| 2005 Ford Ikon 1.6 ZXi: 20000 km review. Updated to 80000 km.
Hello everyone. This is going to be my First review here.
Back in 2005, it was time for me to get a new car for myself. I had a choice of few other cars, Accent (Petrol & Diesel), Ikon (Petrol & Diesel) and Siena (Petrol & Diesel) (All High End versions), to list a few. After few weeks of thinking, I chose the Ford Ikon 1.6, and had a Test Drive requested at my doorstep.
Within 2 days, a car came to me for test drive. It was the same color which I had thought of, Oyster Silver, but EXi model where I had decided for ZXi. It had clocked 9k km. I asked the person (who brought the TD car) whether it was really a TD car or what? Prompt came his reply, "Oh no, its one of our customer's car...” I was surprised. I asked why did he bring someone else's car? He replied “Oh because we did not have one at our dealership, and then this car was at the service centre for a service, so we brought it.” He also told that the ‘customer’ was informed about it and said OK about it. I knew this was a lie, a customer would never like or approve of a dealership to give out their car for TD's.
This car was nice, I did not really concentrate so much on the TD, I just drove it for 3-4 kms and was satisfied with it, cabin was silent, steering and acceleration were responsive so I told him an OK to go ahead with the booking, and 2 requests, firstly, do not put tints and secondly, remote locking accessory wanted. He told ok and went off. After the TD, I began to love it, but there were some things negative about the car which I did not know.
Within a week, we got a call from Chennai Ford telling that the car is ready for collection. I was excited and happy and went at late noon to collect the car. Upon going there after informing of my arrival and decision to take car from them, I was taken out to see my car where the number plates were being fixed. Here, one thing made me angry, they put tints. I called up that fellow who gave the TD and asked him about it, he said he did inform about it and they must have put it accidentally. I was OK with it; I took it as God's wish for the car to have tints around.
I drove homewards; filling up for 500rs on the way, the fuel gauge went up from E to 1/4 exact. I expected the FE to be around 10 kpl at least. I began to enjoy giving plenty of throttle to it just to feel the lovely thrust. Later after one week I did 500 again when it came to the exact mark where I refueled earlier, it clocked out to be 7 kpl. I was like unhappy about it, I thought it would improve later on and was OK with it.
I took it to the highway for the first time at around 110 kms odometer reading and did 160 at that time itself lol. It was a nice feeling. The car was so stable and there were no complaints about it in the first highway trip. I think that first highway trip FE was around 12.
Brakes:
As time passed, with lots of city and highway runs, the first accident happened to the car around 4000 km odometer reading on a highway where I was at 80 km/h a dog darted on the road, and I braked, the front 2 tires locked so easily, I had never tried the handbrake before, I use it only for emergency situations. I pulled up the handbrake lever thinking, the back brakes would help stop the car quicker... (My previous car was a Esteem VX, had beautiful brakes. Many situations were there when it made braking easier) But it did not. I noticed very little braking force from the rear wheels.
Alas, I hit the dog and my front bumper was partly broken and the fog lamp hanging. I also lost wheel alignment and balancing because of the impact. Poor dog! After coming back to Chennai after the remaining 400 km, I went to Ford to give it in for repair. And whoa, the dog didn’t break only the above, but also a vital engine part. Don’t remember what it was... Nuts! I got a whopping bill of around INR 20k. But insurance helped me. After this, I felt the bumper wasn’t strong??
I then came to know that the Ikon has a poor braking system- the brake discs are very light in the front, and the brake drums at the back ain’t any good! I even asked Ford if the option to fit ABS or disc brakes was possible... If I had ABS, wheel locking wouldn’t have been there in the scene. Had no luck. Ford said it wasn’t possible.
Till now this has been the only accident that happened to the car. Of course scratches come due to the idiotic traffic. But always I've been getting it removed by rubbing polish at the regular services.
Mileage:
Till now I've been getting about 7-9 kpl in the city with full time a/c and 11-15 on the highway. The highway runs are so fascinating in FE. I get 12 if the speed is varying between 120-160 speedo reading, and 16 if the throttle is set at 110 steady speedo reading. Till now with my experience, I've found that the sweet spot for FE on the highway is at 2,750-2,800 rpm, 110 km/h. I've no idea about the FE on the highway without a/c. But in city, once during winter I tried it without a/c and it came to 11 kpl..
A/c:
One of the most bugging problem I've got in the car was the intermittent a/c water diverter valve problem. It was so irritating that it was removed few months back because it failed twice a year and failed when the extended warranty expired, wasn’t in need to have it fixed back. So I’m doing well without it. No complaints.
Acceleration:
One doubt about the car's acceleration is, if I want to apply a very slight touch on the throttle, it takes a while for the engine to respond to it, and it’s given by a jerk. That’s the thing I don’t like.. Same applies for releasing the throttle.. There should be a solution for this! Perhaps some of you can help me about it. Other than that, love the acceleration. I’ve gone up to 5,500 rpm. The sound’s so sweet. I love doing 5,500 rpm in 2nd gear, and that’s mostly on the highway. The sound’s also so sweet when you do a smooth perfect shift from 2nd gear at 5,500 to 3rd gear. The engine gives a lovely sound.
NVH:
Recently, the car has began to give lots of thunk thunk sounds from the front as well as the centre when the car goes on bad roads or when its shuddering (at less than 1000 rpm). I don’t know what’s the reason for this..? Perhaps some one of you would have faced this issue and resolved it. I’m yet to inform the Ford people about this when it goes for the 20k km service.
Road noise is also very loud these days even if tire pressures are less than 30. Why is it? It’s getting boring. Santro is so silent, I’m jealous of it. Why can’t the Ikon be as silent as the santro in the cabin??
Uncategorized:
At random times in the night, when the car was shuddering (at less than 1000 rpm), the headlights would fade out and the low beam sometimes would stop working but then the high beam would be perfect. Happens randomly. This also has to be informed during service.
After the car crossed around 19k km, something unusual is coming from the steering wheel.. Whenever the wheel touches something like a hump or a speed breaker, a short creak- friction sound comes. This also comes when I turn the steering wheel, be it left or right.
Remark:
The Ikon is sure a lovely car to have, a monstrous car with the breed of American Fuel Guzzler in the engine. If the flaws mentioned in the review weren’t there, it would be a great car. I’m waiting to get these flaws resolved hopefully.
Sorry if its not proper. It could be better later with updates!
A | 
14th August 2007, 16:32
Btw what do you mean by rating of ECM fuse?
I'm glad I'm not the only person having this problem in the Ford Ikon..JPG)
