Dear freinds,
It has been a privilege to be part of this forum and i have been waiting to start my activities by writing this review as i am closing in on 1000kms with my new Fiesta. While there are plenty of reviews about this great car, it still deserves one from every owner and here it goes.
Previous ownership : Opel Corsa GSi 1.4 for 5 years - a good car and served very well.
Selection : Test drove Hyundai I20, Fabia Petrol, VW Polo Petrol, Fiat Punto and Fiat Linea
I20 - Stylish, descent space, good features, but did not like the air conditioning even after driving it for 20 minutes in chennai. I did not want to compromise on this
Fabia - Spacious, nicely laid out interiors, good to drive, Air conditioning was much better, but reviews and concerns over services, not many buyers scared me out.
Polo - Solid, good interiors, great finish, lovely wheels, nice drive, but waiting period of 3 months, gave up
Punto - really good to drive, nice air conditioning, solid, nice looking, but somehow, i did not want to take a chance with fiat and tata service as my experience on a TD itself put me off - unclean car, slow response from the sales guy and things like that
Linea - Stunning looking, luxury feel - unfortunately the length of the car was little too much for my car parking area
Fiesta - All above TDs were done before sitting in a Fiesta, the moment i drove it, i knew this is my car based on its power delivery. This became the benchmark and the rest looked "no go" to me. Fiesta was comparitively expensive by over a lakh, still deserve that for that power and handling alone.
Booking and delivery - dealth with MPL, Chennai and the process was absolutely smooth and the car delivered on May 19th as promised on the rainy Laila cyclone day. Inspite of heavy rains, i just went there as scheduled and took delivery of this beauty - a breif pooja, a token gift to the sales guy, a soan papdi pack in return and done. I was on my way.
I drove the car straight to LAL Enterprises for a tyre upgrade and changed my stock tyres to Michelin 185 65/R14. I paid an additional Rs.1300 per tyre after exchange. They did a quick job and was back on the road. (since it was raining, i was the only one in the tyre shop as i heard this place is full of people otherwise, lucky and easy) - Balancing and wheel alignment done for a reasonably additional cost.
Experience in general :
- A great car
- Silky smooth ride
- No noise in the cabin (offcouse, we will hear the blarring noise of close up trucks and auto rickshaws for sure !)
- Short and sweet gear shift
- Visibility from all angles - good
- Solid on the road and brakes are efficient
- Overall looks - simple, proportionate, straight forward, appealing and a descent road presence
- Headlights and horns are powerful enough for safety
- Suspensions are good and a comfortable ride (while corsa was much more smoother and i like leaning on its boot and pushing it downwards for fun ! - it jumps like a spring matress - Corsa - THE CUSION)
- Accelaration was awesome and this is most liking factor in this car - i simply love the confidence, power delivery of this car in various gear ranges.
- Music system - a very descent one, but for complete audio nirvana, one needs to upgrade - i probably will upgrade just the speakers later and that will do for me.
- Air Conditioning - very cool in position 1 and excellent - no dearth of power while the compressor is on and a very minute different in acceleration (Corsa drops power heavily when the HVAC comes into action - that was not comfortable for me)
- Alloys - Stocks are OK, while i would still prefer something with a gun-metal and aluminium/silver finish combi for this moondust silver coloured car.
- Chrome features - i know many people do not like this upgrade by Ford. But, fortunately this looks cool on the silver car
- Front Grill - i need to mention this. I preferably like the previous black front grille with came with the earlier versions of Fiesta - that was bold, distinct and prominent. This one is very thin and somehow for me, not very good looking
Upgrades apart from tyre : I fixed 3M CS35 for windows and rear + CR70 for the windshield from Balaji Agencies and it costed me Rs. 9200 with 3 years warranty. The shade gels with my car colour well and the CR70 for sure is very effective. They did a great job and i could not find any irregularities.
Issues observed :
A feeble noise from the dash board and on careful inspection it just resembles the sound which comes when the indicators are on. I am sure, something is loose inside as when i hold the dashboard forcefully, it stops.
The driver side seat when leaned back feels a little loose and probably something needs to be tightened.
Else so far so good and i am approximately getting a FE of 11.5 kmpl and i am just using the regular unleaded petrol. My DTE is working fine as of now and there are no fluctuations.
Overall, me and my family are enjoying this car everyday and my kids wants me to drive at slow speeds and for longer distances just to make sure that they sit in this beauty for a longer time. ha ha. (i should teach them fuel conservation and effect on global warming !)
Thanks for your patience in reading through this and would await any suggestions and feedbacks from much experienced owners. Have a great time.
swami