The former Ford India-owned factory is Tata's second plant in the state of Gujarat.

Tata Passenger Electric Mobility (TPEM) has commenced production at its new Sanand plant. The first passenger vehicles rolled out of the factory that was acquired from Ford India on January 10, 2023.

TPEM's new manufacturing unit is located in GIDC Sanand. It is spread over 460 acres and houses four main shops - Stamping, Body Construction, Paint and Final Assembly. It has an annual production capacity of 3,00,000 units per annum, which is scalable to 4,20,000 units per annum. It will manufacture both ICE and EV models.

The factory is said to be a water-neutral plant and is expected to be water-positive by December 2024. A 50 KW solar rooftop has been installed at the facility. 

The plant currently employs over 1,000 people and will create 1,000 additional jobs in the next 3-4 months as production ramps up. Tata Motors has invested in upskilling its workforce by providing them with a Diploma, Bachelor of Engineering and Master’s Degree, as applicable. 

The visibility of the road through the windshield was perfect which I did not feel right with the Verna and the Corolla.

BHPian Vivian.A34 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Recently I wrote about my experience with Altroz XZ 1.2 Revtron engine which my brother owns in a different post where I had also mentioned about my old time love the Ford Fiesta Classic. I did mention there I will write a different post for my experience with this gem that I owned.

Firstly to start with the comfort of this car it was top notch, better then most of the sedans in the market. I had driven my friend's Hyundai Verna and also my work colleague's Toyota Corolla but I can see the comfort I got in the Fiesta Classic was different and better then its competitors. It gave me a sense of confidence when driving the vehicle on highways and also on busy roads. The visibility of the road through the windshield was perfect which I did not feel right with the Verna and the Corolla. The drive quality and the control at high speeds was absolutely amazing. The power delivery from 20 to 40kmph on 3rd gear was nominal. I always felt the pickup was not that great on 3rd but when on higher speeds the car used to talk with the clouds, the power delivery was amazing and I really loved the car's performance and control on highways.

Ground clearance was an issue always. I had many at times had the car getting bumped at the bottom center on speed bumps bigger than normal. Overall Ford had done a fantastic job in building this car. My main challenge was maintaining the car the customer service guys were bad and I had a couple of complaints raised for two service centres in my span with the car. Since it was a petrol engine I used to service it once in a year every 8 to 10 months was my cycle and before the service the car used to have no issues, it used to be general service. I used to put my car at the service station but the day I bring my car back from the service center something used to fail. I do not know if this was my fate or the irony of the situation but it used to happen almost like everytime when I used to bring my car back from the service center. Sometimes it was the power window sometimes it use to be the headlamp and sometimes it use to be the AC. And I use to service my car only at Ford service centers because the parts where not available outside for local. Ford service used to be very specific about this. The dilemma was I had to take my car back to the service centre to change the part post service because they used to have a standard dialogue that it is a old model and the electrical part can fail anytime. I have had huge fights with the service centre managers because of the way the parts used to fail just after the service. And it also raised suspicion to me that why it happened only post service.

Over the period of 17 years with the car, I had gotten used to it that my car would have some issues when it comes back from the service centre and may be that was also one of the reasons I used to take my car only once in a year for service. I am sure it would have been the after sales service which caused Ford heavy losses and may be that was their major reason for India exit or else they build fantastic cars.

I sold my beauty this year with a very heavy eyes when I bought the Sonet D 1.5 IMT, again another post due soon for the review of my IMT. Sometimes I still wonder how my old Fiesta Classic is taken care of by the new owner and when I see someone else driving the same model on the road, I tell my wife to look at the Ford I used to drive. I obviously had a special relationship with my old car and hopefully my new ownership experience with the Kia would be better in terms of after sales service.

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I had lost all my cool especially I needed the car the most due to rains and the daily hospital run.

BHPian AlokSharma recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I was a proud owner of a Ford Figo Aspire Diesel till last week.

I loved the car to the moon. The engine was fantastic, low maintenance costs, and the driving dynamics were good. I had even got it remapped earlier this year and boy oh boy, the in-gear acceleration was insane. It was a treat to drive this car knowing that roughly 130 horses and 275 nm torque were waiting there at your disposal at any point of time. It was indeed invincible.

The negatives of the car mostly started with the body shop experience in Jan 2020. The car got rear ended on the Western Express highway in Mumbai by a guy who was apparently learning to drive and the car took quite a beating from behind. I took it to Ford in  Navi Mumbai and they took almost 20-25 days to return the car back to me. The last few days, I had to literally call them a number of times to speed up the work. Finally they called and returned the car. After reaching home, while parking I realised that the angle of the rear parking cam was slightly off and upon calling I was told to leave the car again for a day. I was in no mood for the same and went about with my daily driving. Covid struck then in Mar 2020 and due to work from home, car was in covered parking in the rains of 2020. The next year in 2021, I started taking the car out towards the end of rainy season around August end and within a week realized that the boot had some water seeping in making the floor wet especially when the car was standstill in the rain.When I spoke to to the dealer regarding the same, they threw the 6 months body shop warranty on my face. Upon speaking to the service manager there, he then settled to inspect the car and told he would give some discount on labour charges.

Since I was almost done with the rains in 2021, I decided to wait. Fast forward to Jul 2022 and the problem had again started. By Aug 2022 the whole floor of the car was wet and I had to take it to the service centre for a thorough check up. Again the car was kept for almost a week - 10 days and he informed me about some leakage from ac unit form the front side as well. The boot was again completely opened up and fixed back with some sealant I was told. I paid for this fix up out of my pocket and now felt that this wouldn't happen again.

Fast forward to June 2023. I had a family member hospitalized and I was on the way to the hospital. I started the car and it started with a loud noise. Read up on the same, and realized it was related to the starter and fuse box. Since the hospital was just 1.5 kms away and it was raining I drove it till there. Again while returning back home, I heard the same noise while starting and thought of reaching home and calling up the service centre to pick the car up for inspection. I was just about to reach home when I could smell something burning and the car went off in the middle of the road. Since there was some amount of rolling resistance, I parked it outside my building gate and called up the service centre to schedule a pick up. They told me about the towing charges and so I decided to use my road side assistance on my car insurance. The car was supposed to be picked up 2 days later. On the day of pick up when I opened the boot, I could see that the floor was wet and it had also spread towards the lower bottom of the rear seats. I was completely aghast and furious about the same. Upon reaching the service centre, I told them to have a look at the same post the engine issue.

Now I was told 2 days later that there is an issue with the fuse box along with the starter and since Ford was shifting it's spare parts warehouse from Bhiwandi in Mumbai to Chennai and Gujarat, the parts would take a week to get delivered. I even got a call from a Ford India executive about the same and so I assumed bad timing and thought of waiting for the same. The parts arrived after 18 days. By now, I had lost all my cool especially I needed the car the most due to rains and the daily hospital run. They gave me some weird reason that they can't work on the leakage part of the boot as the car couldn't be moved to and fro. On Friday after noon I was informed that the service guys were handing over the car to body shop. I thought of waiting for an update till the next day morning from the body shop and it was the same guy who was the service advisor who had originally handled the work in 2020. I waited for a call till 2 pm from his side and finally decided to call him up. He told me that he was out with his family for the day and will have a look at the car only on Monday. I was literally pissed off with his attitude as if there was no one in the body shop to work on my car I thought. I decided to wait till Monday, and I had to call him back again for an update. He again with his lethargic attitude informed me that the body shop will start looking at the car only by 2nd half as there were lot of traffic of cars in body shop. My blood was literally boiling by now with his careless attitude, I decided to speak to the customer relationship head and service manager at the next day and gave them an earful about the same and told them that I was writing to Ford about it.

They hurriedly formed a Whatsapp group the next day and I asked them to assign a different Service Advisor to me. However they assured me that my initial service advisor will get it done and they started sending me regular updates throughout the day. Even till the next day there was no conclusion and I was told that there's no evidence of leakage whatsoever and if I still have to waterproof it further, I will have to pay up. I decided, I had enough since it was already over 21-22 days and I told them that I would collect my car that day itself. I called up the service advisor. He neither picked up my call nor called back even after 2 hours. I dropped in a message that I would be coming in the next one hour when I was conveniently informed on the group that he will need some time to get the car cleaned so I should come later at 5 pm. I said fair enough.

Upon reaching the dealership at 5.15 pm, when I saw the car, I was furious. The seats had black marks all over and the seat belts had fungus all over them. I gave the body shop manager an earful and stormed out of the dealership.

The next day while casually visiting my friend who stays nearby, he told me that a guy in his building is facing a similar leakage issue in his Aspire as it is always parked in the open and the leakage is pretty bad.

I got a call from the customer relationship manager the next day and she was quite patient in hearing out my ordeal. She was polite and accepted the whole behaviour of the service advisor was unwarranted. But she also told me that there has been a lot of complaints and traffic of cars coming to the service centre especially related to water leakage issues. On the other hand she said that now since Ford has shifted the spares warehouse to Chennai, it would easily take a couple of days for any of the parts to arrive at the service centre. She even offered to get my car's interior cleaned thoroughly at anytime I get the car to the service centre.

After the whole episode, I started thinking in the direction of selling the car as my warranty was about to expire in 6 months. Even though I could have extended it for 2 more years by paying close to INR 12000, I had apprehensions regarding the service quality going down the drain from here on and also the long delays to receive parts from across Chennai would ensure that my vehicle would stay at the service centre for a long time for any repairs.

I sold my car to Spinny and was happy with the price they gave me since the car was always 3M car care maintained and was in otherwise a good condition.

I wish Ford could have stayed back and maintained the service quality. I would have loved to keep the car for a couple of more years and enjoy it thoroughly.

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For a simple job like replacement of a tyre, they asked me to book an appointment after 3 days.

BHPian Razor44 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

My Aspire Sports Diesel is currently in its 6 year and have run 45k kms. Ownership has been absolutely fuss free and the the car puts a smile on my face whenever I press the accelerator pedal. I have always serviced my car at the Raipur dealership ( bought it from there too) and service has been a very positive experience so far. Now the dealership has been taken over by Citroen but the Ford service remains but through a separate entrance.

Recently the front right tyre got damaged and I took my car to service to replace it. However my experience this time was quite different. Half of the service floor and the office area has been taken over by Citroen service (don't know whether same or different owner though). The Ford staff seemed very reluctant and apathetic. For a simple job like replacement of a tyre, they asked me to book an appointment after 3 days. Apparently even running repair cases have to take appointment atleast 3 days in advance! Their attitude was very negative to say the least.

For the first time in my life , I felt a pang of regret or even some anger at Ford for leaving it's customers in a lurch. Recently Ford had sent a message that the Fordpass app will be available till Dec 2024, which made me think that the regular service should be available till end of 2024. And I was very happy with my car and was planning to keep it atleast for 2 more years. But now I am having thoughts of replacing my car. Worst of it is that my Ford with its solid build, fine handling , cheap service (cheaper than Maruti in my experience)and explosive acceleration has spoilt me so much that I am not able to think of a capable replacement.

Ironically enough, there was only maybe a couple of registered Citroen C3s on the shop floor and the dealership had zero visiting customers .

Here's what BHPian Kosfactor had to say on the matter:

In one of the biggest malls in Bangalore half of an entire underground parking was only filled with used Ecosport, I think Spinny was the dealer. This many Ford cars , I have never seen them, the ones in the city were giving it away and moving to other brands.

Routine maintenance is one thing but when something breaks, you'll feel the pinch, not recommended for daily use vehicles, so yes , please sell it off and move on. It's not that hard, there are plenty of good vehicles in the market.

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I was offered extended warranty of one year with 10% discount for around Rs. 15k.

BHPian aviator1101 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

My experience with Kaikan Ford, Kolkata:

Why I visited ?

I recently undertook a road journey from Tezpur to Kolkata, almost 1300 kms. Most of the journey was amidst heavy rains and I found that the wiper was leaving behind trails of water on the windscreen which was a very uncomfortable situation especially at night.

I also noticed that a crackling sound was coming from behind the central console whenever the vehicle was started. And another rattling sound whenever the vehicle used to go over any undulating surface, speed breaker etc.

Hence, decided to visit a service center after reaching Kolkata. I also intended to avail the ongoing Monsoon Camp scheduled from 10 to16 July.

As such, I had to get the battery checked and replaced if required since the starter had got stuck on a couple of occasions with a warning of Charging System Service Now. Recently I had posted the same on another thread and in the discussion it emerged that I needed to check the alternator or change the battery.

Hence, I visited Kaikan Ford as suggested by one of my friends working with Ford India.

The reception and diagnosis:

A day prior an appointment was taken and hence I was received at the entrance itself by the service advisor who inspected in detail, asked me for any problems and then took a test drive with me to confirm the problems.

After a short test drive and couple of times starting the vehicle during which the starter wasn't cranking smoothly, the problems were diagnosed as under:

• Faulty starter motor
• Worn out stabilizer bar bush
• Requirement of greasing AC vent gears
• Requirement of greasing tail gate latch
• Worn out wiper blades.
• Checking battery health and change if required

Since my vehicle has run almost 9000 kms since last periodic service, I decided to get the 40k service also done.

The offers:

Here, the service advisor offered me a Flexi plan under which if I paid for two services at once, I was saving almost 18% of the service cost. So I decided to go in for the two year plan and avail the offer on the current service also.

Apart from this, I was offered extended warranty of one year with 10% discount for around ₹15k.

This came as a surprise because Extended Warranty from a company which has shut shop in India and only providing service and spare support to the customers was a really warm gesture I must say. As such my car was under 5 years extended warranty upto October 2024. I decided to go in for the 6th year extended warranty also.

The estimated expenditure:

The service advisor took me to the office, printed out an estimated cost and explained the repair costs to me which was as under:

• Normal servicing covered under the Flexi Plan to include Engine Oil, Oil Filter, Gasket, Drain Plug and labour Charges.
• Additional charges for expendables like the Air Filter and Cabin Air (AC) filter.
• Stabilizer bush (not covered under warranty)
• Change of wiper blades
• Starter motor change (covered under warranty)hence not charged.

The Flexi Plan and Extended Warranty cost was over and above these expenses.

The Repair Work:

This is where I must compliment the Ford guys. Thorough professional and timely repair work.

The starter motor, stabilizer bar bush were the first to be changed. Followed by routine service : engine oil, filter, etc

Thereafter gen servicing/check up including brakes was done. The pads still had enough bite left and hence no change was recommended.

One good thing was the customer lounge was located on first floor with glass windows all around. So i could see what work was being undertaken.

The Battery and Charging System was checked using Midtronics System under all load conditions and found to be working perfectly. In fact, it generated a report of Good Battery . They were kind enough to share a copy of the report with me.

The AC vents control gear behind the main console was greased by taking out the glove box from where one can access these plastic gears. I was told by the service personnel that this is a recurring problem in many Ecosports, luckily happened with me for the first time.

Accessing and greasing these gears is an art in itself.

The Surprise:

I left for lunch in between and came back at around 2:30pm when I received a call from the service advisor that a major problem was noticed in the vehicle which he wanted to show me before undertaking repairs.

I followed him and he showed me leaking brake fluid from below the master cylinder and told me that a leak from the master cylinder was suspected.

I was quite surprised because never had the vehicle given me any trouble with brakes.

On closer inspection they found some tape stuck on the brake fluid reservoir. On taking out the tape, teeth marks were found below it which indicated that rats had chewn the master cylinder and in the previous service someone would have noticed and taped it up.

Notice the level of brake fluid in the container. Whenever they were attempting to top up brake fluid, it was going over the chewed portion and it was leaking out because over a period of time, the tape lost its adhesive quality. Luckily it was noticed now. I didn't want to take any chance with brake parts and so asked them to replace it immediately. Unfortunately they didn't have one in stock and had to again tape up the container after fixing a plastic piece with Fevikwik. The service advisor however assured me that there was enough fluid in the reservoir and nothing to worry. But cautioned me not to undertake any long journey till the concerned part was replaced.

Final Test/Inspection prior to delivery:

• The new starter cranked without any hiccups
• The crackling sound behind the central console had disappeared
• The rattling noise had disappeared
• The wipers worked perfectly

Only the brake fluid reservoir remains to be replaced on arrival. More on that in the next post.

The Bill Summary:

The final bill worked out to be as under:

• Expendables and Parts changed = ₹2196.00
• 2 years Flexi Plan = ₹7330.00
• 6th Year Extended Warranty = ₹ 15309.00
• Total = ₹ 24,835.00

Some people may feel it's a heavy expenditure but peace of mind always comes at a cost. And with a Ford vehicle it's always better to be covered under warranty. So i went in for the 6th year warranty extension.

Conclusion:

I am happy with the service and repair work done by Kaikan Ford. And recommend Ford owners to visit them purely based on the honest and thorough professional attitude of the employees.
Last but not the least, Ford deserves a clap here. Even after almost two years of stopping sales and production, I must admit they are providing excellent service support to their customers.

Happy Miles to All...

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We've been taking it out on quite a few drives of late, especially airport runs.

BHPian GForceEnjoyer recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

The Fiesta recently crossed a major milestone! It has now completed 115000 kilometres:

We've been taking it out on quite a few drives of late, especially airport runs. Even nearly 17 years post-purchase, it's still a joy to watch the tachometer arc its way past 3500 rpm and all the way to the redline with the engine singing in approval.

Something I've noticed recently is the increasing number of surprised looks that this car attracts from valets, for example; a result of the Fiesta's increasing rarity. It's led to some interesting experiences too! While we were getting a PUC check done, we met the owner of a mint 2005 Maruti Esteem and had a great discussion about the various road trips that we had undertaken in our respective machines.

Here's the Fiesta accompanying some much more modern and much more expensive machinery while still holding its own. Overall, this design has aged fabulously:

For its service, we took the Fiesta to Mody Ford, Bowenpally (since we had been considering switching service centres for a while), having heard good things about them from fellow Ford owners. While the interaction with the front desk staff fell short of expectations (constantly attaching incorrect details onto the invoice and unclear communication in particular), we also had a chat with a senior mechanic who was very knowledgeable, providing some reassurance in the skill of the mechanics.

However, there is presently a massive issue with this service centre, and not even due to any fault of its own. The road right in front of it is being dug up to lay a pipeline as of now, making the last 50 or so metres an absolutely harrowing journey (unless you own an EcoSport or Endeavour, that is).

Other than this, the quality of work done was satisfactory, apart from one glaring miss: the car was returned with the hood not properly closed! Anyways, since the free service plan we had availed a couple of years ago has now expired, we might switch to an independent garage, visiting the authorised service centres only if absolutely necessary. Any suggestions regarding the same are welcome.

Nearly all the prices apart from some consumables are 0 due to the service plan. Note the incorrect colour (it is Paprika Red, not Colorado Red).

I do have a burning question I'd like to ask before ending this post. In light of the E20 petrol rollout, what can we do to ensure that we can continue using the Fiesta for an indefinite period of time in the future? Any fuel additives or fuel system upgrades that can work? Or is the only option to switch to the hugely expensive XP100 petrol (10% ethanol) or the other 100 octane petrol from either BP/HP that is so far still 0% ethanol? What's the scene with private fuel stations like Essar, Nayara and Shell? The right grade of fuel slowly being made unavailable country-wide was something I never thought I'd see; yet, here we are.

While we can continue to rue the bleak-looking future for automobile owners in India, allow me to share a very interesting MID reading as a parting shot. Little things like this do help lighten the mood:

Until next time, cheers!

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My friend found that the oil filter that he had obtained and the one installed in the car had different mounting collars.

BHPian PratikPatel recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I am really don’t know what to say about this particular Ford service centre Mumbai. I got my car serviced from them about 8 months back, asking them to do the regular 70,000 kms which included all filters, engine oil and anything that requires precautionary and scheduled change of parts. The car was returned to me after couple of days. 3 days later the car just refused to start while I was out for some work. It would just die with no electrics. Since it was a Sunday there was no one answering the phone calls made. I finally called my firm’s transport department and the transport manager sent couple of people with a service battery. They changed the battery and lo behold it started.

The current battery was only a year old. Upon checking the battery, it was found that it was drained because the car has not been used regularly due my work from home routine. The battery was fully charged and it’s been doing good since then. The question that arises is that what did the service centre do with the car for 2 days? Why didn’t they check the battery and charge it? And this not the end of the story.

I have been toying with idea of trying AMS Signature series oil in the car. As I had some work in Pune, I asked my friend who has his workshop there if he could take care of it for me while I finish my work. He asked for my VIN number and went to the Ford spares wear-house located nearby to obtain the oil filter for my car. After obtaining the oil filter and the oil he informed that he would change the oil whenever I come to Pune.

I reached Pune and left the car with him and went about my work. With an hour he calls me back and asks me to check the pics he has sent me on WhatsApp. He then tells me that the Mumbai Ford service centre has installed the wrong oil filter. As a standard practice before installing any part he compares the parts. He found that the oil filter that he had obtained and the one installed in the car had different mounting collars. Initially he thought that he had obtained a wrong oil filter. Therefore, he went back to the Ford wear-house with both the parts in hand. There the parts catalog was once again checked for the correct part number for my car’s VIN. They took out a fresh oil filter from their stock and checked it. The oil filter that the wear-house had given him was the correct one and the one installed by the service center was for another car (I suspect it’s for 1.4l TDCi).

Add to these woes, I had asked them to do wheel balancing and tyre rotation. Before I had given the car for service, it suffered a big puncture on the rear left wheel. Since I had brought the car my friend’s place, he said he would the balancing and rotation also. Lo behold, the rear left tyre is still the same.

I really was left in a state of bewilderment about what had the service center had done with my car.

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After inspecting, the dealership came to the conclusion that it was a steering rack failure, which is a known issue with Ford cars.

BHPian gaganjoysindhu recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Starting my story from the beginning. One fine day while I was coming back from my office I suddenly felt the steering of my car behaving abnormally. I was able to feel very small potholes through my steering and while I was trying to turn the car the steering was giving very minimal jerk.

The next day I went to the Authorised Ford workshop in Chandigarh to get it checked. My car was thoroughly checked and was driven for around 30-35 km by at least three mechanics and the Dealership manager but nobody found anything wrong with my car's steering. I was pretty sure that there was some problem, so I told them to give me Ford's anytime warranty as my original warranty was expired. They again tested the car and scanned for any errors, when nothing wrong was found they accepted my request and for around Rs. 33000, my car was again covered under warranty for 12 months. The only rider that comes with Ford's any-time warranty is that one cannot claim it for the first 30 days after getting it.

Now comes the interesting part. After about 2 months and driving around 2000 km one fine day my steering suddenly gave up and became rock hard but before that it started giving errors of the steering malfunction. By god's grace, I was just outside my home.

Next day I called Ford RSA and within 30 min the flatbed came and my car was taken to the dealership.

After inspecting, the dealership came to the conclusion that it was a steering rack failure, which is a known issue with Ford cars. The warranty claim was accepted by ford the next day and it took around 15 days for the complete steering rack to arrive and get replaced.

Overall it was a very good experience with Ford. Although it took 15 days for it to get replaced, no question was asked of me and 15 days is acceptable to me as the part was not a regular one.

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My only grouse is the poor fuel efficiency, but I blame myself for not shifting before 3.5k ever. I usually get 10kmpl in the city and 15kmpl on road trips.

BHPian kaushikduttajsr recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hola fellow Freestyle owners.

Here is a 4.5 yr mid life update for Scarlett Red, my T+ 1.2l Freestyle.

My ownership experience had been nothing short of magic. The torque curve demands a lot of shifts when driving within the city. But the highway is where she shines. Scarlett does silly highway speeds in no time with the 95 bhp motor and low kerb weight. The tough chassis plasters joy all over my face every time I take her to the ghats and the safety electronics give me the comfort to push her to her limits every time. Trust me, they are life savers.

After 30k kms of love, the rear suspension started showing its age. I could hear the suspension mounts everytime a fully loaded rear hit a bump or rough road. This made me feel bad in an otherwise silent car with zero rattles.

My only grouse is the poor fuel efficiency, but I blame myself for not shifting before 3.5k ever I usually get 10kmpl in the city and 15kmpl on road trips.

Cauvery Ford maintaining their super awesome service quality agreed to replace my rear shocks within warranty. I've had an amazing time maintaining Scarlett with them. Service cost has so far never exceeded 5k annually and she comes back spick and span, looking better than I handed her over after every annual service. She hasn't given me anything but 30k of smiles.

I keep her in top shape and replace damaged parts immediately. Till date, she has seen the entire cladding being replaced over 4 times and the rear bumper being touched up once when a biker decided to look at his mobile while driving and rear ended Scarlett.

I love the Freestyle to bits. Despite the creeping itch to upgrade, I haven't found a worthy replacement. I find the Slavia/Virtus to be the only ones in market I think can hold a candle to Ford's driving dynamics. However, 23l for an unreliable machine is simply not my cup of tea. Also, given my experience with Scarlett and Ford in general, I shudder to think how to reset expectations with any other car and service brand. I have decided to hold on to her until she lives. It is our loss that Ford decided to quit India. If they ever come back, my next car will be a Ford again.

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We decided to get a second opinion on this, and took the car to an independent garage. After examination, nothing looked to be out of order, something later confirmed by the mechanic.

BHPian GForceEnjoyer recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

So, this was a somewhat confusing situation overall. The strange noise I mentioned in my earlier post was diagnosed by Fortune Ford Tolichowki as a failing power steering pump. Furthermore, another sound, somewhat like a rattle, recently appeared from in front of the passenger cabin (around five days before the time of writing). This was strange, as it reminded me of the time just before replacing the suspension, but to a lesser degree. It occured over rumble strips and poorly leveled surfaces.

Fortune Ford also said that several components of the rear suspension required replacement. That was a red flag, since we got nearly the entire suspension (front and rear) replaced just over a year ago. Furthermore, the power steering pump would supposedly cost over 30000 rupees, but due to Ford's exit, would prove to be difficult or impossible to source.

None of this added up, as there were absolutely no abnormalities in steering feel or behaviour at any speed whatsoever. No noises while turning the steering wheel, no squeaking or humming sounds on a cold start and no fluid puddles underneath the car at all. The effort required to turn it was normal, so was the way it weighs up with speed. As for the second noise, I was very concerned, since that would either mean that the replacement suspension was of poor quality, or that being driven over Hyderabad's rumble strips seriously took a toll on the suspension. But, giving it a little more thought, I realised that nothing seemed to be out of order with regard to the suspension's behaviour in general. Stability was excellent as ever, so was turn in and composure during cornering.

Hence, we decided to get a second opinion on this, and took the car to an independent garage. Unfortunately, we were somehow unable to replicate the noise at all! The car was still put up on a lift and the underbody, especially the area around the front wheels, was carefully examined. To my untrained eye, nothing looked to be out of order, something later confirmed by the mechanic. To the contrary, the suspension was stated to be in good condition. Hence, a failing suspension was fully ruled out as the cause of the second noise.

As for the first noise, a detailed description of it lead to a tentative placement of the blame on the brakes; something that Fortune Ford also did during the service and claimed to have fixed. The power steering pump was fully ruled out as a cause. The steering wheel could be turned lock to lock while stationary without any noises and vibrations. As for the brakes, the wheels turned freely when rotated by hand, and careful examination of the braking system proved to be unfruitful. The car was certified to be in perfect mechanical condition.

However, both noises still occur. What could be the cause of this? I am stumped as to the first noise, and can only roughly locate the second one to be coming from the front of the passenger cabin. It could be as benign as a dashboard rattle or as serious as major mechanical part that is on its way out.

Anyone who has experienced this? And does anyone know of competent independent garages that can diagnose and deal with discontinued Fords? Help would be welcome.

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