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-   -   Review: 1st-gen Ford Figo (2010) (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/74219-review-1st-gen-ford-figo-2010-a-492.html)

You need to remove the coolant tank to change the bulb on the right side is what i heard.

Yes, one needs to remove the coolant tank to replace the right side bulb. But as I found out, it's difficult to reach in and turn the holder to take out the bulb, even with the tank removed. Same is the case with the left hand side bulb. For example, in my Santro, it's very easy to reach the holder, at both sides. In the Figo, the battery and the ECU gets in the way for the left side bulb. The engine bay is pretty cramped.

@rohing: Read the Owners booklet. The procedure has been explained in detail. The coolant reservoir needs to be dismantled to get access to the right hand side headlight socket!

The guy who upgraded the headlamp to 90/100 removed the complete HL assembly from the bonnet. That did not require removal of any other components. However he had a tough time aligning the bumper back in its place.

It would be wise to leave the job to the ASC folks!

As everyone mentioned, it's mentioned in detail in the owner's manual. It takes some time to do but is not very difficult. I have done it on my Figo 3 times now.

The coolant reservoir just needs to be unbolted and lifted up by a few inches for your hand to go into the gap. This is only for the right hand side. Unscrew the bolt and lift up the coolant reservoir by a few inches. Please DO NOT yank out the coolant reservoir as you may yank out the pipes.

For the left you should be able to access the bulb assembly straight away.

It's a very easy job, just requires a torch and best option is to have another person hold up the coolant reservoir while you stick your hand into the gap and unscrew the headlamp cover. Once the headlamp cover is removed, you need to unhook a small metal clip that keeps the bulb in place. Once unhooked, the bulb should come out easily. Reverse order to put the light back in.

Can someone quickly post tasks done during 2nd service Petrol Figo Oct 2011 model? I can only recollect oil change. Dad sent the car without informing me and I need to see that everything is carried out properly.

Thanks!

It's usually nothing more than an oil change, but look up in the manual. It has a section with a tabular representation of what needs to be replaced/inspected when.

Greetings everyone,

My first post on my first day in Team-BHP.

I am researching towards buying my first car and Figo Tdci titanium seems to check all the boxes for me. However, I have two concerns.

They are:
1) Ground clearance: though a few owners in my friend circle have reported no issues regarding this point, but I would still like to be sure. I would need to travel to areas with quite bad roads and even without roads for some part and hence I am in doubt about Figo's performance vis-a-vis swift/ ritz/punto etc.

2) reliability: I will have a lot of highway runs too and last thing I want is to get stranded in the middle of nowhere. Again this concern is not completely justified, but can Figo be as better as swift?

I am trying to draw comparisons to swift because that is the other option I have. But that is definitely the second option.

I never thought buying a car is going to be so tough.:) particularly because one is emotionally attached to one's first car!!!

TIA
Suresh

Welcome to Team-BHP !

I own Figo from past 4 months and driven 60% highway & 40% in city. It did scrape 2-3 times on Bangalore's super duper road humps at a normal speed and while braking hard on humps. But I found out the art of avoiding scrape after a while and now no issues. There is no complaint from back passengers while negotiating bad roads. I have driven Swift vdi a lot and found front seats of Swift is bigger and better than Figo. But Figo is better on rear seats and rear space. Swift has a bit of turbo lag and bit irritating to drive in City's bumper to bumper traffice. Figo scores over here with very minimum turbo lag.

Swift is driver's car. On highways its peppy to drive with better suspensions and power. But Figo scores over its cornering ability and stability in high speed braking. Ford's dynamics are in such that they are like made for highway drives. We feel that there is less power for uphill drive. On reliability, earlier Figos had sudden engine dead while down shifting and now there is no such issues. But if your importance is for highway drives, Figo offers large boot (284ltrs)to carry all the luggage you want. But in swift's boot (210 ltrs), you can keep 2-3 big bags. Also you get ABS, Airbags, Alloys & driver seat adjust in Figo tdci titanium which is same price as Swift VDi, which Vdi does not have these.

Nearly 65% of Figo buyers are first time buyers. If you need good looking car with more power to enjoy peppy highway drive, then go for Swift. If you need more practicle and value for money car, then choose Figo. IMO, Figo looks cheaper to maintain than Swift. But swift gives better mileage.

Thanks a lot for a very balanced and fair review of both the cars. I strongly feel like going for Figo after so many good reviews.
My first choice was Punto though, but it gradually went out of the list only because of the poor after sales experiences here in north India.
I have read almost all hatchback threads on Team-BHP and did some detailed comparison. Figo clearly wins budget-wise and spec-wise as well.

Thanks,
Suresh

Here is my 2 cents, after having driven both cars extensively.

If you need a decent boot space(airport runs, luggage for longer trips, baby stuff) and will have folks in the backseat, go with the Figo. Else buy the swift.

The figo mostly scrapes only when you have 3-4 passengers. You can mitigate the Clearance part by having the right air pressure and driving carefully.

I have around 30k on the odo now, and can say confidently that all of them were very enjoyable drives. I still smile when i go back to my car after work - this rarely happened to me before. The steering and handling are outstanding. Power delivery is decent. You get a ton of features and safety kit for a reasonable price.

Hope this helps.

Thank you!

So I changed my light bulb this weekend and wanted to give a slightly detailed update incase someone else wanted to do it. The owners manual mentions the procedure but at a high level.

The bulb I wanted to replace for the right hand side ( I had upgraded to a Osram 95/100 and it went kaput - both beams). The steps are as below - make sure the car is cool and lights are not hot.

1. Unscrew the coolant tank - It comes in the way of the hand reaching the bulb. It is held by one screw on the left top and is slotted/rests in a metal projection on the back right. You unscrew the tank and pull it up gently out of the metal projection on which it sits and move it slightly back.

2. Push the coolant tank with one hand and reach for the light cover with the other. The cover is a circular one, like a lid of a jar - you need to twist it anticlockwise to get it out.

3. Pull the plug socket out from the bulb

4. Push the metal clamp next to the bulb. Depress it down (spring action) and slightly push to the left, it will come up by itself.

5. Now the bulb should come out in your hand

6. Put the new bulb in the socket and fit in the hole in the headlight and push the metal clamp down.

7. At this point, you may want to test if it works, just to be sure that the problem is with the bulb and not with anything else. Do it without starting on your car (remember the coolant tank is not fitted properly). You can test outside the headlight by pulling the wire with the socket out and connecting the new bulb to it.

8. Close the cover (twist clockwise) and fit the coolant tank back. It should slide back fully into the metal projection and bolt it up on the top.

9. Shake the coolant tank to make sure it is fitted well. Test your lights again.....

Hope this helps.

Went for the first paid service at 20K reading.

Following are my observations compared what I had seen in the manual or experience of other members

1. The service center does not follow exactly what is written in the manual. Manual says, the brake fluid and clutch fluid should be changed at 20K. May be it involves too much work, or increses the bill quite a lot and many owners might not be pleased wth that. The SA said it will be done at 40K only.

2. The A/C cowl filter is not changed even if manual specifies the same. I asked the reason and got answer that it is only done at the time of overhauling of AC and also it is quite time consuming. Not sure why Ford specifies it in manual. The funny part is they change the wire mesh filter even if it is not specified. I had requested not to change it. Initially agreed but after few hrs. got a call that filter is damaged hence needs to be changed. I saw the filter that was removed at the time of pick up of car, and as far as I was concerned, it looked in good shape. Just a way to make quick money.

3. At the time of initial works list, SA said, they'll do some brake overhauling like removing brake shoes, cleaning and the putting it back. On screen, I remember seeing something like 0 bill for same. But when I got final bill, I was charged 288 rupees for same. Again another easy excercise to make money. I did not want to argue while picking up the car hence left it at that.

4. In addition to normal consmables which are billed explicitly, one more item, just Consumables, was added to the bill. Not sure what other consumables they used under this head. One of the other member who had posted his 20K service bill did not have this item. Again another head for fleecing.

What I feel from this experience that one should only get the routine tasks like oil change, air filter change etc during these paid services and strongly decline all the addtional jobs/tasks at the time of giving the vehicle only. Of the 4000 rupees odd bill, I could have easily saved 3,000 if I had declined all the brake pad cleaning, wire mesh filter replacement and consumables etc.

The only reason to go to service center and get this done is to keep the warranty intact. Otherwise the smaller things like oil change and air filter could be done outside at FNG also.

@Shipnil, At least your bill amounts to 4K. I gave my Figo for 20K servicing today at Shreeji Ford, Thane. The quote was around 9.5K of which 5K was for labour itself :Shockked:

The list of things that will be done as part of this were:
AC disinfection treatment
Wheel alignment & balancing (Now i think should not have done it here)
Fuel Injector cleaning
Engine oil flushing and change etc.

I will post the entire list and cost once i have the final invoice. However 9.5K is too much which will go upto 10K once cost of wheel balancing weights are added.

I am also getting my RTB and Instrument Cluster (apparently there is some problem with my cluster too) replacement free of cost.

What do you guyz think? Is Shreeji Ford plainly fleecing me? I would like to know what was the cost incurred by other Figo owners for their 20K paid servicing.

Hi Shipnil,

Just to share some from my side. If I am not wrong have you got your car serviced at Planet Ford?

Yes I too noticed that some of the things which are written on the periodic table are not changed by service center. I also I gave it some thought but then its like too much of knowledge is also harmful ;)

This is my second Ford car & I am very happy by the service & trust me there are instances where Ford guys dont charge also. Like last time I gave my car for replacement of rear suspension thingy (Ford recall) there I asked him to clean Air Filter & also the A/c filter. in the bill they did not charge me for Air filter cleaning.

The reason behind writing this is because I had a Maruti at my place too & there it was a totally different experience. They charge labour on every little thing.

Anyways, wish you lakhs of miles on your car.