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Old 14th July 2011, 21:04   #676
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Re: Ford Fiesta : Test Drive & Review

Disastrous move by Ford! And smart move by Honda in the petrol segment.

For a somewhat similar price, Honda gives one more space, and this is one of the primary requirements of people upgrading to a sedan. And the ANHC also has a punchy engine, unlike its predecessor.

If I were to buy a C segment petrol sedan today, I'd go either for the Classic Sxi or the ANHC. I do love the dash of the NFS and the Cruise control, but heck, I don't wanna pay through my nose for those features. If I venture beyond 10 lacs, I'd be looking at the Civic or the Altis .

It looks like Honda has learnt its lesson for its brazen attitude (earlier the NHC was priced a lac more than the old Fiesta sxi, and did not even have airbags, ABS or EBD).

Ford may follow suit in the near future.

Can't help posting an analogy here:

OHC (great FTD car) evolved into NHC, which was for the mileage junta, but looked quirky and had no great features. Finally they brought the ANHC that brought back some of the punchiness with some features.

Ford has evolved now to the NHC stage, with a less powerful version than its predecessor, but with more F.E and a bit of quirkyness. I hope they come out with an ANFF a couple of years down the line with a 1.6 mill.

Last edited by vnabhi : 14th July 2011 at 21:06.
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Old 14th July 2011, 21:12   #677
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Re: Ford Fiesta : Test Drive & Review

My friend booked it too at chennai ford and has requested for cancellation. The sales staff seems to be pretty demotivated and I heard there has been many cancellation requests from the customer's who have pre-booked anticipating a sensible price tag from ford.

BTW, chennai ford is claiming 2000 Rs as cancellation charges now, Can you tell me if you had booked it with chennai/MPL and had to pay any cancellation charges?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Surprise View Post
I was one of the first in this forum to book NFS & now (one of the) first to cancel the booking as well.
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Old 14th July 2011, 21:20   #678
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Re: Ford Fiesta : Test Drive & Review

Linea looks so sweet now. If only Fiat's dimaag ki batti would light up.
It would be better for Ford enthusiast's to wait for the "limiteds" and "specials" rather than suffer sudden depreciation shocks like the Honda City and Jazz.
Fiesta Classic sales may go up I suppose!
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Old 14th July 2011, 21:20   #679
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Re: Ford Fiesta : Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by ankan_g View Post
They should take a leaf out of Hyundai's book & try to understand the way Hyundai has worked so hard to re-model their brand image over the years, with a change in marketing strategy, from being a cheap VFM car to a VFM car with excellent quality & A.S.S.. It took them years to prove themselves after the initial years of a series of unsuccessful cars. They started with the i10, then the i20 & now finally the public has accepted a semi-premium ANHV.
Well Surprised to read that- "It took them years to prove themselves after the initial years of a series of unsuccessful cars."
I thought the Santro was the biggest hit for hyundai which helped it build the connection with the population at large. The updated Santro Xing again became a best seller and still manages 5k + units. The mid level sedan accent almost revolutionized the use of diesel engines in India with its crdi engine used in the accent. Even the old Verna managed decent numbers.
They did have some flops but those were all above 10L category.

Quote:
Lastly , i don't think any other brand has understood the consumer's demands & need (specially in India) better than Hyundai. And that shows in their sales, not only in India but also Internationally. Kudos to them !!!
What about Toyota? They came with an outdated Qualis, while it was still selling like hot cakes they brought the Innova. Priced it at a premium and it still became a segment leader. The fortuner is again a very recent example. The Etios has started gaining in numbers and the Liva will follow soon. Barring the Altis Diesel ( even that is not exactly a flop show), I think Toyota is the brand which has taken the maximum risks in the market and each time has surprised everyone.
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Old 14th July 2011, 21:22   #680
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Re: Ford Fiesta : Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by bala80 View Post
BTW, chennai ford is claiming 2000 Rs as cancellation charges now, Can you tell me if you had booked it with chennai/MPL and had to pay any cancellation charges?
Its with Chennai Ford. SE has promised that there won't any cancellation charges & I guess that was captured in the order that we released. I hope that we will manage to get away with that newly introduced cancellation charges.
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Old 14th July 2011, 21:30   #681
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Re: Ford Fiesta : Test Drive & Review

When I saw the prices, all I could do was WOW! Stayed off the forum to get my thoughts together.
All were expecting reasonable pricing from Ford.
The Verna Crdi SX is INR 10.8 lakh OTR Mumbai
The SXO with 6 airbags is INR 11.77 lakh OTR Mumbai
The Vento TDI Highline is INR 10.5 lakh OTR Mumbai, I think

NFS Titanium is around INR II.7 lakh OTR Mumbai.
NFS Titanium+ is INR 12 lakh+ .

Ford sure must think that there is something extraordinarily special in the new Fiesta that they have created a new segment for it, all by itself.
Maybe its all the Boron Steel? . Talk about hubris based pricing!

I think Ford has just handed over the initiative to Honda and VW for "not so minor price increases" for the updated versions.
If these prices are accepted with a good enough off take, be sure that the Refreshed All New Honda City and Upgraded VW will also carry some premium price tags, whenever they are launched.

All eyes on July - Aug sales figures for Ford.
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Old 14th July 2011, 22:12   #682
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Re: Ford Fiesta : Test Drive & Review

The pricing seems to have created some space for the fiesta hatch. Now the diesel hatch can be prices at around 7-7.5 lakhs.

Though somehow feel, Hyundai and Ford is following Honda (read as earlier not the current price cuts). However, both of them have diesels.

It will be very interesting to see how this car fares in the market.
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Old 14th July 2011, 22:12   #683
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Re: Ford Fiesta : Test Drive & Review

Pass..

Cant imagine what they were thinking. Much has been said, so wont get talking.
Bottomline - its irrelevant. There are way better buys around.
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Old 14th July 2011, 22:15   #684
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Re: Ford Fiesta : Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by shivasuma View Post
For me the downers for the vento is the huge waiting period and the engine racket. Also I was not too happy the the attitude of the sales staff.
Look at it as a mini Octavia, which it is. You will have to tolerate the Sales staff only once, I would go and take a look at the A.S.S. first. Its not all that bad, if you are OK with the Skoda type of A.S.S, I think you should like the benefits of the car even better. You already know that the Fiesta has the same 90 BHP engine, but the German badge has a different allure to it (status value). Handling is not bad compared to the Fiesta, if not better. The life of parts is also longer on a German car. The earlier Accent & even old Verna engines have had there fare share of reliability issues (I have seen many personally). Also if you know the Verna engine is not all that what it seems (on paper), pure power play wise Vento is more pleasure to drive (Autocar review), all in all we all know that any Hyundai car is good for a non-enthusiast. You can always improve on the NVH levels, by adding insulation sheets etc. Think about it.
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Old 14th July 2011, 22:28   #685
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Re: Ford Fiesta : Test Drive & Review

This was a surprise for me as well. I was expecting Fiesta pricing to undercut Fluidic Verna a bit. If they are showing the great mileage then it goes towards the price conscious folks, yet pricing is not VFM. On the opposite end the engine is not as funky as Fluidic Verna to fully appeal to the enthusiast. God knows what they are thinking.
My new Scorpio Vlx 2WD mHawk with airbags has a lot of the equipment list and the bhp and yet had a slightly cheaper price tag than the top end of this new Fiesta. I know, I know this is a ridiculous comparison, but could not resist.
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Old 14th July 2011, 22:29   #686
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Re: Ford Fiesta : Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by Revention View Post
Unless the new Fiesta beats the classic in ride and handling, the classic SXI looks to me to be a real VFM car
This is true for petrol but the diesel needs more power.
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Old 14th July 2011, 22:53   #687
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Re: Ford Fiesta : Test Drive & Review

The pricing is a disappointment given the expectations, but when they delayed the launch after its' preview, it was amply clear which side of 10-L it was gonna be placed.

Also, given the dash design, I am pretty sure the Head Unit is gonna get a lot of sunshine, perhaps more than it can handle(?).
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Old 14th July 2011, 23:24   #688
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Re: Ford Fiesta : Test Drive & Review

Shocking price for the new Fiesta. I thought Ford learned the hard way with their disastrous pricing of Fusion when it came out. It was a nice car but never had a proper chance with the price it was quoted at.

Looks like they still have not learned enough.
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Old 14th July 2011, 23:59   #689
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Re: Ford Fiesta : Test Drive & Review

It interesting to note how the whole thing has turned upside-down just because of pricing ? How could it be ?

They did not rebuild the car with the pricing, The car is still the same and the review of parts and features cannot vary depending upon pricing.

You can hound Ford on the pricing to death, but not the car.
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Old 15th July 2011, 00:08   #690
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Re: Ford Fiesta : Test Drive & Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by drmohitg View Post
I thought the Santro was the biggest hit for hyundai which helped it build the connection with the population at large. The updated Santro Xing again became a best seller and still manages 5k + units. The mid level sedan accent almost revolutionized the use of diesel engines in India with its crdi engine used in the accent. Even the old Verna managed decent numbers.
They did have some flops but those were all above 10L category.


What about Toyota? They came with an outdated Qualis, while it was still selling like hot cakes they brought the Innova. Priced it at a premium and it still became a segment leader. The fortuner is again a very recent example. The Etios has started gaining in numbers and the Liva will follow soon. Barring the Altis Diesel ( even that is not exactly a flop show), I think Toyota is the brand which has taken the maximum risks in the market and each time has surprised everyone.
Spot on .. Hyundai took on the might of Maruti and did fantastic and their greater value proposition was VFM product with fantastic service.

Toyota has been great at carving niches for itself and doing great . At last count it had 3 segment leaders out of 5 in their portfolio ( Liva has been ignored for now ) - Innova, Etios , Fortuner , which is a fantastic achievement.

Both the above companies have shown an inclination to understand the Indian market and make efforts to carve out a significant share. In contrast Ford has always been an also-ran , more often than not lacking in seriousness about the Indian market starting from when they tried to sell the outdated Ford Escort in India .

Quote:
Originally Posted by zulfi hansi View Post
Look at it as a mini Octavia, which it is. You will have to tolerate the Sales staff only once, I would go and take a look at the A.S.S. first. Its not all that bad, if you are OK with the Skoda type of A.S.S, I think you should like the benefits of the car even better. You already know that the Fiesta has the same 90 BHP engine, but the German badge has a different allure to it (status value). Handling is not bad compared to the Fiesta, if not better. The life of parts is also longer on a German car. The earlier Accent & even old Verna engines have had there fare share of reliability issues (I have seen many personally). Also if you know the Verna engine is not all that what it seems (on paper), pure power play wise Vento is more pleasure to drive (Autocar review), all in all we all know that any Hyundai car is good for a non-enthusiast. You can always improve on the NVH levels, by adding insulation sheets etc. Think about it.
Very well put, I rationalised like that (about tolerating the sales once and then never seeing their face ) when I waited for my Vento for 5-6 months but I can vouch for the fact that the A.S.S has been a far more pleasant experience. Not as well-oiled as say Maruti or Hyundai but surely I had nothing to crib about - that has been my experience. For sure one has to be ready for Honda kind of maintenance cost .

VW TDi are noisy , thats a characteristic but in cabin NVH levels are not at all offending and you should not require any additional insulation sheets. Further there are members who have reported reduction in the same after the initial run-in period and ECu upgrade at the service station . In the bargain you get a much more poweful 105 bhp and 250 Nm torquey similarly fuel efficient engine and great fit and finish.
Cheers
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