[CrazyToDrive]

Have you ever experienced the thrill of doing 0-100 kmph in less than 10 secs on open roads?
Have you experienced the pleasure of seeing all the 2 wheeler and cars remaining far behind in your ORVM when the signal turns green.

Presenting my CHOTTA ROCKET
FORD FIGO ASPIRE- Diesel
Variant- Trend
Colour- Ruby Red
Probably the fastest Compact sedan in India








With almost 11 months of ownership and 19500 kms of driving I am writing my ownership review.
Please do provide your inputs and scope of improvement as it is my first ownership review on the forum.

Likes-
Excellent Looks- definitely an eye turner
100 horses under the hood
Zero turbolag
Very comfortable driving position- you can drive continuously for long hours- I did 1000kms in one day
Excellent AC- Max AC feature cools the car in less than 10 mins
Phone dock – good to place your phone while driving. Useful to place your phone during navigation
Door auto lock at 20kmph- Nice when you have kids as co passengers

Dislikes-
R14 inch wheels looks small for the car
Suspension could have been bit stiff
Boot could have struts, the spring mechanism is very abrupt and could hit if person is not aware of it
No rear sensors or camera in any variants
Headlights could have been better, seems inadequate,
All Beige interiors could get dirty very quickly
No bottle holders for rear passengers

[CrazyToDrive]

Flashback:-

I started my driving with some wide range of vehicles like Maruti Gypsy, Maruti Omni, Tata Estate, Mahindra Jeep, Tempo Trax as these were the vehicles my dad's company use to provide him for his daily commute. And I was lucky enough to try my driving lessons on these variety of vehicles.
Born and brought up in Pune the need for car in the family was the least as most of the commute in Pune happens on 2 wheeler or Auto rickshaw.

The first vehicle in family was Tata Sumo bought in year 2000 which was for my Dad's daily office commute and driven by driver, and I was driving this on weekends or during any vacation drives or attending family functions.
Due to my job I moved to Navi Mumbai in Jan 2009 and since my office was just 5 kms from my home I was using my bike for daily commute. After the birth of first child in Aug 2009 we felt the need to have some small car as taking the small baby on bike was not feasible, and also traveling to Pune by bus was cumbersome. So I bought my first car – Pre-owned Maruti Zen in 2010.

My pre-owned Maruti Zen


The Zen served me for almost 2 years with not much issue but later it started giving problems while driving in city and even stalled couple of times. So decided to change the car.
My requirement was small car as we were family of 2 with a kid. So options were Maruti Alto and Hyundai Eon. Since Eon was the new product with very good review decided to go with it.
So thats how Hyundai Eon came into family in May 2012.

My Hyundai Eon


In Aug 2013 my office shifted to Koparkhairne, Navi Mumbai and my daily office increased to 35 kms daily. It started giving a hole in my pocket with the daily petrol bills. So decided to go ahead with CNG conversion. Got the CNG conversion at Greenglobe fuel solutions Mulund in 2014. Things were going fine with Eon.

Why new Car-

Eon was serving me well and with no issues. In 2015, I bought new house and shifted to Ambernath, Kalyan. With CNG pump just opposite to office compound and second near to house made it easy for CNG filling as well.
But sometimes the space was turning out to be issue as there was no boot space due to CNG tank. Whenever we use to travel to Pune or any other place it use to became a task to fit the luggage and the occupants.
In early 2016 I started feeling the need to have new car. The urge of bigger car with more space was the requirement.
Secondly Eon started giving some troubles. It use to stall on inclines if I drive at low speed with AC on. Use to feel power loss with AC on when starting from signal with full load of 4 adults. Scrapping on speed breakers with 2 adults became a regular affair. So decided to go ahead with new car.

The Car selection criteria-
It was still not clear for me to go with which car. I was just checking various cars and reading the reviews on TBHP.
I had a budget of max 5 lacs and considering additional 1.75 lacs from selling Eon. So the cost should be around 7 lacs.

My requirements
Dual Airbags must
Diesel (mostly)
Power windows
Boot space

Other features good to have but not mandate

Steering mounted audio control
Keyless entry
Reverse parking sensors with camera
Internally adjustable ORVM

I was reading TBHP for various car reviews and ownership reviews.
I had shortlisted below cars-
Swift VDI
Ford Figo Trend
Tata Tiago
Maruti Baleno
Maruti Breeza
Celerio Vxi automatic
Ertiga VDI
TUV 300 T6

Only Swift VDI, Ford Figo Trend, Tata Tiago, Maruti Baleno were in by budget and meeting most of the requirements.

Selection Process

Maruti Baleno-
I liked this car very much but the only thing against it was the 7-8 months waiting period.

Tata Tiago-
Another nice car and well built, it was well in my budget as well but only thing which kept it away was the 3 pot engine. I was already driving the Eon and did not wanted to go to again with 3 cylinder engine.

Swift Vdi-
This is very nice and ticked almost all my requirement except the boot space. Still I was ok with it.
Even during that time frame Maruti had launched limited edition of LDi variant which had most of the features that VDi had.

Ford Figo-
It was nice looking car and with powerful engine. It ticked all the boxes.
Addition to it the reviews and ownership thread was making me to incline more towards Figo.

[CrazyToDrive]

Turns and twist- Final Selection Process

Around 20 July 2016 we almost finalized to go for new car.
Since I had driven the Swift couple of times decided to first visit the Ford showroom- Satyam Ford in Kalyan.
We visited the showroom on 26-Jul-2016 to have a look at Ford Figo Trend variant as it suited my almost all requirements. The SA provided all the details and features of Figo Trend variant.

While in showroom Red Aspire was also on display. We just went to see the car and we were really impressed with the looks of Aspire. Very well integrated boot, stunning looks, and in red color she was looking beautiful.
The SA then explained the features of Aspire and just mentioned that it will be a mere difference of 50 – 60 K between the two cars.

We decided to take the test drive of Aspire.
Man I must tell you I was just blown with the power it had. You can understand the feeling of a person driving a 800 cc car that too with CNG fitting and then driving the 1.5 L diesel with 99 BHP. The punch it gave on quick acceleration was just mind blowing.
The AC was powerful and wife could feel it in rear seat as well.
The short test drive just made us finalize our decision to go ahead with Aspire.

When we were discussing about the price and other features I got my Eon evaluated from them and they quoted a price of 1.75. I had already evaluated the car from couple of dealers and they had quoted almost in the same price range. As we were discussing, the showroom manager Mr Rajesh joined us and explained us about the offers and discounts that were going on.
We were not able to decide the color and asked them to show available colors. For which they happily agreed to took us to the stock yard.
We saw the available colors – Grey, Blue, White, black but we both were more inclined towards red and thus finalized with Ruby red.
Came back to showroom and Mr Rajesh checked the stock and informed us that they have Ruby red available.

The final deal that was offered was like this:

Ex- Showroom- 711719
Insurance- 27844
Depo charges- 4665
Registration- 81289
Ext Warranty- 7036

Total- 837553

Discount- 24000
Exchange bonus and cost of Eon 193553

Total cost to pay- 620000/-

Freebies-
Mat and mud guards
Got the extended warranty included in freebie

Additional Accessories I opted-
Reverse sensors-
Black vinyl coating for floor-

Asked the dealer to arrange the loan from HDFC bank, and he helped in doing everything. I had to just pay 20000 to the dealer.
Since I was not carrying cheque book, Mr Rajesh arranged for person to collect the cheque from my home. I told them I wanted to do the pre inspection before the vehicle is sent for registration for which he agreed. Also I have asked them for delivery on 04-Aug as it was my daughters birthday.

So everything happened in just 3 hrs of time and I have booked Ruby Red Ford Figo Aspire.
Called my parents and informed them about the same.

Meantime on 29-Jul got the vehicle inspected at dealer yard, got the VIN number and the vehicle was of Jun 16 manufacturing so I was ok with it and asked them to go ahead with registration.

Now started the wait which was just 6 days but it looked like long week.

At dealer stock yard during pre-inspection

[CrazyToDrive]

The Delivery -
Finally the D day arrived, 04 Aug 2016. I have taken off from office and my parents also came for my daughters birthday. It was surprise for my daughter. She was in school and so we had told the SA that we will be coming for delivery in evening at around 5 pm.

Once my daughter was back from school we got ready and went to the showroom. Mr Rajesh and my SA Mr Ansari have made all the arrangements and car was ready in the delivery bay. Ms Karishma who was relationship manager handed over the papers and did all the other formalities which took almost 30 mins. They handed over the Chocolate box, Ganesh Idol and car perfume as gifts.
The dealership had arranged for the puja and my mom did the puja of the car and then the keys were handed over to my daughter as her birthday gift.
Another surprise was waiting for us. Since I had informed the dealership that I wanted the delivery on my daughter's birthday they had arranged for a Birthday cake. It was surprise for my daughter and she was also very happy.

Puja by Mom-


Key handover


Birthday celebration


Then another person from dealership explained all the features of the car and then we were ready to leave.
There was almost 10 ltrs of fuel in the tank, but still after leaving we did the tank full.

We came home and performed the puja again at home.
And that's how a new member joined the family and I became a proud owner of Ford Figo Aspire

Resting in Parking

[CrazyToDrive]

Driving-
My daily driving to office consists of 60 kms to and fro which has 30 % bumper to bumper traffic and 70 % on 4 lane road but with too many speed breakers – 24 speed breakers to be precise from my home to office one way. Once in a month Pune-Mumbai drive. And occasional weekend trips.
I did a 3000 km round trip to Coorg after completing the first service. Details here
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...rd-aspire.html

Engine-
This engine I would say is best for both city and highway use. There is zero turbolag. You can easily cross the speed-breakers in second gear without need to shift to 1st. You rev it and you can enjoy the pleasure of to be first of all and seeing all the others remaining behind.
On open stretches in top gear you reach 80 marks in just above 1800 RPM and you easily touch 100 mark at just above 2000 RPM mark. You touch the 3000 rpm mark and you have already touched the 120 mark.Though after 3000 rmp the engine noise increases but I rarely need to rev that hard. Though on open highways you can hear that engine noise but windows rolled up and favorite music playing, it never bothered me. On highways you can easily cruise at triple digit speed for all day long. While returning from Coorg I enjoyed that.
The Gearshift feels bit notchy especially from 1 to 2 shift. Sometimes you need to try second time for engaging the reverse gear.

Brakes-
The brakes do the job well, but it does not inspire confidence while braking at high speeds. Could have been better in my opinion.

GC-
175 mm of ground clearance is ok for city drives. Though i have scrapped her few times with full load on those huge speed breakers. Now I have learnt to avoid scrapping.

Steering-
The steering is light on low speeds and becomes heavy as the speed increases. It is responsive as well. Efficiently managed all those curves and twists on ghat roads during Coorg drive.

Safety Features

• Dual Airbags
• Auto door lock- 20kmph
• Door open warning
• Front & Rear Fog lamps

Unfortunately after 2-3 months of my purchase Ford introduced ABS with EBD to all variants

Fuel efficiency-
This is the interesting part of Aspire-
I have got the FE numbers ranging from 16.5 to 20.5 on same road and same conditions by just changing the driving style. You do a sedate driving style and she will give you very good FE numbers, even more than 20 kmpl, and you go for aggressive driving style and still you can get numbers around 16kmpl, which I feel are good numbers for such a responsive and powerful engine.
I have now settled for an FE number of 18- 18.5 by mix of sedate and aggressive driving style. On highways I do get FE numbers upto 24-25 kmpl. (All numbers with AC on 100%).

Exterior styling
Aston Martin-esque front looks different and stylish
It definitely looks neat and proportionate when viewed through side considering the CS segment.
Rear is simple with broad chrome strip looks nice.




Wheels & Tyres:-
Came with 14 inchers on Goodyear rubber.
The wheels could been 15 inches with fatter tyres. This would be the upgrade that I will be doing once these tyres are worn out.

[CrazyToDrive]

Features I liked -

In-Car Entertainment-

• Derived straight from Ecosport
• Sound quality is good
• 4 speakers- all on door, no twitters though
• Bluetooth telephony is welcome, though steering wheel does not have option to pick the call, you can use phone by using the controls over ICE. The call quality is good.
• Looks nice when lit at night.

Steering wheel with audio controls-
The center button used for changing the source- Radio, USB, AUX, Bluetooth.


ORVM-

• Turn indicators on ORVM looks neat
• ORVM are bit smaller, could have been bit wider.
• Electrically internally adjustable ORVM, though auto fold is missed

Phone dock-
Very useful to dock your phone when using Google maps for navigation from your phone. It came really handy during my Coorg trip. Phone dock has good soft rubber, will not have any scratches to your phone or any vibrations. This has the AUX and USB ports


AC-
Its chiller. MAX AC feature is very effective, cools the cabin in less than 10 mins even in 40 C temp
Buttons with chrome ring are easy to operate and feels premium



Side vents are round with chrome ring looks nice




Wipers-
The wipers do provide a clean sweep. What I liked about the wipers is the multiple options of speed. You have-

• Single swipe
• Intermittent swipe with 7 speed options
• Normal continuous speed
• High speed
• On using the washer you get 3 swipes and 1 late swipe

Lights-
Light controls on Right side of Dashboard.
Fog lamp buttons for front and rear are well placed, you can get use to the position
Headlights are not that good, bulb replacement is a must
Fog lamps seems inadequate, spread not far

At halt if you open the driver side door with lights on, even if the parking lights are on, you get alarm sound. No chance to leave the lights ON
Follow me home lights-
Switch off the car and cabin light turns on along with the parking lamps. Remains ON for 1 min or until you lock the car.
Open the car using keyless entry and cabin light and pilot lamp comes on.
Cabin light has theater dimming effect
All lights OFF

All Lights ON

Fog Lamp in action

Light switch


Flip key with keyless entry-

• Unlock - Single click and car unlocks, no sound on opening, but the pilot lamps and cabin lamp turns on
• Single click and car gets locked
• Double click the lock button the car gets locked and you hear the single horn sound.
• If any of the door is open it sounds twice, even with boot open it sounds twice.
• Double click the boot button and boot opens, cool feature when you just need to open the boot to keep those shopping bags

Sun visor comes with mirrors on both sides and driver side gets ticket holder



MID-
You can see the external temperature, Trip Meter, Distance to Empty, Average FE, KM/Hr, Instant FE



The stalks seems flimsy but do the job well, initially I was fearing it may break but now got use to them



Boot release button integrated with lighting switches, good - you don't need to bend to open the boot at mall parking's
Fuel lid opener still remains at same place-

Center console gets 3 bottle holders and place for coins and small objects, but since I have installed the armrest only 1 bottle holder is in use for me. Though front doors have 2 bottle holders
Place for phone below AC buttons. Nice place to keep your phone, my 5.5 inch phone seats nicely, and does not move.




Cabin light- Placed in front, would have liked them to be in center.
Need to add foot-well lights for rear passengers in future


Seats-

• The seats are comfortable and has good support as well. I have done a 17 hours journey and did not felt tired, even the back seat passengers were comfortable.
• Rear seats can accommodate 3 average built passengers.Rear seat center arm rest is useful for rear passengers for those long drives, my daughter loves it.
• Unfortunately no bottle / cup holders for rear passengers
• Height adjustable head rest for front and rear seats is welcome

Boot-
The boot for Aspire seems to be one of the best integrated boots in CS category I feel. Boot space is good to carry 1 weeks luggage for a family of four - 3 mid size bags and couple of small bags. Though the boot opens with fast spring mechanism, could result in hitting someones face if not careful. Working on putting counter spring to reduce it, will post once able to figure out. The boot lever hinges and springs causes hindrance to place the luggage. Struts could have been more useful.

Boot-


Boot lever hinges-


Window switches are well placed, could have been illuminated, lock button to lock all windows can be opened only by driver
Auto up only for driver window.



Rear passenger window switch



Roof antenna is long and looks good on the car.



Tilt adjustment for Steering- useful for adjusting, though reach adjustment not there.
Only one 12V charging port, could have 1 more for rear seat passengers
Auto door lock at speed 20 kmph

Niggles-

• At idle there is vibration from the front side due to headlamp, I suppose, The issue was sorted during second service but again it has started, needs to fix during next service
• Horn- My horns went kaput within 4-5 months, replaced with my favorite Roots Windtone horns.
• I had issue with the horn pad where there was squeaky noise whenever I press the horn pad and which my SA also has agreed, but after I changed the horns the issue got resolved, Surprisingly
• The very famous issue with the door panels which move with rolling the windows up and down, Though not much issue for me as I rarely have to roll down the windows.

[CrazyToDrive]

Services -
2 services done till the time I am writing the review. And third service coming up soon,

1st Service-
It was at 2500 kms, and was just the inspection of vehicle and top up of all the fluids. Cleaning and polishing.
Cost – Nil

After my Coorg trip I was facing some grinding noise whenever I use to brake. Took to FASS, they checked the brakes and cleaned the pads and the issue got resolved
Cost – Nil

2nd service-
At 10000 km. Routine service with Oil change, Air filter change and inspection and top up. Got the wheel alignment, balancing and rotation done.
Cost- 2850/-

Overall satisfied with the service provided by the Ford.
As a good gesture received a Coffee mug as gift from Service center.

[CrazyToDrive]

Accessories-

Reverse parking sensors- Got them installed at the time of delivery itself from the showroom. I wanted body color but unfortunately it was available in black. Though black looks nice as well.
cost- 3250/-



Floor coating-Got Black vinyl Floor coating done since the all beige color floor mats are prone to get dirty
cost-3800/-



Seat covers-
Got it done at Vashi, this time I wanted black colored seat covers as my daughters make the seat covers dirty.
Cost 7000/-



Steering wheel cover- Matches with the seats and car color. Looks and feels good
cost 350/-



Door guard
cost 250/-



IRVM mounted dashcam
Inspired by Samaspire's thread ordered the IRVM mounted dashcam from amazon.in
Cost 2990/-
The IRVM is having a nice blue tinge and looks nice. The dashcam is also good and provides HD videos of 3 min duration, has 32 GB SD card slot. The day time video quality is good and night time is OK. Has reverse camera as well included which records the rear view continuously as well. Turns to full rear view camera on slotting the reverse gear. Has grid lines as well, though not appropriate, but sensors + camera does the job pretty well.




Magnetic sun shades with zipper ordered them from Amazon.in
Cost 999/-



Jopasu Duster
Cost- 900/-

Armrest-
Got from Amazon.in
Cost 999/-
Details posted on official Aspire thread here



Last but not the Least-
LIVE TO DRIVE
Got the TBHP stickers for my ride



Upcoming accessories-

• Ambient lighting
• Upgrade headlights to Osram NB Laser or LED lights
• Upgrade fog lamps to LED
• Pilot lamps, cabin light, Boot lamp, and number plate lights to LED
• TPMS

[CrazyToDrive]

Some random pics-

Getting ready for cousin's wedding



Enroute to Arnala fort







On Pune Mumbai Expressway



The Parting shot-



I will keep updating the thread as my journey continues with my Chotta Rocket.

[Eddy]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing.

[Reinhard]

Hey congratulations on the wonderful ride. A very well written & detailed review. I hope you'll keep the updates coming. Considering you come from a Zen and an EON, you must be loving a powerful diesel compact sedan to the core I'm sure.

Loved the pictures. Wonderful colour. Looks the best on the Aspire IMO.
Wish you unlimited safe & happy miles with the chhota rocket.

[mobike008]

Congratulations on the Aspire and welcome to the bright side of this world

I liked the detailed review and attention paid to almost all small details. Good job done on the review

Also, can you throw some lights on the floor coating you did for the front driver and passenger? Are you happy with its functionality?

I think you should have changed the tyres at the first instance for better grip as this car needs good rubber for sure

Will keep looking out for future updates and goodluck and drive save !!

[CrazyToDrive]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Hey congratulations on the wonderful ride. A very well written & detailed review. I hope you'll keep the updates coming. Considering you come from a Zen and an EON, you must be loving a powerful diesel compact sedan to the core I'm sure.

Loved the pictures. Wonderful colour. Looks the best on the Aspire IMO.
Wish you unlimited safe & happy miles with the chhota rocket.

Thanks Reinhard Its completely a different experience all together.
Though I driven the other diesels like Sumo but with this compact sedan things really change.

Originally Posted by mobike008

Congratulations on the Aspire and welcome to the bright side of this world

I liked the detailed review and attention paid to almost all small details. Good job done on the review

Also, can you throw some lights on the floor coating you did for the front driver and passenger? Are you happy with its functionality?

I think you should have changed the tyres at the first instance for better grip as this car needs good rubber for sure

Will keep looking out for future updates and goodluck and drive save !!

Thanks Mobike008 I am loving this brighter side.

The floor coating is Vinyl coating done for the complete floor. It is fixed and cannot be removed easily. Its better than the lamination as in lamination there are chances to get it cut by sharp objects. You can just clean it with wet cloth. I am quite happy with its functionality since all black looks nice and saves the efforts of maintaining the beige color floor.

The tyre upgrade was in list but somehow decided to continue with the same and then upgrade to larger rims with wider tyres.

[AYP]

Congrats on your newly acquired rocket.

The car looks great in the ruby red shade and the Trend is definitely the value for money choice in the Figo/Aspire line-up. By the way, did you consider the VW Ameo?

[samaspire]

Congratulations on a very good review of a fantastic car. Will keep an eye out for it in Ambernath, the next time I visit.

Please post detailed photos of the vinyl Matting. Want to see what material it is.

- Please investigate the vibration - not good if it's coming from the headlight

- Adding weight to the boot lid will stop it from bouncing too much. I'm hunting for a proper sized, heavy magnet.

- I have already ordered a few of the LED bulbs. Will update when installed.