Had a long(ish) test drive in a Revv self-drive Aspire (Trend variant). Had the car for FIVE days and drove ~700 kms. Observations (using our 2010 Figo 1.2P for some comparisons):
The Good
1. The engine is a stonker. Accelerates like its tail is on fire and pulls like a locomotive even in top gear. There's turbo-lag in 2nd-gear at low revs, but nothing a
little clutch-slipping won't fix!
2. Lovely tractability in 3rd/4th gear, in-gear acceleration is explosive, there's no other word to explain it. The car crawls without A-pedal input in 1st/2nd gear. Traffic-buster!
4. Steering is the perfect size, excellently contoured and not too bad to use. It's no match to the erstwhile HPS unit, but it's nowhere near as nervous as the dead dodo on my ex Hyundai (even current ones actually, if my recent drive in an i20 is anything to go by). On the same patch of tarmac in/around Coorg (Madikeri) driving my Hyundai, I was constantly correcting steering input on the twisties, this one's sure-footed by comparison. Our 1st-gen Figo is unmatched though.
5. Ergonomics are pretty much spot-on, though I'd prefer a higher seat setting and some amount of lumbar support for the lower back. I know higher variants have seat-height adjustment, but lumbar support?
6. Fantastic A/C. The only time it struggled was after several hours parked in an open parking lot at noon, but that happens to all cars.
7. Stock ICE is good enough for non-audiophiles. BT Sync worked flawlessly, sound quality was pretty decent too.
8. Cabin space mgmt. is great. Door-pads can hold TWO bottles plus knick-knacks each, plus cup holders and a bottle holder in the between-seats console. Fantastic compared to competition. Rear bench is spacious.
9. Ride quality is good/acceptable, though it gets a bit wallowy on uneven tarmac. Still MUCH better than some of the competition.
The Bad
1. Build quality is (much) worse than the last-gen Fords, no argument. Panel gaps are inconsistent in some places, some panels are downright flimsy. Take the branding off and someone who's never seen the car before will guess "Maruti".
2. Exposed bare metal and rough edges in multiple places, esp. around door & boot corners. Not cool.
3. Control stalks are flimsy and hard, tactility is horrible. Dashboard controls are MUCH better tactility-wise, but still feel flimsy. The A/C knobs flex beyond their end-points while rotating and feel like they could break easily with rough handling.
4. Instrument cluster is uninspiring in lower variants. Not too much information available on MID and clubbed with the horrible control stalk, a real chore to use. I only used it to set the trip-meter, then left it well-alone.
5. The shade of beige used in the interiors is terrible. Give me all-black any day or at least use a pleasant(er) beige.
6. Rattles and squeaks in a ~16k km run car? Mind, I'm not referring to stuff that will rattle/squeak with abuse. I noticed the rear suspension struts had a PVC pipe-like outer covering that rattled/squeaked horribly at anything except minimal travel. Is that OEM or was it something the rental car company did to the car?
7. The boot-lid is a disaster. Why couldn't Ford keep the hydraulic setup from the pre-production spec? How much does it really cost? The current setup ruins a sizable amount of boot-space.
8. Poor plastic feel, poor quality in some places too. Plastic door-pads flex visibly on windows roll-down/up.
9. NVH is nothing to write home about. I don't mind the engine growl filtering into the cabin, but the better half was annoyed after 50-odd kms of spirited driving.
10. Clutch recoil is aggressive, esp. in lower gears. I initially though it was my relative inexperience with a torquey diesel, but it didn't get better with practice. I'm not sure it will be very comfortable in B2B traffic for too long.
11. Gear-shifts are neither quick not slick, just about acceptable. Not the car to be in if one's doing a drag, the box can't keep up with the torque-monster engine.
Summary
I'm currently car-less by choice for over a year, but a recent experience with Zoomcar has made me rethink my decision. I love our Figo even with its anemic engine, and the new Figo twins are close to top of my consideration list. While I love the engine and ergonomics of the new car, there are plenty of turn-offs for an existing Ford customer. I'm in no hurry to buy, so will test-drive the competition at leisure. I'd love to have this engine mated to the 1st-gen Figo chassis, or how about using a Punto shell instead?