[MandarMax]

Visited the Planet Ford showroom at Paud Road in Pune.

They only had "Chill Metallic" Titanium+ version of the car. For some reason they did not have the price list available, I was told that it will take a couple of days. Also car for test driving would be available only in the first week of August.

Few observations:

1. IMO The car looks great in flesh, it actually looks bigger than in pictures.
2. The back does not look that bad..it's OK and definitely not a deal breaker according to me.
3. The cabin looks pretty good and gadget freaks will feel right at home, having said that I think some of the plastics should have had a better/softer feel.
4. I'm not a fan of beige and I think the black/silver color scheme actually looks good.
5. The front seats are comfy and it is easy to find a suitable driving position.
6. I am 5'8'' and I like to drive with the seat stretched back as much as possible. After adjusting for my most comfortable position, I went back and found that the rear legroom is more than sufficient for my height. It is definitely better than my older version of fiesta (see picture below, though I'm not sure if the picture makes anything clearer). The rear seat also has decent under thigh support, and I guess there is not much to complain except for the use of bland colors/fabrics/plastic at the back. The armrest is slightly higher - about an inch or so. I did not try three people in a row, but the bench seemed similar in length as compared to the older fiesta or probably slightly bigger.



6. The headlamps are quite attractive.


7. The audio system is very good (though I would have liked tighter bass). It paired with my mobile phone without any issues.
8. The voice control system is also neat. What I really hate is that the bluetooth and USB connectivity features are only available for the Titanium version. The Trend and Style versions don't get it. The actual cost of hardware would not be more than Rs 500/- in my opinion, so it's hard to understand why Ford chose to make these features so premium.
9. The build quality is solid, the car seems really well made. The noise insulation also seems pretty good, though I didn't have the opportunity to start/drive the car. I found one small issue with the display car, that on the right hand side the bonnet wasn't properly aligned with the A pillar. See following photo:

[Poitive]

Originally Posted by Poitive

Cruze control - pretty useless unless on is on the GQ cutting across Rajasthan.
----------------------
Voice activated controls? Isn't it easier to just reach for (ergonomically designed) knobs?. Give it 1-6 months, one may never use it unless one wants to flaunt some gizmos to his girl. Remember voice activated features on cellphones?
----------------------
+1

And it is a 'neutral brand' too!!! (wake up Ford)
----------------------
Possibly loose some 'body colour' stuff, some chrome, ICE (but they will have to work on getting a slot for standard size systems), OVRM's without indicators (if they have a provision to place them elsewhere), lesser electrical wizardry (intelligent and electrically controlled this and that), possibly safety features.

If Ford wants, with all this they'll get and excuse to price a model about 0.75-1.25L lower. Still retaining the handling and FE (especially in diesel) which pulls people to Ford/Fiesta. Now that would be an interesting model for Ford to launch around the festival season.

That may very well be the plan!

They get to position themselves as a Hyundai plus brand (questionably useful for their coming launches and brand positioning), Make use of the waiting lists on the Vento and Verna and when the time for big sales comes up, they are ready for a product with a killer price and more suited for what Indians ask for. Interesting months coming up

Aah, a small typo may have caused a possible confusion.
"If Ford wants, with all this they'll get and excuse" was meant to be:
"If Ford wants, with all this they'll get an excuse"

Originally Posted by vb-san

Cruze control?

I actually was LOL after you got that to notice.

That’s a good comparison. I feel that the real use of voice activated controls will be to activate a handsfree phone call. Rest is good for marketing.

Would the steering mounted control not be a lot easier for that, as besides driving one would also be thinking of the call to be attended to and then to add to it, having doubt over 'Jane' recognizing our accents?

IMHO, all the players in this segment are neutral brands (or below).

Internationally, maybe. In India, one sees people usually willing to pay more for a Honda or a VW badge, however the story seems to be changing (though it is debatable, given there are other reasons for Honda to cut prices - facelift, no diesel engine, petrol prices rising etc). Add to that how TATA needs to price their spacious vehicles (I do realize that A$$ to plays a role in all this, but also consider Vento and Skoda vs the rest)

I doubt if they will dare to do that. That kind of discounts will be suicidal. I feel only a revered brand (in India) like Honda can pull off a price reduction successfully. Ford does not have that kind of a fan base.

Just to clarify again, what I was talking about was NOT a price reduction on current models, but taking out ANOTHER model at a much lower price point, which would appeal to the enthusiastic driver, be VFM and still frugal on fuel. It would allow them to have a broader spread across price points in the market, while still retaining some supposedly premium-brand positioning, which they seem to be trying to build.

That’s a very well written piece. And especially on the brand positioning (with Hyundai) that could very much be the case.

Thanks VB

I feel different on the last part though. This pricing could be some kind of a future-proof one. Maybe they anticipate City and Vento to come up with price hike in the coming months (by end of the year).

Yes, that is possible too, however if a car doesn't really take off initially, it may be a bit difficult to pick up later. This is where I think they have faltered. But let us not dismiss them. Hyundai too seemed to have over-priced the Fluidic, given it's rear seat etc, but we have talks of huge waiting periods and talks of 35k bookings

Originally Posted by mdsaab

Poitive thats a very valid point there on the voice activated controls. Almost all of us have them on our cell phones but we never ever use them. So it is indeed a rather gimicky feature.

vb-san regarding poitive's cruze control.
You cant blame him. He is the diesel guru on the forum. Cruze being one of the much talked about diesels after the optra ofcourse.
Poitive keep it up always a joy to read your posts.
Ditto for vb-san too.

Ha ha ha! Correction VERY much needed here mdsaab. You are misguiding people by calling me a diesel guru!!

And yes, the Cruze bit would have come from the sub-conscious, with all this talk about the diesel rocket which seems even more VFM after Fords price 'strategy'

Thanks for the appreciation mate.

Originally Posted by vb-san

Yeah, voice activated controls in this case are just a marketing ploy – just to say that I got it better than others. For e.g.; will you press a button and mouth a few words (in the right accent) to get the A/C fan speed adjusted, or you will just turn the knob?

Precisely!

But it also seems to be a reflection of the times we live in. People pay so much importance to the "features". At times, it seems many purchase decisions are being made on paper/excel with brochures on hand and a perception of the brand, than the actual experience; than on Test Drives et all.

Thanks mdsaab. It’s indeed good fun with so much of information sharing happen around in the forum, and you’re one key contributor there! And yes, that cruze thing was just a joke .
Those two threads from Poitive are great references for diesel cars in this category.

mdsaab surely is a key contributor. One which car companies/showrooms would hate, for the losses he causes to them by way of guiding Tbhpians to negotiate better

Loved that joke vb. Humour is always so welcome!

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

Yes the cruise control is useful only on the highways, but even the highways are cluttered with animals and morons in our country!

Oh! I meant to say that it is not really useful. That the only road I could think of it giving any value was on the straight divided roads of Rajasthan which are a part of the Golden Quadrilateral which have little traffic and few obstructions (those who have driven there would know).

A bit OT, but since it is on safety, would add here:
Even on such roads, one can have maniacs coming on the wrong side of the road. Using Cruse control (VB: did I spell it correctly?!!) can get us a bit less focused and probably tone down our mind and attention. It may possibly even be a bit risky.

I used this feature and showed it off to my friends and relatives when the phone was new, but now I forgot this stupid feature altogether until this Voice control debate came up. I just exercised those 'Shake Me' controls now, its fun actually

It seems likely that the cars would go the same way.

(in lighter vein) Just hope they don't get the shake feature on the cars - swerve right to accept the call, left to reject; accelerate to increase the volume, brake to lower

EDIT: Sorry for such a long post. But am always unsure whether to break up posts into multiple posts, which may be back to back but easier to read than one long post.
@Mods: What do you say? Any limit after which it would be acceptable to break posts into more than one post?

[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by Poitive

Oh! I meant to say that it is not really useful. That the only road I could think of it giving any value was on the straight divided roads of Rajasthan which are a part of the Golden Quadrilateral which have little traffic and few obstructions (those who have driven there would know).

A bit OT, but since it is on safety, would add here:
Even on such roads, one can have maniacs coming on the wrong side of the road. Using Cruse control (VB: did I spell it correctly?!!) can get us a bit less focused and probably tone down our mind and attention. It may possibly even be a bit risky.

It seems likely that the cars would go the same way.

(in lighter vein) Just hope they don't get the shake feature on the cars - swerve right to accept the call, left to reject; accelerate to increase the volume, brake to lower

Ha Ha Ha Ha That swerve idea had me in splits boss ! Really funny to imagine it being a reality!
I got your point that the Cruise control isn't really useful and I wanted to agree with you in my earlier post.

PS: You are surely not going to buy the Cruise control equipped Fiesta over the Cruze Though Cruze is closer to Cruise than Cruze from your earlier post! To me, the Trend and the Style make sense, even the Titanium seems too expensive. Forget the Titanium +

[harimakesh]

Ford gone nuts with new fiesta pricing. Figo volume has seemingly made them price it Arrogantly. Why they make a reasonable car to become a Flop?

Exorbidant Pricing will ONLY make New Ford Fiesta to sucuumb against Vento/New Verna and price revised Honda City.

Old fiesta should just be called Ford Classic and match the VFM price with Manza / Logan to gain more volumes.

[plain.vanilla]

Originally Posted by mdsaab

Heres the sales rep going on and on.in various accents and styles of speech AC at 24. AC at 24. AC at 23 dammit. AC will be switched off is the reply. So i quickly override this by turning the knob and switching the AC to 23.

Staying on the funny side(I have not checked how good their VRS is), I think a mind reading helmet would be better than a voice recognition system.
What I don't understand is why Ford was delaying the release of the car. Were they having second thoughts about launching it? Maybe the final product did not meet their own expectations?

[Saanil]

After reading the review and some of the posts there is no doubt that the car is over-priced; that too by a huge margin. Ofcourse Fiesta will have its buyers but I do not think it is going to be a hit like Verna or Vento. City with the recent price corrections is finding more users. Linea and Sx4 seems to have lost the battle and will be forgotten soon.

Every car maker is associated with some thing or the other. Volvo for safety; Maruti for VFM; German cars for their engineering and Ford cars for the driveability. I do not understand this term. In many posts people have said Ford cars had the best driveability and that the Fiesta Classic was a drivers car. Can some one please explain to me what driveability is? Is it start stop acceleration? I tried searching for it but there was no thread for this. I thought of asking it on this thread because it is generally the Ford cars that are linked with driveability.

[Mustang.101]

An interesting fact:

The fiesta prices are on par with the Jetta prices in most countries. For eg. In the US, both the cars start at 16000 dollars.

PS - fiesta vs. Classic test drive report for both petrol and diesel cars coming soon from my side.

***EDIT - wrong info posted by me.

Fiesta starts at 13200 dollars in the US. Sorry guys.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by Saanil

Ford cars for the driveability. I do not understand this term. In many posts people have said Ford cars had the best driveability and that the Fiesta Classic was a drivers car. Can some one please explain to me what driveability is?

Ford cars handle better at high speeds and are quite stable around corners. Drive-ability means a good acceleration without much turbo lag in case of a diesel and good low end torque in case of a petrol. This will also mean effortless city driving which is achieved by not-so-frequent gear shifts. The second / third gear can move the car in low speeds without stalling the engine.

A car which sticks to a road when we push it to the extremes and drive the way we expect the car to drive is called a drivers car. This would mean that we can carry more speeds while moving around corners. Also it should have a decent steering feedback helping the driver to know how is the road.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by Mustang.101

An interesting fact:

The fiesta prices are on par with the Jetta prices in most countries. For eg. In the US, both the cars start at 16000 dollars.

PS - fiesta vs. Classic test drive report for both petrol and diesel cars coming soon from my side.

***EDIT - wrong info posted by me.

Fiesta starts at 13200 dollars in the US. Sorry guys.

A bit OT but the Jetta in the US is different than the european spec. It's a cheaper version since it's the smallest VW you can buy in the US and they don't have Vento.

In Europe and India the Jetta is more premium. The suspension in the US version is a simple setup whereas the european spec has a multi link.

If you sit in a US version Jetta it is like sitting in a Vento.

[xingamazon]

Sorry for going off topic:
I agree Ford has overpriced its car. But I am not happy with the way people have commented about Voice-activated systems. Especially people saying its not working.

Now come on guys try to accept it, voice activated systems(VAS) are the way ahead. You mock it, you dont like it, it doesnt matter.
Probably ten years from now you might have cars running all ICE only by VAS and no manual controls at all. Better get adjusted to them now.

Remember, you can complain that its costly, I agree but dont say its useless. Take a look at what SYNC is capable of in US cars its way ahead of what we can think of. I am recalling the way my parents used to comment about computers during the early 90s.
And Ford is by far the best VAS system available.

Here are my responses for few comments below.

Originally Posted by Poitive

Voice activated controls? Isn't it easier to just reach for (ergonomically designed) knobs?. Give it 1-6 months, one may never use it unless one wants to flaunt some gizmos to his girl. Remember voice activated features on cellphones?

Yes, there are VAS in cellphones too but when I am using my cellphone my hands are free I would prefer using hands.
But dont forget while I am driving my hands and eyes are supposed to concentrate on what happens on the road.

Originally Posted by vb-san

Yeah, voice activated controls in this case are just a marketing ploy – just to say that I got it better than others. For e.g.; will you press a button and mouth a few words (in the right accent) to get the A/C fan speed adjusted, or you will just turn the knob?

See the comments above.
Other than that there were a lot of people I remember saying why do I need power windows when I can roll up the windows myself as both take same time.
Same way, why do we need keyless entry when I can put the key in.
Its early teething period that matter you might end up repenting the same statement 10 yrs down the lane, thinking it was primitive.

Originally Posted by mdsaab

Hahaha! I was just picturing this in my mind and it was indeed hilarious.

Some salesman gets it wrong doesnt mean things will go wrong.

Just dont forget Voice activated system is not just good for comfort its also as important as a safety feature.

I was not meaning to offend anyone just wanted to give my 2 cents on the comments. Please dont take it personally.

[Poitive]

Originally Posted by xingamazon

I was not meaning to offend anyone just wanted to give my 2 cents on the comments. Please dont take it personally.

No offence taken mate. In fact, it is good to have diverse views. As I said on another thread, I shudder to think of a world with only one opinion on all matters - a view stated and a few billion ME-TOOs!!

There are new technologies coming up all the time. Some succeed right away. Some take time to mature. Some never succeed. Some don't succeed even if they are very good, because they may not be relevant enough to the context - be it time in history (market not being ready for it), or the surrounding issues involved.

As VAS matures further, it may be the way to go. But this technology may need more time to mature. I tried it on a Fiesta and was rather impressed that it DID understand my pretty desi accent at first go.

That said, I also thought it to be lesser distracting to take my hand to a knob to adjust the volume of music or AC blower. To an extent this is also personal and may be a matter of getting used to.

Also consider the context. Almost everyone here seems to be cribbing about Fiesta being too highly priced and that it is probably suicidal for them. The appeal of Fiesta lies in:
1. Driving pleasure - handling and steering feedback, with a good linear power delivery. More power is very much welcome.
2. Fuel Efficiency (there may be lesser of this kind on the forum; but a big world also exists outside this forum).
3. Moderate VFM (even more VFM is always welcome).

Fiesta seems to have taken good care of the FE and has even gone in for a smaller engine, presumably for the sake of FE. Also probably to keep the car's costs down. This has meant a lesser engine power, which had disappointed most.

Also, given the Figo story, there were huge expectations of a VFM pricing by Ford, and that it would make the most of the current opportunity the market offered.

With this background, Fiesta has compromised on the core appeal (power), and gone in for what seems frivolous in comparison - a VAS. While some may welcome it, I see it as a bit of a lost opportunity by Ford and would not at all be surprised if they came out with a cheaper model (not talking discounts here) later; which possibly may be without VAS.

VAS on a BMW 5 series or a Merc E series etc may be very welcome, however as the context is very different.

Just my 0.02 rupees mate. And it is only an individual's opinion.

PS: I don't see this post as OT, as it related to a feature on the car and it's pricing and context.

[PYSO]

Originally Posted by GTO

Even after 13 years of dominating the C segment, and with such powerful brand equity, the Honda City couldn't sustain its premium pricing & took a beating in the market. Net result : Slashed prices. I doubt the Fiesta will be able to sustain this kind of pricing either. Except for cruise control (which I find useless in India, NEVER used it in my Mercedes) and the voice activated controls (Rehaan says they work well), there is nothing that's "different" from the competition. The looks aren't a USP (even the Fluidic is a looker for the masses), not the space (City), not the power (Vento Diesel & T-Jet)....I am still trying to figure out Ford's reasoning for such a strange, defective pricing strategy.

@GTO,

You seem to know the answer.
Its USP is that it matches the looks of Fluidic Verna, space and FE of Honda City, and Power, ride, handling of Vento Diesel and T-Jet.

In short, it combines the biggest strengths of all its competitors.

In addition it gives a few extra features. And a reasonably good AS*, cost of maintenance, etc.

In term's brand value - Ford's branding among the average customer went up many times over, after Figo won a zillion awards in the recent past.

Let the auto market decide if the pricing is correct.

[mdsaab]

None taken mate!
i did mention it to be a fictatious scenario that never happened though.
And as i said before all in light humour, no offence meant from my end either.

[georgesmiley]

I was hoping that the New Fiesta would build upon its considerable legendary 1.6S reputation. Alas that is out of the equation.
Unfortunately, I also happen to be in the 7 lac category, which anyway takes me out of the equation for the New Fiesta. So that is a double whammy. Perhaps, I am not alone and there may be a few others who face a similar dilemma.
My option now is to consider a second hand 1.6 Fiesta, preferably the S option. I digress, but if anyone has any info on a 1.6S in the market, please drop a line here. I would be very much obliged. Thanks for a wonderful forum

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by xingamazon

Sorry for going off topic:
I agree Ford has overpriced its car. But I am not happy with the way people have commented about Voice-activated systems. Especially people saying its not working.

Now come on guys try to accept it, voice activated systems(VAS) are the way ahead. You mock it, you dont like it, it doesnt matter.
Probably ten years from now you might have cars running all ICE only by VAS and no manual controls at all. Better get adjusted to them now.

Other than that there were a lot of people I remember saying why do I need power windows when I can roll up the windows myself as both take same time.
Same way, why do we need keyless entry when I can put the key in.
Its early teething period that matter you might end up repenting the same statement 10 yrs down the lane, thinking it was primitive.


I was not meaning to offend anyone just wanted to give my 2 cents on the comments. Please dont take it personally.

Thanks for your comments – very constructive I should say.

I agree with Poitive. This is very much within the topic of VAS in the new Fiesta.

On VAS, I am not against technology. I am all for gadgets and technological advancements. That said, not all technologies will become a huge success. Poitive gave a good example of voice activated dialing on phones. IMHO, that technology is available on cell phones for a decade, but not really a huge success (I remember getting very excited seeing that on my Nokia 6510, back in 2001/02). VAS and Bluetooth connectivity in cars are here to stay, and cell-phone integration to head unit is an excellent technology.

Technology aids for me should be reduce the load on the user – e.g.; power windows which you mentioned earlier, heads-on display, and even park-assist. But think of the example which I mentioned – to adjust an aircon fan speed, the said technology aid make you perform more steps (than doing it manually). But kudos to Ford to bringing all these advancements in the new car. I find that approach very refreshing – to give the customer something new, rather than assuming that they’ll need only bare minimum.

As an additional note, personally I find the car rightly priced