[Joe-Ker]

Truly great maintanance;as everyone have said already
I think ive spotted your Baleno in Ekm many times.Will wave the next time i see you.

Nows the time that the long marginalised Ikon 1.6 owners are rallying around the perfectly preserved example.I had the pleasure of being aquainted with one such beast for some considerable time an year ago (and the ignominy of crashing it,that too on a public transport bus).I always found it much more driveable than the japs with whom power comes too high up in the rev band.

But then, increasingly-going out in the Ikon became more akin to gambling than driving! you never know what your odds are of the car breaking down.To top it off, the service center in chennai offered such poor service that some misfiring (Which i clearly knew arised from the ignition system-and ended out to be the distributor) was diagonosed to be a warped cylinder head!! ..though the car still is in the family fold ,after we got really pinched by the accident repairs-nobody wants to drive it anymore.It logs more km on the way and back to the garage than normal use..

I know the ikon is a good car but it was constrained by the prohibitive maintenance costs and bloody murdered by the Dismal quality of service.

[srikant]

SIMPLY AWESOME WRITEUP VIVEK. I just loved to read about the cars. To be frank, i loved the Baleno and not at all a fan of IKON, but after reading your words, i am just waiting to get my hands on a IKON to test it myself asap. Cheers again dude . . Excellent one there.

I ve got my vacations and had been out of station and logged into the forum only today. Now that i am back and saw your car pics, i am planning to get right into your house and get a lesson on keeping cars that clean and raid your car care products. I am jealous, and want to maintain my cars that neat too.

[taj]

Lovely report, have driven my friends Icon 1.6, when reading through your report, felt like driving it again, will meet some day in ekm's traffic jams.

[kutlee]

Originally Posted by rippergeo

pretty accurate analysis.
I tease petrolheads because of their reluctance to go on spur of the moment drives, Cant blame them, the lighter fuel is heavy on the wallet.

not every time to every body. depends on the configuration of the wallet. this is highly offtopic. i'm scared..:
Vivek, keeping GTO's '5 year old car upgrade or keep' idea, do you plan to keep this long term? i would say that considering the facts that they are fun, cheap to run and more important, they don't make cars like this any more, keep them.

[raajks]

Amazing write up Vivek.
I completely enjoyed reading this thread.

As GTO stated, it is worth every star. Given a 5 star rating.
The pictures aptly reflects your emotional connection for these two cars.

Driving a stock car hard takes you to a different thrill level.
I wish you many such drives!!!

[vivekji05]

Originally Posted by danlalan

Your ikon is one of the best kept ikon's ive seen. I keep coming back to this thread just to see your ikon again and again. Total drool maal for me. One of the cleanest engine bay's (Ikon) ive seen.

The ikon too should get an air filter. The growl post 3500 sounds awesome.
What are your future mods for the ikon.,

It is already quite loud, that exhaust. But we will surely think of getting it CAIed.

Originally Posted by rippergeo

pretty accurate analysis.
I tease petrolheads because of their reluctance to go on spur of the moment drives, Cant blame them, the lighter fuel is heavy on the wallet.

Liked your usage ' the lighter fuel is heavy on the pocket'. My policy is. 'Double the revs, halve the distance'. Will stick on to that for the time being until you come up with 'torque is better than horsepower'.

Originally Posted by Joe-Ker

Truly great maintanance;as everyone have said already
I think ive spotted your Baleno in Ekm many times.Will wave the next time i see you.

Sure. if i don't notice, do a full 360, flash your headlights and honk twice. Just kidding mate. Give me a ring instead. My number has been pmed to you.

Originally Posted by Joe-Ker

It logs more km on the way and back to the garage than normal use..

Liked that.

Originally Posted by srikant

SIMPLY AWESOME WRITEUP VIVEK. I just loved to read about the cars. To be frank, i loved the Baleno and not at all a fan of IKON, but after reading your words, i am just waiting to get my hands on a IKON to test it myself asap. Cheers again dude . . Excellent one there.

I ve got my vacations and had been out of station and logged into the forum only today. Now that i am back and saw your car pics, i am planning to get right into your house and get a lesson on keeping cars that clean and raid your car care products. I am jealous, and want to maintain my cars that neat too.

That extensive array of car care products which you might have noticed near that garage shelf is now on its way to the bank locker.

Originally Posted by taj

Lovely report, have driven my friends Icon 1.6, when reading through your report, felt like driving it again, will meet some day in ekm's traffic jams.

Thanks man. Sure, we will meet.

Originally Posted by kutlee

Vivek, keeping GTO's '5 year old car upgrade or keep' idea, do you plan to keep this long term? i would say that considering the facts that they are fun, cheap to run and more important, they don't make cars like this any more, keep them.

But what about service, spares etc. Eventually there will be a time when i will be forced to sell them for something else.

[srijit]

I dunno. I think you can keep the Baleno longer than the Ikon. SGP/MGP spares are available and parts are also available from outside India. Dont know about Ikon's spare parts though.

[srikant]

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[Loganromeo]

Excellent review Vivek; must compliment you for the very well maintained cars, as well as tastefully taken pics.

Pleasure indeed!

[vivekanand005]

vivekji05;1302246]“It’s more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.”

i too own a ikon 1.6zxi. agreed 100% with you vivekji that it is fun to drive these cars.you have maintained both the cars
immaculately beautiful.

[kiku007]

Awesome writeup Rated 5 Stars!

I'm so happy to find a Ikon Lover in the forum.

Talking about the Exhaust Note-People complain about the Ikon's rusty (prone to) exhaust pipe/muffler. But the exhaust note gets better with a leak in the pipe/muffler actually

The re-badged Baleno looks great. What an idea sirji!

[Silver Knight]

I am a big fan of Baleno.SGP is what this car comes loaded with and you can't guess the km done by a well maintained Baleno. Take my word for it.
And you know during our college days during a motor show Ford's people gave ENTRUSTED the following cars at our disposal for A NIGHT.
1. An Ikon 1.6
2. Ikon 1.3
3. Fusion
4. Endeavor
All Ford's including the 1.3 is a delight to drive. And right from the steering wheel the car clamors sportiness in all direction.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by srijit

I dunno. I think you can keep the Baleno longer than the Ikon. SGP/MGP spares are available and parts are also available from outside India. Dont know about Ikon's spare parts though.

Arent the SGP spares priced sky high? Read about some horror stories on the forum about the expensive parts on the Baleno, thanks to them being SGP and not MGP.

Ikon is also sold in SA, China, Brazil and one should be able to source spares from there as well. But look on the bright side, the 1.3 still sells and isnt phased out so spares would be available for a longer period.

[vnabhi]

Hey Vivekji, I was so darn impressed with your engine bay, I gave my car a try last Sunday. The only issue I faced was that there are too many parts on the Fiesta's engine bay that appeared to be non-metallic, including the engine cover.. This apart, it was not easy to reach some portions below those numerous hose pipes and wires.

I used a cloth that was damped in detergent water to wipe most parts, including the battery top.The only challenge I faced was the hose pipes and the wires---I did not want to take any chances, so used a dry cloth. Now my car looks better, but nowhere as good as yours. The bottom portions of the hoses and parts below it are still a bit dirty.I guess another 2 rounds of cleaning should make it better.

[shibujp]

Vivekji,

That was a true blue car enthusiast review. Superb and thanks for the pics!! You were spot on in pointing out that it's the theatrics of getting to a 100kmph that give you that fun factor. Today cars simply dumb down all that and give you a good solid ride. You are left with very little to do

Ford's handling leaves me impressed. I drove an Endeavor(the first generation) and an Ikon 1.3. The Endeavor handled some much better than a lot of saloon with minimal roll. Despite being under powered the handling made the 1.3 a genuinely fun ride.

There are still days where I miss my 800 for the sheer fun of pushing the car. I had a free flow with headers bolted on and I tell my friends that 100kmph is not the same anymore!! The feedback from the unassisted rack and pinion steering was another example of a more visceral experience. I'd better stop..

Keep em coming. I read the whole review at 12:30 AM yesterday. That's how interesting this was!!

Drive on!!
Shibu.