Ford Figo Sports Edition : Official Review

[tharian]

Originally Posted by kiku007

Am I the only to feel the choice of location for the media drive (a salt pan) to be a visual disaster? The cars are full of dust and the wheels are eek.

Agree with that.
My guess was they wanted to showcase the drift capabilities of the Figo.

Originally Posted by kiku007

And let me get this right,

1. Ford India takes Ford Ka.
2. Tinkers with Ford DNA i.e replaces Ford ish parts with Maruti ish parts.
3. Tries to sell Figo twins in India. Typical Maruti buyer doesn't care. Typical Ford buyer is shocked and disappointed.
4. Eureka moment at Ford. Replace parts tinkered in #2 with the original aka Ford Ka parts and sell it a premium as Figo Sports.
5. Typical Maruti buyer still won't care. Typical Ford buyer may buy; but wait he can't have all. He can't buy it with 1L ecoboost or 1.5L Petrol or Titanium+ trim. Force him to choose the diesel

Even though this is a good attempt from Ford, I cannot forget the fact that the damn car should have been with this handling spec from day1.

Really cannot blame Ford for doing this. They are here for numbers and did something which will please the general public rather than an enthusiast or a Ford fan.
I am glad they did the Sports edition. Either ways , it does not make a difference to the general public, but they catered to us enthusiasts to an extent.
As for the engine option, I won't forgive them for not getting the 1.5 petrol in manual in this edition.

Originally Posted by VishnuNarayanan

+1. I too was waiting for the teambhp review of the Figo S.
I booked a Figo diesel S Ingot Silver on the last week of April and is expecting the car by the end of this week or latest by next week beginning.
The dealers seems to be allotted only very few cars and from what I have heard from the dealer here, the waiting period comes close to 2 months now.
Test drive seems to be unavailable and everyone there is clueless about it.

I don't think they will have test drives at all. They get around 2-3 Sports editions per month. I received a call today saying my car will reach next week. The SA called me last week and informed me there was a Sports edition available in Bellary in their showroom for which the booking was cancelled and if I was interested. I could not understand how it reached that early unless it was from the first batch when the car was launched.

[VishnuNarayanan]

Originally Posted by tharian

The SA called me last week and informed me there was a Sports edition available in Bellary in their showroom for which the booking was cancelled and if I was interested. I could not understand how it reached that early unless it was from the first batch when the car was launched.

The SA here at the dealership also said that there was a Figo S which arrived 2 weeks before and I initially concluded that it would be the test drive car. But later the SA confirmed that it was a car meant for delivery to a customer. It was the same colour combo as that of the cars for the media drive.
Ford could have managed their inventory much better to meet the domestic demand without such waiting periods considering the production capacities they have in their plants.

[agambhandari]

I have a question, and I believe Vidyut is most qualified to answer it best,
How is the steering as compared to the Ecosport? In the ecosport its almost video game light, though precise and useful in city, but doesn't give any feedback at all. Is the Figo Sports better?

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by agambhandari

I have a question, and I believe Vidyut is most qualified to answer it best,
How is the steering as compared to the Ecosport? In the ecosport its almost video game light, though precise and useful in city, but doesn't give any feedback at all. Is the Figo Sports better?

It's actually a tad lighter than even the Ecosport but equally precise. It also lacks feedback but the Ecosport is marginally better as it doesn't have the slack in the straight ahead position. The Figo S steering weighs up nicely at speeds and when not centered i.e. when cornering. It's amongst the better EPS steerings.

[agambhandari]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

It's actually a tad lighter than even the Ecosport but equally precise. It also lacks feedback but the Ecosport is marginally better as it doesn't have the slack in the straight ahead position. The Figo S steering weighs up nicely at speeds and when not centered i.e. when cornering. It's amongst the better EPS steerings.

Thanks for the prompt reply

I didn't even know that lighter than that was possible

But agree that it doesn't suffer from the slack but i don't like the weighing at moderate speeds(read the usual speeds on empty city roads).
But however we may hate it, the lighter steering is definitely a boon for parking, especially in the super tight parkings that my college has built. The length lines are built for a sub 4m car. And the opposite distance is barely the length of an i10, its quite a workout driving a hydraulic PS in there, i manage a spark somehow.

[anand_lukose]

I'm actually disappointed that Ford did not release a Titanium plus version of the sport. They should have really gone for it considering the Polo TSis success.

Personally, I'll buy a Titanium plus variant and add sporty mods with the safety of the 6 airbags and better interiors with SYNC 3. Getting some fatter Michelins or Contis would be the first step. However, it will still not be close to the feel of the S version with the lowered and tuned suspension. A good trade off to start with anyways.

Those serious can take it further with Konis or Bilstein's with an ECU remap. An extra lakh or two and you can get a true blue pocket rocket for sure.

[Prodigy07]

Wonderful review there Vid

They could have done away with those cheesy decals and instead provided the 'S' badge on the boot similar to 1.6 S.

[Blow Horn Ok]

What a report. I find the mods and paint scheme very tasteful. The red in the red black combo is ruby red or some new shade of red?

I am in the market for a hatchback which will be used along with the 2010 figo tdci. Almost settled down for a tiago petrol xz, tilted for baleno Delta petrol. I thought, If it could be a petrol baleno for 6.2 ex showroom, why not figo diesel (for that engine and soft corner for a ford) titanium at 6.9 ex showroom? And why not sports edition at 7.4 ex showroom and then, there is titanium plus with more safety.

I am sure many of us would be in the same dilemma.

[AMG Power]

I understand that the Figo S will have a production run of 1000 units for the Figo and Aspire.

Out of this more than 750 will be snapped up by non enthusiasts just because it has a black roof, mirrors and alloys - these are buyers who wouldn't care less about the suspension.

Enthusiasts will comprise the remaining 25%. Ford has already got the enthusiast market covered through video reviews by auto magazines and reviews by Team Bhp etc. The 75% non enthusiast sales will be snapped up just through show room displays.

This justifies Ford's step motherly treatment towards India - manufacturing cars without that fantastic Ford DNA and giving them limited marketing, no demo cars and limited visibility.

If only the market for cars in India had more enthusiasts buying cars, we would have had the cars we wanted. Of course, the government's tax policy has also contributed to making good cars very expensive and out of reach of most people.

The next enthusiast car coming up is the new Skoda vRS which is going to be the full monty (unlike the earlier vRS's which were watered down versions) - but just watch that sticker price - it's going to be out of reach of most enthusiasts yet again.

[suhaas307]

Great review, Vid!

Whilst the diesel is great, I wonder what's stopping Ford from giving us the EcoBoost petrol engine in the petrol Figo S, like what Maruti has done with the Baleno RS? Sure, the EcoBoost may not be meaty enough in the lardy EcoSport, and an EcoBoost Figo S may not be a 'fast' car in the truest sense of the word, but it should be brisk enough to warrant the S badge in our market at the least. It's sure as hell faster and more of an 'enthusiasts' motor than that miserable 1.2.

I think Ford has missed a trick here. They could have cashed in on the warm-hatch wave with the EcoBoost Figo S.

[vishy76]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Great review, Vid!

Whilst the diesel is great, I wonder what's stopping Ford from giving us the EcoBoost petrol engine in the petrol Figo S, like what Maruti has done with the Baleno RS? Sure, the EcoBoost may not be meaty enough in the lardy EcoSport, and an EcoBoist Figo S may not be a 'fast' car in the truest sense of the word, but it should be brisk enough to warrant the S badge in our market at the least. It's sure as hell faster and more of an 'enthusiasts' motor than that miserable 1.2.

I think Ford has missed a trick here. They could have cashed in on warm-hatch wave with the EcoBoost Figo S.

-That would have been a risky move. An ecoboost would have driven the prices up by a large margin since the engine is a complete import. This wouldn't have allowed Ford to undercut Hyundai.

-Additionally, the ecoboost is a halo engine only meant for the more premium offerings as listed in the official review of the figo.

However, I do think that this engine should be given atleast as a made to order option so that those who want to go for it can choose. For a true petrolhead there is nothing in the 7-9 lakhs price bracket except for the Polo GT TSI and the Baleno RS. The Abarth Punto is priced higher up and production has also been stopped for now.

Also agree to the fact that a 1.5+manual combo should have been offered although the engine is nowhere as good as the ecoboost.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by vishy76

-That would have been a risky move. An ecoboost would have driven the prices up by a large margin since the engine is a complete import. This wouldn't have allowed Ford to undercut Hyundai.

-Additionally, the ecoboost is a halo engine only meant for the more premium offerings as listed in the official review of the figo.

Agreed. An imported engine will drive up the prices without a doubt.

However, it's worthy to note that both the TSI and BoosterJet engines in the Polo and Baleno are imported into the country.

Also, Ford has chosen to position the EcoBoost as a halo engine. But where are the premium products? Will we get a new Fiesta sedan with the EcoBoost? Will we ever get the Fiesta hatchback at all? Isn't the Figo S a 'special edition' of sorts? Wouldn't special edition cars be the perfect platform to showcase your halo products like the EcoBoost engine?

Personally, I believe the EcoBoost engine will work brilliantly in the lighter new Figo than in the heavy EcoSport. Not only will you see good fuel economy, the engine will be punchy enough to warrant the S badge. But alas..

[vishy76]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Agreed. An imported engine will drive up the prices without a doubt.

However, it's worthy to note that both the TSI and BoosterJet engines in the Polo and Baleno are imported into the country.

Also, Ford has chosen to position the EcoBoost as a halo engine. But where are the premium products? Will we get a new Fiesta sedan with the EcoBoost? Will we ever get the Fiesta hatchback at all? Isn't the Figo S a 'special edition' of sorts? Wouldn't special edition cars be the perfect platform to showcase your halo products like the EcoBoost engine?

Personally, I believe the EcoBoost engine will work brilliantly in the lighter new Figo than in the heavy EcoSport. Not only will you see good fuel economy, the engine will be punchy enough to warrant the S badge. But alas..

Agree completely. That's the reason why I said that a made to order option like the S-cross 1.6 should have been offered. Even I love the Ecoboost and have heard very good things about it. Since Ford is importing it for the Ecosport, why not do the same for the Figo S as well? Even when it comes to FE, the ecoboost will trump the lethargic 1.2 petrol and the 1.5 too. But who wants to work on brand image? Definitely not Ford.

Maybe it's just bad product planning on Ford's part. Have seen it so many times. They didn't have a 1.5 manual for the Figo S, an ecoboost for the premium Fiesta and a good diesel for the previous gen Figo. All missed opportunities I say.

Small things like these that make a difference in the longer run.

[A M]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYh-n7EOtMA

This song fits the bill perfectly for Figo S diesel. Easy on the pocket and a true hot hatch.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Not sure how your car is missing the adjustable rear headrests but I have personally seen them at the dealership. Plus if you see the link in the post, there's a pic of the rear headrest which is adjustable.

Perhaps it was dropped off soon after or missing in some batches or it might be only for diesel models and not for the 1.2 petrol. However the Titanium+ was being sold later on with adjustable headrests that's for sure.

Yes, I saw the post and I am surprised.

My sales executive too confirmed that the Figo Titanium+ models that they sold, never had Adjustable rear seat headrests. Titanium+ Figos are rare and the last one he sold was in Aug 2016 and even that didn't have them. Even the 2017 models in their stockyard don't have it. So it is puzzling.

What are the chances of an export model having ended up at the showroom by mistake and may be that's the one you saw?