[Vibhanshu]

That was sad. Really sorry about your loss.
I think your lesson 7 was the killer. Also Lesson 1 is a truth I guess.

Looking forward for your next write up of next car.

[bullboy]

Even if a maruti had turned upside down, the costs would have been around 1L.

True.One of my friends alto landed into ditch , the cost of repair was 1.2 lacs, almost 50% of the car cost, although insurace covered most of it

[ACM]

Nice opening post.

2.9 buy was a great deal
2.7 sell was an ever better deal. If any buyer had known all that the car went through under your ownership the quoted price would have been much lower.
Ford spares though expensive, most of the cost / expense incurred by you seem to be due to driver error, so ford can't really be blamed.
In this price band there is no better driver car, yet the deal that you got was great.
The snap of the rear of the car was a touching throught.
What car next?

[drkritik]

Multiple drivers are only three other than me, that also during long highway drives, you practically don't use clutch much on highways.
They are close relatives and friends, I don't blame that this could be the reason.
I trust them more than myself when comes to driving, I really don't have much of the problem if a close friend asks for driving,
Previous owner didn't know how to drive , even it was driven by multiple drivers earlier. And adhoc driver was used only once..
Ford Service engineer showed me two cars, one of them was brand new, needed a clutch replacement in less than 500kms !

The Last picture was taken by my wife.. Credit goes to her. Both of our eyes were full by that time, a small stimulation, we would have cried..

Yeah even I plan to buy a Fiesta , of course with extended warranty, sadly the clutch is not covered in any type of warranty by Ford ! not by Maruti also ! (I read the fine print)

I got it evaluated at FORD dealership they offered 2.1lakhs, I assume every evaluation goes through many middle men of which many of them would not have seen the car they are evaluating (The person sees your car and calls up his boss , who then decides the price, without seeing !)

@ Daewood : Even I thought of keeping the car, as I kept a realistic price tag of 2.75L, I could always say to my parents that , I am not getting a good price so I am not selling Her !!
But to be frank by this time I had become quite conscious about the car; I used to be afraid to take her out, I don't know what problem will crop up & when ? that is totally unwarranted from a car.

There are many small issues about ford service which i did not find worth mentioning like 1. Not cleaning the car perfectly during services
2. Putting the Tail light Upside down (wire connections messed)!
3. Screwing the remote locking facility when sent for service.
and their callous attitude towards your beloved car

I surely don't deny the Brighter side; I got 2.7 Lakh for the car , and all of us are alive without a scratch !

For Ford : If your engineers know only replacing , then price the Spare parts cheaper.. and sell your cars still cheaper
How I wish we could get cheaper Chinese spare parts for Ford !! anyways genuine Ford spare parts don't carry any warranty what so ever ?

Thanks all for encouraging me to write further

[drkritik]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Drkartik,

One thing which you should have done was to get the car evalauated at Ford authorized dealer before finalizing the deal.
=========
have been many shining examples of Ford Fiesta owners maintaining their car and incurring the least expenses.

Mostly You did not read it thoroughly (Lesson #2) or Probably my writing wasn't clear enough , I did have Insurance , but it took 2 months for the claim to be processed

[shajufx]

Very well written stuff, I didn't even blink until I finished the whole story . Not being a fan-boy of Fiesta or any other brand in particular, things that are written is applicable to any brand and make.

Selling a car thats been loved and cared is always painful, however high or low we are placed financially at the time of selling. Although I drive my 4th car as of today, the most painful moment was selling my previous Wagon R. Somehow the 'tall-boy' had grown on me emotionally.

There is no need to sell a car until a moment it starts giving frequent maintenance expenses and spoiling peace of mind on road. I guess its atleast a 5 year+ if proper care is given. Personally I love to keep the Fiesta for a long time, as whatever positives you have mentioned are so true to its core.

Moving from a sedan to the hatch, I am curious to know how you feel about the driving ! Because I found Fiesta to be easier to navigate than a WagonR or a M800 regardless of the traffic or the road condition.

[LandCruiser]

Any car in the class of Fiesta will be expensive to maintain compared to a Ritz. Many of the issues seem to stem from wrong handling of the car, accidents and up-sizing of the tires. It is quite unfortunate that all these had to happen within a time frame of 11 months.

Bad tire choice has brought more trouble in your case affecting the grip, handling, brakes etc. You need to do thorough research on these topics before spending your money.

But in all you got a good resale so you can be happy. You cant compare the ownership experience of a Ritz and Fiesta. You still love the fiesta after this experience but time will tell what you feel about the Ritz.

[Sigamani]

Doctor, I feel you have a great spirit.

I laughed out on your lesson 2, but in past, I always thought what would happen in such scenarios.

Also whenever somebody say Maruti's A** is good i did fully understand until i read your lesson 8 & 9.

Your experiences are a lesson for me (I hope for many many!) and Thanks for sharing it here. I didn't mean about owning a Ford here, but owning a car.

[drkritik]

Originally Posted by Sigamani

Your experiences are a lesson for me (I hope for many many!) and Thanks for sharing it here. I didn't mean about owning a Ford here, but owning a car.

Thank you very much
this was the main reason to write this article
I still love the car, mainly frustrated because of the maintenance costs and poor service backup
It hurts to sell a great car for such trivial, mostly correctable issues !

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by LandCruiser

Any car in the class of Fiesta will be expensive to maintain compared to a Ritz. Many of the issues seem to stem from wrong handling of the car, accidents and up-sizing of the tires. It is quite unfortunate that all these had to happen within a time frame of 11 months.

Bad tire choice has brought more trouble in your case affecting the grip, handling, brakes etc. You need to do thorough research on these topics before spending your money.

But in all you got a good resale so you can be happy. You cant compare the ownership experience of a Ritz and Fiesta. You still love the fiesta after this experience but time will tell what you feel about the Ritz.

+1 to your views.

The only concerns from drkritik's post relate to spending Rs 11000 for clutch repair and there being no warranty on the job undertaken. That is definitely a worrisome point.

Rest of the items relate to wrong handling or accidents. I spent Rs 2500 approx on my WagonR's brake pads, so if a Fiesta cost double that amount, I don't think it is way expensive, as it is of a higher segment. I've also read in this forum that the rear lights of a Maruti Baleno cost Rs 20000/-. Compared to that, you've paid far less for the rear light.

I am curious to know where you got your car serviced--was it at Mody Ford or Fortune Ford. My experience with Mody Ford so far has been quite good, but I've heard people talking ill about the other dealer's service.

[MileCruncher]

@drkritik: Thats quite an ownership experience you had there.

I always advise while graduating from 2 wheeler to car, do the slow progression. For a new driver the ideal car to start is an used Maruti or Hyundai product as they are relatively trouble free. They may not give one a great driving experience but will not burn a hole in the pocket also. Once one gets a bit of experience in maintaining a car, then they should move towards a bigger car.

Also in your case except the accidents, the rest of the mistakes can be attributed to driver error. Also please remember this golden rule "the higher the number of drivers, the more the number of problems in a car" and this is true irrespective of how good the drivers may be.

Oh with regards to the clutch, I think you should have written to the Ford Customer Care and am sure they would have changed it F.O.C. However bad a driver, a clutch can never fail in 3 months considering your mileage and and am sure there would have been a manufacturing defect.

And another friendly advice: Always take the advice of the SA at A.S.S with a pinch of salt and if you are not well versed with car mechanicals, take a second opinion. All A.S.S are expert only on replacement and not on repair as they have targets to meet.

I hope this experience with your Fiesta would have made you wiser and hope you have a peaceful ownership experience with your Ritz

Cheers

[suman]

I think that was an excellent decision you made about selling off the Fiesta

I'm now eagerly looking forward to your Ritz ownership thread & the number of lessons that you may learn at the end of 12 months - will it be more than 12 or less, I wonder

Btw, as mentioned by many, I couldn't figure why Ford was to blame for the numerous accidental repairs on your car. Hopefully, the multiple users are that much older & wiser by now, so your Ritz will not suffer as much!

[AlokSriva]

After having owned 2 Fords in a row, I am not sure if the vehicle itself, or for that matter the brand, can be blamed for human errors

In the segment under consideration, cost of spares of all brands are nearly comparable.

I appreciate your learning experiences Doc and would add the most important one which a) you did not realize and b) was probably the root cause of all problems faced by your Fiesta - multiple drivers whether with you or when it was in first owner's hands.

[yogi1771]

The problem with spare parts being costly as quoted by many guys I have seen is that they will compare the spare parts with either a car which is one segment down for that matter even a car which is two segments down( personal experience with my building member).If you need to compare spare parts then the comparison should be with a SX4,Verna etc.

[Guna]

Excellent post.
I really liked the lesson on how Ford engineers only know to replace , not repair. I have experienced this myself many times when I owned Fusion. But that's where the world is heading I guess (if one key goes bad, they replace the entire keyword on your laptop)

While used cars make a tempting buy, I have a theory that 'nobody sells a good car' . Not in all cases (I myself have sold cars which were in excellent condition)but at least in majority of the cases. Other reasons to sell of course are upgrading, having a car which doesn't fit the requirement, desire to own something new in the market etc. But in most cases, people sell cars after they think it has lived it's best part of life (which is about after 5 years 50 k) and car would start developing major/minor problems sooner or later.