Hi all,
I started hunting for a sedan sometime back and had shortlisted the SX4, ANHC, Fiesta and the Cedia. Around the same time, my dad decided to sell his car and start looking at alternatives as well. After test drives, research and t-bhp time, I was almost decided on the Cedia and then things decided to go crazy; my work location et al became uncertain and I backed off on booking the Cedia. Meanwhile, my dad started leaning quite heavily towards a Fiesta as his next car, the reason actually being my cousin who owns a Fiesta for long now and all his praise about the car. Now with my being in Bangalore not a certainty, we were apprehensive about going in for two cars.
Let me just cut a long story short, I booked the Fiesta Sxi and my dad decided to hold on to his current car for an year. After that I will be passing on the Fiesta to him and then hunt again for something (the new lancer if it gets released by then and if that doesn't happen then it is tough to imagine something else winning over the Cedia for me
).
The Booking:
I went to the Metro Ford Showroom on St.Marks road, Bangalore at around 2pm on 8th June. I was still undecided on whether it was going to be Sxi or S. I wanted the Aquarius Blue S but family firmly rejected the colour. I later found out on t-bhp forums that the Blue S was discontinued so I wouldn't have got it anyway. The beige interiors, the wood console finish and better rear seat ride quality of the Sxi scored over the awesome manners of the S especially since dad was going to use this car long term rather than me and I booked the paprika red (the only colour which received zero 'nay' votes form the family) Sxi, paid a 10k booking amount and was told that it would take 4 weeks for delivery. I also asked them to book a spoiler and again thanks to t-bhp forums (Gilead specifically) found out that there are two versions of the spoiler - the regular one and the S one. I asked them to book the S spoiler but it is yet to come. another 10 days is what the dealer says. That done, I was off on my stupid business trip.
The Delivery:
While I was away on the trip, my dad got a call saying the car is ready sometime in the 3rd week of June. My dad asked them to hold the car as I wasn't there and they did that with no issues. I was back on the 28th, saw my jet lag disappear in the excitement of the new car and ended up at the Metro Ford showroom at around 12pm. The formalities took an hour and the process for registration was set into motion. 30th June was the promised delivery date and I want back home counting the hours to delivery!
The dealer duly called up on the 30th afternoon and asked me to come collect the car. I wound up my office meetings as fast as I could and rushed to dealer at around 5pm. The car was parked right in the middle of the showroom and boy, did she look beautiful! The sales rep did her part well: she duly explained all the features of the car, ran me through the handbook, had some complimentary stuff ready and had remembered to get two sets of carpet mats as I had asked her to. I check the car with the helpful PDI list posted somewhere here and everything seemed good to go. I asked them remove the plastics covering the seat covers as I find it irritating to sit on them with the plastics on. The car did not have any scratches/dents/colour differentials that I could make out but the inside area to the side of the foot mats was slightly dirty on the passenger side as well as the driver side. Seemed to be shoe marks but apart from this the rest of the car was well cleaned. They got the number plates done and fixed in about half an hour. The entire process took slightly more than an hour, and after thanking the sales people and distributing some small gifts, I happily drove away - straight into Bangalore's chaotic traffic!
The first 100 kms:
The drive home was splendid, stopped on the way to pick up my mom and the admiration from her colleagues for the car and colour added to the joy. The car was super smooth, I felt at home even in the heavy traffic and purposefully avoided being too apprehensive about the first scratch: I know it's going to happen in a city like Bangalore sooner rather than later and I can't help that. After the customary temple visit, I took her to the new airport to pick up a friend and her behaviour on the semi-highway like stretch to the new Bangalore airport was immaculate. At slightly below 3k rpm on the 5th, she was doing 100-110 kmph and I kept her there. The steering response felt brilliant, it's neither too tight nor too light, and I never needed to slow down or downshift even on the curves for the car felt well planted. I did one silly traffic signal drag race against a Laura and hit 5k on the 2nd but kept my idiotic urge to push her quiet after that. A more elaborate and better report will surely be due once she hits 5000 kms.
The basic add ons are due:
1) Headlights upgrade: The current set are highly insufficient especially on unlit stretches of roads: the high beam is just about decent but the low beams are pretty poor.
2) Window Tints: Plan to get this done tomorrow> Garware? What's the best in the market now?
3) Horn: The horn sounds weird to me. At times it sounded loud enough but at times I hear a slight double sound and the horn got lost in traffic noise. I definitely need a better pair of horns.
4) Reverse horn: It's high time this is fitted as a standard accessory by all car makers. It's a must if you are backing up anywhere in Bangalore and I am sure that's the case everywhere else as well.
5)Tyre upgrade: On the cards. No decision on profile or any other details yet. Stocks are mrf zvts 175/65 R14.
The pics below are very basic and shot urgently; pardon the poor quality: