixed charge for claiming insurance.

At first when I checked mileage it was giving me 15Km on highways on long drives and 10 inside the city. All the figures are with 100% AC. I was worried about the mileage, but everyone told me to wait till the first service. I was in a hurry to find out what all changes that will come up with first service, so gave the car for service @ 2400km which is 100km lesser than default service period. I was worried if the gear shift was smooth, my friend has a fiesta which has done 40000Km, its gear shifts like knife in butter while my Figo was making me feel as I was cutting wooden plank with a blade. Friends repeated the same thing,” give your machine some time, it will get tamed after 1st service”

First service experience:

Booked a service via phone, and my service agent was waiting when I went to give the car. It made me feel good.
I had to report 2 issues,
#1 . Clinging metallic sound when I closed the boot, which the service guy told is from the number plate.
#2 . Squeaky sound from rear suspension, audible if rear passengers are not present.

Also had a request, to not to polish my car’s interior or exterior plastics. The shine makes me sick.

After around 4 hours Ford service called me to update that car will be ready by evening, but they want to keep the vehicle for a day if they have to sort out the rear suspension sound. I could not agree with this as I had promised my friend that he can take the car, his sister was getting married. Service guys told me that I can bring in the car any day of my choice and they will check the issue. I thought to take the car back to service after 1 week.
When I went to pick the car by 5PM, service guy told me that issue might be due to a lock in the rear seat and they have fixed it now, so test drive the car for sometime and if I notice any sound, come back to service. I test drove the car, everything looked good, the sound from rear suspension was also gone.

I was unhappy that my request got ignored and service guys had polished plastics in the dash and outside, did mention the same to service guy. He did apologise, but that did not improve my mood.

Ride after 1st service.

The first thing that I noticed was the gear shifts became smooth, now it was better than before. Before it gave me a bad touch when I moved to 2nd and 3rd, now it was more like noting to notice. Mileage inside city increased to 10 km to 13 km. I am happy with that. Now I have to check the mileage on highway long drives. Decided to take the car home, that is 280Km from Cochin.

Topped up the tank started by 5AM. Drove full throttle, 120 Km+ engine was roaring. I didn’t give a damn, want to check how it far it can go. Touched 130+ may be 140 at times, but I knew that I was pulling everything from the 1.4L. Gave rest to the car only after 280km, that is after reaching my home. Topped up my tank again to check mileage, it gave me 14.7km. I was not very impressed. Honestly I was hoping for 17+. On the return journey I was not so excited to check mileage, and started to give review that car is super good, but Ford must do something to increase the mileage.

Last month, I gave my second try to check mileage. Again topped up the car, started same time, but this time I constantly kept the car in 80km to 90km range. Once reaching home checked mileage, it gave me a whopping 21.8km. I was thrilled, at the same time confused if I am doing some wrong calculations. So decided to check mileage on my return journey, drove @ 80 to 90km and it gave me 22.3km, I am sure now!!!. This thing can save me money, just don’t pull its every hair.. keep it steady .. constant in 5th don’t press too hard. Thats the trick.

Side note: If I am driving at around 120 - 100km , the journey time that I will need is 5 hours and 30 minutes to cover 280km. This includes a tea break. If I am travelling at 90 - 80km, then it will take around 6 hours and 15 minutes. So I am actually losing 45 minutes, but considering the risk and the mileage factors I don’t think its worth. I prefer to loose the 45 minutes, so I can drive safer. Every one must consider the advantage in time to risk factor, I don’t think its worth the risk. Like if we rush we may save around 1hr, but we are actually risking ourselves and others who is on the road.

Life after 2nd Service

Machine was getting more bonded in, changed my horns to HELLA in second service, costs 2.7k . Total service cost with horns comes to 5300. They did change the OIL, decided to stick to normal oil. Knew advantages of Synthetic oil, but SA told me that its better to change the oil every 10k, then why spend lots of money on this synthetic thing? sounded reasonable to me. There was sound from rear suspension, which they checked and fixed. Mileage did not increase much, gear became more friendly. Had small trouble when I engaged the reverse gear, now its also fixed. This issue did come back after 10 or 15 days, but started to live with it :-).

Issues: Rattles,rattles lots of rattles. Just don't like any rattles, tried many DIY things, still could not nullify issue completely. Planning to complain on third service

Life after 3rd service.

Car was service, oil was changed other small issues was addressed. Did not mention about the reverse gear issue, which I was least bothered about by then. Everything was good, got the tray under the hand break fitted on this service. Hand break tray unit costs 2k + and total service cost with the tray came around 7300. I don't remember exact figures. Rattles still happen, it has increased very much. Rear door has consistent rattles and squeaking sound. Had reported it, but still holds good.

After couple of months after 3rd service, I was checking oil level on the car, noticed that oil level had dropped considerably. Did not wait, just took car for service. SA said this must be the turbo. I was worried, Turbo is gonna cost a lot. Lucky that I was under warranty. SA told me that he needs a day to check the issue, and 4 more days for replacement. Also, he was not sure if service forgot to change OIL in the 20k service, so the guy just topped up oil. I was asked to report back in 3 weeks so we can check the OIL consumption. After 3 weeks I returned back, on inspection nothing was wrong, OIL level was pretty decent. Now we decided to check back after 2000km, I used to check oil level every week and could see it falling. But decided to wait till 2000km. Took car for service when I hit 2000km, and SA was sure that it was turbo. OIL has dropped considerably. They held back the car for 3 days, turbo was replaced under warranty and oil was topped up again. This time I asked SA to please look into squeaking and rattling issues and most of the issues got sorted out :-), at least for now.


Things that I tried myself:

After my first scratch experience, I got the car in superb condition. In 2 or 3 weeks when I was taking a sharp turn, some twigs kissed the left side front and back doors. It was late in the evening, so I didn’t check that day. It was after 2 days I remembered the incident, ran and checked the doors, I felt like hitting with a stone, there were marks on the front and back doors that extended to the fuel lid. I was not sure what to do, it was not as bad to get a repaint, checked team-bhp to find out that I can do waxing myself. Same day evening went and bought a Turtle Wax, checked some videos how to wax my car, they all used machines that I did not have. I did it with hand, just applied an even layer of wax with the sponge that came with the wax, waited for 3 - 4 minutes then rubbed it off with a cloth. Walah .. the twig scratches were no longer visible, the shine was back.

Fixed small Rattling and squeaky sound from the Dash.

Used black double sided stickers between dash locations that I felt the sounds where coming from, it worked and now they have decreased very much.

Suggestions for new Buyers:

If you can afford more, then please go for Titanium version. ABS is an important thing, I really feel worried when I am hitting the brakes too hard.

If you can’t get Titanium and you are settling for a lesser version, then please don’t consider Lxi. Start from Exi version, also consider adding tray around the hand brakes(check titanium version to find this). With that you can comfortably place your mobile and some other accessories + rear passenger gets a bottle holder, else they will have to pass bottle from 1 end to other. Also the center position keeps the bottle more chilled than the bottle in the front door holders.

Suggestion to Ford:

Provide ABS brakes as an optional feature in all models. That will give us a chance to get added security without going for a premium model. May be Govt: Of India must take steps to make manufacturer to provide ABS for those who ask for it, Obviously they can charge for the added feature .

Pros and Cons

Pros:
#1. VMF, good diesel one can buy for the money.
#2. Good steering,handling,road grip.
#3. Huge boot space
#4. Reasonable / Low maintenance cost.
#5. Good ride quality
#6. Chiller AC
#7. 0 or Minimal Turbo Lag
#8. Adequate breaks

Cons:

#1. Rattles,Rattles,Rattles..
#2. VMF tag
#3. Less number of service stations
#4. No outright power as in 1.2 DDiS
#5. Lesser mileage than 1.2 DDiS

Figo TDCi is a very good car, it do have a good engine. But if you are looking for some turbo lag + power shifts as one get in a Swift or Ritz this is not the car for you. 1.2 DDiS is a very good engine, which has got enough drivability power and mileage under its sleeve. Figo on other hand is not a true power packed car, nor it gives you super mileage. What makes it stand out is its amazing steering and suspension. The car is so perfectly balanced for sticking on to road. Steering feedback is sharp, you will know where the car is heading right on your arms. If you are looking for mileage and outright performance, then this may not be the best car for you. But if you want good drivable car, and you don't care about mileage too much, then this car may be what you are looking for.

Now some pictures.



ODO 26336Km till date, still missing my tachometer.



Love the boot lid button and Rotary head lamp switch. When we pull this switch one level, front fog lamps will turn on. Pull it again, the rear fog lamps indicators turn on, no rear fog lamps are there.


Ford ICE, pretty good speakers and stereo. Pretty good bass and treble. BT works like charm.


The new tray added in, the bottle holder is too small and shallow. Can't hold 1lt bottles. 500ml bottles of coke or pepsi works fine. The platform below handbreak is a good addition as it can hold mobile or purse.


Rear profile




Love the headlamp design, illumination with stock bulbs are avg. Foglamps works great.






Internal mirror adjuster, I love this. Did't fancy the electrical mirror.


The heart, love the 0 turbo lag, and crunching sound. Sound is on the higher side.


The turbo, this one is new. Replaced @ 25600.


Battery fluid got leaked, it made the lock corrode.


Dyna wipe, replaced normal ones this year. This one works good. Sweep is sweet indeed.


This is actually a dent graphics :-).

[Supercool]

I also wanted to go for figo but on test drive I realized its not so user friendly for tall people like me. My friends are using figo and they are happy.

[tharian]

A nice report on your Figo and I guess your happy with it.

Originally Posted by limited-edition

Tacho was missing.. Hell, I really wanted the tacho, but it was missing.
asked her to check with service station and find out the cost of Meter console with tachometer, so I can upgrade my current one with one having tacho. She made couple of calls, and told me that it costs 7k,

The Exi never did have body colored mirrors or handles,it was always black, and never had the rear defogger either. Although it did have a stereo without BT and did have tacho.
As for the tacho, you can go for an after-market one and get it fixed on the dash which will look like the Ritz and A* tacho. Warranty will be affected though. I actually upgraded from Lxi to Exi in 2010 just for this reason.

Originally Posted by limited-edition

Figo℗ - Unrefined engine + Tad underpowered.

I guess I missed the part when you changed your mind from petrol to diesel or you did not mention why you changed your mind?

Yes, the petrol and diesel are both underpowered compared to their counterparts but at the same have their advantages.
The petrol is actually not un-refined, it feels so due to the noise it makes due to the air intake in higher revs. Actually it revs quite smoothly above 2k rpm and does have some power there.

Originally Posted by limited-edition

Figo TDCi is a very good car, it does have a good engine. But if you are looking for some turbo lag + power shifts as one get in a Swift or Ritz this is not the car for you. 1.2 DDiS is a very good engine and you don't care about mileage too much, then this car may be what you are looking for.

Totally agree with you on this.
The underpowered engine is made up for in super high speed stability and handling. Cars that overtake me due to higher power, I overtake them back on a curve and for someone who is not that crazy for out right power, this is enough . And if you want that extra power, you can go for the tuning box which a member has fixed on his diesel Figo(89bhp)

As for rattles, avoid bad patches and rough roads, and take them slow and you can bring down the rattles a bit., that is after you get all the loose bits fixed!

PS: It is 1.2 VVT(petrol) and 1.3 DDIS(Diesel)

Regards

[limited-edition]

Originally Posted by tharian

A nice report on your Figo and I guess your happy with it.
PS: It is 1.2 VVT(petrol) and 1.3 DDIS(Diesel)

Regards

Thanks for the corrections. I guess, I saw EXi with body coloured mirrors,door handles and defoggers. Wiper was missing tough. I can't be sure, but I remember something like that.

I switched from petrol to diesel since I decided to use car for daily running @ my work location.

I don't want after market tacho, just want it on console :-). But I can live with this.