[anilisanil]

It all started when a huge dumper stopped right in front of my bike in order to avoid hitting a passing cow. It was as much dangerous as it sounded funny as I was travelling to office along with my wife and we were just a month old weds. This was back in December 2009. The moment I stepped out of the hospital pink and healthy (except for a torn ligament) I decided I needed a car.


In India, what Gita is for Hindus, Bible is for Christians, T-Bhp is that for people who want to buy a car. I am not much into religion but T-Bhp did become Opium for me (as it is for quite others) and here I am who check the portal probably as often as I blink my eyes. But I am supposed to write the ownership report of my car so let’s get back there.


The digression in the above paragraph is more to introduce how I honed my knowledge on cars. But much before that I decided I should have a diesel car. I have no reasons why, except that I had this notion of driving a lot. So I started with following requirements-


• A diesel car,
• must be a hatch (cannot afford a diesel sedan),
• should have all the basic safety features like ABS etc.


Back then, for the budget I have in my mind I have not many options and I inadvertently settled on Swift VDi and booked one in February 2010 and fixed the delivery date as 10th May (my birthday). This was after considering GTO’s review on Figo, though I was tempted, I wanted to remain one of those I-don’t-want-to-take-any-risk types.


I will excuse you with details about how I had to travel abroad just before my delivery and how I returned a month after my expected delivery date and how maruti could not offer me a car immediately, in fact they said I have to wait for 3.5 months more since I wanted to upgrade to VDi with ABS (the onsite effect ).


This is the proverbial kahani main twist. And by this time it was raining Figos on the T-Bhp. Gemi’s and late doctor’s (peace be upon him) ownership reports wooed me to a great deal. I registered myself for a TD, the salesman appeared by the evening with Figo (it was second Friday of June). To me, he came, I saw and he conquered, sums it up all.


Being a new driver, I did not drive it much, but for whatever I could, I felt much better than driving a Swift diesel. I then asked the sales guy to drive and rip the car through! He did and by Saturday, me and wife were in the Ford’s showroom. She liked the Ford baby much more than she did Swift. And the rest is history.


The sales manager agreed to deliver a Sea Grey Titanium in three weeks flat. He offered 3500 cash discount, third year warranty as goodies and my car cost me 5.99 lakhs OTR Pune.


And as promised, we got the car on 3rd of July as agreed before. No hassles, no follow up, no tense moments. All I had to do was to call the sales guy to ask him when I could do the PDI and also informed him that I will not pay him, unless I see the car, VIN number and inspect it.


On 2nd July, I was taken to the car godown and I did the PDI as per the T-Bhp guidelines (thanks again!) and on 3rd July by baby was all mine!


What I like about my car:

What I like about my car:
• Absolute VFM-
When I say VFM, it should not be read as a cheap car where a lot has been compromised for lowering the price. When I say VFM, I paid 600 grand and I get something that is otherwise worth a lakh more. Have a look at the features I REALLY love!
o ABS, dual airbags
o The Speaker quality of OEM is just to my liking; I will not be spending anything more on this!
o The Bluetooth feature works and how!!
o A/C just chills you to the bones!

• Excellent engine- I really love the way Ford tuned the engine. There is NO turbo lad at all! In traffic jams, all I need to do is just use the brake and clutch! More about that later!

• The way it handles- during our test drive this is what our sales guy was trying to sell. The way the car handles on the road is mind blowing. In fact I felt it is equals Punto if not better. The car is like it is planted on the road and the way it takes the curves is mind blowing! More about this too later!

• SPACE



As per what I DON’T like about the car. Like any car, my car has certain issues. A few are generic and a few that are special. So here they go-
• No power windows- I don’t use them because it’s just me and wifey who use the car but when I take my friends along occasionally, the first question they ask is why there are no power windows in the rear when I have Airbags in front. It’s a tough question to answer.
• NVH levels are bit high when cold and intrude a bit when at high speeds, couple that with groans that MRFs make on road, you have a noise car at high speeds. Not intrusive, but not to my liking!
• Squeaks, ah the squeaks!!! More about them later!
• The carpeting material catches dust too much!!
• Mine is a black dashboard and it reflects a lot of light- a lot more than I am comfortable!



A few pictures from delivery day. I actually forgot to take my cam and had to use my mobile










More details coming in next post (10-15 minutes)

[COUNSEL]

Congrats! Finally get to see your thread! FIGO looks small, but I was very very impressed with the leg room and boot space.

Figo tdci Titanium in Bangalore is Rs. 651022/-.
Punto mjd 75HP Emotion pack in Bangalore is Rs. 7,63646/-
Difference is around 70k.


But i find many features missing in Titanium:
1. Most important is no power windows at rear.
2. No tilt steering.
3. Very simple meter console. Not much of info in MID.
4. No temperature guage.
5. No fog lamps.
6. No alloys.
7. No music system controls on steering.

Many more I don't remember.

How can FIGO be called as "VFM" when clearly the features are missing and priced less! I think it's FORD's sheer luck for the success of FIGO.

[DRIV3R]

^ U left out Automatic Climate Control!

[anilisanil]

So continuing my story-


I started driving back carefully, with the car occupied by family. Me being a new driver I stalled the engine a few times in the traffic. And after filling up the tank and going for the customary pooja, I had the first tryst with Ford Service. This is what happened-

While we were driving to the temple, I inadvertently entered into a lane where there was this huge hump and a stone cemented on it (which I over looked), so as I was descending that slope I heard a huge thump sound and panicked that I scarped my under body, but since this is a rock the sound continue to come even as I move ahead. It is as if something is continuously scraping the underbody, tensed and sweating I engaged the reverse gear, after some struggling we were out.
But, let me emphasize, but there are fumes coming from the engine bay. I was like mad. Here I am driving my first car to the temple and the car is fuming hot and I am not too sure if I can drive it to the temple which is just a lane away!
After the customary cursing of self, fate, the stone and the ones who laid it there, I called up the Ford help line. I waited for an hour in the car, while my family decided to take a small break at a tapri. The road side assistance guy arrived in a Wagon CNG (irony, no?). He quickly checked out everything, took me for a test drive of the vehicle and confirmed that I fried the clutch in an attempt to reverse desperately. He also pointed out that I can drive the vehicle, although I should take the vehicle for an inspection. And the Ford Road side assistance guy drove back his Wagon R!

Whatever it is, I was really happy that nothing major went wrong! Clouds of tension cleared, family is back and we drove down to the temple; this time in a different route.

Now it is time for pepping up. The first round included:
• Mats
• Filming all around (Llumar)
• Paint coating, under body coating and Engine coating (unnecessary in hindsight)
• Parking sensors.
• Seat covers.


Here go the pictures:


Thanks for anvancy for this pic!



Paring sensors were of great help during the initial days!













Total amount spent: 19K

And then in the second round, upgraded to alloys!









Total amount spent on alloys : 15000 K

I also upgraded to Phillips extreme which cost me 1000

Total so far 6.34, even if I want to add fogs, the most it will go to is 6.4l

Just as I thought I was loving it, the inevitable happened and I ended up as a victim of a pile up and thus started my bigger tryst with Ford A.S.S- to be continued!

[funkykar]

Congrats buddy!

Originally Posted by anilisanil

The difference if I know my maths well is 110000, that is huge for me and most of the features you said were "good to have" but not "necessary".

By 70K i think he meant after additional discounts by FIAT.

Personally, I too like cars to have minimum features like FIGO without compromising on safety features like ABS and Airbags.

I hate the niggling issues of electronics.

Some people complain of lack of Turbo kick. But I think lack of Turbo kick helps in reduction of Turbo lag too!

Have you experienced the 'paint chipping off' issue?

[Sheel]

How much for the seat-covers? They appear nice.

Were the parking sensors from Ford?

I am waiting for my TDCi Titanium and my wait just doesn't seem to get over. (Was suggested that it will be sometimes in & around 25th Dec, but now I might defer it till 1st Jan)

[anilisanil]

Originally Posted by funkykar

Congrats buddy!



By 70K i think he meant after additional discounts by FIAT.

Personally, I too like cars to have minimum features like FIGO without compromising on safety features like ABS and Airbags.

I hate the niggling issues of electronics.

Some people complain of lack of Turbo kick. But I think lack of Turbo kick helps in reduction of Turbo lag too!

Have you experienced the 'paint chipping off' issue?

No paint chipping issue. In fact the paint job is as expected from any car, top class!


Yeah, I removed my comments! Each one has his own definition for VFM. So I thought, I would rather not glorify the car I own, its just that it is a good servant of mine! I like the way it does a lot of things in rather acceptable way.

Owing to the low turbo lag, city drive ability is pretty good, especially in bumper to bumper traffic. Once you find a comfortable driving position(which took sometime for me as i trailed and errored), you would just love to drive this.

On highways, the car runs like a gem. I have seen the engine getting better past 5000 km mark. The amount of power it has in reserve at 90-100 kmph is really mind blowing. But once you cross 125 kmph, the car's reserve power is over. It does not struggle per se, but that acceleration is not there. I have gone upto 145 and the car was stable and planted and with great straight line stability.

On ghats, I simply love the car! If you are in good speed range you can climb most uphills in 3rd gear if there are no obstructions. The cornering characteristics are mind blowing and unbelievable. It is as if the car loves the curves!

Braking is pretty acceptable, though slow speed braking makes some rear noises (I am assuming it is either ABS or fuel tank) I do get those kharrrrrrr noises.

The gear shift is acceptable, though I would have loved it smoother. the reverse gear has to be engaged with some power, girls may have some problems! I guess this is intended to avoid accidental shift to reverse gear during driving.

The first and second gears are short ones and have oodles of torque. You generally dont need to accelerate if you wanna drive at 20 kmph, all you need to do is engage 2nd gear and leave it there, the car chugs along.

It is a bit tough to find the correct way to up-shift the gear w/o a jerk. I tend to up shift from 2nd to 3rd and upwards at around 1500-1800 rpm depending on the road conditions. The engine sweet spot is 2000 rpm and you dont believe the amount of power available at 2000 rpm for third gear. Just tap the gas to see how the car flies off when you are in 3rd gear and 2000 rpm!!

Let me discuss the biggest "feature" (?) of any buyer of car in this segment-mileage

I should say I was rather concerned during the three weeks of my wait, when the owners started to report their mileages. Most of them reported them to be at around 13-15 kmpl in the initial days.

For me too the first mileage reported was 14.5 kmpl. It stuck there for the next refill and improved to 15.5 for the next.

However, over a period of time they settled near 16 kmpl and this is just before the first service. At 8000km i just recorded 19.37 kmpl with in city.

The first service was just a routine and by the time I gave it for the service, my car was already popular with the service center. Thanks for a smartass cabbie whose heroics led to pile up of some seven cars on old Mum-Pune highway, and of the seven one is mine!

The damages are :

• reaer bumper damaged and need to be repainted
• hatch door is dented so should be replaced
• front bumper scratches

This was how it looked:





will continue soon!



Edit: @Sheel: Yeah, I am aware of your buy, congratulations. The seat covers cost me 5K I guess, I don't exactly remember the break up. The parking sensors are not from Ford, all the accessories are non ford after market stuff.

[SPARKled]

Congrats. No matter what, I till feel the TDCi Figo is easily the most value for money hatch in India. If I was the buyer, the things like lack of climate control, rear power windows etc would not really a deal breaker. Fords I know are extremely reliable, have a chiller AC, are great to drive, have fuel efficient diesel engines, have almost nil turbo lag, and have lots of space. Most importantly are easily available are cheap to buy which is also important.

[anilisanil]

How did I do this?




I think it is common for an owner of a car newly launched in the market, to discover new features of the car. There are many things that I have discovered over 5 months of ownership. But most of them are already known to many and have been reported elsewhere.

So let me bring in to you something that I discovered about figo by sheer accident. It is how to make your digital odo show a host of information!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBVdF_odrDQ

[theoriginal9321]

^^ watching your video,
Is this a feature which comes with the car or did you modify something to get this?
Also, is this present in both petrol and diesel avatars?
Thanks

[anilisanil]

This is an inherent feature that I found accidentally, should be the same for all versions though I did not check it for petrol.

[GeekSrik]

very interesting thread anil. I am yet to discover interesting features in figo for myself. your alloys look astounding. mind explaining what brand is and whether you went in for tyre upsize? Sad for the minor dents but I guess figo will keep you happy no matter what happens! thats the best part of the car.

[theoriginal9321]

thanks, an interesting feature indeed, I wonder why they dont show this on the brochure.
Features like this show how much thought ford puts in building these cars.

[anilisanil]

Originally Posted by GeekSrik

very interesting thread anil. I am yet to discover interesting features in figo for myself. your alloys look astounding. mind explaining what brand is and whether you went in for tyre upsize? Sad for the minor dents but I guess figo will keep you happy no matter what happens! thats the best part of the car.

Thanks Srik! The alloys are neo made and cost me 15k inclusive of all.

those dents were actually blessing in disguise. Before this dent, I actually forgot to put hand brake and Figo scraped against the pillars leaving huge scratches. In another incident, while I was leaving the compund, the gate crashed into my car, though I managed steer past it, it did leave a scratch and a dent on front wheel arch.

It is because of this dent, that I could get those scratches painted by ford for free. How? I will post the details soon!

[theoriginal9321]

congrats for the scratches being painted. but i have one more question, in your second post, the second picture shows a green car with a cartoon beside it on your rear view mirror(possibly being reflected from the rear window), what is that, something to do with the parking sensors?
Thanks