[Sabrish]

This thread helped be finalize on the sports variant! I just sold my Punto and was looking at options...I must thank you guys since I could not find an experience /review of the Aspire sports anywhere.

Ford came up with some good deals and I closed the deal. I am not a beige guy. Also if not equal the tuned suspension on the sports made sense with the raw power so I chose the Sports version in Oxford White ..Clutch has quite a long travel doesn't it?

Upsized the tyres to 195/60 from Yoko for 9K. Absolutely love driving it and its actually a quite cabin for a Diesel!

[tharian]

Originally Posted by Sabrish

This thread helped be finalize on the sports variant!

Upsized the tyres to 195/60 from Yoko for 9K. Absolutely love driving it and its actually a quite cabin for a Diesel!

That's great, congrats on the new car.

I didn't feel the clutch travel to be long apart from it being harder than my petrol Figo, which is normal.

You should have rather gone for the same size , but better rubber. The Alnac 4g's are not bad either. With 195/60 size, the sidewall height will increase which will lead to a bit of body roll.

Yes, the cabin is quiet for a diesel and has a nice thrum when revving through the gears. At around 80-90 kmph in top gear, it is difficult to say it is a diesel under the hood.




1 Year ownership


Few days back was the 1 year mark of my first diesel car ownership.

The last one year went by quite fast and with that, many trips were done. I can count 9 long trips and few short ones that were done starting from the first month. Being a diesel and a powerful car, I started doing more trips now compared to my previous car which has done it's share of trips as well.

As for the experience, it has been a mixed bag and the main reason for that being ,the car is not that involving like my previous gen Figo. It is not bad either, especially after the remap, things have changed and now I don't remember how the stock power delivery was at all.
The positives are it is a mile muncher and I can load the car much more than my petrol Figo and still have the same power on tap. But the not so lively steering results in not getting the driver, feel involved. The bigger tyres have definitely helped , especially with my kind of driving were I like to take curves without reducing speed, which is when the car feels a bit lively since it tracks well.
I still haven't driven the non Sports Aspire much, so cannot comment on how good the reduced height shocks are on this. But I do know as speeds get higher, and upto a sane speed, they do their job well.

Going for the remap was a good decision since I am someone who wants their car or bike to be entertaining by making some changes or mods, so I don't get bored of it soon. This helped in that way that and more. Coming from an average powered car like the old gen 1.2 petrol, this was a big jump in that it helps a lot on the highways especially when you want to pull off an overtake and not having to do any time/distance calculations for that.

Although I am not getting that expected fuel efficiency of a diesel, it doesn't matter much because at the end, it is any day better than the almost single digit I used to get on my petrol Figo.

The car completed 12,000 kms yesterday during a short drive to Nandi hills.

[Blow Horn Ok]

Got my car in October and soon it was winter. With light right foot the mid showed a fuel economy of around 23-24 km/l on an average. With onset of summer with ac on most of the times and relatively medium right foot the mid shows 20.5 km/l. Yes I have to admit that the traffic in my city is sparse compared to other big cities and most of the distance is covered on highways.

I am using both the figo's on regular basis and have following observations:

1. The old feels heavy and steering is more communicative. It turns like a go cart. The aspire has a bit more body roll. May be due to the fact that it's the regular one with 14 inch wheels.
2. The brakes on the old gen feels inadequate after driving the new. Clutch heaviness is same.
3. Refinement levels are greater in the 1.5 compared to the 1.4 diesel. The power delivery is more linear and effortless in the 1.5.
4. I am facing brake calliper noise in the old gen since starting and it refuses to go. Not such problems in the new one (touch wood).

Still I feel both the cars were ahead in terms of performance in their times with respect to competition from an enthusiast point of view. Resale, reach of service and brand value in terms of reliability kept aside.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by Blow Horn Ok

I am using both the figo's on regular basis and have following observations:

1. The old feels heavy and steering is more communicative. It turns like a go cart. The aspire has a bit more body roll. May be due to the fact that it's the regular one with 14 inch wheels.
2. The brakes on the old gen feels inadequate after driving the new. Clutch heaviness is same.

Can relate to these points . With the new Figo steering being quite light and the older one being a bit more heavier than normal, that is were the connection is lost with the car.
The first few months, I felt the body roll on the Aspire is too much especially coming from the low slung old Figo, but now I am used to it and don't realize it much.

The brakes on the old Figo , especially the non ABS ones were very bad since the disc and drum size was smaller on the non ABS version. On the new Figo, even after the remap, they are more than adequate.

The video below was a sudden braking situation I had yesterday when I was above the ton and had to brake suddenly since the road ended and I did not notice it from far. ABS did not kick in and with no drama, the car shed speed in no time. The only thing felt was the rear becomes light and starts swaying lightly, but nothing out of control.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vURuqcTaiY

[Avalanche2409]

Originally Posted by tharian

Few days back was the 1 year mark of my first diesel car ownership.

Congratulations on completing the 1st year of owning this beauty.

Originally Posted by tharian

The car completed 12,000 kms yesterday during a short drive to Nandi hills.

Well, mine also touched this figure yesterday

Originally Posted by Blow Horn Ok

Got my car in October and soon it was winter. With light right foot the mid showed a fuel economy of around 23-24 km/l on an average. With onset of summer with ac on most of the times and relatively medium right foot the mid shows 20.5 km/l.

Same here, the FE i was so happy about has taken a sudden hit recently. I have observed that in the past one month or so, with the regular use of AC at high fan speeds, a little more than usual heavy foot and some frequent hill drives, the mileage has shed some numbers. Last what I got was around 20.8 kmpl by tankful method. On hills, I have seen it dropping till 16-17. I just hope it doesn't keep getting worse.

Originally Posted by tharian

The brakes on the old Figo , especially the non ABS ones were very bad since the disc and drum size was smaller on the non ABS version. On the new Figo, even after the remap, they are more than adequate.

The video below was a sudden braking situation I had yesterday when I was above the ton and had to brake suddenly since the road ended and I did not notice it from far. ABS did not kick in and with no drama, the car shed speed in no time. The only thing felt was the rear becomes light and starts swaying lightly, but nothing out of control.

I have found the brakes to be a little bit inadequate at some situations. May be it was during my initial phase of ownership and I was not used to the mannerisms of the car. I have had some heart in mouth moments due to that. The car sure does sway a bit under hard braking but then I guess it is not exclusive to Aspire.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by Avalanche2409

Congratulations on completing the 1st year of owning this beauty.


Well, mine also touched this figure yesterday


I have found the brakes to be a little bit inadequate at some situations. May be it was during my initial phase of ownership and I was not used to the mannerisms of the car. I have had some heart in mouth moments due to that. The car sure does sway a bit under hard braking but then I guess it is not exclusive to Aspire.

Congratulations to you as well! I guess your's took much lesser than a year.

The only time I had a heart in mouth moment was when I cut off to a side road in good speed and it was a gravel road with stones on it and the ABS kicked in when I braked and the car just did not reduce speed till I jumped a speedbreaker at the end and the tyres got some traction again and reduced speed then.
On asphalt road and on hard braking, I am satisfied maybe because I am coming from a car that had less than adequate brakes. But, I have done some high speed panic braking and apart from the rear swaying, there have been no issues. In fact if not for the good brakes, I would have definitely had a shunt by now.

I am waiting for these tyres to wear out to fit some stickier rubber which I am sure will add to the power and braking.

[tharian]

Recorded the lowest ever fuel efficiency of 12.5 kmpl calculated in complete city cycle with tankfull - tankfull. I had covered 400 kms during last month with lot of pedal to metal occasions, but the fun factor supersedes the fuel cost factor.

I have been tracking the visible smoke by fixing a cam which also doubles up as a rear dashcam. Apart from a puff of smoke everytime the turbo spools, there is no dark smoke other wise even when I'm on full throttle.

In other news, I'm trying all possible ways to keep rats out of the engine bay since the resident cat died, they have made my engine bay their dinner table.
3M rat repellent spray was applied last week which helps in avoiding bites, but they still enter and make a mess every night. I have left the hood open with a light on above the parking lot and a sticky pad with rat poison around as precautions.
Leaving the hood open every night is not an option as that may lead to other issues.

Car has run 12200 kms

[Ragasruoban]

This is my first post on Team-BHP so kindly excuse if any mistakes.

A big thanks to this awesome thread by BHPian tharian which has helped us choose the Ford Aspire Sports(Diesel) in smoke grey colour. The car is 3 months old and has done 3500 kms with the 1st servicing done at 2600 kms. For pure driving joy, this is a great car, but when it comes to passenger comfort it is far from the best. I feel the stiffer suspension setup has deteriorated the low speed ride quality by a considerable margin when compared to the normal Aspire. On smooth roads, I could feel the low-frequency vibrations seeping into the cabin and on rough roads, the vibrations are amplified. Does changing the stock tires improve the ride quality to a noticeable amount? Is there a worthy alternative for improving the ride quality?

[tharian]

Originally Posted by Ragasruoban

This is my first post on Team-BHP so kindly excuse if any mistakes.

A big thanks to this awesome thread by BHPian tharian which has helped us choose the Ford Aspire Sports(Diesel) in smoke grey colour. The car is 3 months old and has done 3500 kms with the 1st servicing done at 2600 kms. For pure driving joy, this is a great car, but when it comes to passenger comfort it is far from the best. I feel the stiffer suspension setup has deteriorated the low speed ride quality by a considerable margin when compared to the normal Aspire. On smooth roads, I could feel the low-frequency vibrations seeping into the cabin and on rough roads, the vibrations are amplified. Does changing the stock tires improve the ride quality to a noticeable amount? Is there a worthy alternative for improving the ride quality?

Congratulations and welcome to TeamBhp.

The Alnac 4g that comes with the Sports is decent enough, but like you mentioned, the shorter springs affects low speed ride quality. But the upside of that is high speed stability, even on rough patches.


Also, regarding vibrations in the cabin, I haven't felt it that much in my car and for sure, not during high speeds. In slow speeds the stiffness kind of masks the vibrations, but it isn't noticeable in my case. Changing the tyres will improve the quality for sure, but not by much.
With the car fully loaded, I feel the ride quality was even better.

I haven't driven the non-sports much, and came from a old gen Figo, probably why I don't find much of a difference.

[tharian]

Update @ 12800 kms.

The car was lying idle for 3 weeks since I was travelling. I missed driving due to the long gap and enjoyed the car even more after I returned.

Thankfully there were no issues in cranking nor any rat issues as I had kept rat poison below the car before I left.

Before I left, I was driving in mileage mode just to check what the figure would be if I kept the engine below 2k rpms. I drove that way for around 200 kms or more in city and the mileage after top up was exactly the same as before which was 12.5 kmpl. Now I am back to driving like I used to and enjoying it.

The engine has got much smoother over time. I use Cetane X as well. The good thing is that the first gear jerkiness is almost gone and the NVH is very un-diesel like as well. I hope it remains that way as the engine runs more.

No other issues as such except for a very low whine when the steering is turned lock to lock which other members have reported as well.

[tharian]

Crossed the 13,000 kms mark much slower that the previous thousand marks and it was crossed on an unplanned highway drive.

Being free on Saturday, decided to head out for a ride/drive and thought of taking the car and doing a highway drive to drive sedately and see what is the best mileage I could get. Although I had the option of taking tolled roads which would be best to keep a steady speed, but also boring, decided against that and took state highways which luckily for me was in good condition.

Did a 400 kms round trip from Bangalore- Hindupur- Kadiri- Madanappalle-Hoskote- Bangalore. These are the kind of roads that have lovely curves and ups and downs with hardly any traffic or people on the road. I could keep the engine spinning between 2 and 2.3k rpms for long stretches. Sadly in Andhra, these roads have speed breakers at every curve and village entry/exit. I ended up jumping many including a big one.There is also a stretch soon after Madanapalle towards Chintamanni which was quite bad in condition, which was around 30-40 kms long. It has been the same every time I have done this route.

Coming to the car, the engine , the NVH is so good for a diesel at 2k rpms that it feels like a petrol which is a good thing since that translated to around 90 kmph which is a good cruising speed too. Overtakes just needs a push on the gas pedal in the 5th gear and it does the overtake quickly. Sudden or unplanned overtakes can be done without having to think twice too.
Probably I got used to the car that the lightness compared to the previous gen Figo is not felt as much. I felt that when I was doing good speeds over broken tarmac, the car never lost its line. It is a different story if it happens on a turn , then the back tends to slide out a bit.
A good thing of the remap was also that I could overtake wannabe racers like some fully loaded yellow boards and keep a good distance from them and not worry about them ramming my back.

Since it was a mileage drive, I started off with the average kml showing 13.2 on the MID and by the time I got back, it was 17.5 and I guess it could have been better if I hadn't sped up in the last 50 kms. Top up gave me 17 kml when the tank was re-filled.

A special mention for the brakes which saved me from jumping many of the speed breakers. These are the thin ones which is basically a lump of tar across the road. Also to my advantage was just me in the car in that the car could shed speed quickly. The earlier sliding of the rear was not seen anymore during hard braking. I guess that is to do with the tyres that were relatively new back then.

In all, it was an enjoyable drive and the car continues to impress me.

The 400 kms round trip which is a good biking route as well, ignoring the many speed-breakers.

[Vibhanshu0923]

Hi Tharian,

I have recently joined Team-BHP yet I was a regular follower of your Aspire thread. It is just amazing how you have carried out and documented the mods to your beloved Rubicon. Your ownership review came at a point when I had just finalized on a Oxford White Figo S TDCi. It was the sleepless nights before my car's delivery that kept me glued to your thread.

I got my car home in November 2017 and my Figo has done 19,668 kms as of today and it is an absolute joy to drive with that stonker of an engine. I agree with most of your observations about the car and IMHO the suspension is tuned perfectly to balance practicality and sportiness. I wouldn't want it any softer. The fact that I receive a mileage of 18-19 kmpl on every tankfull leaves me with nothing more to ask from this fantastic package.

Your posts on the EGR partial delete that you performed motivated me to try out the same on my car as well. The link to the blanking plates posted by you was of great help and I too have partially deleted the EGR on my car after referring to your DIY. I also tried the Liqui Moly super diesel additive around the 15,000 kms mark on my car but could not find a noticeable difference in the NVH, performance or fuel efficiency. But going by your and BHPian Naren's review of Cetane X I am tempted to try it out.

Could you please tell me the source from where you procured Cetane X for your Rubicon?

Wishing you many more happy miles with the Rubicon. Thanks in advance.

[tharian]

Thank you for the kind words. Glad this thread helped you out with your purchase and you are happy with it. That some good amount of kms you have done in less than a year .

Originally Posted by Vibhanshu0923

Your posts on the EGR partial delete that you performed motivated me to try out the same on my car as well. The link to the blanking plates posted by you was of great help and I too have partially deleted the EGR on my car after referring to your DIY.

Did you noticed any decrease/increase in mileage after after doing this?
It is good that you did this at the earliest since that will help later as the engine gets older.

Originally Posted by Vibhanshu0923

I also tried the Liqui Moly super diesel additive around the 15,000 kms mark on my car but could not find a noticeable difference in the NVH, performance or fuel efficiency. But going by your and BHPian Naren's review of Cetane X I am tempted to try it out.

The Liqui Moly diesel additive was the least effective compared to the other two I used. The Cetane X does make a difference for sure. You can order them via Instagram . Search for Proctanefuel and add them on Instagram and you can chat with the person.

[samaspire]

Originally Posted by Vibhanshu0923

But going by your and BHPian Naren's review of Cetane X I am tempted to try it out.

Could you please tell me the source from where you procured Cetane X for your Rubicon?

Regarding Cetane X, just check for any updates from Naren before buying it. Not sure if he's posted it here, but he has some update on it's performance.

[Vibhanshu0923]

Originally Posted by tharian

Thank you for the kind words. Glad this thread helped you out with your purchase and you are happy with it. That some good amount of kms you have done in less than a year .

I frequently go on road-trips and religiously use every opportunity to drive my car. It just provides that much smiles per mile. I had taken my car to the BIC open track day this Sunday and it didn't disappoint me one bit.

Originally Posted by tharian

Did you noticed any decrease/increase in mileage after after doing this?
It is good that you did this at the earliest since that will help later as the engine gets older.

I did notice a marginal decrease in mileage right after the EGR delete but this was due to the fact that I was really gunning it on that particular tankfull to gauge the effects of the EGR delete on the grunt. Contrary to your observation, I could not find any improvement in the power. However, there was no loss either. It just behaved the same post the delete as before it. I read about the functioning of the EGR valve on the web and found some articles mentioning that the EGR valve remains closed when the engine is under heavy throttle inputs and only opens under part throttle driving (city driving). The delete will surely help keep the engine cleaner as the miles pile on.

Originally Posted by tharian

The Liqui Moly diesel additive was the least effective compared to the other two I used. The Cetane X does make a difference for sure.

True. Contrary to the reputation Liqui Moly enjoys in the oil and additives department, I must say the effects of the additive were not that prominent.

Originally Posted by tharian

You can order them via Instagram . Search for Proctanefuel and add them on Instagram and you can chat with the person.

Thanks a ton for this information. Going by your positive feedback, I have messaged the seller and just ordered a pack of 4 for my car. Shall update the effects post usage.

Originally Posted by samaspire

Regarding Cetane X, just check for any updates from Naren before buying it. Not sure if he's posted it here, but he has some update on it's performance.

Hi Samaspire,

Thank you for letting me know this but I could'nt find any updates from Naren on Cetane X in his S-cross thread. IIRC, he had pretty good reviews about Cetane X. Anyway, I have ordered Cetane X for my car and am tempted to try it out myself