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Old 23rd January 2010, 12:08   #1
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This Ford is my IKON - 89,000 km and 9 years completed

January 23rd, 2010.
Saturday at office, nothing much to do and TBHP is having its weekly backup. As I was thinking what to do, I received a call from Chennai number. Picked up and heard a lady's voice saying she was calling from FORD India, Chennai and has called up to get feedback about my experience with Ford showroom and service centre which I dealt with.
Pleasantly surprised about the call. After giving them my valuable feedback, I decided , this is it.
Next month in february, it will be a complete year of ownership of my Ikon and I have been thinking of writing a review since long.So here I go, finally!!!!

Need for a Car and research for it
We(me and my fiancee) were to get married in March of 2009 so the need of car arose automatically. We were quite happy having our share of fun on my ever faithful Yamaha Gladiator since June 2006. I swear by the trouble free ride that this bike gave and is still serving good. But we needed extra space to accomodate more family and friends, needed to go for a long long drive and still enjoy the comfort of airconditioning and most importantly needed a boot to accomodate the accompanying luggage of our relatives and friends.
Imagining the luggage coming on a auto while we take the car was really unimaginable.
So there it was, we decided. It has to be a car with a boot, a sedan as a hatchback wouldn't serve the purpose.

My requisites -
1) Good, fun to drive car.
2) Nice handling and should be able to take the curves and sharp turns.
3) Maintenance should not be a big worry.
4) should be mod friendly after completion of the warranty.

Wife's requisites -
1) Good airconditioning(she always travel with windows up and a/c on)
2) good rear legroom and comfortable back seat for long journeys.
3) Strictly within the budget
4) Strictly no Palio(though I loved it)

Common requisites-
1) Decent boot space

Shortlisting and Test Drives
We started hunting around Oct-November of 2008, till then, for around a year I was researching on internetand that's when I got hooked up with TBHP.
As we were very clear that we want a boot, it left out many good hatchbacks of our list. I liked the Palio a lot, the yellow and orange colour on it is to die for plus it came very cheap. Indica Vista was just launched and Swift rear bench was very (in)famous, though I like the car.
Only 4 cars made to our list.
1) Indigo
2) Indigo CS
3) Ford Ikon Flair
4) Swift D'zire
All petrol models as we were sure, we wont drive much.Till today,our daily office commuting is taken care of by our ever faithful Gladiator.

Indigo - Went to Malik Motors at Road no 1, Banjara Hills, found out that in December there will be heavy discount on the car owing to year end. They were running some discount in November too, but that was not much. The salesman advised to wait till December and then book the car. No test drives taken. Only took the quotation and model details.
Review on TBHP had educated a lot about this car and we were always aware of the acres of space available inside but the niggles and maintenance part was a big worry. Plus it also meant a little stretching of the budget. The boot was too big.

Indigo CS - Frankly, it looks a lot lot better than the normal Indigo but then it had the Indica headlight which I didn't like. I wanted the Indigo headlight on the CS to make it complete(which ultimately did happen in it's facelift later). This car impressed me a lot, not only with it's space inside but also with the space inside the boot. Very smart. I don't remember exactly but does it also have foldable rear seat??
We decided we will have the dark red colour on it. It passed the verdict on all parameters.
Looks - excellent
Space inside -excellent
Boot space - Very good( I would say "practical and Optimum")
Budget - Very Very excellent, it was probably 4.65 on road(the fully loaded model) plus we shoved in 35K on accessories, so that made it complete 5 lakhs on road(round figure)
Again didn't take the test drive as vehicle for test drive was not available.
But was pretty much decided that we will take this car home. Only question was when?
As in March we needed to be away for a month. So leaving the car unattended for a month was my concern.

We then went to Concorde Motors next day, again petrol model was not available for a test drive. They only diesel model as test vehicle. They said petrol model was not fast moving we don't have a test drive vehicle.
We reasoned that until we take a test drive how can we decide.Then they arranged for a test drive at their yard. As those car were unregistered, was not allowed to take them on road outside.
Drove the petrol model inside their yard; car appeared smooth, some trouble in engaging gears. Seats were upright, didn't much like the centre console and the dull interiors. Rear seat has ample legroom but again even those seats were upright.Would not have been comfortable for back benchers on long drive. Was not much impressed with the drive.But still all that was not a deal breaker.

IKON - We went to Fortune Ford at Somjiguda, the same day we went to Concorde after seeing the ad in newspaper that Ford is offering good discount on Ikon Flair. They had just launched the new facelifted Flair so the discount on previous model was good. We decided we wil have a look though we had the notion that Ikon will be expensive. As we went to showroom, both the new and old model Ikon was displayed alongside and frankly though I'd prefer the new model than the old, but only new digital tripmeter,changed front bumper and clear glass in taillights were the noticeable changes in the new model.The older model looked better and sportier. The old bumper looks much better than the new one, plus the discounts made it look much better.
Test drive vehicle was only available in the evening, we were told, so in the meantime went to concorde motors for the test drive of Indigo CS as detailed above.
Came back in the evening for test drive and were taken to Necklace road for the test drive in the new model were the steering was handed to me.
Wife was seated in the back seat and liked the rear seat and cooling of the a/c was optimum even at level 1.
I started driving the car,1st gear good, 2nd gear better, the engine was nice and smooth and I loved the sound from the exhaust. 3rd gear even better and then finally to 4th. Didn't bother to get to 5th gear.But I liked the way car moved ahead with a little tap on the pedal. Slowed down to 60kmph and then nice sharp U-turn and the car took it like it has been doing this forever and was ready to move ahead straight as fast as you can imagine. It didn't roll( or I just didn't feel it).The handling was superb and I was impressed. Wife was also surprised the way car handled the U-turn. Drove a little more. Was happy with it but trying hard simultaneously not to show it on the face.

Swift D'zire - Didn't like the design of the boot too much but that could not have been a deal breaker for me. But after the test drive of the Ikon,I didn't even bother to get inside a Maruti Showroom.


Will come up soon with the photos and next part of details.

Last edited by Fordmanchau : 23rd January 2010 at 12:10.
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Old 23rd January 2010, 12:45   #2
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Good write up, and good selection..
Hope you already enjoying the comfort and ride of your IKON !
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Old 23rd January 2010, 17:26   #3
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Nice Write Up. Ford Ikon was my dream car when I wanted to Own a second Hand car. But due to a very bad A** (heard through the exp of my friend) and very low resale value never went for it. Even now my heads automatically turn to a Ikon the moment I see her on the roads. Wonderfull car with lots of leg room.

Waiting for the other details along with Pics.
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Old 23rd January 2010, 18:46   #4
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Nice write up. waiting to see your car pics and eager to know how it costed to you.
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Old 23rd January 2010, 19:22   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nairrk View Post
Good write up, and good selection..
Hope you already enjoying the comfort and ride of your IKON !
Thank you nairrk. I have read about your Fiesta. Though I missed out on the Fiesta but nevertheless , the Ikon is "chota packet bara dhamaal"

Quote:
Originally Posted by jasonbourne View Post
Nice Write Up. Ford Ikon was my dream car when I wanted to Own a second Hand car. But due to a very bad A** (heard through the exp of my friend) and very low resale value never went for it. Even now my heads automatically turn to a Ikon the moment I see her on the roads. Wonderfull car with lots of leg room.

Waiting for the other details along with Pics.
Trust me Jason things have changed a lot with respect to A.S.S and the cost of ownership. Will soon put up details with pics.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mail4loys View Post
Nice write up. waiting to see your car pics and eager to know how it costed to you.
Hi mail4loys,
Read your 1.6 ikon's review too.wonderful write-up and good to know that you have happy with your car.
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Old 23rd January 2010, 19:38   #6
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Enjoyed reading your writeup. I will be looking for more in this thread - pictures, initial driving & one year experience, your experience with FORD dealers and all.
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Old 23rd January 2010, 19:40   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fordmanchau View Post
Trust me Jason things have changed a lot with respect to A.S.S and the cost of ownership. Will soon put up details with pics.
I beg to differ. One of friends purchased a second hand Ford Ikon 2001 model. He noticed that the fuel indicator was very erratic. Hence he went to Ford. They asked him to replace the Fuel Pump. Along with the repairs he paid Rs. 15000.

But the Downside is that the original issue still remains!!
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Old 23rd January 2010, 20:17   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mayukh View Post
Enjoyed reading your writeup. I will be looking for more in this thread - pictures, initial driving & one year experience, your experience with FORD dealers and all.
Coming soon!
sorting out the pics.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jasonbourne View Post
I beg to differ. One of friends purchased a second hand Ford Ikon 2001 model. He noticed that the fuel indicator was very erratic. Hence he went to Ford. They asked him to replace the Fuel Pump. Along with the repairs he paid Rs. 15000.

But the Downside is that the original issue still remains!!
I have not yet experienced that side of owning a ford and I would like to believe in the same , till I get the first hand experience.
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Old 23rd January 2010, 21:36   #9
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I would also say that my friend was one unlucky fellow to be a victim. I asked him to speak to the service guys again. But he is yet to tell me what happened.

However take good care of yuor beauty! Waiting to see her..

Last edited by jasonbourne : 23rd January 2010 at 21:37.
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Old 6th May 2010, 19:09   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fordmanchau View Post
Coming soon!
sorting out the pics.
So long to sort?

Nice essay on the shopping. Where's the story on the driving?
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Old 7th May 2010, 10:54   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kiku007 View Post
So long to sort?
Nice essay on the shopping. Where's the story on the driving?
Kiku , you caught me there!! Will resume in a while.
Meanwhile to check the car pics, please go through these threads.
Will also post the pics here later.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...pure-josh.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...photoblog.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...srisailam.html

I was surprised to see this thread pop up!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by jasonbourne View Post
I would also say that my friend was one unlucky fellow to be a victim. I asked him to speak to the service guys again. But he is yet to tell me what happened.
However take good care of yuor beauty! Waiting to see her..
jason, any update about your friends Ikon?

Last edited by Fordmanchau : 7th May 2010 at 10:59.
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Old 7th May 2010, 11:42   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fordmanchau View Post
Kiku , you caught me there!! Will resume in a while.
Meanwhile to check the car pics, please go through these threads.
Will also post the pics here later.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...pure-josh.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...photoblog.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...srisailam.html
The car's seen quite a good number of places
That's my fav colour in the Ikon.
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Old 7th May 2010, 14:24   #13
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...Continued

THE DEAL
After the test drive of the Ikon, me and wife were pretty sure that we will be picking this up. She was happy with the backseat comfort and space and the fact that A/c was quite comfortable even at the first setting.
Initially the showroom guys were quoting a onroad price of approximately 5.40 lakhs(don't remember exactly).
I told them straightaway, that above 5Lakhs is not our budget. We were ready to walk out if the cost won't work out and buy the Indigo CS.
They asked me what is it that we were looking for?
We told them that look we are getting a fully loaded Indigo CS with alloys and all accessories thrown in at 5.0 lakhs(4.65 lakhs onroad+ 35 K of accessories), If you guys can work around this budget and cut a deal then I'll put in the money and take it right away.
The executive called in his Manager and sat with me and worked out the deal.
After a few give and takes ,a deal was finally made.
We decided on 4.98 Lakhs on road including the following accessories:
1) Remote central locking
2) Reverse Parking Sensor
3) ICE with a USB HU(speakers included)
4) Teflon Coating
The manager couldn't accomodate seat covers as the original ones were costly and they didn't have much choice too. He advised us to get it from outside. Though I managed to squeeze in the Car Cover successfully.
I thought the deal was good considering that instead of Indigo CS i was a getting a Ikon and more so that, I was completely sold on its handling and fun to drive factor. I didn't want to miss it opportunity to own one of life's most prized possessions.

We agreed for the token advance of Rs. 5000/- too for booking the car on the spot(a mistake from my side,as this didn't give a chance to go to other dealers and negotiate a better deal with this deal as a back up, but nonetheless, I don't regret this).

We wanted the Morello color on it, but that was only available on the new model Ikon and the Fiesta. We decided on THUNDER but later chose PLATINUM. So PLATINUM, it is.
We booked the car in November of 2008 and finally took delivery on 2nd Feb 2009. We wanted to delay the delivery further to end of March 2009, as we had to be outstation for a month,and leaving a new car unattended for a month was troubling us.
But anyhow, All's well that ends well.
We are happy with our decision.


Quote:
Originally Posted by kiku007 View Post
The car's seen quite a good number of places
That's my fav colour in the Ikon.
Kiku, this car needs to see more places more often, I love to drive it on the highways. I completely adore the way it hugs the road and takes the curve.
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Old 11th June 2010, 08:18   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fordmanchau View Post
I was surprised to see this thread pop up!!
Hi Fordmanchau,
Surprise again!
Sorry for barging in late on this thread, but you know it takes a very long time to go through all the interesting threads. I've just finished Ben's very looong thread!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fordmanchau View Post
[b]My requisites -Wife's requisites - Common requisites-...
Exactly the same requirements as mine when I bought my Ikon! Amazing. Except that my wife was totally unaware of my intention (didn't tell her). She got a BIG, NASTY surprise when I bought the Ikon (peace was declared later when she drove it).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fordmanchau View Post
Slowed down to 60kmph and then nice sharp U-turn and the car took it like it has been doing this forever and was ready to move ahead straight as fast as you can imagine. It didn't roll (or I just didn't feel it).
Amen to that. What did the salesman say to that? He must have laid an egg in fright!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fordmanchau View Post
Meanwhile to check the car pics, please go through these threads. Will also post the pics here later.
Been going through one of these posts will write in there as I want to know some details from you on those trips.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fordmanchau View Post
...including the following accessories:
2) Reverse Parking Sensor...
I am thinking of this for my Ikon, because as you know the rear visibility is poor. How useful is it? Is it worth it? Please relate your experiences with this gadget in the Ikon.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fordmanchau View Post
I completely adore the way it hugs the road and takes the curve.
Oh yes, yes! Totally understand what you say.

Regards,
Damu
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Old 11th June 2010, 10:21   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fordmanchau View Post
We wanted the Morello color on it, but that was only available on the new model Ikon and the Fiesta. We decided on THUNDER but later chose PLATINUM. So PLATINUM, it is.
Which exactly is the color called Thunder? Is it the name for the silver?
Platinum is what my wife and myself had initially decided, and went to book it as well. At the showroom, we saw the Jewel Violet, and instantly changed our preference. Platinum took second place. There's been no looking back since!

Our first TD experience was in Hyderabad, during our dating days. For time pass, asked to get the car for a TD, and made the most of it. Afetr we got married and relocated to Bangalore, we thought of no other car, but the Ikon when putting down our money. We did dilly-dally with buying a Swift or an Alto, but knew they werent as special as the Ikon.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fordmanchau View Post
I love to drive it on the highways. I completely adore the way it hugs the road and takes the curve.
Quite true. When i move on to an SUV, this is what i feel i will miss the most. Quick U turns, where you just throw the car at it, and it comes out of it like it was just another walk in the park.
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