[SgtRepeat]

This might very well be the final nail on Ford's coffin in India.

With the Fortuner set to introduce the Legender, the Endeavour is not even going to be considered with its less powerful engine and now with differentiating features like ANC being removed.

Wonder why Ford and Honda are hell bent on driving themselves to go out of business in India.

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by SgtRepeat

This might very well be the final nail on Ford's coffin in India.

With the upcoming lineup of Ford products in India, I would not think so.

Originally Posted by SgtRepeat

With the Fortuner set to introduce the Legender, the Endeavour is not even going to be considered with its less powerful engine and now with differentiating features like ANC being removed.

I'd agree partially. While deletion of features is irritating for sure and the "downsized" engine does not do justice to the beast, the Endeavour still holds its ground when it comes to being a well-rounded package - it offers superb drivability, excellent ride comfort, great off-road hardware, and of course a sun-roof The new 10-speed gearbox is a charm, too. However, with the Fortuner now (supposedly) getting that monster of an engine with 500 nm of torque, it will further dent the sales of the Endeavour for sure.

Originally Posted by SgtRepeat

Wonder why Ford and Honda are hell bent on driving themselves to go out of business in India.

Agree on this one. Very surprising to see Ford make these blunders with such a lovely product as the Endeavour.

[Adam]

Pathetic move by Ford.


Ford in India is already in a crippled state and these kinds of activities will only cause distrust among potential customers. Especially when the brand is in lifeline support and is trying to bring back customers through a JV.



Launching a new vehicle will less features to keep the cost down can be acceptable, but removing features from a well equipped vehicle for cost cutting is a bad move

[Lowflyer23]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

With the upcoming lineup of Ford products in India, I would not think so.

The "upcoming lineup" as we know so far are CBUs namely the Focus and Ranger Raptor. There is news of XUV 500 sized crossover but we don't know if it would be launched this century. There were talks of an all new EcoSport in 2021 and no one has come across a single test mule for the same. Lastly, not to forget Ford's partner in JV which like a spoilt rich kid buys everything he likes in a toystore, only to dump them later.

[yd_gli]

Really Ford? How much of a BoM cost reduction did you achieve by eliminating these features? It's even more baffling when you consider the volumes the Endeavor gets. You will delete scuff plates in a ~40L car? Obviously cost reduction can't be the reason.

What do I think? Supply chain issues and Ford knows that Indians were the easiest and most gullible section of their customer base to be short changed.

What a sham the Indian car industry is. The amount of customers buying products costing in excess of 30L and getting short changed is not even funny. Every OEM in the premium segment deletes features as and when they feel necessary. I can understand the high volume lower price segment doing it but not when you're charging > 0.5 crores for a car.

As much as one feels that the Fortuner is expensive, it will eat Ford's lunch single-handedly.

[SgtRepeat]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

While deletion of features is irritating for sure and the "downsized" engine does not do justice to the beast, the Endeavour still holds its ground when it comes to being a well-rounded package - it offers superb drivability, excellent ride comfort, great off-road hardware, and of course a sun-roof The new 10-speed gearbox is a charm, too.

I couldn't agree more. Just test drove the Gloster and I have to say it pales terribly in comparison to the Endeavour. The car is dead below 2000 rpm and doesn't have power on tap. Drove the Endeavour shortly after and was surprised to find that it's 170 bhp holds its own to the Gloster's 221 bhp.

Having said that, Ford still needs to stop deleting features.

[SuperFlyBoy]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

What's with Ford India and irrational feature deletions?! Active Noise Cancellation is a key differentiator against competition - why delete that?

What would be the real difference?

Currently, with the ANC working - I was earlier wondering if I could turn it off (if I buy the car), so that I could hear other vehicles/motorcycles/scooters trying to squeeze by while stopped or driving...

Originally Posted by yd_gli

As much as one feels that the Fortuner is expensive, it will eat Ford's lunch single-handedly.

This *will* happen - the Fortuner is updating styling and the engine - but I still need a full-time 4wd vehicle, so the best one would be the Endeavour...

[abnormalspirit]

Originally Posted by smnrock

My previous car came with default something called rough road package, so i did not bother anything about underbody. But endeavour does not seems to be having anything like that, So decided to go ahead with anti-rust coating, but not yet decided on where to do. Only place i know is 3M stores.

New Vehicles have underbody Painted with galvanization, or Primer which acts as a protective layer

[smnrock]

Originally Posted by abnormalspirit

New Vehicles have underbody Painted with galvanization, or Primer which acts as a protective layer

True for most of the newer vehicles, but experiences like below one is scary! So it's better to be proactive.

Originally Posted by showboat

I voted for Others. I owned the 3.2 Endeavour and sadly had to sell it due to severe rust issues on the frame. It was 3 years old and completed about 75k km. The rust had corroded coils, the undercarriage, the boot, and the frame. It rusted to such an extent that they said it was not safe to drive anymore, after my 70k service.

I went through a long and protracted 5-month fight with Ford, who refused to honor their warranty. I took it all the way to the top, the India MD, and finally gave up after speaking to global. Every country the Endeavour/Everest is sold in comes with a 5-year rust perforation warranty. However, in India they do not. I don't know if this is due to the poor legal system here or they feel the customers won't notice. I purchased the extended warranty for 5 years, but they said rust is not covered under that also. They blamed it on the environment as I lived in Chennai, which is funny because their factory is in Chennai. I gave some samples of metal to an external lab and it looks like Ford did not galvanize the frame. Trivial cost to them, but I guess saving 1000rs is more important. Their service centers somehow missed this even though I gave it for service as scheduled, which with my usage was about every 4-5 months.

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by SgtRepeat

Just test drove the Gloster and I have to say it pales terribly in comparison to the Endeavour. The car is dead below 2000 rpm and doesn't have power on tap. Drove the Endeavour shortly after and was surprised to find that it's 170 bhp holds its own to the Gloster's 221 bhp.

The Gloster is no match to the Endeavour, higher power figures of the engine notwithstanding. The turbo lag is pathetic to the say the least, and low speed drivability is sad. That said, the 2.0 lit single turbo engine of the Endeavour is no great shakes either and the saving grace here is the lovely 10-speed transmission, which has been beautifully tuned to keep the vehicle in the (narrow) torque band at all times. If you see the specs for the Endeavour, peak torque is available only between 2000-2500 rpm, which is quite late and quite narrow for a big SUV like the Endeavour. Drive it in the manual mode and you will know what I mean Another area of concern is the fact that the transmission will end up working overtime to keep the car in the torque band, narrow as it is, which might have long-term implications. This is just my reading, though.

Originally Posted by SuperFlyBoy

What would be the real difference?

I checked out a MY December Endeavour back to back with a MY November Endeavour today, to get an idea of the difference made by the dropped features. Here are my observations:

a. Active Noise Cancellation DOES make a difference. While I could not drive the cars in traffic, the difference in levels of engine noise seeping into the cabin for both cars was quite evident. It was not a night and day difference but palpable for sure.

b. The rear aux heater drop is actually a bummer, and much more significant than I thought! With the aux heater gone, one cannot get hot air from the 2nd and 3rd row vents at all, as there is only cooling function available for the rear a/c! I could get nice hot air from the 2nd row vents in the MY November car, both using the front console as well as rear heater controls but in the MY Dec car, the SYNC system only allowed blower speed to be controlled. Even with the climate control set to max (30 deg. C), the rear vents were throwing only cold air. This is going to be an issue in super cold climate conditions.

Originally Posted by SuperFlyBoy

This *will* happen - the Fortuner is updating styling and the engine - but I still need a full-time 4wd vehicle, so the best one would be the Endeavour...

Yes, the Endeavour scores here, for sure. It is a full-time 4WD and hence, has better driving dynamics, specially on wet highways and hilly terrain.

Looks like the concept of a "perfect SUV" is as elusive as that of a "perfect life partner"

[SuperFlyBoy]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

I checked out a MY December Endeavour back to back with a MY November Endeavour today, to get an idea of the difference made by the dropped features. Here are my observations:

a. Active Noise Cancellation DOES make a difference. While I could not drive the cars in traffic, the difference in levels of engine noise seeping into the cabin for both cars was quite evident. It was not a night and day difference but palpable for sure.

b. The rear aux heater drop is actually a bummer, and much more significant than I thought! With the aux heater gone, one cannot get hot air from the 2nd and 3rd row vents at all, as there is only cooling function available for the rear a/c! I could get nice hot air from the 2nd row vents in the MY November car, both using the front console as well as rear heater controls but in the MY Dec car, the SYNC system only allowed blower speed to be controlled. Even with the climate control set to max (30 deg. C), the rear vents were throwing only cold air. This is going to be an issue in super cold climate conditions.

Yes, the Endeavour scores here, for sure. It is a full-time 4WD and hence, has better driving dynamics, specially on wet highways and hilly terrain.

I agree on all of the above, but I'm still waiting to see if they might give us the twin-turbo and a black interior in the 2021 model...

The new Fortuner will have a black option.

[haldar_siliguri]

Originally Posted by 123.rishabh

To put it in simple words
The car comes with a 2 zone climate control now, which used to be 3 zone in the older models

Incorrect. Aux Heating does not have anything to do with climate control zones.

[SuperFlyBoy]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Yes, the Endeavour scores here, for sure. It is a full-time 4WD and hence, has better driving dynamics, specially on wet highways and hilly terrain.

Looks like the concept of a "perfect SUV" is as elusive as that of a "perfect life partner"

Well, the Endeavour *still* has that brief delay in engaging the front wheels in it's full-time 4wd...as I noted in 2015-2016 when I test-drove it.

However, I still find that my "old" 2015 model Fortuner was my "perfect SUV" - even though it's safety was circumspect.

I did appreciate another member's information (here on Team-BHP) regarding the fact that the 4wd used a Torsen differential - so it worked almost *exactly* as my old Audi 1990 Coupe & S4 Quattros - and was such a pleasure to drive! Just amazing, really.

Absolutely no delay and full power/response on all 4 wheels...

However, this Fortuner was recently flooded and the Toyota dealer sold me another policy which was not "Return to Invoice" - so I'm up the creek in terms of a repair!

Not even sure it's worth the hassle - as water went in *everywhere*! (And I mean *everywhere*! (The only place we determined that the floodwaters did not ingress into was the engine block itself...)

[abnormalspirit]

Originally Posted by smnrock

True for most of the newer vehicles, but experiences like below one is scary! So it's better to be proactive.

The main reason for under body corrosion is salt content depositing during beach drive or road salt( mainly in high snow falling area). To prevent these type of corrosion car under body should wash after beach drive or apply good quality under body coating .

[SgtRepeat]

Even though there's no replacement for displacement, I feel Ford will never upgrade the 3.2L engine to match the BS6 emission standards (would love to be proven wrong in case someone from Ford is reading this). With that, I'd be content with a twin turbo for the current 2L engine.

Originally Posted by SuperFlyBoy

I agree on all of the above, but I'm still waiting to see if they might give us the twin-turbo and a black interior in the 2021 model...

The new Fortuner will have a black option.

I fervently hope that the twin turbo version is introduced and the 10 speed automatic gearbox is retained. Given Ford's history, I wouldn't be surprised (and irked) if they replaced the 10 speed with an 8 speed (or worse, 6 speed! ) gearbox.

As for the interiors, I actually prefer beige as it gives a roomier feel compared to black, which can feel claustrophobic at times. The maintenance effort for beige is a different story, though!