[Sugeeta]

Since the first quarter of 2010, I had been thinking of changing my present daily drive, the April 2006 Ford Fiesta 1.4 Tdci Zxi (now Classic). The car was running problem free and had logged just a little over 70000 Kms. in 5 years.

I was happy with the ownership experience of the Fiesta and had been closely following the developments on the entry of new Fiesta in the Indian markets. After exploring a couple of options, I decided to finally book the Fiesta in April, 2011, soon after its unveiling at Select City Walk in Delhi.

As the booking was confirmed, I passed through a tormenting phase of endless wait. In the meantime, I had a million thoughts clouding my mind :
- Had I made the right decision?
- Should I have purchased one of the other cars I had TD'd and found suitable?
- Is it advisable to book a car without a TD?
and so on.

Anyways, long and short of the story is that I succumbed to Ms. Temptation and booked the car. And the wait continued.

In restropect, here is how it all started (same story, same situation, same protagonists, but new car) :

IT ALL STARTED WITH A CONVERSATION WITH THE EVIL MS. TEMPTATION

Date : 15th April, 2011

Me (absent-mindedly) : Life is a web of complications
Voice (from somewhere): Oh yes!
Me (still lost) : No sooner do you resolve one that another one springs up.
Voice (close by) : Nah!! I announce my arrival well in advance…always.
Me (now alert) : Hell !! no. She is back again.
Voice (sing-song) : Hel..l..o.
Me (helplessly) : Go away.
Voice (so confident) : Say hello to Ms. Temptation, lady. Have you lost your manners?
Me (justifying) : Look here. I was trying to distract myself. With these car launches, with these details of all the car reviews on T-BHP; with so much happening on the new car scene, I was trying to put my heart and soul in some new professional projects.
Voice (mockingly) : Yeah…right….!! Are you trying to fool me? So are you buying the new Fiesta.
Me (on shaky ground) : I am still thinking. Still not made up my mind. Been considering the Vento and New Verna among others.
Voice (surprised) : And I thought you were a fan of the Ford Motor Club.
Me (irritated) : Will you please leave me alone, so that I can decide in peace.
Voice (in command) : Sure. But take a decision soon. Be quick to decide.

Before I knew what was happening, I was placing the call to discuss the booking details.

I had been victimised once again by the evil Ms. Temptation - the reason for all (financially) ugly situations in my life !!!


INTRODUCTION TO MS. TEMPTATION AND THE RETAIL BOOM (OR IS IT DOOM?)

Ladies & Gentlemen, I formally introduce you to Ms. Temptation.

Every now and then she rears her ugly head to invite me to financial misjudgements. Sometimes I resist, but many (most) times I don’t. She caught on to me as soon as I entered my teens. But back then pocket money used to be tight but after I started my professional career Ms. Temptation has made a permanent residence somewhere around me. I have still to figure out where exactly she resides, but usually the voice seems to come from somewhere behind me and then moves forward to lead me on to the path of financial misjudgements and the resulting chaos. I also wonder if I am her only victim or she is handling other ‘accounts’ as well. I am too embarrassed to ask people directly, but my near and dear ones have guessed that at times I am the victim of some scamster who drains my bank accounts of my hard earned tax paid income.

Though I must admit that in the last few years, I have become stronger. I give her the pleasure of victimizing me, but limit the outflow of money mainly on small stuff. But I guess, it is a game of high turnover. No wonder the retail chains are expanding in leaps and bounds. So much so, a Mall opened right across the road from my house. All my favourite stores are there right across the road. I just need to make a quick dash across the zebra crossing, encouraged by Ms. Temptation and there awaits a world of bliss – Woodland, Zara, Puma, Aldo, Benetton, Tommy Hilfiger, Mango, Hidesign; the list is endless.


MS. TEMPTATION & CARS & ME

Small amounts of money spent does add up to a neat packet over a period of time. But what really upsets the financial balance are the four wheeled creatures called cars. I have been avoiding visiting showrooms to the other side of Ring Road, but when Ms. Temptation overrules, all my firm resolves tend to dissolve. Frankly, the last time I actually succumbed to buying a car was in April 2010. The cute little Hyundai i10 Kappa 1.2 was just the right car to enable me to park in cramped places within the city. However, my office commute still remained the good old Ford Fiesta bought in April 2006. As my peer group in the office changed their cars in 2009, I continued to be enthralled by the Fiesta. But the fact that an all new version of the Fiesta was being launched gave enough reason for Ms. Temptation to return with full force. Prodded on by Ms. Temptation, I have been happily lapping up all news and views on the forthcoming sedan. The formal unveiling on 14th April was the last straw on the camel’s back. I could resist no more !!


BOOKED !! THE VICE & THE PRICE

By the following week, I had made up my mind to buy the new Ford Sedan. I could see the jubilant grin on Madam Temptations crooked face as I worked out the logistics to book the New Ford Fiesta.

So foolish of me! Why? Because :

• I had yet to see the car in flesh, leave alone taking a test drive
• I had no clue about the actual pricing
• There was no data released from the company about the variants and the final specs per variant
• No one had a clue when the car would actually be available for delivery

But when Ms. Temptation takes charge, folks, there is just about nothing you can do about it.


THE MAN OF THE HOUSE....SARCASM PERSONIFIED

Date : 15th May, 2011

As the days moved on, my impatience over the actual launch of the Fiesta grew and my husband observed my behaviour as a scientist would observe the behaviour of a newly discovered species....with a lot of interest :

He (finally) : Everything ok?
Me (alarmed) : Yes. Yes. Everything ok. Why do you ask?
He (casually) : You've been acting kind of odd.
Me (even more casually) : No. No.
He (smugly) : Let me guess.
Me (nervously trying to change the topic) : I have to help the kids with a project.
He (on the attack mode) : It's something to do with cars.
Me (shocked) : What makes you feel so?
He (acting knowledgeable) : You have that expression on your face nowadays.
Me (uncomfortably) : Which expression?
He (accusingly) : That expression you have on your face when you think about cars.
Me (defeated) : Hmm. Since you figured it out, well, yes. I have booked the New Ford Sedan.

And then, all hell broke loose.

He : The usual blah..blah..blah
Me : The usual blah..blah..blah

I felt as though a big burden had been lifted from my shoulders - no need to hide the booking from anyone anymore. I could see evil grin of victory on Ms. Temptation's face becoming wider.

IN CONFLICT - ME AND MYSELF

Date : 15th June, 2011

The wait for the NFS was longer and more painful than I could have imagined it to be. As time rolled on, I wondered if I had made a mistake by booking the car without any information. It is very seldom that I buy a product without any substantial research and comparative data to benchmark it against. This once I seemed to be undecided - what if the car turned out to be a damp squib?

I had started scouting for a car a year ago in a higher segment. But the blue oval seemed to lure me towards itself once again.

[Sugeeta]

LURE OF THE BLUE OVAL ?

Having test driven a couple of vehicles of various makes and after having given most car manufacturers a fair chance, I seemed to be lured by the blue oval yet again. The Classic Fiesta’s turbo rush and responsive engine could give many a newly launched cars a run for their money. But then, I had always had a weakness for Ford vehicles. Why? Here’s why :

- The very first 2 logos I saw on vehicles as a kid were Ford and Fiat. The Ford car at home back then was a very old one purchased by my grandfather way back in the late 1920s.
- Whenever I visited our family owned farmland, I always saw a Ford Tractor tilling the fields. I held great fascination for the bright blue coloured tractor and all the noise it made.
- In the 1990s, the Ford logo appeared in India on the Ford Escort and I used to look for excuses to drive through the road in front of the Ford showroom. I could not afford to purchase a new car back then, but
- Managed to purchase the Ford Ikon 1.6 ZXi petrol in January 2003
- Found excuses in mounting fuel bills to purchase the 1.4 ZXi diesel Fiesta when office shifted to a more distant location from the present one.

So even though I had set forth with a fairly handsome budget upwards of 18 lacs, I still ended up being lured by the New Fiesta launch news.


HIGH PRICING GOOF-UP WITH LOWER BHP : BONANZA FROM FORD MOTORS

By mid July, the Fiesta had been formally launched but Ford Motors seemed to have royally goofed things :

- the expected killer pricing turned out to be killing pricing with all intention of killing the New Fiesta Sedan even before it hit the showrooms
- The expected 1.6 diesel and petrol mills had been shockingly downgraded to 1.5 ones instead
- the showroom staff were clueless on when the car would be available for delivery and how to manage their existing customers who had already booked the cars

I took a test drive of the car and found the overall package to be quite acceptable. On insistence of family and friends, I also took a test drive of the New Hyundai Verna. But I still stuck to my decision to buy the Fiesta.

During this time, all that Harpreet Ford could do was give one date after the other for the delivery of the car till I ran out of patience and called up the Plant at Chennai. I could still not extract a firm delivery date. Sometimes, I was told the car had already been dispatched, at other times I was given gyan by the sales manager who explained the virtues of patience in detail.

Having lost hope, I turned to test driving the Verna yet again, followed by another test drive of the Fiesta. In my heart of hearts, I was looking for reasons to weigh the Fiesta against the Verna so that I could change my decision. But, for me, the Fiesta it was. Probably, somewhere down the line, I will explain the reasons I stuck to the Fiesta. Something in the Fluidic Verna’s handling scared me badly, really badly that I chose a car with lower bhp but better handling and stability over it.

Having no hopes left for a delivery date in the near future, I decided I needed a break and set off for a vacation to Goa with the family. On 27th August, while I was still in Goa, I received a call from Ford Motors that the car had been dispatched, and would disembark in Delhi on 6th September. I took in the information with a pinch of salt, since I had lost all faith in the out of reach delivery dates of the New Fiesta.

[Sugeeta]

TOOK DELIVERY OF THE VEHICLE ON 8TH SEPTEMBER, 2011

On 6th September, I got a call from Harpreet Ford that the Fiesta booked by me was disembarking from the trailer. But the experience over the past few weeks had turned me into a pessimist. I told the dealership to let me know when I could collect it - so it was decided that the D-day would be 8th September, post noon.

On 8th September, I took off half day from work and set off with hubby in our existing Fiesta to pick up its new sibling.

It was a bright sunny day and we reached Harpreet Ford Gurgaon's godforsaken location near the traffic jam infested highway with broken roads inundated by sewage overflow. Eew!! This was distressing, as Harpreet Ford's main showroom is just about 3 Kms. away from my home. Butn here I was surrounded by muck and slush in a showroom of the same company 40 Kms. away from home so that some stupid sales executive could click us as one of the few customers to have purchased the car from Harpreet Ford, Gurgaon.

The delivery process was more or less uneventful since the sales staff were poor equipped / trained to explain any feature properly. Also, we were too angry to open our mouths lest we hurl some unwanted anger at the staff. We paid INR 5300 for the teflon coating and set off home. Hubby driving the old Fiesta and me following in the new car.

By the time we reached home, it was 9.00 pm and it was raining heavily. We barely managed to click a few pictures just after dinner in a somewhat heavy drizzle.

Some pictures of the New Ford Fiesta in the rain on the night we welcomed it home

A side view of the Fiesta

A close up of the center console in the dark with raindrops on the windscreen

[Sugeeta]

MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE NEW FORD FIESTA 1.5 TDCI TITANIUM+


The New Ford Sedan had logged in approx. 1100 Kms. in the first 20 days. Of course, an ownership experience report would build up over a period of time. However, some initial observations are as follows :


Initial Likes (Besides the whirr of a new engine and the smell of a new car)

- The good feeling extremely responsive steering tops my list of likes
- The soundless cabin is a treat to drive in
- The stable handling continues from the previous generation and has been improvised further. No matter what track you are on, the Fiesta is stable and firmly grounded on the surface
- The suspension is firm, yet not uncomfortable. Small and average potholes and road aberrations are handled without any issues
- Once the car is road bound, it runs like the breeze
- The cruise control feature can be active in speeds as low as 40 Kmph and is actually useful
- Excellent braking dynamics
- The dashboard, I simply love it - good to touch and very easy to use inspite of all the paraphenelia present on it
- The company fitted music system is so far the best in this class of cars
- The voice control feature is easy to use, though I expected it to be more of a non-feature
- Mobile phone integration happened with ease even with my humble low end Blackberry curve
- Very effective air conditioning
- The nice refined purr of the diesel engine
- Solid build of the car. Presently I find the doors somewhat too heavy to push open though
- Adjustable rear view mirrors provide a wide range of view on either side
- Comfortable seats. If you are not a giant, they have ample space too.
- Quality of material used on the seats is very sturdy and good
- Folding key fits easily into a small pocket
- On the fuel efficiency front, the car seems to be doing better than what was claimed by the company staff, firm figures will emerge in the next few days of running


Initial Dislikes

- The marginally more turbo-lag in comparison to my previous diesel Fiesta
- The repeated seat belt warning chime tends to get irritating after sometime if you are driving a short distance
- Lack of a temperature gauge on the front control panel
- The crude finish of the front footwells on either side
- The (in)famous hinges of the rear armrest
- The (in)famous poor quality of black plastics on the rear door
- The dark interiors. I personally prefer light shade / beige interiors. These dark ones tend to highlight dust very prominently
- The fabric padded areas like rear shelf look more like a crude blanket material
- Lack of any slot in the rear doors
- The weird shape of the rear door
- Lack of air vents in the rear
- The voice control feature tends to pick up commands more actively when you speak with an accent rather than with our desi style


My Initial Wish-List

Ford Motor Company, your kind attention please :

- First and foremost, the dealership experience needs to see a sea of change if you need to keep customers. There are big goof-ups at practically each and every stage - right from the booking to the delivery
- Secondly, the pricing. Ford Motors, what exactly were the management doing while deciding on the pricing? Watching Cartoon Network? I for one, am simply not amused. Reconsider the pricing ASAP if you do not want to lose the product completely.
- The tail lamp cluster absolutely MUST be redesigned to make the car look graceful.
- Wish the Interiors were beige because we love beige interiors – they open up the spaces and give a more homely atmosphere inside
- Wish there was more chrome, especially in areas like the door handles, AC vents, internal hard trims etc. because we as Indians and love our fair share of bling. Please do not reintroduce us to the Maruti 800 era again.
- Wish there were an armrest on the driver’s side of the door because it helps to rest the elbow while cruising or at low speeds
- Wish the fit and finish of trims was good and not patchy because these things make even a good car look tacky and ancient. Please refer to the front footwells
- Wish the rear armrest was at least a match on the older Fiesta sibling because we do not want Delhi Transport Corporation buses like finish in a premier sedan costing approx. 12 lacs on road
- Wish the motor was a 1.6 liter engine with more power because this car clearly begs for more power


The Actual Driving Experience

I am not an automobile engineering expert. I simply love my cars for the driving fun they provide me. My domain is more or less restricted to the C/C+ segment sedans. I enjoy driving my three Fords more than I enjoy driving my brother's Lexus RX. Must say that the New Ford Fiesta continues to be a fun to drive car, as was the previous Fiesta (new Classic).

Point and press your remote to open the car, flip open the key and open the door. The door is solidly built and closes behind you with a thud and not a metallic clank. Flip open your folding key, insert it in the ignition, start the car and listen. Yes, indeed the car did start. But no sound is audible except for a soft whirr. The cabin is well insulated and the sounds from the road do not seep inside. Slot the car into the first gear and release the clutch. The gear shift is smooth and the clutch release if effortless. As you accelerate and shift into the second gear, you can feel the car accelerating over a gradient. The initial burst of power from the previous generation is surely not there. In the meantime, the seat belt not on chime starts to ring incessantly till you buckle yourself in firmly (can be tad irritating if you plan to drive a very short distance). Accelerate further and shift to third gear and you feel the car is on a happy run with the steering responding to each and every move you command it to follow. Now move onto the fourth gear and enjoy your drive !!

The car takes ascends and descends flyovers effortlessly. In the previous gen. Fiesta, I was used to downshifting frequently on lower speeds, but the New Fiesta is well able to adjust low speeds within the 2nd gear without the engine exhibiting any signs of strain or the motion becoming jerky. Braking system is very responsive and sure and the car halts firmly without skidding or jerking. Even abrupt braking at speeds over 50 Kmph is refined and the car does not wobble anywhere. Whether taking smooth curves on the road or taking sharp curves on the grade separators, this New Fiesta knows its business well. Stability is never compromised and the suspension handles potholes and bumpy roads very well indeed, even on a curvy road.

The ground clearance is really good. The car does not touch even the worst speed breakers, with full load. It passed the acid test of the rear gate entry of my office meant for service vehicles which are essentially trucks.

The expanse covered by the rear view mirrors is remarkably more and better than the previous cars I have owned in this segment. Both provide a comprehensive view of the road for making balanced judgements. The 2 electrically folding mirrors alongwith the parking sensors are enough to help me slip the car into the narrowest possible places. Of course, full marks to the steering system for enabling this. Have managed to park this car with the least number of manouvres while parking it in limited space between 2 parked vehicles. Does the rear shelf hinder rear view? Yes, more than in the previous Fiesta (where it was practically flat), but less than the New Verna. But I am used to driving an Ikon, so no complaints.

I must surely mention that this car handles very well as speed in the range of 100-110 Kmph. I have been told not to exceed this speed during the first 2500 Kms., so I am wary of driving within the prescribed limit. Braking at this speed is very stable too - no screeching and no wobbbling.


My Take On The Interiors

The seat is comfortable and does not lack space for moderately heavily built people either. The fabric of the seats is a self design one in two trims and looks fairly sturdy and durable. It is not rough to the touch either. Good seats overall. Tilt steering and adjustable seats, both distance wise and height wise, ensure you soon arrive at a comfortable driving position.

The carpeting material in the footwells, though of a good quality fails to seamlessly cover the nooks and crevices it should have covered, making it appear more of a fit and finish flaw instead of a carpeting faux pas. The carpeting material continues in the back, but appears to do its job better in the rear. The hump in the rear footwell is not prominent and does not hamper comfortable seating. Contrary to popular belief, there is enough space at the back to accomodate three average sized adults quite comfortably.

Plastics on the dash and the material of the steering is fairly good quality. The finish of the dashboard and front console is top notch and seamless. However, on the RHS of the driving side, I do see some gaping gaps. I am still learning about what I can do with the menus provided on each function key. I assumed the voice control feature to be more of a non-feature and I could not be more mistaken. Every day my dependence on this feature is increasing and using it is becoming a habit.

On the LHS of the steering are the audio controls and on the RHS are the cruise control buttons. I have used this feature so far on 4 occasions only on empty stretches of the road. The minimum speed I have been able to activate it is 50 Kmph and the maximum speed it has been used it is 110 Kmph.

The door on the driving side has controls for the rear view mirrors on either side. Controls for flipping on lights remain placed on the RHS of the steering as in the previous Fiesta and are graded 1-5 for controlling the beam intensity.

The features have been described much in detail in the official reviews. I would like to summarize it as "I love the front interiors of the new Fiesta".


The ICE is somewhere between above average to quite good for this segment. I do not plan to upgrade it for now. Although the music sounds so much better when I play it via aux. inputs from my daughter's Samsung Galaxy SII rather than my modest Blackberry Curve. No I am not looking for excuses to buy a new phone. Ms. Temptation can take a walk!! Again, there are so many functions on the music menus that I have yet to explore.

The integration / pairing via bluetooth for Ford Audio has been successful with all phones I have tried with so far, very seamlessly too.

I personally do not like dark interiors and this remained one of my pet peeves initially. However, over the last few days, I have more or less adjusted to the dark interiors and have even started liking them somewhat. As they say, looks tend to grow on you.


My Take On The Exteriors

Overall shape of the car being promoted by the manufacturer as the 'Kinetic Design' is more or less acceptable.

Some people have described the rear of the car as 'ugly' or 'disproportionate' or 'odd'. I would agree with these statements on many accounts. On close observation the reasons the back appears to be different from the conventional norms is :

1. Overall tapering shape of the car - if you view the car from above, it looks to be tapering at the back - broad in the front and very gradually tapering towards the back. Personally, I would have liked a more uniform shape - front to back.

2. Longer rear in terms of height - the rear of the car is longer and so is the bumper in order to accomodate the exhaust which is tucked behind the rear bumper.

3. Small tail lamp cluster - the tail lamp cluster is small, both length wise and width wise, making it appear round as against the contemporary tapering design. Ford Motors failed to carry the good design of the headlamp cluster to the rear. Verna's design here is just SUPERB.

4. Windows tapering upwards from the front to the rear leaving a large expanse of space available to the eye.

The front of the car looks pampered as far as the design is concerned. However, it appears that the design team ran out of patience as time progressed and finished off the rear in a hurry

OR

The front of the car was designed by professionals and the rear was designed by a set of novices

BUT

Will leave the ranting for later as I draw more comparisons between the front and the rear.

On a more positive note, the front is eye catching and so is the side view as far as the shape is concerned. I particularly like the view of the front grille. The rear of the car requires a lot of work to be redone. The shape of the lamps should be tapering on either side to make the design more visually acceptable.

The quality of metal used is good and solid to the feel. Exterior paint and finish is uniform and seamless. The doors feel solid to open and close too.

The tyres and alloys so far have not elicited any negative feel, though I have been advised to upgrade to broader ones by friends, right now I will stick on with the company provided ones.


Planned Upgrades

None planned as of now. Only additional amount spend in addition to the cost of the car is Rs. 5300 on the Teflon Coating.

On 17th October, 2011 the car has completed 1800 Kms. and the average fuel consumption is approx. 17-18 Kmpl in congested ring road city traffic conditions during prime office hours, with AC on for most of the time.


WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OLD 1.4 TDCI ZXI (2006) FIESTA?

It was purchased by a gentleman within our apartment complex.

[Sugeeta]

FUEL CONSUMED VS. DISTANCE COVERED SO FAR

8 litres - free with car (only freebie so far)
41.55 liters - Rs. 1700
39.11 liters - Rs. 1600
24.44 liters - Rs. 1000
__________________________________________________ _______
113.1 liters - Rs. 4300
__________________________________________________ _______


Distance covered so far - 1800 Kms.
DTE reading - 176 Kms.
__________________________________________________ ________
Total Distance Covered - 1976 Kms.
__________________________________________________ ________

Hope figures improve after the first service

[Ace F355]

This is one good read, Sugeeta!

Congrats on your New Ford Fiesta. I am sure your old affair with Ford will continue to rise on to new heights with this new member in the family. Have a happy drive and clock some more thousands of blissful miles of her!

I agree with you about the rear design of the new car, however your dislikes sound like as if you are writing them just for the sake of it! lol.

Also, do you visit Hauz Khas and its vicinity or you reside there? Since I remember seeing a new Fiesta with Team BHP stickers on that route.


P.S. This so called Ms. Temptation seem to re-direct me as well in the same way as it does to you! Damn her...

[Vik0728]

Woah Sugeeta hearty congrats on your "New Addiction".

I was barely reading the context since I was really amazed by your spontaneity in writing!!

Wish you all the many more happy miles with your New Fiesta, just the same way you had with the old one.

[ghodlur]

@Sugeeta

A Big Congratulations to your Ford. Should I say Ford runs in your blood. Yours was the most anticipated ownership thread and you have not disappointed. What a writing, was glued to read right from start to end.

I didnt know you were a chrome fan when you wanted more chrome in your Fiesta. I feel the lesser the chrome more royal the car looks. Did the dealer have any feedback form, I guess you could have filled the pages, request you to write to Ford customer care regarding the wish list but as pain points.

Happy mile cruching and drive safley, looking forward to more wonderful interactions. BTW I have keeping Ms Temptation on hold for quite some time now, hope she stays there till I let her loose.

[aaren]

Excellent write up, Sugeeta !! Thoroughly enjoyed your conversations !!!

Congrats on your new acquisition and hope to see it with more bling. Enjoy miles of safe drives and keep us posted.

[Tassem]

Neat Work there! Congrats! I wish you'd put up more pics though.

And how is the Voice Command thingy? Does it really work or is it a chore like on the phone dialers?

[Damu]

Sugeeta, superb review with terrific detail and a great sense of humour. Congratulations on the car and the review!

Ford really ought to compensate and/or reward you for your loyalty to the brand besides the difficulty experienced in receiving the car.

As a fanatical Ford fan too (I still own and drive both an Ikon 1.6 and a Fiesta 1.6S) I can relate to the Ford driving experience that you have elaborated so well.

And perhaps, to add to the existing humorous introduction in the write-up, your hubby might add a few lines too! It would be nice to know what he has to say about your car fixation!

Best wishes for another long stint with your new Fiesta!

[Driving_Nomad]

Congrats on the buy Sugeeta!!! A very interesting write-up indeed. That being said, I am one of the full-time victims of Ms.Temptation
Have the sales charts of Figo made people in top management at Ford complacent? It's a real goof-up with the pricing of the new Fiesta. Hope they give it a second thought.

[krish3]

Congrats Sugeeta on buying the new Ford Fiesta.

How about a more detailed comparo with the Old Fiesta which you would now really well after 5 years with it. I did read a few points here and there about engine and arm-rest, but a more detailed one would be more useful.

From my short exp with the new Fiesta, I found the classic to be a much better purchase if one can dis-regard the extra features in the New Fiesta.

[AutoIndian]

Congratulations Sugeeta & thanks for starting this thread. Was looking forward to it since a long time. Will go through it at liesure & get back to you in case I have some queries. Hope you won't mind answering those.

Wishing you a very happy ownership experience with your new Fiesta

[VeluM]

Originally Posted by Sugeeta

...

Congratulations on the Fiesta Diesel! Nice write up, and well written. What was the damage and any reasons for not considering the Vento diesel?

IMHO the Fiesta diesel is incredibly overpriced, but that's just me. Even though it is a very capable and enjoyable drive, with an 18L budget you could have even gone up to the Laura TDi with DSG. Was it Only Ford, or did you consider anything else apart from the Verna? If you did, your thoughts on the alternatives as well, please.