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-   -   Ford Freestyle 1.2L Petrol : Official Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/198634-ford-freestyle-1-2l-petrol-official-review-11.html)

Adding one image from my phone. Other images too large to attach.

Will post remaining pictures after resizing from PC

Congrats, and after long time the Freestyle hit your porch. Good that you booked the car from the alternate dealer simultaneously, otherwise it would have been a longer wait. Hope to read your buying and ownership experience in detail.

Congratulations for your new ride. I am sure you will have a great time ahead with one of the best car in this segment. We will be waiting for your ownership report.:thumbs up

Congratulations. clap:
Looks like my delivery date prediction was just 2 days off. ;)

Glad you held your ground and got the car you loved - that waiting period will seem inconsequential now.

Now regarding the PPF - get them done on the wing mirrors and the behind the door handles also. Very scratch prone areas.

Thank you all for the wishes!

Attaching photos of the car after delivery, at home.

Note: Nano in the background in 1st pic was my ride for the last 1.5 months, my uncle's car.

A Big Shout Out to Mr. Sanoop who was the SA and Mr. John the Sales Manager, for their courtesy and help in making the whole process painless.

Will post the detailed process of the car selection and the whole experience at Kairali Ford soon.

Congratulations nMenon, she does look very good in that shade. Looking forward for your ownership review. Believe this is a petrol version.
After all the long unnecessary ups and downs its heartening that you have stuck to your decision to buy the freestyle.
Wish you miles of happiness all along the way.
PS: Did you buy the Extended Warranty as well for it?

Thank you!

Yes it is a petrol version.

I took the maximum available extended warranty of 5 years or 1,00,000 KM.

I will start working on the ownership review once I've put in some distance.

Long Post Alert!

Part 1 :How did I end up deciding to buy the Freestyle?

The idea of changing my old Alto LX for a better car came up sometime in 2015 by which time I had a daily drive or around 50KM .

Driving on the highway around 80KM/h was making me feel as if I was driving closer to the limits of the car.

Also my parents we beginning to have difficulties in getting into the car due to the relatively low set seats.

So I was looking for a high riding vehicle: a compact SUV or a Crossover.

Just in time almost came the Team BHP review of the SCross.

For some reason I took a liking to the car having read the review and was itching to have a test drive.

Got a chance in Dec 2015 to test both the 1.3 and 1.6 and was blown away by the car.

However issues with budgeting meant I gave up on the idea of replacing the Alto for a year or 2.

Fast Forward to end 2017 and the idea came up once again and the Alto had crossed 10 years with us (a lovable little car I might add).

I also started feeling the lack of power on the open highway more as the highway had improved a lot (meaning I was cruising in the Alto around 85KM/h on my way back at night and still getting mugged off by the local State Transport Superfast buses with ease.

By this time Tata's Nexon had come out and I was hoping that Maruti would announce a Petrol version of the SCross.

I'd also got a chance to drive a friend's WRV and another one's EcoSport for decent distances.

So the basic short list began to form in my mind though I had a budget of 8 Lakhs, if Maruti brought out an SCross Petrol for even around 9 Lakhs, I was ready to extend, such was my liking for the SCross.

Followed by the WRV, Nexon and EcoSport.

EcoSport though was the first to fall by the wayside due to the price of the lowest variant and my preference for at least a Trend variant in Petrol, besides there was already an EcoSport in the family.

Next was the WRV, simply because if I were to buy a WRV it had to be the VX which was out of budget.

Coming to early 2018 I came across the news of a possible crossover from Ford; the Freestyle and was hoping to see more news of it.

Also went and took test drives of the Nexon unfortunately driving the diesel before the petrol.

I loved the diesel and found that the diesel engine was far better than the petrol. (Relatively speaking of course, the petrol is good but not as good as the diesel). Also my mother found it quite difficult to clamber into the Nexon, she found it too high (maybe needed a side step), so the Nexon was put at the bottom of the list.

Then the Freestyle was announced and the safety features caught my eye.

I gathered that it was more of a cross variant of the Figo rather than a crossover like the SCross, but the price point and the safety features tugged at my mind.

Further went and got a test drive of it one day when I went to get the Alto's A/C checked up. Took an instant liking to the car (must admit I did kind of like the brown colour scheme of the dashboard, it isn't as bad as the photos look.)

So the list had narrowed down to; my favourite : the SCross and the Freestyle.

The Freestyle had an advantage of a decent petrol engine, 6 airbags, ABS, TCS, HLA, ARP and Sync 3 while the SCross had the build, the interiors (love the simple design and soft touch plastic) and the 4 wheel disc brakes.

Note: I could only ever consider the SCross Sigma variant considering my budget ceiling was originally set at 8 Lakhs.

So now came part where the Heart and Mind went to war: SCross Sigma or Freestyle Titanium Plus 1.2

The mind won, especially since the heart also took a liking to the Freestyle and the fact that I don't need/ want a diesel powered car now, what with the pollution and relatively costlier maintenance, not much difference in the prices of the fuels and the higher sticker price.

In between all of this discussions with the family continued, took them to check out both cars and they found the Freestyle to be comfortable enough and having had both cars brought home for Test Drives, we discovered that getting the SCross parked in our spot would probably require lots of maneuvering or cutting a tree (which none of us ever considered as an option).

Also after much deliberation we decided that we couldn't exceed the 8L budget ceiling hence the SCross went out of the window.

With this we ended up deciding to go for the Freestyle Titanium Plus Petrol.

Colour wasn't debated much, Smoke Grey/Black ; since none of the other colours appealed to all of us, with Smoke Grey being chosen since we already had a black car (Alto) and wanted a change.

Coming Soon
Part 2 : the Buying experience (at Kairali Ford) after the many disagreements with one of the Ford dealerships (Malayalam Ford).

Was given the same wait periods at JSP Ford Bangalore. Surprisingly JSP sales rep mentioned that Canyon Ridge was in greater demand. However, irrespective of any color - Canyon Ridge, Black, White etc. the wait period is the same - 3 months.

We went ahead and booked the Titanium(+) Petrol. It was a close choice between the Ox White (to be noted that the black on the white stands out and gives the car a stunning look) and Canyon Ridge. However the family voted for CR.

Now the wait starts.

Congrats on the booking. Now that you have booked the car, insist on the dealer to give you delivery in 2 months, because that's how it is with Ford. The dealer always get delivery within 2 months of placing an order with the factory. Unless there is some extraordinary demand, and production is overloaded.

Just write to Customer Care and confirm.

Congrats nmenon. Hope you are thoroughly enjoying your new ride. Wishing you happy miles.

Thank you!

I've already done 750KM in 2 weeks. Including a trip to the Athirapilly waterfalls.

The route to this location consists of twisty and well surfaced roads.

Even in the running in period it was fun to drive the Freestyle. Was struggling to keep the revs below 2.5k rpm. But managed to restrain myself.

The handling is really good on the twisties and I needed to use 3rd gear mostly with an occasional drop down to 2nd.

The only observations regarding the driving are that the accelerator pedal needs a rather firmer push to accelerate and that it is a bit difficult to make smooth shifts in lower gears.

The gearbox is sure slotting but a bit notchy and the throws are longer than a Swift or Ciaz. It's not as smooth as most Maruti and Hyundai cars.

I'll start working on an ownership review soon.

The drive to athirapally is always fun. The road beyond that towards valparai is even more indulging. I actually had to abandon a trip to valaparai via athirapally that we had planned for this weekend due to reports of the forest road being closed down for traffic because of rains.

Btw, my Diesel T+ has completed 3600 kms so far including a 1200 km highway trip. Loving it.

And yes, the gearbox in diesel too is a bit notchy but I felt it better than that of my previous car, 2011 Figo D.

Attaching a shot captured at Ponmudi.

This is exactly what I feel with my diesel Figo too! I'm wondering why not many is reporting this. It feels like I need to work up the power by pressing a lot, and once you release the pedal, engine braking is high. So overall the car feels bogged down a bit in lower gears, when compared to other cars.

Observed a few features in my Ford Freestyle today.

Sync 3

The voice commands work well and have various options, tuning the radio by saying a frequency, calling a contact by name, playing songs by artist and I discovered one more option today.

You can dial a number by saying "dial number" and then dictate the number; it will ask for your confirmation and then dial the dictated number.

There is also an option to turn off the screen if you find it distracting.

The screen will turn itself on if you receive a message or a call or if you shift into reverse and will go off again once you're done with reversing / the message / the call, as long as the car is not switched off in between.

Other general features

If you walk out of the car with the engine running and the key in your pocket, it will honk the horn twice and show messages in the MID Vehicle is on, Key not detected.

Additionally if you put the car in accessory mode and then step out of the vehicle, it will honk the horn to draw your attention and remind you to switch off the car.

Follow me home lights: Leave the lights in Auto mode, pull the stalk to the high beam position after switching off the car; it will keep the lights on for 30 seconds illuminating your way.