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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-13.html)

It's not necessary for the spare wheel to be alloy, you can use an steel wheel of same size i.e. 15inch and use a same size tyre. I am geting an alloy from OEM just for the matching style.

Get it exchanged at the tyre shop from which you get your new tyre.

An important note. My dealer told that the boot spare holder is not made for a 15 inch spare that is fully inflated. The 14 incher sits plush in the space and if you want to squeeze the 15 incher you might have to deflate the air a little bit which destroys the purpose of a spare(unless you have a deflater in your car)
I have not tried this myself but dropped the idea due to this info but take my statement with a pinch of salt

-Rohith
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#GoFreestyle

Your dealer is actually partially correct. I have tested the boot's spare holder size personally. The 15 inch wheel fits quite well as far as diameter is concerned. It's the depth of the wheel space which may be of concern for a perfectionist. Anyways, the width of the alloy wheel (185mm) is wider by just 10mm (when compared to 175mm width of the steel wheel). That's not very intrusive and quite manageable.

Took a test drive of both the petrol and diesel variants today.

Petrol
The petrol engine is peppy and is vastly improved over the outgoing 1.2 TiVCT. I also noticed the annoying lag when tipping out the throttle as pointed out by other bhpians here. The most exciting part of the petrol test drive was the empty stretch near HAL road.

What I loved:
1) Engine note beyond 4k
It is quite sporty. Enthusiasts will like to work the engine; if not for the note, maybe for the pull beyond 4k.
2) Feather lite clutch with amazing feedback
The extremely light clutch did make up somewhat for the lack of an auto option. Given the hard clutch action of the tdci, wife gave a straight no to the diesel.
3) Ford dynamics
More than the suppleness in ride quality, I liked the damping. The SA challenged me to find a fault with the suspension over the worst possible roads. Driving around koramangala gave me ample opportunity to test this hypothesis and I give it a thumbs up.

Diesel
I had almost made up my mind to book the 1.2 Dragon when the SA recommended I also test drive the 1.5 Tdci.

What I loved:
1) That low end grunt
I floored the pedal right at 1.8k and the acceleration I experienced was insane. :Shockked: All this while my mom and wife held on to their lives in the rear seat.

But that's about it. The tdci offers better low end torque at the cost of a much heavier clutch. I had trouble modulating the clutch with my back pain problem and decided not to pursue the idea.

Sales experience
The SA engaged me with a very detailed discussion on what has been changed and what can still be improved. He followed up with me for a test drive and offered a test drive of the diesel even when I wasn't considering it. To top it off, he agreed to drive the car back to my place and park it when I said the car might not fit into my parking space. All in all, I have zero complaints on my first car booking experience.

The SA promised some discount on the list price of official accessories and insurance. However, there is no discount on the ex-showroom price as it is a new launch.

I have a question though, my SA said in addition to the official set of colors, I can also get it in red. Is that even possible?

I wish that's true. Would book it right away.:)

BTW which variant you booked . Petrol or Diesel?

Long story short, I booked the petrol titanium plus.

I was terribly confused. So I called my SA and asked for a longer test drive on the Electronic City flyover. My hypothesis was that the power to weight ratio of both the engines being the same, top speed should ideally be the same. The torque would define how long it takes to get there.

I hereby confirm my hypothesis. The petrol engine is a gem and I see not point in paying 1.2l extra for the diesel (I will miss the torque though).

Confirmed with my Sales Advisor at Mangalore.

Yes , RED color is available and they will receive the stock by end of this month.

Unfortunately he does not have any pics of the same or maybe they have instructed not to share them until its official.

Check out the Ruby Red variant of the Figo sports. As far as my knowledge goes, it should be the same color.

In my humble opinion except the white, the official list of colors are pretty plane jane and really doesn't make the Freestyle stand out. The Canyon Ridge for example looks pretty good on paper, even the White Gold variant looks pretty awesome with the black roof wrap on the brochure but not as much in flesh.

I found the Canyon Ridge to be the best bet as it goes well with the rugged look of the freestyle followed by the smoked Grey. I was expecting them to bring the Race Red color which is on the Ecosport. Black is superb but will require a lot of care.

This would have been brilliant. agree: I don't understand what keeps manufacturers from offering some good shades of red during launch. Just take any car/motorcycle and paint it in the race red with black alloys. The road presence increases massively!

Congratulations on the booking Kaushik. Which dealership did you book with and what was the wait time quoted?

Cauvery Ford Koramangala. The waiting period quoted varied from 15 days to 2 months depending on thee choice of color. Canyon Ridge and White Gold is immediately available. Black and red have a waiting period of 2 months and rest have waiting periods of 1-1.5 months.

I have booked the Ruby Red T+ Petrol and have been given the Waiting Period till Dec second week.

Fingers Crossed.

PIC COURTESY - Facebook

Not trying to confuse you since you have booked the car already.
Diesel is if you want the powerful version of the Freestyle. Not that the petrol is bad, it is any day better than the outgoing 4 cylinder petrol, but is no match for the diesel.


P/W ratio will not be the main reason for top speed being the same. The engine capacity and gearing plays a role as well. The TDCi, can go faster in this case. But you are hardly going to drive at those speeds.

If you are primarily going to use it in city, the Dragon 1.2 is perfect and main point, it is a whole new engine compared to the TDCi.