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-   -   2018 Ford Aspire Facelift : Official Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/204308-2018-ford-aspire-facelift-official-review-12.html)

Hello BHPians,

Finally Aspire AT Titanium arrived after ~3 months from the day we decided to buy one. Initially there was no stock of the color we wanted and later we have to wait for the 2019 price list. We booked the car in early Feb and got delivered on 21st March. So far driven around 120 Kms and car handles and performs extremely well.

Below are my observations with little time I spent with her.

What's good:
- 1.5L dragon petrol engine is rev happy and 6 speed torque converter gearbox mated perfectly (this is the main reason why I bought aspire).
- Car attains 80-90 kmph speed in no time. Engine is not at all strained at 100-110 kmph range.
- D mode itself is quite peppy and roaring to go, hardly felt the need for Sports mode clap:.
- Suspension is very good for it's segment and a decent handler on highway as well.
- Audio system is good but Apple Carplay & Android Auto on Titanium could have been better.
- Cabin layout is good and switches & controls feel sturdy and durable.

What's not so good:
- Boot lid does not have cladding, looks outright cheap :Shockked:
- Omission of features such as auto rear view mirror, auto wipers, auto headlamps etc. in Titanium variant
- No dead pedal in AT
- Window control switches are not backlit, only window lock button is backlit
- Headlights brightness and throw is not sufficient for highway drives. Projector set-up could have done justice to this otherwise amazing car.
- Engine revs slightly higher during 2 to 3 gears (I think so). Later gearshifts are hardly felt/noticed.

For some reason I am not able to upload pics. I will give a try later.
To summarize in once sentence, "Very happy with purchase of Aspire 1.5 AT".

Congratulations hillsnrains on your purchase! Really looking forward to more updates from you as this and the Amaze are cars that my wife is considering for her commute.

Could you especially describe your experience with the creep functionality, since Pune traffic is quickly trying to emulate Bangalore these days? Many thanks!

The fly touchscreen unit on trend plus and titanium models is able to play videos and movies through pen drive or any usb device. But as soon as the car starts to move it blacks out the video displaying a caution message. Any idea if this can be bypsssed or removed via some settings?

It is not a good idea for you to be watching a movie while you are driving so that is in the interest of your personal safety.

I might only be using it once in a while to keep my kid engaged on those long drives. Certainly not for my own entertainment.

I don't think it is a law here in India but developed countries by law doesn't allow video content to play from front infotainment screen when car is in motion. I guess since this same car (export version) or this system is also exported so this feature may not have any option to bypass.

Is there anything mentioned about this in the manual ? Do check the manual or give a call to your Service Adviser. Often for various reasons they interact with manufacturer technical team so if you have good relation with your SA, this question may go upto Ford team for answer. BTW, you can give this a try in Ford social channel too, they would arrange a call back from their respective product team.

Thanks.

Thanks for wishes and sorry for delay in responding.

Creep functionality not as prominent as AMT equipped cars say Celerio. Having said that very easy to drive in city and gearshifts are pretty quick as well. Dragon 1.5 engine is always roaring to go, never feels strained.

Difficult for me to compare with CVT equipped Amaze, back to back test drives should help you decide. Recent price drop on Aspire make the deal even more VFM proposition.

So far driven around 1250 kms.
City fuel economy: ~10 KMPL
Highway fuel economy: ~15 KMPL

Could you anyone please shed light on the ECONO mode in the new Aspire Diesel. I couldn't find this in the facelift.

It's available on their manual, it's done by pressing
(toggle between available options) the trip button & then long pressing (for activation or deactivation). Refer to the attached file.

Off topic,

The so called Eco Mode in previous gen Figo/Aspire didn't do any thing useful like changing the engine (ECU) power/tune mapping.

The only thing it did was to show an up arrow for idle up shifting time to help new drivers to shift at right RPM/Speed to extract better FE.

Mind you I found that suggestion pretty useless in real world driving since often it would prompt me to shift much earlier than engine reaching it's proper torque band thus resulting me to hard press the A pedal to build up speed. Over few hundred kms & keeping an eye on the mileage figures made me realize that I can extract better FE if I keep an eye on real time mileage option & adjust my up or down shift accordingly.

I know it's not safe to drive like that but putting few hundred kms made me understand the speed:rpm ratio & then I can do the shifts instinctively.

P.S. it seems even in new gen too, the feature is same.

Thanks

It's just mentioned on the manual.. however Ford has confirmed that there is no economy mode in the Figo twins. I double checked on the Figo too

Sorry but even the official Team Bhp review too shows the presence of this mode. Refer to the below picture,



The shift indicator is visible. Just like the manual suggest.

Kindly elaborate what exactly Ford said. Did they silently removed this feature?

Thanks

Guys,
A wild question. Is it possible to retrofit the Sync3 system from the Titanium Plus on the Titanium Trim of the Aspire? I'm considering the Aspire Titanium AT as our next probable car (Ecosport Trend Plus AT in consideration too) and we miss the Sync3 in the Titanium :Frustrati.

If we go for the Aspire, we'll be saving quite some money. So was thinking on spending that saved money on a Sync3 headunit.


Cheers!

I am unable to find the exact post but do search in the forum, some one did take quotation for the system for previous gen Aspire & the official dealership quotation was 54k (approx).

Thanks.

The gear shift indicater is displayed by default. One does not have to enable the economy mode for that. In the official Aspire review as well there is no mention of economy mode. In the outgoing model, we would be prompted t upshift based on the UP indicator and not the exact gear as shared in your post.

Sailing in the same boat. Dealers say no:deadhorse.

Ford India should really consider this as a pay for option atleast.