Team-BHP - go figga out the go fida! 1.6 new ford fiesta sxi

Right.

This forum was used to try and decide and many of you took the time to help, heartfelt thanks for all the effort guys.

The toss up was between the Aveo 1.4 limited edition and the Fiesta 1.6 duratec Exi. Heart won over head and budgets were stretched to finally get the Sxi!! The detailed report of how this was arrived at exists as a separate thread in the What Car section.

This doesn’t really qualify as an initial ownership report since it is quite literally, “not my car”!!.

However, since the section is called TEST DRIVES and INITIAL OWNERSHIP REPORTS – this is being posted under test drives!!!

Car:

Facelifted Petrol Ford Fiesta 1.6 duratec Sxi
Colour – Thunder (Greyish silver for the uninitiated!!)
Booked and bought through Jalandhar CSD
Delivered on 9th July, 08 by Fortune Ford in Chandigarh
Freebies got – mudflaps and carpet mats (Ford branded)
Accessories paid for – Fiesta branded scuff plates (1100/-)
Ex CSD landed price at showroom 6,22,240.00 (Punjab)
On road price in NOIDA (after transfer of 65% NCB) 6,64,512.00
Finance of 3.5 lakhs arranged through kotak mahindra - emi 8000k per month x 60 months.

Background:

Anniversary gift to parents.

Delivery experience:

Since we had to pick up the car from Chandigarh, the younger brother and self set out from Delhi @ 10:35 am on the 9th and drove down in the “black beauty” aka my 2.2 safari… (any excuse to let her stretch her legs!) The showroom guys were good, polite and prompt. The car was waiting gleaming in the forecourt of the dealership with a booked sticker on the windscreen. Paperwork was handled promptly and effectively and it took all of 45 mins to complete.

Pre delivery:

Had a thorough walk around of the car, matched up all the documentation, made sure i had the engine and chassis number co-related, posed for picture, paid the cleaner, offered sweets all round. Had the guys explain the bit and bobs of the car, show me the password for the integrated audio system, loaded AC/DC in the cd player and drove out of the gates with a huge beam on the face!

The drive:

Almost wet myself since from 65 kms to next refill on the odo, it dropped to 9 and then 5 kms with alarming alacrity. However, i pulled into a gas station without the car choking on itself!

This is one gorgeous little rev happy and tight little motor to drive !! since we were driving back on the highway and the car had to be gifted to the folks (who were completely unaware that this was happening!) the next morning, i nursed the throttle along to keep the revs @ 2000 rpm (equating to just shy of 80kmph on the speedo in 5th gear).

The steering wheel has a nice chunky feel to it and the little protrusions built into the wheel to assist the, “ten to one” driving position are both handy and a very good idea. Although the wheel is covered in leather, it feels like well wrapped plastic and the leather only becomes apparent when you look at the stitching on the inside of the wheel.

It will happily rev it’s heart out unless you are careful with the accelerator. The gear change is slick, taut and butter smooth. There is no hesitation between gears and the gear lever has a nice meaty polished feel to it. The quality of the switch gear is about par – not really Toyota standards but adequate. The noise in the cabin is surprisingly minimal, with the engine noise hardly audible at all but, “engine belting” stage! (with a new car – THAT was out of the question!)

The steering and handling is pretty darn good as well (as a lot of fiesta owners will vouch for). You need to point the nose in a particular direction and the car scoots into the turn really eagerly. There is a little bit of body sway when you swap directions suddenly, but certainly nothing that will bother most, “weekend enthusiasts”!!! like most front wheel driven cars, the back WILL step out of line if you push it hard into a corner, but you can definitely catch it early and stop it before you make a complete a$$ of yourself in front of loads of other amused people!!! :D

Driving it back in either pouring rain or on wet slushy roads, the car felt really nicely planted and the abs did not have to come into play even when i braked relatively hard a couple of times. I DID NOT TEST THE AIRBAGS!

The quality of the plastics is actually really good and the only bit that i felt really let down by was the slightly flimsy feel to the door handles inside the car. The dashboard has a nice ‘soft touch’ covering over the instrument binnacle as well as in front of the passenger seat which houses the pax airbag. Almost forgot, this now has abs with ebd as well as DUAL airbags. The seats are done in what ford likes to call, “Leather vinyl” i.e artificial leather to you and me – however, it is nicely finished and manages to look quite upmarket.

The audio system – for an oe system, this one is a revelation. It has nice tonal range – some serious bass thumping abilities and is a surprisingly un–fiddly system to use. It is a single cd player but also plays mp3’s. there are 2 speakers placed at about knee height in the front doors, 2 tweeters in the A pillar and 2 speakers in the rear doors.

I really enjoyed the 250 odd kms that i had the car to drive down and i was absolutely itching to let her rip! Unfortunately, i had to swallow my pride and let EVERYBODY go past me, while i plodded along in 5th gear in the left most lane!!!!

Oh and btw – on the highway (i checked tank full to tank full) keeping the steady 80 kmph, we got 14.2 kmpl on regular IOC petrol. I was mightily impressed! I feel about 12.5-13 kmpl is achievable in the city – however, this is only a gut feeling, shall corroborate the same once i’ve managed to glean some more info from dad…

The new front end makes the car look more aggressive and gives the face a more dynamic profile. The head lights are super and as of now, except for a set of alloys, i don’t see any work being done on the car for the next couple of years!

The decision to buy the fiesta seems to be the right one so far – the folks love it and it ticked all the boxes i wanted ticked for my parents. clap:

Cheers guys – stay safe and drive sane.