[witwiky]

Congratulations KreativeGeek on the new car! Welcome to the club. The review is fantastic and I'm sure you will enjoy the ride a lot.
About the panel gaps, I had not noticed them so far as I have a black colour aspire.

Originally Posted by Tman

The only doubt I have - this being the first time I would be buying a Ford - is after sales, service and maintenance costs. Did you research or ask around here how good the Ford service is? Have been with Maruti and Hyundai so far and quite happy with them, but was willing to try the Aspire out. Any reviews of the Ford Service? Are they able to match the competition, now that theyve had reasonable success with the figo and ecosport? or is it still a weak link?

I have been a Ford Figo owner since 2010 and have had multiple encounters with dealers in Pune, Kolhapur, New Bombay and Bombay. The service experience and respecting deadlines and managing my expectations as a demanding customer were handled quite well. I do not remember even once when I had a grudge against them or their service.
A couple of times they forgot to complete all the tasks I had asked them to and they promptly accepted their mistake and re-delivered the car after completing the outstanding jobs.
About service costs, the parts and labour costs are fairly comparable to Hyundai but not to MSIL. If compared to the spares costs to older Fords - pre=Figo era, they are considerably lower priced now.
Also, another point to note in ASS aspect is - see the number of cars that are on the road of MSIL, Hyundai and Honda. The Honda dealer told me they get an avg of 200 to 250 cars every weekend for servicing. This means there is considerable less time they can invest per car than a Ford which gets much less number of cars due to sheer volumes. This is one criteria I keep telling my friends about looking at ASS.

Originally Posted by Raja

Can you tell us where the 4 speakers are located (in the four doors?) and any idea what the size speakers are fitted. I looked through the manual, but there is no mention of location or size.

The ICE is by Visteon/ Pioneer provided with SYNC OS. I am not sure about the non-SYNC variant but I am sure they won't get different suppliers for different variants. The speakers are fitted in the front middle section of the front doors and front bottom section of the rear doors. Both speakers are of the same size but due to different placement and cabin acoustics, the hearing experience (esp. stereo audio) is better in the front two seats.

[happy_traveller]

Originally Posted by KreativeGeek

Attachment 1415698
Attachment 1415699
Pics of my Asus Zenfone 2 placed in the MyDock panel, it holds the phone firmly in place, yet to test it's grip while driving.

You don't have to worry about wire passing through the central console while attached to some mobile holder accessory. Charging cable gets concealed inside.

Thanks for the pics KreativeGeek
So its just the charger wire that comes out and the phone sync through BT ?

[KreativeGeek]

Originally Posted by petrolhead_neel

A question: why was the Tata Zest not in your shortlist? It's a competent car (remember, Team-BHP car of the year ). Was it because of Tata's pathetic ASC?

Tata has all good intentions in making a wide cabin for almost all their passenger vehicles and they are known to provide practical features in their cars, even when it comes to suspension quality, they are very good at it.

But when it comes to Exterior design personally I still do not find their cars appealing and last year I was actively looking for an AMT, Zest Diesel AMT was on my wishlist because I recognize all the effort TATA has put in to package this product as a true VFM offering, the way boot section has being designed on this one left me confused if Zest was something between a hatchback & 4 metre sedan vehicle.

I have not sat in the Zest cabin so I would not comment on build and aesthetics but I have seen quiet a few Tata Zest cars plying on Pune roads, there is something about their design philosophy which has blocked the faintest of admiration I start getting about this brand into a quick no-no.

In Pune the nearest dealer in my vicinity is Millennium Mobility which I do not have much info about, the popular one's are Concorde Motors and Pandit Auto which are not close by, so ASS was also one major factor where I did not consider Zest.

Originally Posted by happy_traveller

Thanks for the pics KreativeGeek
So its just the charger wire that comes out and the phone sync through BT ?

Yes you have option to download and sync your phone book with the HU system and play music via BT.

There is one catch here that you cannot use USB to play music when the USB slot is in use for mobile charging and the Aspire manual does not advise using multi port USB gadgets for multiple connections.

[KreativeGeek]

If any one is interested to check out how Aspire behaves on road I stumbled upon a YouTube channel, some guy has captured high speed cornering, braking, handling videos, search by the name Ayan Som.

[jayded]

Originally Posted by KreativeGeek

If any one is interested to check out how Aspire behaves on road I stumbled upon a YouTube channel, some guy has captured high speed cornering, braking, handling videos, search by the name Ayan Som.

Oh my. That gives no idea about the capabilities of the car but just shows how much of a mad man that person is. He is merging into traffic testing the limits of the car? it's just not done!

By the way, congrats on your new ride KG! Drive safe!

[KreativeGeek]

Check out this video from MotorBeam they have recorded 0-100 at 9.72 seconds for Figo Aspire along with numbers from competition

https://youtu.be/d8oiRW0M29s

[KreativeGeek]

Close to completing 1000 km on Odometer, satisfied with 18 kmpl mileage, updated observations on the car after end of this month

[Aakarsh]

Originally Posted by KreativeGeek

Attachment 1419616
Close to completing 1000 km on Odometer, satisfied with 18 kmpl mileage, updated observations on the car after end of this month

Congratulations KreativeGeek on the new acquisition. The Aspire has lot of capablities in the sub 4 meter segment sedan.
Car looks good in the colour and also the console looks fantastic when illuminated.
The average of 18kmpl is indeed very remarkable.

Did you encounter any issue related to the car since your odo is about to reach the 1000 km mark.

Regards
Aakarsh

[KreativeGeek]

Maybe a little OT but I got some interesting links to share for the "Thak" and "Thud" difference in sound related to door closing evidently noticed by many BHP'ians who test drove Aspire, in fact few office colleagues questioned me today if there was something wrong with the way rear passenger door closes.

The first link gives a high level overview of how the car door latch is is actually acoustically engineered to make a certain sound, it can be a deal breaker for many when it comes to translating an inquiry into actual sale.

http://www.howtogeek.com/94336/five-...etter-science/

2nd link is a video in German language (unfortunately does not have subtitles I think) from Motorvision about Kiekert car latches and how they are engineered

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gQdNvfbQk0

3rd link is an article from a firm by the name Head acoustics which describes more technical aspects of Vehicle Acoustics - Door Slam/ Door Opening (with illustrations)

https://www.head-acoustics.de/eng/nv...tions_door.htm

[dpkbehera]

Originally Posted by KreativeGeek

The first link gives a high level overview of how the car door latch is is actually acoustically engineered to make a certain sound, it can be a deal breaker for many when it comes to translating an inquiry into actual sale.

This is interesting !!! I hope that this is the reason rather than the build quality getting compromised..

[dpkbehera]

3M at Hyderabad is quoting around Rs 4000 for under body coating. Can you please elaborate on the 3M paint protection in terms of the package details?

[KreativeGeek]

Originally Posted by dpkbehera

3M at Hyderabad is quoting around Rs 4000 for under body coating. Can you please elaborate on the 3M paint protection in terms of the package details?

I don't have break up cost with me but the underbody anti-corrosion and exterior paint protection package costed me 7000 overall

[mobike008]

KG, Brilliant review of a lovely machine. Iam glad to know that your enjoying the Aspire to the hilt

18kmpl in such early days is simply a phenomenal FE figure. Is it completely in city or has some highway drive mixed into the equation?

Mine with pedal to metal gives me around 15.50kmpl at 600kms mark. But, I think it will go up to at least 17kmpl after the 1st service

Keep updating the thread and look forward to your experiences and lots of pictures as you enjoy this sub-4 meter diesel rocket

[KreativeGeek]

Posting month end experience for Sep'15:
- I have being enjoying driving experience to the core without much hassles, in fact the ongoing weather transition in Pune & Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations put my driving style with Aspire to a thorough test.

- I was never so worried for getting a dent or scratch on my new car before Aspire, touch wood with overtly cautious driving I managed to keep it safe while riding in heavy rains and choc-a-bloc hinjewadi + city traffic on 4 to 5 days this month.

- Still a jealous kid of a flat owner from our building stuck chewing gum on my car door and roofline, some stain marks were left out after I removed gum by drying it with cold ice cubes.




- Society has restricted car wash only to one day in the week due to water cuts in Pune and my car washer was also off to his native place for the entire month for Ganesh Chaturthi celebration so I took my Aspire to Auto Xpress car wash outlet at the basement of Mariplex complex in Kalyani Nagar, for a quick and decent cleaning job which costed 450 bucks, had to also get alloys cleaned properly after rains took a pause.

- Engine is rev happy below 2K RPM best suited for getting short bursts of torque in city traffic, I can overtake with confidence without worrying about unexpected lag creeping in. Suspension feels very comfortable overall but some rattling noise can be felt from car under body when it encounters nasty bumps, difference I noticed is that this body rattling does not carry over to steering much.

- 2 partial top ups in the month, first was on the very second day while leaving for Mumbai of 30 litres, second top up was for 35 litres, still left with approx 120-130 km on DTE indicator. With current mileage of 18 kmpl I expect monthly fuel requirement between 45-50 litres for office commute and occasional trips in city.





I have reset trip meter with Avg km/pl and Avg speed indicator.

[KreativeGeek]

Originally Posted by mobike008

KG, Brilliant review of a lovely machine. I am glad to know that your enjoying the Aspire to the hilt

18kmpl in such early days is simply a phenomenal FE figure. Is it completely in city or has some highway drive mixed into the equation?

Mine with pedal to metal gives me around 15.50kmpl at 600kms mark. But, I think it will go up to at least 17kmpl after the 1st service

Keep updating the thread and look forward to your experiences and lots of pictures as you enjoy this sub-4 meter diesel rocket

Congratulations to you as well for the purchase of Figo Aspire , feels great to have someone from the mod panel as a part of our tribe

The 18kmpl FE I am getting has around 160-170 kms of a single expressway trip, rest is all in the city with 70% use of heater, rear defogger and AC because of the much needed erratic rain revival and the following dry days it is still very humid in Pune, in fact weather department has declared it as hottest September in last 10 years.

I have also changed my habit of hard breaking while driving in the city with Beat/i10 earlier and as I was trying to get accustomed with the car dimensions to get a judgement of keeping safe distance from other vehicles on road, I would say it has helped me to a great extent in improving FE from >16.5 to 18.0 after I returned from Mumbai early in the month.