[Path_Finder]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

@PathFinder : Dont tell me that was the only snap you had of the car?!
How has your experience with the car been so far? Any other expenses, besides the regular maintenance? Also, i believe you hadnt mentioned which variant it is.

The experience has obviously been great. The variant was 1.6 ZXi.

I hear the general feeling that Ford maintenance is expensive and hence probably your question too. My previous car was a Zen and compared to that this is definitely more. But then I am not sure if you consider the passage of time and that of a bigger car it this is really high. Typical service with labor and the standard consumables cost in range of 3-4K. Traversing thru the Koramangala roads every day took its toll on the clutch – it had to be replaced last year at an astonishing 9K. Other replacements have been minor in less than 3K range. I am not sure, but would guess that many of the other cars in the range would also be more or less similar – even if this is a little higher, I would give it as worth for its performance. When I took it 5 years back other options were Accent and OHC – and all thru these years till today I have no regrets about this decision.

[Path_Finder]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

@PathFinder : Dont tell me that was the only snap you had of the car?!

That is not obviously the only snap – but this is the one I took on the mobile while it was parting.

Originally Posted by mjothi

Give us a clue please

Clues are all over!! Hope to find time this weekend to write about the new one.

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

Whats with all you guys giving up your Ikons ?

Well for me, the car comes on company lease; once the lease is over you cannot keep it anymore without tax implications. 5 year is the maximum period of lease. Given a chance I would kept for some more time.

[karan_parkash]

I've also decided to move on from my Ford Ikon 1.6Zxi to something in the same segment. The overall experience wasn't at all bad as compaired to the other Ford Owners, be it Maintaince/Service or FE keeping in mind the number of modifications done. The car would be 6yrs in December 2008 & about 57,000 KMS done to date still is in excellent condition. Loved every bit of the time spent driving the car & will cherish it all my life.

[obed5579]

I have just moved from a Ford Ikon 1.6 zxi after 4.5 years. It was a real work-horse. Its done around 62k km and has been relatively trouble free. It was truly one a drivers delight and i can vouch for its FE. I used to get 11-12 in the city and 16-18 on the highways. It was a real delight. I havent sold it yet, no plans of doing it anytime soon. My dad uses ocassionally.
I have got my self another drivers delight and i am in a re-discovery phase. I got a Chevy optra mangnum TCDi. I recomend the same for you.

[Path_Finder]

Originally Posted by obed5579

I have got my self another drivers delight and i am in a re-discovery phase. I got a Chevy optra mangnum TCDi. I recomend the same for you.

Obed, Yes – I did check out the Optra Magnum TCDi. I had been to two dealers in Bangalore and did a TD with both. It is certainly a good car and did meet quite a few of the requirements I had laid down. The turbo was specifically great. The FE was an important point on which both dealers were doing a hard selling – for my usage, this was lesser of a criteria. My TD experience was mixed – while I overall liked, I was doubtful of its agility in city traffic which is extremely important to me (compared to others). It was incidentally one of the few Diesel variants I had tried. I wanted to check out the petrol variants also – but somehow both the dealers were only promoting diesel and did not even have petrol for TD. So I kind of moved away from the Optra – of course there was something else more tempting too…

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by Path_Finder

ROC, I would have expected a better guess from you

Well now I know what its gonna be

[PatienceWins]

It is a heart breaking situation.
I could not help looking back again and again to see it once more after selling the car. Also felt guilty about leaving the car with a stranger. Got over it in a few days.

All the best with the new purchase.

[Path_Finder]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

Well now I know what its gonna be

LOL!! No full marks for guessing – that was after a giveaway clue! Unless you know the variant and color too.