[mobike008]

Originally Posted by shifu

I drive around Begumpet, Miyapur, Hi-Tech, Gachibowli. Do you drive around the same areas as well? Hopefully will spot you sometime.

I drive around Himayathnagar, Begumpet and Gachibowli. Will keep a look out for your non-chattak green figo

Originally Posted by a4anurag

I'll hand it over to you so that you can flaunt a new variant

When and Where?

Originally Posted by Aniruddha_Ch

Considering the biker inside you, in coming time, Is it appropriate to expect Triumph Tiger ownership thread from your end?

Did I mention somewhere that my heart is set on a Triumph Tiger?

Well, you got that right. Having ridden the Triumph Tiger several times, I am completely fascinated with that bike and is currently my favorite bike. But, spending 14+ Lakhs on the bike is making me cringe a bit so i am in double mind of either getting a Bonnie again, wait for Kawasaki Versys 650 ( cheaper sibling of a Tiger) or say to hell with it; you live only once kind of a dialogue and go get the tiger..LOL!

[samaspire]

Originally Posted by d3mon

Short of replacing the spring, what can they do about the lid opening action? Do you think they'll actually do it?
I haven't checked out any aspire from the newer batches to see if the boot action is substantially different.

Originally Posted by mobike008

Even if they change the spring and if that helps slow the boot action would still be a big change.

I can confirm that it has been fixed. (I got my delivery on Nov 1st). I assume they have changed the springs to have lesser tension. Insist on changing the spring as it can be argued as a manufacturing fault. Otherwise just stretching the spring a bit should work.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by mobike008

When and Where?

You tell me buddy. Shall keep myself free at that time. Here is the picture of the '+' that I am referring to.

ZDi+ logo


The '+' separated for you

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

You tell me buddy. Shall keep myself free at that time. Here is the picture of the '+' that I am referring to.

The '+' separated for you

Awesome. Looks really good and it will certainly add (+) some oomph to the logo

Will ping you offline and we can catch up somewhere in Gachibowli whenever your passing by as I am there normally during the weekday and weekends i am in Himayathnagar

[mobike008]

Starting today, Blue Bombardier is taking us on a 3000+ kms road trip to Kerala

Happy Holidays !!!

[mobike008]

Friends :

Back from a holiday to Kerala where Blue Bombardier ensured we covered all terrain from Wild life sanctuary to Mountains to Back-waters to Beach

It performed flawlessly and brought us back home safe and sound

Odo-reading before heading out for our trip



Odo-Reading after reaching back home




Now I think would be the right time to share a detailed feedback about the performance of Aspire as I have now covered nearly 7000kms out of which last nearly 3000kms covered in 10-days road-trip to Kerala where the Aspire has been driven on possibly every tarmac that you can name it. It went through a blistering pace on highways, treaded carefully on rocky and horrible patches and took corners with aplomb.

During this phase, it made me fully aware about it's true potential and capabilities

With that as a backdrop, let me dwell a little deeper on each of the performance aspect of Aspire that might help folks contemplating in buying this car

Engine :

As we all have either read or experienced it in person, Aspire's true performance lies directly with its engine. It's butter smooth, powerful and due to it's almost zero turbo lag makes it a super pleasure car to drive. It definitely has power in lower gears but, what matters is the tremendous amount of power that is available even in higher gears. Here, I am talking about 4th and 5th gear.

During this drive, many a times, this engine made me realized that there should have been an additional cog as i was caught many times unawares that I am in 5th gear and tried further up shifting. As long as your not below 50kmph and in 5th gear, a gentle tap is what is needed to get a rush of power for those overtaking maneuvers. In fact, 90% of my overtaking on highways was in 5th gear. I like to drive reasonably fast without compromising any safety aspects.

It's blistering fast and picks up speeds so fast that you can create a distance between you and others cars within a few seconds and adding a few more seconds to this would make them faint blobs in your ORVM and this certainly was not what I was expecting and made me pleasantly happy.

In short, Aspire can keep up with C and a few D segment sedans/SUVs too. And, post this drive, this car reminded me of Cruze so much that I started comparing to it. Aspire is almost in same league of a Cruze with respect to performance and I would say handles better than the Cruze (Why you will know as you read further)

Being an ex-owner of a Cruze and someone who was completely besotted with it, is truly a great compliment to the Aspire

Well, the only difference is Cruze would reach its top speed with no sound seeping through the cabin while, the Aspire engine gets noisy post higher triple digit speeds and engine sounds little buzzy but, there is absolutely no strain to engine and it effortlessly pulls till a much much higher speeds. I have a feeling due to lighter body shell, insulation is not good and engine sound post that speed seeps into the cabin and it does get little intrusive and slightly mars the overall pleasurable drive but, is something that can be easily overcome by playing some music to drown that buzzy sound. Otherwise, it's just a brilliant engine and you can have a lot of fun with it !!!

Handling :

Well, Well. This is what impressed me the most other than that powerful engine. Being my first FORD, I was not entirely familiar with its handling though have driven the Fiesta S, Fiesta TDCI, Figo a few times. The tyre change has really benefited the car and it shows. Now it's rock solid at most speeds and gave us a plush ride throughout our trip. Steering though is light at slow speeds begins to tighten quite a bit at high speeds and it does need little pressure to guide it while lane changing etc. It gives reasonably good confidence at higher speeds

During this trip, we were travelling from Munnar to Kumarkom, there is a particular stretch of 70kms or so which if people are aware is simply one of the best roads to drive with S-bends every 300-500 meters for nearly 50+ kms of beautiful tarmac and covered with dense foliage on both sides.

Here, I bumped into a Cruze being driven aggressively and I was on it's tail for nearly 40+ kms on those S bends. I could see him totally surprised by how the smaller car would gain on him on bends and still come out faster to be right behind his tail despite the fact he was wee bit faster on straights. Aspire was easily able to keep up with a 150BHP car on those completely twisty roads and gained my full respect for it's superb handling. Though never owned a FORD before, Now I can only imagine, how the older fords would have been with respect to handling.

Brakes :

Brakes behave little quirky. Sometimes they have too much bite and sometimes they just dont grab as much. I reckon one of our members ( on official thread) was recommending that modulating is the key and now i know what he was referring to and I picked up that style during this road-trip. Panic braking didn't work and I had at least 3-4 of such instances where the ABS saved the situation

1. Dog jumped the divider from right and I had to brake and swerve to left and I was doing 100kmph + and not for a single moment the tyres squealed, nor locked or fish-tailed. I braked gently and swerved to left and car went on that line smoothly and I corrected the steering to right to come back on track. Thankfully, the dog stopped in it's tracks and we all were fine.

2. On some back-road, I took a wide right hander faster than I should have and suddenly see a herd of buffaloes on road. I thought I will drive straight into them. But, yet again, I gripped the steering, braked gently on and off and steered to where ever there was a gap. car slowed down to almost 30kmph and I just grazed a buffaloe and I heard the slight "THUD" on left rear door. I didn't even stop and drove on and next pit-stop, i causally checked. Believe you me, not even a dent or scratch. Brilliant

3. Couple of instances of people crossing the road on Bangalore highway, And I was at 100+ and both times, I braked gently to correct steering and then accelerated instead of braking to avoid this panic situation. ABS in these situations also helped and no drama at all of tyres squealing/fish tail etc. I prefer accelerating over braking in similar scenarios (if scenario permits)

Have to confess that I am impressed with it's braking ability. And, Like i said if you simply stand on brakes, it won't give you the desired output. You'll have to modulate the brakes and it works really well and stops the car pretty good

Gears :

Gearshifts have really smoothened out by now (7000kms) and though it's not short and precise shift like Cruze or butter smooth like Hyundai's but, there is nothing really to complain about it's shifting quality except for two scenarios

3rd to 2nd : There is always a chance to miss this shift and as you drive more these misses keep reducing. Now I know the trick and almost never miss it. Initial days, I was having a bit of a trouble here

Reverse : This is still a bit of a problem. If you half-clutch, it won't slot in but, if you are not too lazy and depress the clutch fully,chances are you will never miss the reverse gear and slot it in first instance

I almost never use the 1st gear, it's like a dummy gear for me .....Even from standstill you can get back into motion in 2nd gear

My style of driving (especially on highway) is to up-shift quickly till 4th and then enjoy the thrust in 4th and 5th gear for most of the highway drive. The corners (S-bends) that I was describing that were taken mostly in 4th or 5th gear and none of bends ever saw the 3rd gear. So, you can imagine the torque or power availability of Aspire. I can tell you with confidence there are few cars that can corner those twisties in 4th and 5th gear with agility and confidence

FE :

Now this might not be of interest to most of us ( definitely least interest for me). During the 3000kms+ road trip out of which I was driving pedal to metal nearly 80% of the time with 100% AC. FE that I got was as follows :

Best FE : 18kmpl

Worst FE : 15.75kmpl

Headlamps :

This is one of the sore areas of the Aspire. It's headlamps are simply insufficient for highway driving at night. I had to practically shove my face into the windscreen to get a better view of roads ahead. Lights throw and reach is not enough and I will be upgrading the bulbs to 90/100 sometime soon. These lights didn't even give me confidence to drive at 100kmph at night on a highway like Bangalore-Hyderabad. Enough said !!!

RPM :

Most of the torque and power is between 2000rpm-3000rpm. There is absolutely no need to even cross 2500rpm for 90% of day to day driving and considering the long revv range of 5000 rpm (redline), it gives a relaxed feeling even when your pushing the car aggressively

To summarize, Aspire is a "Fun-to-Drive" fast car and I am loving every bit of this ownership

[vnabhi]

Good review, Avi. The only part I could not understand was the need to modulate the brakes instead of slamming them. Isn't ABS supposed to take care of the modulation? I do see a need for non-ABS cars.

If you're referring the lack of bite, then the Aspire seems similar to the 1st gen Fiesta. I find the brakes need more pressure than in the case of my Figo. The Figo has grabby brakes instead. I am not sure if that was by design or not. But even in panic braking, the Fiesta stopped quickly.

[fz_rider]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Ride, Handling & Brakes

After taking delivery, Rode the car for about 100kms or so and then changed the tyres to 185/65/R14 from its original 175/65/R14 with Yokohoma Earth-1. This change has made a substantial difference to overall characteristic of car. Steering feel has become heavier, ride is much silent and smooth and a marked difference in cornering capabilities as well.

What tyre pressure do you recommended for Earth -1's ? I am finding ride a bit bumpy on keeping 30 psi all around. I too swapped for 185/65 R14 Earth-1 for my diesel titanium.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Good review, Avi. The only part I could not understand was the need to modulate the brakes instead of slamming them. Isn't ABS supposed to take care of the modulation? I do see a need for non-ABS cars.

If you're referring the lack of bite, then the Aspire seems similar to the 1st gen Fiesta. I find the brakes need more pressure than in the case of my Figo. The Figo has grabby brakes instead. I am not sure if that was by design or not. But even in panic braking, the Fiesta stopped quickly.

Yeah Venu. This part even I didn't understand much about the Aspire yet. If your in a straight line at good speeds and just slam on the brakes, it does not give you feeling that it's stopping fast enough. But, if you press brakes once and then press it again in a gradual manner, it seems to work much better

Also like I mentioned, sometimes the brakes are grabby and sometimes they aren't

I think need to adapt is very important to use the brakes properly

Originally Posted by fz_rider

What tyre pressure do you recommended for Earth -1's ? I am finding ride a bit bumpy on keeping 30 psi all around. I too swapped for 185/65 R14 Earth-1 for my diesel titanium.

Well, my experience is different. I started with 30psi all around but,ride was little softer so i bumped it to 32psi and I like it on this air pressure. It does get little bumpy but, I like it this way as car accelerates much faster at these pressure levels and that's important for me

Also, I use only nitrogen and check air-pressure every 2-3 weeks and see a reduction of about 3-4 psi in each tyre during re-fill

NOTE : Added couple more points to my write-up in my previous post

[mxh]

Originally Posted by mobike008

• I consider myself a tyre fanatic and check air pressure almost every weekend (sometimes once in a fortnight if I don’t get time) and always fill in 32PSI in all 4 tyres and when topped up to this PSI, Aspire feels really lively and is truly fun to drive

I hope you check your tyre pressures in cold condition or fill a little extra to compensate for the increased tyre pressure once you start driving. Cause otherwise your pressures would be falling short of ideal. The cold vs hot tyre pressures in the same tyre can differ by 4-5 psi depending on how long you drive

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by mxh

I hope you check your tyre pressures in cold condition or fill a little extra to compensate for the increased tyre pressure once you start driving. Cause otherwise your pressures would be falling short of ideal. The cold vs hot tyre pressures in the same tyre can differ by 4-5 psi depending on how long you drive

Absolutely. I consider tyres being cold when car is driven < 2kms and beyond that I normally use 2 PSI more than I normally use

And, I love the way the car (not just this car) drives after a fresh air re-fill

[rakesh_r]

Glad to note your trip went well. The Figo/Aspire sure is a pocket rocket. I will be selling off my 2010 Swift diesel in a few months and have some queries since am in a dilemma as to which car to buy since I have my eyes on the figo. I will be buying a diesel only since i almost cross 20K per year.
1-How is the build quality as compared to Maruti,since I hear people say the Figo has a lighter build quality.
2-How is the refinement of the TDCi w.r.t to the MJD?
3-How is the car on rough roads,does it give that irritating thud ?
4-How is the rear passenger comfort?My parents occasionally come over to my place.Will the rear seat be comfortable?Else it will just be me and my better half.
5- I always have the habit to upgrade the tyres of my new cars.Should I upgrade the wheels to 15"?
6-Final question-How is the car for long drives?I intend to use the car to goto my native in Kerala twice a year apart from the usual touring.

I am thinking of buying the top end Figo. Some inputs from your side will surely be appreciated.The other contenders are the Hyundai I20,Ecosport and the SCross 1.6 (If budget permits but mostly would be axed as I am sort of bored with Maruti).

[d3mon]

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

Glad to note your trip went well. The Figo/Aspire sure is a pocket rocket. I will be selling off my 2010 Swift diesel in a few months and have some queries since am in a dilemma as to which car to buy since I have my eyes on the figo. I will be buying a diesel only since i almost cross 20K per year.
1-How is the build quality as compared to Maruti,since I hear people say the Figo has a lighter build quality.
2-How is the refinement of the TDCi w.r.t to the MJD?
3-How is the car on rough roads,does it give that irritating thud ?
4-How is the rear passenger comfort?My parents occasionally come over to my place.Will the rear seat be comfortable?Else it will just be me and my better half.
5- I always have the habit to upgrade the tyres of my new cars.Should I upgrade the wheels to 15"?
6-Final question-How is the car for long drives?I intend to use the car to goto my native in Kerala twice a year apart from the usual touring.

I am thinking of buying the top end Figo. Some inputs from your side will surely be appreciated.The other contenders are the Hyundai I20,Ecosport and the SCross 1.6 (If budget permits but mostly would be axed as I am sort of bored with Maruti).

Let me butt in here, as I upgraded from a 2008 Swift DDiS to the Aspire TDCi

1) Build quality is decent - not in the leagues of VW, but the doors feel a little light. Interior panels are solid and feel nice to the touch.

2) Refinement of the TDCi is amazing - You can barely hear the engine, as compared to the DDiS which has a very prominent clatter. In fact, when the turbo is on boost and you are accelerating hard, there's a very nice whine from the engine that makes it sound quite sporty.

3) Rough roads force you to slow down. You can't fly over rough roads like you could in a swift, because of the stiff suspension in the swift. However, the Aspire is a far more comfortable car to be in, as it isolates you from most bumps if you take them at a reasonable speed. You get a thud from the front if the front wheel drops down too quickly (like after a very sharp speedbreaker).

4) Haven't tried the rear seat, however it has loads more space than the swift.

5) Stock 14" wheels have more than enough grip for 95% of us. However, you can upgrade to 15" for aesthetic reasons (with the possible loss of suspension warranty)

6) The car is very comfortable for long drives. The driver's seat provides an excellent range of adjustments and the lumbar support is adequate too.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

Figo/Aspire sure is a pocket rocket. I will be selling off my 2010 Swift diesel in a few months and have some queries since am in a dilemma as to which car to buy since I have my eyes on the figo. I will be buying a diesel only since i almost cross 20K per year.
1-How is the build quality as compared to Maruti,since I hear people say the Figo has a lighter build quality.
2-How is the refinement of the TDCi w.r.t to the MJD?
3-How is the car on rough roads,does it give that irritating thud ?
4-How is the rear passenger comfort?My parents occasionally come over to my place.Will the rear seat be comfortable?Else it will just be me and my better half.
5- I always have the habit to upgrade the tyres of my new cars.Should I upgrade the wheels to 15"?
6-Final question-How is the car for long drives?I intend to use the car to goto my native in Kerala twice a year apart from the usual touring.

D3mon has answered to a large extent and my views are more or less same. Let me share my feedback as well :

1) Build quality : Build quality is reasonably good. It's on lighter side and there are pros and cons to same. Cons is when you shut door (especially driver side, it feels really light but, other wise structurally the build quality is no different than most new modern cars who are "aspiring" to use lighter body shells to reduce weight, increase FE and at same time not compromising safety

Pros would be due to lighter weight it's extremely agile and super peppy

2) Engine Refinement : Engine refinement is classical to most modern diesel cars. Very light clatter at start but, within a few seconds it settles down to almost zero noise. While driving the engine emanates no noise and is butter smooth and loves to be revved unlike most diesels which pants when revvs goes up

Most certainly leagues ahead of Swift's decade old engine

3) Performance on rough roads : I have driven my Aspire in my last road trip to Kerala (~ 3000kms) on every possible tarmac and with my upgraded tyres, it passed out in flying colors. It will not absorb bumps like larger sedans do but, for its segment, it gobbles down bad roads quite good and you will not feel jarred or unsettled at all. In contrast to D3mon, I have flown over bad patched at 80kmph + and except for what he rightly pointed out, if you land/cross over a speed bump due to lower front hang there is a slight thump sound that comes but, I never worried about it at all

4) Overall space :it's got excellent and roomy interiors. I am 6.ft. 1in and if I set my driver position to a comfortable position. I can still sit behind myself with ease. It's extremely roomy at the back, in terms of head-room and leg-room and is a joy for passengers to sit especially due to the lovely hand-rest. My mom loves the back seat of Aspire more than Cruze due to ingress/egress, roominess and overall comfort

I know Swift's rear space is non-existent and claustrophobic so you will find this a welcome change. Heck, Aspire's rear leg room and space is better than Cruze. Even the rear-hand rest in Cruze was uncomfortable with bottle holders that bit into your elbows. Aspire's does not come any bottle holders ( who needs one? There are cubby holes all over the car which is another great feature of Aspire) and far more comfortable

5) Tyres :-I would recommend you to stick to stock 14" wheels which is quite sufficient if you aren't planning to go on a track day: D......Just get a better rubber with wider dimensions of e.g. 185 or 195 sections of a better brand ( Michelin, Yohohoma, Continentals etc.)

6) Long Trips : Well, who can answer this better than me?.....Completed 3000kms in 10 days with maximum driving in a single day being 750kms and post which I felt as fresh as roses freshly plucked from a garden. It's an extremely comfortable car and you will enjoy each and every long trip that you take on it on highways due to its amazing highway manners ( lovely dynamics, stability and best part-Agility to plaster that silly grin on your face)

Final Warning : Don't be surprised if you overtake 99% of the cars that you encounter on the road !!!

[rakesh_r]

Originally Posted by d3mon

Let me butt in here, as I upgraded from a 2008 Swift DDiS to the Aspire TDCi

Originally Posted by mobike008

D3mon has answered to a large extent and my views are more or less same. Let me share my feedback as well :

Many thanks for your valuable feedback. I am planning to go with the Titanium + variant Figo since I am not a big fan of CS. The Figo does tick all my requirements.