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2012 Ford Global Fiesta Long-term Ownership Review

5th April 2024, 11:30 by Parry M

The Fiesta is gone, and even Ford has quit the Indian market. Still, here's a long-term ownerships report of this rare sedan.

BHPian Shreyfiesta recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Prelude 2011:

The year was 2011 and it was the month of September. After almost a decade of owning a Ford Ikon 1.3, and my father crossing the age of fourty, we were in the market for a new car. It had to be fresh, no used car and it had to be something thrilling to drive. We had the Ikon for 9.5 years, and drove it for only a mere 51,000kms. Ford spoiled my dad's mind by its sharp handling characteristics and build quality. So, the next car also had to have a similar character. My family was hemmed in by a strict budget of ₹ 10-12lakh back then, parents were not much interested in investing a lot of money on what they still call as a 'depreciating asset'. I was just a 7-year old kid at that time, who was constantly nudged by his new car yearnings. The hunt for a new car began from there.

Requirements:

Our preferences were clear : fun-to-drive, ride comfort, solid build quality, and most importantly the car had to be a petrol-engined one since our usage was on the lower side. It was to be used just as a vehicle for the weekend to cover long distances in great comfort, same was the role of our Ikon as well. We already had an 800 and a Figo in our garage for short-distance commutes. No SUVs were considered since we didn't want one for our kind of limited usage. Also, the SUV game in the Indian car market wasn't much strong back then. Tata Safari and Mahindra Scorpio were the only options available in our budget. The Toyota Innova was too big in size, and buying a 7-seater for our family of 4 members made no sense. My dad being a sedan guy, almost set his heart on buying a Chevrolet Cruze without even taking a proper test drive. It was definitely out of budget, but he was ready to shell out more money for the Cruze. Since a petrol car was better suited for our low usage (read 300kms per month), the Cruze was slowly ruled out. We then considered both C-segment and lower D-segment sedans, and chose what suited us best.

The Contenders:

1. Volkswagen Vento 1.6 MPI

We did check out the Vento from EVM Volkswagen Kochi sometime in October 2011 and did a short TD of the car. Dad said "Not as much fun to drive as our Ikon, yet a lot more contemporary" after experiencing the Vento. Solidly built car, remained planted on the road, but the long term ownership costs of Volkswagen were unknown at that time and the service network was not great too. The Vento was truly a VFM deal otherwise. I had my eyes set on a Flash Red Highline at that time, but parents weren't keen on buying one after knowing about the high maintenance costs associated with VW-Skoda cars.

2. Fiat Linea T-Jet

I was a huge fan of the Linea's design, interiors and tech. Plus, I used to hear many Swift owners praising Fiat engines for their performance, reliability and maintenance aspects. Same was the case with turbo-petrol Linea T-Jet as well, auto magazines rated excellent opinion about this car back then. It was well-loaded too IIRC, rear disc brakes, leather seats, etc were standard for the T-Jet. This car actually ticked all the boxes, but Fiat reliability and ASC quality remained a question mark. Those were the days when Fiats were sold and serviced via Tata's network. Niggles were common on Punto and Linea back in the day, even ASCs were not able to point out the cause and rectify the issue in many cases. All these resulted in a flat-out no.

3. Skoda Laura 1.8 TSI Classic

Since my age of 4, I was thinking a Laura would be our next upgrade from the Ikon. We were not seriously considering the Laura since it was slightly more expensive than our budget. A quick, random visit to the Skoda website revealed that there's a newly-launched cut-price Classic variant positioned below Ambiente. Barebones transport that particular variant was, no alloys, no height-adjustable driver seat, no fog lamps and not even a double-din HU was existent. We were interested to see the car in person, but both St Antony's and Marikar Engineers (Kochi's erstwhile Skoda dealers) had no display car available. None of them seemed to have interest in selling the Classic variant, they were pushing us towards the Ambiente which was out of budget. Hence, the Skoda was out.

4. Hyundai Fluidic Verna 1.6 Petrol

The Fluidic Verna was a new launch at that time, much more contemporary in design than the Verna Transform it replaced. It was a serious contender until dad drove one. While going in for the test drive, dad already had an impression that Hyundais are bad handlers, and it happened to come true. Honestly speaking, it looked good, had quality interiors and was richly equipped too, totally worth the money. The only glitches were the poor dynamics and bumpy ride quality. Also, the test drive vehicle we got from MGF Hyundai had half worn-out tyres making too much of road noise. The dealer was demanding a waiting period of 2.5 months for the mid-spec petrol variant. After using Ikon for a decade, dad wasn't going to settle for something that handled like a boat. The Verna was hence ruled out.

5. Ford Global Fiesta 1.5 Ti-VCT

The then newly-launched Global Fiesta was in our wishlist right from the beginning of search, as a logical upgrade from the Ikon. Our nearest dealer had a bright blue car on display inside their showroom, and we paid a visit without much delay. This was a tech-overloaded car by 2011 standards, voice-assisted controls, Bluetooth connectivity, cruise control, etc were unheard of in this segment back then. Though the hard, scratchy plastics inside the cabin didn't feel like a ₹ 12-lakh car to us, dad was still interested to get a test drive. IIRC, it took 10 days for the dealer to arrange a petrol-engined TD vehicle for us. Once we got moving, dad liked the seamless, linear power delivery and the high speed stability of the car. All of us liked the build quality too, the doors were so heavy and closed with reassurance. The Fiesta also had the shortest waiting period so that was a plus for us. And that was that.

Choosing the variant & Dealership experience:

Kairali Ford Edappally didn't get back to us for a couple of weeks, after which we went to the Kottayam branch of the same dealer in December 2011, and got in touch with a salesperson who politely explained to us the variant-wise features and price details. The Global Fiesta was available in four trim levels back in the day : Style, Trend, Titanium and Titanium Plus. Features like front airbags, ABS with EBD, tilt-adjustable steering, height-adjustable driver's seat, rear defogger, etc were standard for all variants. We saw all variants from the dealer's stockyard in mid-January and decided to settle for the mid-spec Trend variant. It had all the essentials and safety features, at a steal price. Colour choice was Diamond White, because dad usually prefers his cars in lighter shades. The dealer had ready stock for the same variant in Sea Grey and Chill Metallic too. Our next car was finally coming, we booked it on 27th January 2012 from Kairali Ford Kottayam by paying an advance of ₹ 25,000.

This was the brochure given to us. I'm sure that I've read this at least 10,000 times

The price break-up was as follows:

Ex-showroom price : ₹ 8,80,000

RTO : ₹ 53,810

Insurance : ₹ 25,200

Extended warranty : ₹ 4,650

Handling charges : ₹ 8000

Basic accessories : ₹ 11,000 (Mudflaps, floor mats, body cover, aluminium pedals, etc)

Sunfilm (3M-CR50) : ₹ 10,500

Underbody coating (Waxoyl) : ₹ 4,000

Final OTR price : ₹ 9,97,000

Detailed price list of the Global Fiesta, dated 01.01.2012

The dealer didn't give us any other cash discounts since the car was manufactured in the same month itself, massive discounts were being offered for December 2011 manufactured units. PDI process was completed on the 3rd February 2012. The car was seen in person and found everything to be perfect, it already had 43kms on odometer. We had opted to take delivery with temporary registration as we wanted to get a fancy number. TP process was completed from Kottayam RTO without much delay. Interestingly, I clearly remember the temporary plate number (KL 05 P TEMP 3327) even now. The car was then sent to the dealer's bodyshop on the next day itself to get the underbody coat done. The SA was told to keep the car ready for delivery by 11:30 am on 7th Feb. We reached the showroom quite early on that day. Did the final inspection, completed the paperwork and was handed over the keys to our car. Finally, a gleaming white Global Fiesta rolled out of the Kairali Ford dealership on 7th February 2012.

A picture from the delivery day, this the only one I could find.