[cossack]

Ford, Figo 1.4 TDCi Duratorq – Titanium (Sea Grey)

Dealer – Lathangi Ford, Bengaluru

SR – P. Rakshit

Booked on 27th March, 2010

Delivery on 7th May, 2010

Offers received – none

Freebies – none

Mode of payment – All cash

Insured with – Bajaj-Allianz

Add-ons – Reverse parking sensors, Fog lamps, 3M Sun film (35CR or something like that), Ford essential pack, extended TMP, 3rd year extended warranty

Pending – License-Plate, mud-flaps (they forgot it on the day of delivery and we didn’t notice it either despite out TBHP check-list :-( ), Underbody treatment, Alloys (6 months down)

Planning on rubber upgrade? – No!

Overall initial experience:
·Booking – B+ (4/5)
·Waiting – C (2.5/5) [no follow up and information from the SR, may be due to Ford’s inexperience with insofar unprecedented response to any of their model in India]
·Delivery – A (4.5/5) [Was pleasantly surprised at the promptness of paperwork and turnaround time. It took two hours flat to get the accessories and other stuff installed including the paperwork]
·Initial ownership – A+ (4.7/5)
·Mileage so far – C+ (3/5) [13.2 KPL with all city 100% A/C, seldom driven in 5th, rev. has been always below 2300 RPM, top speed achieved - 90 KMPH]

Right, so here I am with my report on the vehicle that’s ringing quite a lot of bells on this site and rightly so. In all honesty, I was never a fan of Ford vehicles to start with, mainly due to the word of mouth publicity about their A.S.S experience and other such stuff.

It was four years ago when I decided that I’ll buy a car and started saving for the same keeping Fiat Palio and Swift in mind. By the time I had enough dough in my coffers to dare visit some showrooms, there was already a barrage of models and trims on the prowl, i20 (1.2 P), GP (MJD) and Polo (1.2 P) being some of them to name here.

Needless to say here that when I started off with my research on the cars out there, Figo, despite being already in the reckoning by many an expert, was not at all on my RADAR due to reasons immaterial now.

The first logical step I took was to get myself enrolled to www.team-bhp.com and start feeding on the experience of other good fellows.

I was roughly here:

Budget: sub 7 Lakhs
Type: Hatch
Fuel preference: N.A
Brand Consciousness: Newbie
Meaning of a car: Mode of transport from point A to B

Now I am here:

Budget: sub 6.5 Lakhs
Type: Premium Hatch
Fuel preference: Diesel, then Petrol
Brand consciousness: Paranoid
Meaning of a car: Mode of transport from point A to B with contemporary security mechanisms and enough boot-space for weekend getaways for a 500 KM + drive. With good steering feedback and controlled body-roll and stunning features plus splendid fuel economy… (Phew! And I was not complaining at all)

So, the next step was to start the shortlist:

·Swift Diesel – Booked it and then canceled it due to obscenely long waiting period, no matter how good a car is, I do not think 4-5 months is a reasonable waiting period at all
oPositives – Drive quality, fuel economy, Maruti A.S.S, used car market valuation
oNegatives – Old platform, long++ waiting period, build quality, gear box, rattles in Diesel, terrible boot even for a bachelor, pricing (I reckon it’s high for this quality)
·Swift DZire – Never booked it, same case as the Swift
·Hyundai i20 – Booked it and then canceled it after I got the notification of allotment, had this sudden feeling of not having happy prospects with the car in the long run
oPositives – New platform, premium placement in the market, big enough boot, smooth ride, decent fuel economy, interiors (to an extent, but just by a tiny margin)
oNegatives – Inept A/C (even in 30+ degrees), possibilities of costly maintenance, slightly slow engine for a highway drive, pathetic ground clearance (I don’t fathom how do they manage to kiss every hump even at 165 mm), pricing (outrageous)
·Polo – Never tried booking it as it will be the masses’ car from the stable of a premium car manufacturer, they’d still be learning the trade from Marutis and Hyundais in India. GTO’s review kind of nailed it for me and I never even thought of it. Took a TD though
oPositives – Very solid build quality, utilitarian interiors (by far the best I saw), good fuel economy (as claimed), VW badge, 24/7 on-road assistance (kind of making up for a thin A.S.S network)
oNegatives – Noisy and older engine, low effective ground clearance (due to larger wheel base) I found it to be only slightly better than that of i20, reportedly very costly A.S.S and spares (I read somewhere that they’re charging exorbitantly for the alloy upgrades), pricing
·GP (MJD) – Never booked it just because I wasn’t convinced about the interiors and pricing besides, the FIAT A.S.S is way too notorious according to my friends. Took the TD
oPositives – Almost like Swift, better drive quality though, stable at higher speeds, feature rich, pricing (tad higher, but only just, FIAT lovers won’t mind it at all)
oNegatives – Noisier than Swift (strange!), Lower fuel economy than Swift (strange, again), interiors, TATA A.S.S,
·Figo – It was my last option and had it not been materialized, I’d have gone for Fiesta (after another 6-7 monthsJ). Took the test drive at Lathangi and the eagerness of the staff there won me over besides the vehicles, I took the TD for both the variants and was very impressed with the Diesel. As I’ve already mentioned somewhere on TBHP that I found the NVH levels in Figo D to be higher that those of Fiesta but still it was manageable for me. I loved the steering feel and the zero TL of 1.4 and booked it then and there
oPositives – Good and proven engine, good enough FE promised, drive quality, build quality, solid looks, big enough boot-space, A.C, good enough interiors, seat fabric, feature rich, competitive pricing
oNegatives – Old platform, old engine (may be), Ford A.S.S (fingers crossedJ), slightly higher NVH than Fiesta Diesel, slightly lower FE than that of Fiesta I reckon (don’t know the reason though but still have got this eerie feeling), no collapsible steering (I hate it!)

Why did I go with Figo? Well, it was well within my budget, build quality was acceptable, it had proven engine delivering decent power, it had enough safety features to inspire confidence, besides, my girl liked it immensely and I had to take it :-D

Initial 10 days have passed; I ran it for 350 KMs in the first 4 days and then had the attack of appendicitis and recuperating from post operative procedures since; my car is lying in the parking lot and I’m eagerly awaiting my turn behind the wheels to feel the fresh highway air moistened with Diesel and Petrol fumes filling my nostrils while I’m driving to the Mark Knopfler numbers from “All the RoadRunning” of any of his albums for that matter.

Photo upload isn’t allowed for newbie and hence it’ll take some time before I update this thread with more worthwhile things.

First thing to be done when I’m up and running is to get the license plate installed and mud-flaps fitted. I would also think of getting the underbody treatment done while it’s still relatively new.

~

[gr8guzzler]

Congrats Cossack, welcome to the Figo owners club. Nice detailed write up.

Hey can you let us know the cost you paid for TMP? My dealer says it's not yet available for the Figo in Navi Mumbai.

Enjoy your ride.

Cheers!!!

[mTorque]

Congradulations for the new car! A well detailed review of Figo and the choices considered! happy miles ahead. Hope you recover soon and enjoy the drives.

[cossack]

Originally Posted by gr8guzzler

Congrats Cossack, welcome to the Figo owners club. Nice detailed write up.

Hey can you let us know the cost you paid for TMP? My dealer says it's not yet available for the Figo in Navi Mumbai.

Enjoy your ride.

Cheers!!!

Thanks gr8guzzler, I don't remember exactly but it was something like 5000 +/-.

[Brix]

Congrats on the new car !

Did you get the reverse parking sensor done at the dealership? How much did they cost?

[cossack]

Originally Posted by Brix

Congrats on the new car !

Did you get the reverse parking sensor done at the dealership? How much did they cost?

Thanks Brix,

Yes I got all accessories done at the dealership only and RPS cost me around 4300. So far I'm happy with the performance.

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[SinghBHP]

Congrats cossak for your buy.
FIGO Club seeems to be growing very fast on Team-BHP

[gemithomas]

Another Figo. I think Team-Bhp would soon be flooded with Figo-ians

Sad we cant see pics soon. Sea Grey is my favourite colour. I think it gives the car a very good look.

[scorpio07]

Post Deleted by the Team-BHP Support : SMS / Slang is STRICTLY prohibited on this community. We would much appreciate your using full & proper English in posts, for the benefit of other forum users.

Please view our board rules carefully before proceeding any further.

[Utopian]

Congrats cossack for the baby Ford. It is certainly raining Figos at T-BHP. You didn't mention the color of your beauty. Take good care of yourself and happy mile crunching thereafter with the Figo.
PS- You are now just five posts away from posting pics of your car.

[cossack]

Originally Posted by gemithomas

Another Figo. I think Team-Bhp would soon be flooded with Figo-ians

Sad we cant see pics soon. Sea Grey is my favourite colour. I think it gives the car a very good look.

Even I'm waiting for me graduation from Newbie club

Originally Posted by Utopian

Congrats cossack for the baby Ford. It is certainly raining Figos at T-BHP. You didn't mention the color of your beauty. Take good care of yourself and happy mile crunching thereafter with the Figo.
PS- You are now just five posts away from posting pics of your car.

Thanks Utopian, It's Sea Grey... Even I'm dying to make a reasonably long trip with this car to get some beat (so to speak), didn't know that 25 is the threshold count for a Newbie to become BHPian I would have ticked it earlier itself.

Would upload the pictures soon.

Originally Posted by SinghBHP

Congrats cossak for your buy.
FIGO Club seeems to be growing very fast on Team-BHP

Thanks SinghBHP, yes it's growing for sure. It's always a nice feeling being an owner of something appraised rather positively by so many peers.

Though it would be interesting to see what's the statistical shares of P vs. D sales for this car... Just an academic exercise but useful nevertheless I say.

Originally Posted by scorpio07

congrats cossack happy times with ur figo

Thanks scorpio07, BTW, is it a Red Figo in your avatar pic? Please provide the link to your thread if it's already created.

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[gemithomas]

Cossack. Please make use of the Quote+ button do do multi quote replies.

[scorpio07]

Originally Posted by cossack

Thanks scorpio07, BTW, is it a Red Figo in your avatar pic? Please provide the link to your thread if it's already created.

~

you found the thread

[cossack]

So, much awaited graduation happened sometime early morning and I can finally upload the photos of delivery day. I need to mention here that the seat plastic covers and ribbons went off the moment we left the showroom (couldn't wait longer :-) )

The car had done 12.9 KM then and I was provided with 5 liter of Diesel, went straight ahead to Shell near Silk Board and had the tank full. Planning to switch to another brand later and stick to the same.



These photoes are taken with PAS camera and may not be of optimal quality, I'll try uploading better photos next.



Interior plastics in the process of being taken off, I was disturbed mid-way here by the paper-work guys LOL



The rear...



Ford logo that has finally gained acceptance in my books :-)



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[pulsar56]

Congrats on the Figo. Have you not christened your Figo yet?
BTW, Photos.init.