[mdsaab]

Congratulations
do remember to take the famed PDI checklist with you when you check out the car.

[vina]

Originally Posted by mdsaab

Congratulations
do remember to take the famed PDI checklist with you when you check out the car.

I did. But couldn't do it - I didn't know much (e.g. it said check the dipstick - I didn't know where to find it ) so I looked around the car carefully, opened the engine bay, checked for any obvious signs of damage and then asked a very important question - how many Figos are selling every month from your showroom? The guy immediately replied 60-70 (and they have three showrooms - so overall 200cars/month from Fortune alone).

So my guess went this way - it is unlikely to be a bad car (unless Ford has poor quality controls, in which case PDI checks or not I'm screwed anyway), the only exception would be an accident - which would be detected from body colour etc.

So far all superficial stuff is fine. The engine is making the diesel noise - I didn't expect it in a new car and got a little depressed, till I went to the market and heard two Figos making same noise (I guess I never noticed before because I never cared)

[justwheels]

Originally Posted by vina

I did. But couldn't do it - I didn't know much (e.g. it said check the dipstick - I didn't know where to find it ) so I looked around the car carefully, opened the engine bay, checked for any obvious signs of damage and then asked a very important question - how many Figos are selling every month from your showroom? The guy immediately replied 60-70 (and they have three showrooms - so overall 200cars/month from Fortune alone).

So my guess went this way - it is unlikely to be a bad car (unless Ford has poor quality controls, in which case PDI checks or not I'm screwed anyway), the only exception would be an accident - which would be detected from body colour etc.

So far all superficial stuff is fine. The engine is making the diesel noise - I didn't expect it in a new car and got a little depressed, till I went to the market and heard two Figos making same noise (I guess I never noticed before because I never cared)

Hey first congrats and I must say you admitted the PDI reality with an innocent truthfulness. 5 stars to that. Hope the honest gets a trouble free car and may you crunch miles ahead. Waiting for a first ride report and the pics of the "tika" on the FIGO.

[RGK]

I work for Mahindra (but not auto division) and got the news about the launch pretty early. We were expecting more style and design in the new verito, but bit disappointed.


It has all the ingredients of old Logan with more features as the variant increases. The base version G2/D2 is 5.62 lakhs (ex-showroom Chennai), but has only A/C and power steering and not even central locking.


@vina - the site is Mahindra Verito | New Sedan | Mahindra Verito India | Mahindra Car

The sturdyness and its 1.5 engine will help to increase its sales, but will face stiff competition from Fiesta.

[Deep Blue]

Originally Posted by vina

My requirements are:

1. Practicality - good FE, low cost of ownership, (very) low niggles
2. Space (though Figo should be good enough for almost all of my usage, 5 passenger comfort may be more with Logan)
3. Good suspension for smooth ride, good handling at less than 80kmph, reasonable at 80-100 and above 100 if the car doesn't hide the speed that is fine too.
4. I don't look forward to selling it at all - so resale etc. do not matter.

I realise you have bought the Figo,but since this may continue as a comparision thread, I thought I will put down my thoughts on Figo based nearly a year's ownership of Figo.

1. Good FE - Yes,
Low cost of ownership - Likely, yet to be proved
Niggles - Lot of squeaks and rattles
2. Space - sufficient
3.Ride reasonable. Low speed ride not very good.
Handling - superb
4. Resale - Considering the numbers sold, likely to be good.

I have not driven or sat in a Logan. So cant comment on it.

[Skyline GT-R]

Originally Posted by vina

So my guess went this way - it is unlikely to be a bad car (unless Ford has poor quality controls, in which case PDI checks or not I'm screwed anyway), the only exception would be an accident - which would be detected from body colour etc.

So far all superficial stuff is fine. The engine is making the diesel noise - I didn't expect it in a new car and got a little depressed, till I went to the market and heard two Figos making same noise (I guess I never noticed before because I never cared)

Congrats. Never mind about the noise. It will subside a little after the 2.5K oil change (Rs 1.5K). My Figo got serviced yesterday & engine is less noisy now (drove 150 Kms after service).

Figo did not get 20 odd awards for nothing my friend. Even if half of them are rigged you still have 10 to brag/feel good about.

My mom was backseat passenger yesterday. She knows nothing about cars/brands but has travelled in them a lot. After reaching home she commented that this car is very comfortable to travel. To me that is more important than indicator+wiper+reverse lamp.

You have made a wise choice. Otherwise Figo will not sell close to 10K units per month in India. I was sceptic about buying a Ford but thorough research made me finalize on Figo.

Congrats once again.

[vina]

Originally Posted by Skyline GT-R

Congrats. Never mind about the noise. It will subside a little after the 2.5K oil change (Rs 1.5K). My Figo got serviced yesterday & engine is less noisy now (drove 150 Kms after service).

Figo did not get 20 odd awards for nothing my friend. Even if half of them are rigged you still have 10 to brag/feel good about.

My mom was backseat passenger yesterday. She knows nothing about cars/brands but has travelled in them a lot. After reaching home she commented that this car is very comfortable to travel. To me that is more important than indicator+wiper+reverse lamp.

You have made a wise choice. Otherwise Figo will not sell close to 10K units per month in India. I was sceptic about buying a Ford but thorough research made me finalize on Figo.

Congrats once again.

thanks Skyline

I bought a Figo for my sister last year and we are very happy with that one too.

The comment I made about "how many Figos does this showroom sell?" was not to find out whether the model is popular - but to see what is the likelyhood that they still would have a crappy damaged returned vehicle lying around before they find a schmuck (i.e. my kind of a guy) to palm it off to.

If it sells a lot, then there will be plenty of schmucks all around - easy to get rid of the car (so probability that any particular schmuck, i.e. yours truly, will be stuck with one goes down ).

Also car was manufactured in April 2011 (and it appears that Fortune got it on the past Monday - even on Monday they were telling me delivery will take a week, and on Tuesday they had the car available for delivery).

[cerk]

I own the Ford Figo petrol (Titanium). The driving pleasure is just superb! Between Logan and Figo - Figo wins over in terms of image, suitablity to drive in city (size), since you are planning for a diesel - highway driving is not going to be an issue as the diesel variant had enough torque... mileage.. I get around 10 in Bangalore city traffic with AC most of the time.
Logan is a VFM package and you get a bigger than Figo.

[mdsaab]

Well i am sure you got a good example dont worry too much.
As someone suggested earlier the engine noise will reduce as you run her in and especially after yhe oil change.
Wishing you many miles of joyful motoring with your figo.
The best vfm hatch today.
Do post pictures soon.
Drive safe!

[vina]

Originally Posted by mdsaab

Well i am sure you got a good example dont worry too much.
As someone suggested earlier the engine noise will reduce as you run her in and especially after yhe oil change.
Wishing you many miles of joyful motoring with your figo.
The best vfm hatch today.
Do post pictures soon.
Drive safe!

Thanks mdsaab

I guess more than "Drive safe" people should tell me "Just drive damn it" - I got a colleague to bring the car home

[ff1609]

You mentioned that fuel economy is one of the important parameters you would consider, logan has a clear edge in that regard.

Logan diesel returns 20kmpl+ in city driving, Figo diesel gives about 16-18kmpl in city driving.

I own a logan for the last 4 years and have just sold an ikon flair last month, I would say spares are more or less similarly priced for Ford as well as Logan. In Delhi, service is equally problematic for both cars.

If you take a second look at the posts, all those who brought up the 'taxi image' of Logan, are from Bangalore. This is because in Bangalore most logans are taxis, however the 'taxi image' does not exist in Delhi, Mumbai etc.

Logan's diesel engine is known to be more problem free and longer lasting than Figo's. Resale (though not important to you) is more or less the same for both cars.

Figo diesel, Fiesta 1.4 diesel and Ikon diesel share the same engine, I think you should consider the new ikon too. Do let us know what you finally chose.

[vina]

@ff1609

I have already bought the Figo. Logan will probably be the next once the family is big enough to merit a sedan.

While I agree Logan is probably a better car (I don't care about taxi-image, in fact I was telling my wife some time ago we can run our's as a taxi - then she'll get a chauffeured car on demand without taxi my pocket in the long run - of course she threatened to kick me out) it costs 1.3L more on road.

(sorry) - why can't car makers keep some things optional (like alloy wheels, leather upholstery, ABS-Airbag spearately etc.) ? some of these have to be fitted on assembly line, so will be problematic, but others can be done at dealership level (may also save on excise duties)

[ff1609]

congratulations and do keep us posted about the performance!

[Mustang.101]

Originally Posted by vina

So far all superficial stuff is fine. The engine is making the diesel noise - I didn't expect it in a new car and got a little depressed, till I went to the market and heard two Figos making same noise (I guess I never noticed before because I never cared)

Diesel engines do make a typical clatter and this noise is magnified highly if you started the engine in a closed space like a showroom or workshop. Moreover, the noise will reduce after you have driven it for a few thousand kms. Also after about 15K-20K kms, you can change the oil from Ford factory fill to Mobil Delvac1. The general consensus on team-bhp is that it does reduce the diesel clatter.

[vina]

Originally Posted by Mustang.101

Diesel engines do make a typical clatter and this noise is magnified highly if you started the engine in a closed space like a showroom or workshop. Moreover, the noise will reduce after you have driven it for a few thousand kms. Also after about 15K-20K kms, you can change the oil from Ford factory fill to Mobil Delvac1. The general consensus on team-bhp is that it does reduce the diesel clatter.

Thanks Mustang, I'll write to you if I face any (serious) problems.

you are right about the clatter in enclosed space - I was in my underground parking where I noticed it first. Other two Figo cars (one with the yellow temporary plate) were on the road, I was walking - I heard it standing relatively close to them and my Figo had similar noise.

I have heard similar noise from a Logan (Meru) after coming from the airport in my parking - but that was an old car.


Anyway, inside the cabin there is very little noise. In fact this is a slight problem for me because where I learned to drive there were no tachometers on the cars (and the instructor anyway discouraged their use) and I got more attuned to the engine noise to make out when to change gears.


One question - during my test drive (which is when I drove a diesel for the first time) I noticed that if I upshifted at too low a rpm (say 1500) the engine rpm dropped and it lost power very quickly (almost acted as an engine brake - slowed down the car too) Is there are recommendation on that front specific to Figo TDCi?