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-   -   Ford Aspire : Official Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/168334-ford-aspire-official-review-114.html)

Quick progress update as of 30 months, 40k kms of Aspire Tdi Titanium.

Did my last service outside of Ford in October 2018. Least to say, Mumbai Ford SS are so far spread with quite a lot of scheduling issues. Car is running smooth as butter.

In the last year, three main things evolved:
1. Upgraded tyres to 185/65 Michelins. FE is down, grip is up, stability is awesome. Strongly recommended. Thank you Bhpians for the right advise
2. Had the front right door scrape through incident with an autorickshaw. Took it my known workshop, he fixed it well, but has painted really bad. My orange (Ford calls is Sparkling Gold) looks out of shade on the door. A very bad decision. Thinking about taking it back to Ford to repaint the door.
3. Put a aftermarket Reverse parking sensor and camera. Works fine but I suspect it has an electrical leakage so have unplugged it for a few months now. Will fix it one of these days.

Days ahead:
Planning a trip from Mumbai to Hampi later in December. Been a while since took the car out on long trip.
I love the new Infotainment screen on the 2018 Figo. Is it recommended to buy it from Ford and fix it outside. I simply love the new CarPlay supporting 7'' or 8'' screen which Ford has for the new Figo / Ecosport. Seek some advise before deciding to upgrade my mobile holder on the Titanium to a real screen :)

Bonus
1. Just saw DRL's joining the official accessories on Ford India page. Link below. Looks weird I guess. Need to see it in real once.
https://www.india.ford.com/cars/figo...verlay-15.html

Enquired about the new infotainment system. SA told me it is not a direct fit and will require wiring and other updates. He said it will be cheaper to fit infotainment systems from Pioneer or other after market systems.

I didn't like the design much. I would have paid 12k that they are quoting if it looked exceptionally good.

Have seen this technique being useful in rally, where car needs extra force to bury it into the gravel, in such situation this would be very useful in an AWD car but not sure about FWD.

Have seen this in Initial D series too stupid: being used on FWD Civic, this is used in trail braking scenarios.

Would be helpful if you could explain the technique more.

Question for Aspire or Figo 1.5 TDCi owners who are using Ford A.S.C given oil.

My usual yearly running is coming to around 10k kms on average. I have changed the engine oil on first service that is at 2.5K kms and then again on 10k second service. Both the time I have used the Ford A.S.C given oil (Total Rs. 1200 approx for the oil).

Presently car is around 14k KM's in oddo and just close to six months since last oil change (2nd service). I am already feeling harshness on higher RPM. I have checked the oil level and it seems fine. It's within that min/max range of the dip stick.

I wonder if I should continue with this oil further or do a mid service change at 15k oddo.

Service Advisor was clueless when I asked about the oil type or brand. In both service, he said it's Ford given (??) and Ford approved oil.

My running is on lower side and majority of these miles are on city roads. Though most of the time I am able to avoid heavy traffic due to my travel pattern.

So those who are with A.S.C given oil, how much do you guys push this oil? I guess different service centre may be using different oil brands. Sadly here at Kolkata, 3 service centre I have visited have the same vague reply on oil type or brand.

My car has crossed 76k kms and I've been regularly using the oil provided by FASS. Though the brand of oil may vary from one service centre to the other but the oil will be as per the specification of the manufacturer.

Back then, when my car was at 30k kms, I had even got the used oil analysis done from a reputed lab and the report was very much within the specified limits. Even after using the oil for 10,700 kms between that particular two services, the oil was good for further use. Here's the link. Post no 50

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-...-000-km-4.html

According to me, there is no need to get the oil replaced halfway between the scheduled service. It will be a waste of time, money and natural resources. Enjoy your car and service it only as per schedule.

From the past few weeks I have been observing a noise from the centre of the dashboard when the ignition is on. It's like a sound of a transformer or Electrical buzz. What could it be? Have anyone experienced this? What is the solution?

Not just your oil. Ford changes the air filter only every 20k km which is silly in a dusty and polluted environment like India.

Insist on their changing your air filter and cabin air filter every 10k km, you might need to pay a few hundred extra.

The oil Ford uses is good - and carefully formulated to be Ford specific (some stuff like extra zinc / zddp to reduce chain wear). Feel free to change every 7500-8000 km if you're mostly doing city driving. And yes the air and cabin ac filters need changing much more frequently than what Ford recommends.

You will lose alerts that Ford has wired to their head units. There are alternatives for the Ecosport and Fiesta available on AliExpress - search there. I have one such for my Fiesta and it's a drop in replacement.

The dome shaped HU in the ecosports and fiestas doesn't make it easy to install a Pioneer or other third party deck.

Thank you for your comprehensive reply and that ownership thread.

@hserus

I am aware of this Air Filter issue with cars mostly in city limits and like you have said, I do get both the Filters (Air Filter and A/C Cabin Filter) changed at every yearly service.

Few users of Figo and Aspire, including me have faced a similar noise issue. But in our case the noise started exactly at 70 kmph speed. Regardless of gear or RPM, as soon as the car crossed 70 kmph, this wired sound used to creep in.

For some it went away by itself, where as for me, it was solved after a pressure washing and removal of that external vehicle info windshield sticker.

Refer to this thread if your issue is similar.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...review-82.html

If you go through my ownership log, you will see that I get the air filter replaced every 10k kms right from the beginning, even though Ford recommends changing it at 20k kms.

You can have a look at the used oil analysis report of my car which clearly mentions that even after using the oil for 10,700 kms, it still had 'servicable life' left in it and during that time the car was mostly driven in the city. To each his own but, I don't see any point in changing the oil every 7-8k kms when it is good for at least 10k kms.

I have experienced this sound in our 2016 Ecosport diesel, so has my friend in his 2018 Aspire petrol. Here are the links: Ecosport Ambient temperature sound & Aspire Ambient temperature sound. This is caused by a faulty ambient temperature sensor. In both the cars, the faulty ambient temperature sensor was changed under warranty & the sound disappeared. Sadly the sound has again reappeared in both the cars, just after a few months. It seems there is an inherent design fault with the ambient temperature sensor. Anyways, I would advice you to get the part replaced under warranty.

Thanks for the response. What is the procedure to change the ambient temperature sensor? Do they remove the dashboard? I could hear the noise around the music system area.

Nope, the dashboard doesn't need to be removed to access the ambient temperature sensor, it's a simple 5 minutes job. Quoting myself from the Ecosport thread:
Link to the post: Ecosport Ambient temperature sensor replaced.

For diesels at any rate, city use over short distances classes as severe service, along with other applications such as load carrying, hill drives etc. Change a bit earlier and avoid injector clogging issues later on. I haven’t seen your log - but the Ford spec oil is fairly cheap so changing a bit earlier probably helps avoid clogged injectors a few oil changes down the line. No comment on petrol vehicles, they handle city rides much better.

Just for reference, I've quoted my previous post where I've got the Used Oil Analysis (UOA) done at 30k kms. You can go through the post and the attached report and your doubts will be cleared.

To each his own but according to me there's no need to get the oil changed early, especially on the Ford 1.5 TDCi mill. Period.

I see very little other information on mineral levels and such (sulphation, nitration..) in that test. Soot is within limits as are the other parameters measured.

eg :