[skanchan95]

10000 kms/2nd service
The car was due for its 1 year/10000 kms 2nd service on 18/04/2017. Accordingly, I had booked a service appointment with Cauvery Ford, Baikampady for 17/04/2017.

Just 3-4 days before the service appointment, I noticed that the hatch door was impacting the top part of the bumper (in its closed position). Everytime the hatch door was closed or opened, it would scrape against the bumper lip, which caused the paint on the hatch door to chip off and scratch marks were caused on the bumper lip. The only thing that may have caused this misalignment was the fitment of the rear view camera on the rear bumper, where they may have opened the rear bumper and during re-fitment, the bumper may have got misaligned.





I took the car to the workshop in Baikampady where they fixed the hatch door alignment.They said nothing was wrong with the bumper fitment and that the hatch door got misaligned on its own. As the paint had chipped off on the hatch door/bumper lip and needed to repainted, I said I will get the car back on the service appointment date.

I took the car to the workshop on the service appointment date. Two days earlier, I received an SMS confirming the appointment and that Mr Swasthik was the service advisor appointed to look after my car. Reached the workshop in the morning and met Swasthik and the Works Manager, Mr Nithin. Odometer reading was 6761 kms The following things needed to be done:
1. 2nd Service - Things related to the 2nd service (Engine Oil Change, General Check up etc)
2. Repaint - Repaint of hatch door edges and top part of the bumper
3. Gear Box Cover - it had become loose and come off on it own. it would move lightly while shifting gears. I could not fix it back.

4. Gear shift hard
5. Petrol Smell - Petrol smell inside the cabin in the morning
6. Wheel Alignment/Balancing/Tyre Rotation

Swasthik called me on the same evening and updated me that the servicing was done and the car was in to the paint booth for hatch door edges and bumper top part re-paint. Next day morning he would check the petrol smell and do whatever needs to be done to fix the issue.

I got a call the next day that the car was ready. I was a bit busy so I could not go to the workshop to get the car.

Went to the workshop on the next day(19/04/2017) to get the car.
1. 2nd Service - Total bill amount was Rs 1742.00.

a)Engine Oil - 4L X Rs 286.46 = Rs 1145.84
b)Plug- Oil Drain - 1 X Rs 47.19 = Rs 47.19
c)Filter - Engine Oil - 1 X Rs 80.08 = Rs 80.08
d)Wash Fluid Pouch - 1 X Rs 55.91 = Rs 55.91
e)Weights - WB - 3 X Rs 64.06 = Rs 192.18
Total = Rs 1521.20
Tax @ 14.5% = Rs 220.58
G. Total = Rs 1741.78

If I remove the Weights & Washer fluid [Rs 55.91 + Rs 192.18 + Rs 35.97(tax) = Rs 284.06] from the Service bill, the amount comes to => Rs 1742 - Rs 284.06 = 1457.94, which is slightly lower than the service costs claimed on the website (Rs 1467).

So, well done to Cauvery Ford,Baikampady for keeping the service costs at nearly the same levels as claimed on the website.

2. Repaint - Exceeded my expectations and I was not charged for the same. No paint mismatch/haziness or fading.



3. Gear Box Cover - They had to open the console to re-fix it. As good as it was before.

4. Gear shift hard - Lubrication done and the gear shift has become smooth.

5. Petrol Smell - The petrol tank vacuum/ventilation valve had dust accumulated on it, it has been cleaned and no smell in the cabin this morning. I even tanked up immediately after service, no smell of petrol in the cabin.Earlier smell used to come in the cabin when filling fuel and used to linger in the cabin for a long time.

6. Wheel Alignment/Balancing/Tyre Rotation- Done but I have not been charged for the services(except for the WB weights).

Impressions : Pretty happy that all issues were addressed to my satisfaction, impressed by the SA's(Swasthik) work and attention to detail.

Experience after the first year
The Good:
1. Most powerful A/C in its class. In the sweltering 35-40 degree heat, I am amazed to see the Figo's A/C performing so well.. It cools the cabin in no time.
2. Sync - Absolutely Love it!!! Switching to my favourite tracks through voice commands is easy and fun. The system can sort and display tracks artist/album/song name wise.


Some say it is a useless gizmo, but I find it very useful. For e.g having hundred of songs in my USB, If I need to hear a particular artist or a song, I just have to say "Play Artist XYZ" or "Play Track XYZ" and its plays tracks as per my command. I have learnt to pronounce names in a way the system can understand. The system reads tack info like Artist/Album/Song name from the tracks ID3 tag and sorts the tracks accordingly, which I feel is impressive.
Calling contacts using the voice commands is easy and the system even can even read SMSes from the phone.

I have no regrets on choosing Titanium+ over Titanium just for the Sync system.
Took me 6 months to notice that the system's keypad has Quick Dial feature.

3. Eventhough the 1.2 Ti-VCT engine is much maligned for its poor pick up and lethargic nature, I find it to be very smooth,quiet and refined. It is a pleasure to cruise on the highways at 80-90 kmph. Even at speeds of 110-120 kmph, the car is rock steady and I find the stock tyres have provided enough grip.
4. Braking is quite good.
5. The car has done a decent job in keeping the road undulations being transferred to the cabin to a bare minimum.
6. Lastly, its a delight to know that the service costs are as promised by Ford on their website.

Not so good
1. Minor rattles from the door pads. Can be hard to pin point them but those rattles get drowned if I keep the volume of the music at medium levels. Its something I am learning to live with.
2. Inaccurate Avg FE - The actual Avg FE tends to be 1.5-1.8 kmpl lesser than the one shown in the MID. The Actual FE figures so far have ranged from 12.5 to 13.1(tankful to tankful, with AC on all the time).
3. Door closing sound is awful. They improved it to some extent in the 2017 Figo/Aspire by changing the rear door lock striker design.
4. The Indicator/Headlight stalk still feels hard to operate. Wish they do something to make it a little more "soft" to operate.
5. Eventhough the car has a decent Ground Clearance, it still scraped a couple of speedbrakers unxpectedly (our Grand i10 would clear the same ones quite easily)
6. Non-illuminated power window switches - In the dark, the struggle to find the correct window switch continues.
7. Power point always ON. Have to remove the charger everytime I step out of the vehicle, or else as power supply is always on and if something is connected for e.g a DVR, it can lead to battery discharge overnight.

Additional Accessories Installed
1. Scuff Plates - Over the past year, footwear scratches have started showing up on the running board. To hide them, I wanted to have the OEM illuminated scuff plates installed on my Figo. Being thicker than the simple SS scuff plates, there seems to be a clearance issue with it. Once installed, the doors scrape against them causing scratches to both the door and the scuff plates.
So, I chose the normal stainless steel scuff plates.
Front

Rear


2. Ambient Lighting Accessory (Autocop make)
Front

Rear

Blue Lighting


The colour of the lights can be changed (Yellow,Blue, Red,White, Green) and brightness can be adjusted with a mobile app. There are three apps for Ford vehicles( Aspire, Ecosport & Endeavor).


All apps have the more or less the same interface and irrespective of the car in which the accessory is installed on, they work with the accessory perfectly. I even used an app for Toyota vehicles and controlled the lighting on my Figo

Total cost of the accessories : Rs 4500/-

If I have to choose between our 1.2 Grand i10 Asta(O) & 1.2 Figo Titanium+
on various parameters, I would choose:
Driving in the :
City - Grand i10
Highway- Figo
Bad Roads - Figo

Gearshift feel : Grand i10
Acceleration : Grand i10
Brakes : Figo
Steering Mounted Controls : Grand i10
MID: Figo
Speedmeter Looks : Grand i10
Audio System Quality & Features : Figo
Seating Comfort : Figo
Steering feel : Figo ( ALthough I liked the Grand i10's earlier)
A/C : Figo
Safety : Figo
Features : Figo
Cabin Space : Figo
Comfort Level : Figo

Looks:
Front - Figo
Side - Grand i10
Rear - Grand i10

Headlights: Grand i10 ( marginally better)
Cabin / plastic quality : Grand i10
Service : Hyundai
Service Costs : Ford (based on comparative 2nd service costs ; Figo - Rs 1742, Grand i10- Rs 2483)

Overall, I feel the Figo is a better and bigger car than the Grand i10, but I would still prefer the Grand i10 to be my daily ride on short to medium commutes in city traffic only because it is smaller and acceleration is way better than the Figo in lower gears. On the highgway though, I would prefer the much more stable Figo. With the Figo, I somehow feel the car is being held back by something while accelerating in lower gears. Wish Ford could address this. Other than that, I am pretty happy with Storm Shadow.

[skanchan95]

Return of the petrol fumes smell in the cabin
The petrol smell in the cabin seemed to be have returned again - About 10 days after the issue was sorted out. The issue seems to be that the smell of petrol fumes is noticed in the cabin only in the morning when the car is opened for the first time.

I took the car to the workshop on the morning of May 2nd, 2017. The Works Manager, Mr Nithin and SA, Swasthik were there. The car was lifted up on a hydraulic lift and they were checking the underside for leaks, No leaks were found.

They said they will have to keep the car for a day and check for the smell in the cabin again the next morning. I asked if I could come on the next morning so that we could check for the smell together, too which they agreed.

They graciously provided me with a loaner car - the workshop's Aspire TDCi Titanium+ - More on it later.

They said they give the loaner car( if available) to anyone who has to leave the car at the workshop for warranty related issues, which is an applaud able step.



I reached the workshop on the next morning(May 3rd) at 9 AM. Myself, Mr Nithin and a mechanic went to the car and sat in the car's cabin. - No smell noticed , to my utter embarrassment and in a way, disappointment. Mr Nithin, probably sending my embarrassment, told me to keep the car again for a day and that they will check for the smell again the next morning. I was given the loaner Aspire for another day.

Again on the next morning ( May 4th) I reached the workshop at 9 AM. The same process was repeated. Again, no smell was noticed in the cabin. Frankly, at that point of time, I did not know what to do. I knew for sure that the petrol fumes in the cabin issue had come come back, but for some reason, the issue did not rescue for the two days the car was in the workshop. To be fair to the workshop, there was nothing they could do, as no smell was noticed in their presence.

Mr Nithin,with all humility, told me to drive the car for the next 3-4 days and see if the issue recurs. I on my part said that I will look for the smell and while doing so, maintain a log for a week noting various parameters like Fuel Tank state, Time of opening the car, Time of locking the car the previous day, Distance covered on the previous day etc.
Two day old Log

Two days on, no smell is being noticed in the cabin. I will continue to monitor it to see if I notice the smoking gun, so to speak.

The TDCi Aspire experience
As stated earlier, Mr Nithin graciously provided me with the workshop's loaner Aspire for two days. Having driven the not so spunky 1.2 Petrol in the Aspire's hatchback Avatar, the TDCI Aspire was a hoot to drive. I had a big grin on my face when I reached home that day. The pickup and the car's eagerness to push through even at low RPMs was something I was mightily impressed with. Sitting the rear seat, tanks to the beige seats and door pads, the cabin felt much brighter and airy than the Figo's. The drive felt almost petrol like but with better pickup. Only things I didn't like was the horrible tyre noise from the MRF tyres and the diesel clatter vibrations on engine startup. Over two days, the car returned an impressive 18.1 kmpl ( with AC on all the time).

I was under the impression that the Aspire was basically a Figo with a boot. When the Aspire was parked in the porch in our Figo's place, I immediately noticed something different in the bumper. The Blue Oval Ford Logo seemed to be "bigger" on the Aspire's bumper. Looking closely, I noticed that the bumper on the Aspire was slightly different and smaller than the one in the Figo, the logo size is same.

Front On - Notice the size of the Ford Logo relative to the upper part of the bumper


Crude and lazy way to check the dimensions - The Aspire's bumper is slightly smaller and has a barely noticeable shape difference compared to the Figo's bumper


Side view - Front Bumper


Fog Lamp Housing


The Sync version seemed to be different in the loaner Aspire. It is v5.9 in my Figo:

[caraholic]

What was the cause of petrol smell.Was it resolved?

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by caraholic

What was the cause of petrol smell.Was it resolved?

It comes and goes. I can't exactly pinpoint the cause.

I've been maintaining a daily log since the last visit to the workshop to see if it can give any pointers to the cause.

The only hint that the readings seems to give about the cause is that the Fuel Tank seems to be around 1/4th full when the petrol smell in the cabin is noticed(and the car has been parked overnight at this Fuel tank Level).






As per the log,last time I noticed fuel smell in the cabin was on 01/07/2017 when the tank was around 1/4th full.

But then again, when the fuel tank was around the same 1/4th level today, the smell was not there in the cabin. I wish it stays this way.


So, I am not really sure what the cause is. As per the workshop there is nothing wrong and to their defence, no smell was noticed in the cabin when the car was parked at the workshop for two days.

[caraholic]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

It comes and goes. I can't exactly pinpoint the cause.

I've been maintaining a daily log since the last visit to the workshop to see if it can give any pointers to the cause.

The only hint that the readings seems to give about the cause is that the Fuel Tank seems to be around 1/4th full when the petrol smell in the cabin is noticed(and the car has been parked overnight at this Fuel tank Level).
Attachment 1658891

Attachment 1658892

Attachment 1658893

As per the log,last time I noticed fuel smell in the cabin was on 01/07/2017 when the tank was around 1/4th full.

But then again, when the fuel tank was around the same 1/4th level today, the smell was not there in the cabin. I wish it stays this way.
Attachment 1658897

So, I am not really sure what the cause is. As per the workshop there is nothing wrong and to their defence, no smell was noticed in the cabin when the car was parked at the workshop for two days.

I have recently bought a figo titanium and had faced the petrol smell issue once but it did not repeat.I had talked to a service advisor over the phone who said that this might be due to filling of petrol while the engine is on.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by caraholic

I have recently bought a figo titanium and had faced the petrol smell issue once but it did not repeat.I had talked to a service advisor over the phone who said that this might be due to filling of petrol while the engine is on.

Where do they allow filling petrol when the engine is running?

[arunramaswamy]

Originally Posted by caraholic

I have recently bought a figo titanium and had faced the petrol smell issue once but it did not repeat.I had talked to a service advisor over the phone who said that this might be due to filling of petrol while the engine is on.

Do you normally keep the engine on while filling up? If so, I would suggest not to. Because I had a scenario where the attendant had accidentally filled Diesel in my petrol Etios. Now I always have my engine off while filling up. Hence it was easy to remove the fuel tank and wash it and refill it again. Had I kept the engine running, things could have gone haywire.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by caraholic

I have recently bought a figo titanium and had faced the petrol smell issue once but it did not repeat.I had talked to a service advisor over the phone who said that this might be due to filling of petrol while the engine is on.

Keep an eye, or should I say, nose on it. Note down when and under what conditions does the petrol smell comes. Petrol fumes in the cabin when petrol is being filled or has just been filled is normal and it goes away after a while. It will be worse if the attendant tries to fill petrol even after auto-cut off.

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Where do they allow filling petrol when the engine is running?

I have seen many cars doing this, the pump attendants don't seem to be bothered by it. Is it wrong to fill fuel in the car when the engine is running?
As a practice, I switch off the engine and stand near the attendant when petrol is being filled in the car.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

I have seen many cars doing this, the pump attendants don't seem to be bothered by it. Is it wrong to fill fuel in the car when the engine is running?
As a practice, I switch off the engine and stand near the attendant when petrol is being filled in the car.

I've seen this as a practice when filling diesel, where the engine is kept running. Never seen it done for a petrol vehicle.

[skanchan95]

Odometer Reading: 9733 kms

Almost four months have gone by and the car has driven around 3000 kms since the car's last service(1 Year/10k kms service). I am happy to report that there has been a steady rise in the Average Fuel Efficiency being delivered by Storm Shadow.





The latest Actual Average FE delivered by the car is 14.8 km/l (on the MID, it showed Avg FE to be 15.6 km/l - I reset it everytime I fill a tankful of petrol)


Since the last service on April 17, 2017, the recorded FE readings have been(in km/l) : 12.78, 13.06, 13.73 and 14.8. Petrolheads would probably agree that even a rise of 0.5 km/l in Average FE of your petrol car is pure bliss and here I am getting an an increase of 2 kmpl over the last two and a half months .

The route I take daily is nearly the same with similar traffic conditions. My driving style hasn't changed (Conservative driving, AC on all the time and limiting the RPM to a max of 2500 RPM before upshifting). If anything, the roads have become bad recently because of rains and sleepy NHAI fellows. The slow moving traffic and potholes should have had a negative impact on the car's FE, but it hasn't. Not sure if because of cooler outside temperatures put lesser load on the compressor and if that has helped in higher FE figures this time.

As the rains have reduced here and outside temperature and humidity soared, the monster A/C of the car continues to chill the cabin in no time.

Some more rattles seem to have developed from the door pads but are not that serious or irritating. I say this because having lived with a horrible, rattly steering in our old i20, I find these door pad rattles in the Figo to be very minor and non-threatening, the car is solid where it counts.

Pretty happy that the car has delivered an FE figure close to the magical and Maruti-esque figure of 15 kmpl, which for a non-Maruti petrol is pretty decent I feel. Our other car, the Grand i10's Average FE never exceeded 14 kmpl in nearly three years of ownership.

[skanchan95]

Headlamp Cluster Replacement
Yesterday, while washing the car, I noticed White spots in the driver's side headlamp cluster right above the headlight bulb. Instinctively I checked the passenger side H/L cluster and the same white spot(slightly less prominent) existed on it as well. I am not really sure when did these spots started forming on the reflectors of the headlamp clusters. It was almost by chance that I noticed them.

Driver's Side Headlamp(look just above the bulb - a white circular patch with a blue outline):

Passenger's side:


It was odd and surprising to see those patches on the reflectors as I had not seen anything like that in any of our other cars.

Took the car to Cauvery Ford's Baikampady workshop this morning and met the service advisor who normally attends my car - Swasthik. Didn't take much time for him to understand and notice the issue. I was told to wait in the lounge while they checked the issue. Within minutes, Swasthik was back saying both headlamp clusters will be replaced under warranty(They had the clusters in stock)


After around two hours, I got the car back with both headlamp clusters replaced and a free top wash.



Kudos to Swasthik & Cauvery Ford for getting the H/L Clusters replacement done quickly and without any fuss.

Software update for the Body Control Module was done as well (FSA17B141 - Figo BCM Reprogamming).

[skanchan95]

Ever since I stumbled upon Mobike008's Aspire thread, where he had a "+" emblem stuck on his boot to make his Aspire Titanium+ a true Titanium+ (externally - emblemwise), I wanted to do the same with my Figo 1.2 Titanium+.

As many of you know, Ford doesn't have any engine badging on the Petrol MT & AT models of Figo and Aspire (diesels get a TDCi badge on the boot). Only the top end variants get a Titanium variant badge(Titanium+ doesn't have an extra '+' badge). I knew I couldn't get a Ti-VCT badge similar to the TDCi from anywhere. So I went looking for the second best - a 1.2 badge.

For the engine type badge, I managed to get a Hyundai 1.2 emblem(Rs 661) and for the '+' badge, I got a Maruti ZXi+ emblem(Rs 62) from the local authorised Maruti spare parts dealer (through our Ford sales executive Karthik Hegde. It was the last one that the dealer had).








Very happy with the end result. Ford should actually think of implementing variant/engine type emblem on all their cars.

[gauravanekar]

I am also facing severe petrol smell problem, I am taking the car for service this saturday. I will update my experience/findings after that. unlike other car owners petrol smell is very persistant in my car. The car has run 14k+ on ODO.

[gauravanekar]

Originally Posted by gauravanekar

I am also facing severe petrol smell problem, I am taking the car for service this saturday. I will update my experience/findings after that. unlike other car owners petrol smell is very persistant in my car. The car has run 14k+ on ODO.

On saturday I had been to cauvery ford magadi road, Bangalore. i complained regarding petrol smell inside vehicle. Service team leader and service advisor said that they have thoroughly checked everything and one particular fuel hose needs to be changed. They said that the part is not available currently and it will be changed under warranty during my next visit on nov 25th (20000km service).

i repeatedly asked them about the specifics, part number of the part, location of the hose etc., they did not give any details.

[jayakumarkp]

I own a figo 1.5 Diesel Titanium. I have also encountered this weird smell during startup of the car. (Rather when you switch on the AC).
Had got the ASS to check and changed the AC filter as well. The smell was still there sometimes. The ASS did say that it might be because of dirty floor mat, since the AC filter sits pretty close to driver side foot well.
It was hard to believe, since the mat was not really dirty or smelly, however there would be this strange smell from the AC!
I ended up buying a new floor mat, partly due to the upcoming monsoon.
With the new floor mat, the smell is really dependent on the condition of the floor mat. If dusty, yes you have the smell.
I would suggest guys to switch over to a different floor mat and check. It definitely helped in my case.
I also bought a natural car deodorizer
Please note, in my case it was not a petrol smell, but a rather dusty sort of smell.