[sanchari]

I was checking out Aspire and I noticed that the under-thigh support in the back seat seemed a bit less. I also felt the seat was not high and hence the feeling. Also, there aren't proper head-rests in aspire, its small similar to Amaze. You have slide down to rest your head against the head-rest if you are travelling long distance, and then the under-thigh support seems even less. Has anyone else felt the same?

[samaspire]

Originally Posted by sanchari

But worried about low resale value of Aspire as sales seem pretty low. What do petrol Aspire owners feel? Any strong points of Aspire petrol compared to competition? Is it good VFM? Is mileage and maintenance good?

Low resale might turn out to be true, but that should not be the deciding factor. The sales are low because Ford messed up the launch and now it looks like they are not interested in selling it.

If you go through the whole thread you will get a lot of points highlighting the Aspire, but I'll try to summarize them here: (Trend vs the others)

1) Structurally integrity is better (as good as the other Fords). Sheet metal thickness may be better in the Zest.

2) 2 airbags standard

3) petrol mileage in-city is around 13-14. Highway mileage matches the ARAI mileage of 18, but can cross 20 with steady driving.

4) I like the interiors of the Aspire better than all the others.

5) Lot of storage areas inside the cabin

6) Petrol engine sound is light on the outside, and dead silent on the inside.

7) Trend is very VFM as it gets most of the cosmetic goodies of the Titanium.

8) Ford has promised cheaper service and spares with all the service costs pre-mentioned. They claim to be cheaper than Maruti

9) The steering wheel absorbs road shocks and they do not get transferred to the driver's hands. This is a boon for me.

10) My experience with the service centre has been very good, and I think most other owners here will give similar feedback. So maintenance should not be a hassle.

Originally Posted by sanchari

I was checking out Aspire and I noticed that the under-thigh support in the back seat seemed a bit less. I also felt the seat was not high and hence the feeling. Also, there aren't proper head-rests in aspire, its small similar to Amaze. You have slide down to rest your head against the head-rest if you are travelling long distance, and then the under-thigh support seems even less. Has anyone else felt the same?

I think this has to do with the passengers' height. Very tall people might have this compliant. My family finds the back row very spacious and comfortable.

[Ashish B]

Guys,

I have noticed overheating tendency of the AT recently. In fact twice in quick succession.

Yesterday afternoon I was stuck in a major traffic jam, and was crawling for almost one hour. It was a peak summer afternoon, with external temperature of 46-47 degrees. First I noticed lag in pickup, reduction in ac cooling, and then the overheat warning light came on. As I was stuck in a jam, and could not park aside, I reduced the ac to lowest setting. Temp reading had climbed to 55. After a while, the temp rose to 60 degrees, and a warning chime also started. Thus, I had to switch off the ac, and drive with open windows for 10 mins, bringing the temp reading down to 47-48.

I had noticed this behavior earlier as well, when the pick up had gone down, and car was jerking at temp reading above 50 degrees.

I had not noticed this in any of my earlier cars, and am not sure if this is a normal behavior of DCT or my car has any issue... I had read overheating issues of automatics in stop-go traffic conditions. Planning to take it to service station tomorrow for a recheck.

Has anyone else experienced this. Please guide.

Cheers/ AB

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by Ashish B

Guys,.... Temp reading had climbed to 55. After a while, the temp rose to 60 degrees, and a warning chime also started. Thus, I had to switch off the ac, and drive with open windows for 10 mins, bringing the temp reading down to 47-48.


Has anyone else experienced this. Please guide.

Cheers/ AB

Do you have an OBD reader or some other mods or app?

Curious, cause the Figo twins doesn't have a temp gauge and i would love to know whether the MID can be tricked into showing the engine temperature.

[RM Motorsports]

Originally Posted by Ashish B

Guys,

I have noticed overheating tendency of the AT recently. In fact twice in quick succession.



I had not noticed this in any of my earlier cars, and am not sure if this is a normal behavior of DCT or my car has any issue... I had read overheating issues of automatics in stop-go traffic conditions. Planning to take it to service station tomorrow for a recheck.

Has anyone else experienced this. Please guide.

Cheers/ AB

A couple of years back, I was stuck in a very heavy traffic jam on the ghats on Mumbai-Pune Expressway. I was in a Skoda Superb, a very technically advanced car. Its was a uphill crawling traffic and all of sudden gear box overheat warning started blinking and message to park the car showed up. So we parked for about 10 minutes and again everything was normal. Didnt get this message ever again. The Skoda people said that DSG has a fail-safe system which sometimes activates if gearbox overheats beyond permissible limit, in order to prevent damage.

So I think in your case also it must be the dual clutch gearbox. Though its better you get the car checked at the service center.

[AKTRACK]

Originally Posted by DicKy

Curious, cause the Figo twins doesn't have a temp gauge and i would love to know whether the MID can be tricked into showing the engine temperature.

My Aspire does display the temp on the MID. It does not have a separate gauge. I rarely notice the temp as I am usually keen on the mileage and DTE parts. I have seen it go as high as 53-55 degrees recently stuck in a mild jam. What I am not sure is if the temp is ambient temp or the engine temp because it cannot be ambient temperature as Delhi has never hit 53 degrees. It cannot be engine temp as well as i am sure engines are working at pretty high temps. Kind of puzzled!

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by AKTRACK

My Aspire does display the temp on the MID..... it cannot be ambient temperature as Delhi has never hit 53 degrees. It cannot be engine temp as well as i am sure engines are working at pretty high temps. Kind of puzzled!

Looks like it's showing the outside temperature as said in our official review.


Regarding the temperature shown, i guess in heavy traffic conditions in the summer temperatures may reach high levels.

Couple with that, the engine temperature and the surface temperature can very well possibly make the sensor go haywire and make the temperature reach 53 degrees.

[methecupid]

Originally Posted by Ashish B

Guys,

I have noticed overheating tendency of the AT recently. In fact twice in quick succession.

Has anyone else experienced this. Please guide.

Originally Posted by AKTRACK

It cannot be engine temp as well as i am sure engines are working at pretty high temps. Kind of puzzled!

Originally Posted by DicKy

Looks like it's showing the outside temperature as said in our official review.

Regarding the temperature shown, I guess in heavy traffic conditions in the summer temperatures may reach high levels.

Thank you and finally! I am not sure if I should be glad that someone brought this up, but earlier this month I was trying to update similar readings from the phone, but not able to due to T-BHP app.

I actually called the Ford Service, Kalina, Mumbai for the same problem and left my car with them for this issue (along with the RCM module update). I was fretting over the same conundrum regarding the temperature being ambient or engine. I have been returned the car with the technician saying "All is normal". I can't doubt it more, since the pictures below will show you how the temperature displayed 43' to 47' in the evening, on my way back from office. I know its hot these days, but this was ridiculous.





It is not an engine-overheating scenario, the Fords don't have that measure. There is a separate indicator on the MID that warns you when the engine overheats. I have also been told that the sensor is placed somewhere in the left front side of the engine bay, hence it may be picking up the ambient temperature and the heat from the engine. The problem is, the temperature magically drops by a few degrees when the car is being driven smoothly across open roads. Further, the same display was never so frivolous when the car was new, and the temperatures this high. I suspect this is a sensor issue, and needs to be rectified by Ford.

Coming back to Ashish's post, I noticed this heating issue in the DCT in my earlier days too. I have mentioned that in my ownership thread, where putting it in Sports Mode, and revving it high will invariably leave a discernible 'stench'. Guys, you can drive for an hour in stop-go and free-revving open roads, and observe when you get out of the car that you feel the car is warmer from the sides. For taller people, you will invariably brushing against the insides of the center console, and a drive will leave the sides of the console warmer. Not sure if I am being clear. Let me know what everyone here has experienced, and Ashish, if you can kindly update here on what the service center had to say about it.

[Vikram Adani]

Bought New Aspire - Initial Thoughts

2 years ago we sold of our W124 E class petrol (15 years old) and last month We recently sold our 12 year old octavia 2.0 petrol manual. Both of these were getting too difficult to park since we dont have parking in our building, and need to look around nearby lanes to park. so only left with a chevy spark now.

New car requirements were :
- must be petrol auto (as low running, city use and wanted refinement)
- must not have an irritating CVT gearbox (hate the rubber band effect) after extensively driving a friends city auto and also hate the old city auto (too quick for me, as 0-60 was in about 4 hours and 36 mins that too after making a loud noise for no reason)
- must be compact & easy to park
- non anemic engine (to some extent)

So -
city / new amaze / jazz : hate cvt boxes, dash dials bright blue lights give a dance bar ambience... also generally found all 3 boring... immediately ruled out all
vento / rapid dsg / polo : All great to drive, especially the polo TSI was freaking brilliant and quick shifting dsg is crazy good. but afraid of WAG ASS. Also not fond of buying 1 car and then a new gearbox every year after that to keep it running.
Xcent : Liked the interior quality and finish but after TD felt like 0-100 time is in minutes instead of seconds.
Baleno : Again hated the CVT. Pressed the accelerator hard and a loud noise but no action. plus personally i dint like the interior layout. even though space was great and great boot space for a hatch.
Ciaz : too big to park, Too slow, found it generally boring & crappy auto trans
verna : too old, also will be easier to park a sub 4 mtr

So finally we booked an aspire. Dad wasnt sure about ford, but seemed like no other option which was compact and decent to drive (for the money) and reasonably nice looking (except the boot)

just got delivery of our New Aspire 1.5 Dct Petrol Auto in Ingot Silver : delivery from Bhavna Ford, Nerul, Yesterday.

Initial Observations :
- Ingot silver Looks great. The car is pretty from the front.
- Love that i can put my 6" lenovo phone on the dash mount dock and set it to play music video's, or lyrics etc along with the music. during TD i wasnt able to fit it but figured out a trick this morning and yay! in the future when other car screens cant play newer formats / apps, no such misery for a cellphone...
- got voice command functionality through ok google do this and do that and call him and message her.
- keeping revs low while car is new, but its a smooth and nice feel of driving aside from the slight lag while shifting cogs sometimes
- the aircon lives on a different planet than what we had on the skoda (when it was in a good mood and worked a bit) Its bloody brilliant. The Car was in the hot sun for 3 hours, still the cabin cooled in under 5 mins.
- Seats are comfy, suspension is very good


Some questions - Will appreciate suggestions -
- Day 1 and theres a black stain on the beige rear seat. May need seat covers. Suggestions on brand / type are very welcome. Thinking of PU / art leather types? dont want to splurge on real leather...
- Since we share our cars within the family, asked ford service centre at kalina for a spare remote key, but they said 8.4 K for a spare remote key and 3.5 k for a regular! pricey! Does anyone know if its possible to make a computerized laser cut duplicate from the key guy? not asked but im sure it will be way cheaper
- Considering putting a blaupunkt XLF 200 A (under passenger seat) active subwoofer which is for about 11K. Has anyone else installed an underseat woofer? As dont want to compromise on dicky space (which is already miniscule). Found the mids and highs to be acceptable in the default setup, only want a low end boost.

thanks in advance and cheers. pic of the aspi attached...

[Chetan_Rao]

Do Ford offer optional alloys (14" or 15") for the Figo twins? I find the standard issue alloys boring on an otherwise nice-looking pair of cars.

I'd love to have the Fiesta alloys (the 10-spoke star shape) if I buy this car.

I mean these, probably painted gun metal grey on a white Figo


P.S. Forgot to ask, does Ford allow swapping out alloys or are there 'warranty' shenanigans involved?

[Vikram Adani]

Hi chetan, when i asked at time of booking, they said upsizing the tyres only will cause loss of warranty. Not alloy swap.

[samaspire]

Originally Posted by Vikram Adani

Initial Observations :
- Love that i can put my 6" lenovo phone on the dash mount dock and set it to play music video's, or lyrics etc along with the music. during TD i wasnt able to fit it but figured out a trick this morning and yay!

Some questions - Will appreciate suggestions -
- Day 1 and theres a black stain on the beige rear seat. May need seat covers.

- Considering putting a blaupunkt XLF 200 A (under passenger seat) active subwoofer which is for about 11K. Has anyone else installed an underseat woofer? As dont want to compromise on dicky space (which is already miniscule). Found the mids and highs to be acceptable in the default setup, only want a low end boost.

thanks in advance and cheers. pic of the aspi attached...

Hey Vikram, welcome to the Aspire family and to team-bhp. I see it's your first post here. My first post was also in this Aspire thread Ingot Silver is a great choice of colour (mine too).

Share a picture of phone in the Dock - want to see what trick you did to fit it in there.

Seat covers are a must, but try not to go too dark - it makes the interiors feel smaller.

Post the ICE query in the Aspire/ Figo audio upgrade thread.

Sam

[Vikram Adani]

Originally Posted by samaspire

Hey Vikram, welcome to the Aspire family and to team-bhp. I see it's your first post here. My first post was also in this Aspire thread Ingot Silver is a great choice of colour (mine too).

Share a picture of phone in the Dock - want to see what trick you did to fit it in there.

Seat covers are a must, but try not to go too dark - it makes the interiors feel smaller.

Post the ICE query in the Aspire/ Figo audio upgrade thread.

Sam

Hey sam,

Thanks for the warm welcome ! In case of slightly bigger phones, the trick is to lock the dock in place before inserting the phone, with apx 2 mm less place than the phone actually needs. Then squeeze in the phone until it locks firmly into place between the upper teeth of the dock above the phone and the outer edge of the dock ( and not the inner border actually provided for it) on the bottom... will share a pic tomm...

Thanks for the seatcover and ice advice... plan to get a light beige leatherette. Cheers!

[iffi]

Hello all, I got my silver aspire 1.2 Titanium delivered yesterday along with my team-bhp membership getting approved(within 1hr of car delivery) :-). Special thanks to sam and mobike008 for your inputs in the forums, it really helped in taking the final call. This is my 1st post and for all good reasons it had to be in this forum.
Next task is to get some accessories and so need inputs on the type of seat covers that might go with the interiors. The dealer is quoting 6.5k for seat cover, is it worth? TIA.
Cheers,
iffi

[bullrun87]

I have a friend who owns the 1.5 Tdci titanium. The car is approaching 10k kms and and he plans to go for a service next week. The recommended engine oil is semi synthetic 5W30. Has anyone switched to synthetic oil? Does FASS offer to switch the car to synthetic oil?