Team-BHP - Ford Aspire : Official Review

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiku007 (Post 3883218)

With a 100BHP engine, I wish they had thrown ABS as standard or at least as an option across the range.

Aspire TDCi is so fast, it can leave every car in its segment and most cars a segment above also behind and I am speaking from personal experience of a 3000kms road trip :)

Having said that, I agree that for such a bloody powerful engine, its ridiculous to offer ABS as optional

Quote:

Originally Posted by samaspire (Post 3883314)

My next car will definitely have ABS, but I'm not one to cry over spilt milk.During the spin the back tyres were off-road - on mud and dry grass. Should the tyres have gripped better or is it just asking for too much.

Aspire is my 8th brand new car in 13 years and for every new car that I buy, first thing I do is immediately swap OEM tyres with better ones

Coming back to your question, ABS without good supporting rubber is again not very much helpful. But, pair it with good tyres, this combination can save you from the craziest of panic situations

Therefore, I never spend money on cosmetic stuff and rather spend it on good tyres and performance upgrades:D

When one is born with a congenital defect there's very little one can do about it. For instance prosthetics can help a one legged guy only so much.

Extrapolate this to the automotive world and you have cases in point -

1. Hyundai Verna's rear suspension which hasn't been fully remedied even after the newer model with a revised suspension.

2. And now the Aspire.

At the time of the Aspire's launch on this thread I had had sounded a note of caution and highlighted this problem with the Aspire to warn others.

I had noticed this problem in the top variant of the Aspire within minutes of driving it. Having ABS isn't going to help you solve this problem either. And putting on grippier tyres will accentuate the problem instead of reducing it.

The problem is that the brakes are over servoed and very difficult to modulate on fast drives and more so during panic braking manoeuvers.

If the car was under tyred, upgrading the tyres might have helped, but right now it will have the reverse effect.

You've been warned.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VeyronSuperSprt (Post 3885831)

At the time of the Aspire's launch on this thread I had had sounded a note of caution and highlighted this problem with the Aspire to warn others.

I had noticed this problem in the top variant of the Aspire within minutes of driving it. Having ABS isn't going to help you solve this problem either. And putting on grippier tyres will accentuate the problem instead of reducing it.

The problem is that the brakes are over servoed and very difficult to modulate on fast drives and more so during panic braking manoeuvers.

If the car was under tyred, upgrading the tyres might have helped, but right now it will have the reverse effect.

You've been warned.

Please do not pass judgement on the Aspire's brakes without having spent a good amount of time behind the wheel.
After 3000+km on the clock on my aspire, I can confidently say that it has absolutely amazing brakes. I have never felt either the lack of feel, control or stopping power.

Well, the brakes have good progressive bite but I have seen that the car skids easily even on solid roads with the least load, that is with just me driving. I have the base model without ABS and have done 10k KMS. I have faced some real situations when i had to panic brake and some artificial ones when I knowingly brake hard to check any steering pull. I hear screeching tyre noise even though I feel I was not driving fast enough. Definitely the smaller tyres are the culprit. Having said that compared to some other cars in the segment and below that I have driven, braking exudes a positive feel.

Quote:

Originally Posted by d3mon (Post 3886147)

I agree on this observation that Braking is safe for sure in Figo Aspire, I am close to completing 5K on the trip meter, when I used to drive Beat earlier and even when I swap my ride with my Wife's i10 the kind of confidence you get with this car's ABS and EBD is completely different.

I had got scratches and small dents on Beat quite a few number of times applying emergency brakes while being at short distance from vehicle ahead, especially driving in Hinjewadi traffic, riders coming in front of you out of nowhere driving on the wrong side.

At times when I have braked hard while driving Aspire in similar scenario I almost felt I may touch or take a hit on front or get a dent on the rear due to sudden braking, it has never come to a screeching halt causing body roll peculiar in non ABS/EBD cars, I almost saved myself from colliding with stupid biker crossing me last night while I was driving at 50-60 kmph and the signal was green for me to go straight.

Since it was late in the night I had slowed down from my previous high speed drive on an empty patch just to be cautious while passing the signal and this guy came riding from the right side from opposite lane of the road close to me probably at a higher speed. I braked hard enough which brought me to standstill and he halted just close enough to my rear door to avoid impact almost losing his balance.

No one got hurt or any damage to our vehicles, I got down to ask this teenager probably from some nearby shanty to check if he was hurt but he realized it was his mistake jumping red signal from his lane and drove away muttering something to himself.

I can surely vouch that the ABS/EBD came into play just at the right time, again I was driving straight so odds were in my favor to an extent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by samaspire (Post 3879236)

No ABS and your right - there might not be any structural damage.

ABS is not the only factor, it could also be that your tyres weren't filled to correct pressures (add 3 psi to normal pressure on highways) so you lost control. The way your tyre has failed and separated from the wheel could suggest way too low pressure. Not sure if you've swapped out the OEM tyres yet but now would be a good time to do so if you haven't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mxh (Post 3886253)

I had just changed to Nitrogen a week back and the pressure was kept at 32 in all 4 tyres.

I'm still on OEM tyres.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VeyronSuperSprt (Post 3885831)

The problem is that the brakes are over servoed and very difficult to modulate on fast drives and more so during panic braking manoeuvers.

This is the same as Ecosport. I didn't see any difference. The brakes are over servoed and at slow speeds are difficult to modulate. Even a light tap on the pedal results in hard braking. It gets better as speeds build up and I haven't had any issues in more than 2 years. However I had the problem initially when I got into the Ecosport from my Corolla. First 2-3 times would be like brakes jammed. I got used to this now but whenever someone else drives my car, the first thing they do is jam the brakes as they are not used to them being over servoed.

This doesn't take more than a couple of kms to get used to but when they go back to their own car, they complain that their own cars brakes now don't feel as good.

Basically braking is not progressive at slow speeds and has an on/off characteristic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiku007 (Post 3886473)

Here's our 3rd Ford in 10+ years :) Ford Aspire 1.5L AT.

While as much as I'm able to relate to typical Ford traits in the car, it's quite obvious that some trademark Ford elements were given the pass in favor of Mass Market preferences.

Replaced the stock wheels and rubber with Momo Revenge + Conti MC5.

Congrats.:thumbs up

Which color is the car? Nice plates, are they from CanvasInk or somewhere else?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRIV3R (Post 3886483)

Congrats.:thumbs up

Which color is the car? Nice plates, are they from CanvasInk or somewhere else?

Thank you!

The colour is called Tuxedo Black which is a teeny weeny bit different (More metallic/shiny) than the Panther Black of the Ecosport.

The plates are from Kalyani Car Jewels, Usman Road, Chennai. Cost Rs.1000 a set (Rs.500 extra for the frames). They have the same 'OBZ' branding as in Canvasink. Best part is that I got the plates in 4 hours flat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiku007 (Post 3886473)

Congos,can you please share the details of the alloys and tyres (size and price) and the buy back?
PS-Did the AT come with alloys?