February-March 2010. The Ford Figo is about to be launched. Ripples all over Team-BHP. Excited whisperings about a sub-5 lakh fully loaded car. After all its a Fiesta without the boot, and at that price! The car interests Buddha. This could be it for him! All the car he needs, and at a price that would go some way in assuaging his ascetic beliefs.
So I was really thrilled about the Figo. Its looks were clearly ho-hum, but it looked like a killer value proposition. As I said, it would go some way in assuaging my beliefs – not to mention, helping me keep my wallet in good shape! A rewind now (the Context slide, as I am told to put it)…
After the hints had been dropped by the gf, I had checked out prices (on-road) for all the large hatches. They were all depressingly high – partially because I was only interested in a car with ABS and Airbags, and they only appear on the top variants. The Swift Zxi was selling for 6.1 lakhs; the Vxi with ABS for 5.4 (both with 2 month waiting periods to boot!). The Punto was selling for some 6.3 or so for the Emotion/Emotion Pack (don't remember too well); and the i20 was priced even higher – 6.5 lakhs for the Asta. Into this pack was coming the Figo, with Ford’s driving dynamics at a price of what, 5.35 lakhs for the fully loaded ‘Titanium’ model? So claimed Mustang on Team-BHP. I waited with bated breath for March 9, when the Figo prices would be officially confirmed. The suspense was killing me. Now I was regularly reading Team-BHP, and somewhere in the back of my mind it struck me that this is no random fly-by-night online forum. Anyhow, April 9 finally dawned, and the Figo was priced some 15k lower than Mustang’s estimates! 5.27 lakhs it was. Brillianto!
The Figo Test Drive
I went to a Ford dealership on a Saturday soon after. Bhavna Ford in Kalina. This was my first visit to a showroom in years, but had things changed so much? I was expecting a glitzy showroom with at least 6-7 smoothly polished cars shining under the lights. Reality bites. I couldn't find the dealership for a while – ran up and down the main road twice or thrice, then figured that the showroom was indeed actually down that battered side-lane that looked like it would end up on the banks of the Mithi nallah. Well, walked down that path, and found out that it was actually a workshop retrofitted into a mini-showroom. Oh so that's why its so inconspicuous and small…well, fine by me. There was space for only one car inside (occupied by a Fiesta), so all the 6-7 Figos they had were outside in the dustbowl of a ground, and all were in that fluorescent green color, with dried blood color dashboards. Argh why no cars in red (outer color)?! But not the color, my first impression was, Whoa…it’s so small! And that was the predominant feeling even after the test drive was done: of smallness. The Fiesta never had much interior space, so I didn't expect much from the Figo, but even on the exterior, the bonnet had been shortened! I parked it right next to a Fiesta to figure it out. Guess it was thanks to the 4 meter rule that the bonnet was shortened, and the front and rear overhangs were also tiny. I was disappointed because it looked much smaller than a Swift or Punto now, closer to a Palio and more like a bulked up Zen (due to the low stance). Apart from that, the interiors were ok, ride was fabulous as expected, and dash was fine (I didn't really mind it at that stage). On the engine front, the threads were all agog about the Diesel, but I found it to have shockingly high NVH levels – now that I write about it I think it may have been a problem with that particular car. The petrol was super smooth though – while idling I had to rev it to figure if it was on or not. So overall I left a happy man, if a bit discontent due to the size. I could live with that though – the Swift Zxi was a good 80k more, right?
The Swift Test Drive
I took the Swift TD right after the Figo one, and I immediately realized that the Figo was a compromise for its price. It was all the interiors’ fault – had seen them the Swift interiors a million times before, but in comparison to the Figo the plastics quality now looked amazing. And this was the Zxi, so it had a sweet looking 2-din stereo with nice knobby buttons – a far cry from the built-to-a-price silver 2-din in the Figo (and with flat buttons at that!). The climate control also helped it look like a much nicer place to live in. Figo loses in the first round itself. I need my large hatchback to have large doses of the feel-good factor, and the Figo missed out.
The Ritz Test Drive
While at Maruti, I asked for a Ritz test drive as well, and was taken to a yummy chocolate colored Ritz Zxi. Hmm…this looks good, I thought. Same platform, fresher looks and some 30k price differential variant-to-variant (15k price difference + 15k dealer discount on the Ritz). The Ritz Zxi had a higher differential since it didn't have climate control. The engine was far quicker than the Swift, which was a surprise. Then I figured that the dealer had not cared to update his Swift TD car to the new, K-Series variant. Fool! So its all square on the engine front, but somehow the car didn't make me delighted. The dash's design, its blue color, the car’s outer design – all were more modern, yet they were also quirky and perhaps a bit kiddish. The gear level's placement on the central console summed it up – this car was as big and good as a Swift, but it still made me feel like I was in an oversized, modernized Wagon R. Besides, the 30k price advantage would probably convert to a 20k disadvantage when it would be time to sell the car. Hence Swift leads the pack beating the Ritz and Figo.
The i20 Test Drive
Boy this car blew the Swift away and how! I hadn’t been in an i20 before, so I couldn't imagine why Hyundai was selling it at such a premium to the Swift. Hadn’t they learnt anything from the Getz pricing debacle? However I loved the exteriors, so thought it warrants a dekko. Have you seen the new Indica Vista DriveTech4 ad?
This is exactly how I felt when I sat in the i20 for the TD. Right as we enter the car, I notice the *amazing* dash.
- Yummy color and design
- 2-din integrated stereo (and its knobby!)
- Climate control…sweet!
- Civic-like steering
- Steering mounted controls
- Electrically adjustable ORVMs
- Generous display screen
The salesman showed me all the neat tricks concerning the display screen and how it interfaces with the stereo, driver controls etc (I don't remember them all now) and I was quite impressed. Then came the
Pièce de résistance. We are about to drive out. I had opened the right ORVM before entering the car. Asked him now to open the left one, and he says, use the button. I was like
holy-mother-of-god this car has remote
folding mirrors apart from being adjustable?! I didn't know of any car under 15 lakhs to have this feature – and it’s such a handy feature (at least for me). Everything after this point was a daze: I started the car, the engine was smooth. I drove it, it was fine. The interiors were humungous, that's good. The seat fabric, the boot, the alloys, they were all good. Drove the diesel, it was also good. Time to go home now. Which way was home again? Dazed!
My two cribs with this gem of a car have to be: the car doesn't handle so nicely, and the petrol is a wee bit underpowered, but I didn't realize these things until my open-mouthed spell went away a couple of days later!
But seriously…Remote folding mirrors! <shakes head>
The Jazz Test Drive
I knew this car was 8.5 lakhs, and I knew I wouldn't buy it, but I am a car fan and I love the Jazz’s looks goddamit, so I still went! Fabulous car no doubt, but the i20 just killed it. If the i20 hadnt been in the market, I would have thought the Jazz to be good VFM – it offers tons more feel-good factor for 3 lakhs more over the Swift. The price is in a way justified boss – think of it as a Honda City with smaller engine, but waay better looks and dashboard for 2 lakhs lesser. But I guess City buyers want the 3-box shape for image purposes, and hatch buyers can buy the i20. I didn't have the budget to buy the Jazz anyway, but what sealed the issue was the fact that it had – guess what – no remote folding ORVMs or even remotely adjustable ones
. But kudos Honda, you sell a car with ABS and Airbags standard on even the lowest variant! Hats off!
Now comes Stage 3, the indecision.