Ford Aspire Titanium 1.5 TDCi in Blue: Ownership Review


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BEFORE BUYING CAR:
I have researched several things and finally zeroed on buying a diesel vehicle.

MY OPTIONS:
According to my budget my options were as follows

1. Maruti baleno Alpha
2. Tata zest XT
3. Maruti ertiga VDI
4. Ford Aspire Titanium/Titanium plus

I have shortlisted and test drove Tata zest XT and Ford aspire Titanium due to the long waiting list of Maruti Baleno (5 months), uncomfotable seating in Maruti ertiga.

I have liked all the features in Tata zest except the irritating indica vista front looks, lesser fuel economy (onroad the dealer claimed it would be 18-19 for diesel), lesser ground clearence of diesel. So, I test drove ford aspire diesel and liked the car driving comfort and the excellent engine. This is my first owned car and first driven sedan also. But ford aspire gave me very good driving ease and i liked it. But I have two compliants, which I still have.

1. Build quality is NOT at par compared to Tata zest especially doors are very weak
2. Tyres are very small for the sedan like this, atleast 15 inches wheels would have been better

But finally I madeup mind to go with ford titanium diesel , keeping in view of that excellent diesel engine and went to two dealers in Hyderabad mody and vibrant. I first visited mody and he quoted higher price compared to vibrant. So I booked my vehicle paying some money with vibrant ford. Then Mody ford called me and gave better offer compared to Vibrant. Since I have already payed the booking amount, sticked to vibrant ford although Mody has blue color in stock. Initially they told me blue color is not in stock in titanium version, but is available in tatanium plus version. SA has advised me to go for the titanium plus or to select some other color like white/grey. But , I liked only blue color so threatened them to cancel my booking and go to mody ford, unless they give blue color in titanium version. Finally they told me they will order the blue color vehicle from the factory and it will take one week, but delivered me after 10 days.

DELIVERY PROCESS:
SA told me vehicle will be delivered with teflon coating and underbody coating etc. all inclusive of the amount I have paid. SA has explained the vehicle controls and handed over me the relevant documents. When I have inspected, I felt underbody coating was not done( somebody told me underbody coating is in black color but vehicle underbody was painted in blue). SA told me since vehicle is in blue color underbody coating was done in blue color ( I later came to know they have cheated me as vehicle comes with blue color painted underbody from the factory that too from their own service people told me this). But they did the teflon coating as said earlier.

I took the delivery at 4:00PM and drove the car to my home. The next day, me and my wife both went to temple and performed pooja.

ACCIDENT:

The very next day evening, after performing pooja for new car, we went to nearby town in the night and I was driving on two-way single road (I think it is state highway). After entering the town, traffic was very high and we were driving slowly may be at 30KMPH. suddenly two children riding the bicycle lost balance and fell infront of my car. I pressed the brakes in a linear manner ( not sudden braking) and stopped the car and was talking to the children. Suddenly an ertiga hit my car from the rear end and escaped the scene with speed. We along with some locals have searched for ertiga and haven't found it.

DAMAGE:

My rear bumper has two big dents, little damage to the tail gate, tail lamp etc. I have nil dep cover, so handed over the car for bodyshop work within two days after taking new car delivery.[frustration]

I will write my experiences with the service people in the next post.
 
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Re: Ownership report of my first car blue ford aspire titanium diesel 1.5tdci

Reply for bluehorse's comment:
Hi Sir,

A neat and clean write up on your ownership review IMHO ,Congrats on your new ride bluehorse, and i am feeling sorry about the accident becuse i can understand your instant feeling, Because the incident happened within 2 days of delivery. Mostly we have to be very very careful while driving because everyone has started rash driving now a days. Due to heavy traffic, a short tempered person will easily go nuts. and i after this incident i wish and pray the lord not to happen such a incident again to anyone. and have a very happy smiling and safe miles ahead with the car. And waiting for your car pics, also waiting for service and the paint jobs feedbacks.[:)]
 
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Re: Ownership report of my first car blue ford aspire titanium diesel 1.5tdci

sorry to hear about the unfortunate accident hope your car will be with you soon. wishing you many happy miles with it.
 
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Re: Ownership report of my first car blue ford aspire titanium diesel 1.5tdci

Even i recollect my instance,when i took my new swift.My dad was using the ride after delivery,after 4 days i noticed a scratch in bumper (Just like one r.Fordfiesta had uploaded-but for me in the right side of rear bumper).Some guys try to take their bikes in small crevice like gaps in the traffic jams,and such hits occur.
I was bit scared at that time as here i was waiting for my registration no to be allotted (I opted for fancy number )
 
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Re: Ownership report of my first car blue ford aspire titanium diesel 1.5tdci

Even i recollect my instance,when i took my new swift.My dad was using the ride after delivery,after 4 days i noticed a scratch in bumper (Just like one r.Fordfiesta had uploaded-but for me in the right side of rear bumper).Some guys try to take their bikes in small crevice like gaps in the traffic jams,and such hits occur.
I was bit scared at that time as here i was waiting for my registration no to be allotted (I opted for fancy number )
Yes that sort of incidents really hurts our heart especially for a new, for me till date my fiesta is a new car if if my fiesta gets a scratch it hurts me a lot, even as vishnucarcrazy told in my swift to the scratch was happen by a biker in city traffic time thankfully the scratch vanished by 3M rubbing by 3M professional. thats why i hate bikers mostly on traffic they make a scratch or a scrape in the bumper, body and even in the side mirror's and they get vanished and they painful repair work is for us. Thats why i have planned that whatever car that i but in future i should compulsorily do the 3M Paint Protection Film on 3 places front bumper, rear bumper and side mirror. And may i know the number if you don't mind vishnucarcrazy.[:)]
 
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Re: Ownership report of my first car blue ford aspire titanium diesel 1.5tdci

Hi,
Its very bad whenever these kind of scene happen. But dont worry, your car will be back as brand new.
 
Thread Starter #8
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Re: Ownership report of my first car blue ford aspire titanium diesel 1.5tdci

Thank you all, My car already came long back and I have completed 3700KMs and first service too.

FORD BODYSHOP WORK:
After the accident, I gave my vehicle for body shop work. The dame is, Rear bumper has big dent but no holes. tail gate does not gave dents but it went little inside. One tail lights got separated little but it is in full working condition.only revets which will fix the tail lamp got damaged. one mud flap got damaged. Since I have nil dep insurence, the body shop guys initially seent an estimate closer to RS.50000,painting and labor charges itself are Rs30000, and wanted to paint all unnecessary panels which are not even damaged and want to change many things which are in good condition. I threatened them saying that I will makesure that they will not get single penny and I will complain to ford regarding this. They said insurence guy already approved the estimate and I don't have to pay anything except a Rs.2000. But I said I don't approve the estimate and told them to send a genuine estimate. Then they have sent genuine estimate taking my suggestions. I told the Body shop guy that I want my parts back, he said okay over the phone, when I went to recive my car, he asked me to pay 10% of the parts cost to return my old parts. He said they have to handover those parts to insurance guy, and told me If I need they have to pay 10% of parts cost. I preferred not to take those parts. I felt very bad about Vibrant people. However they have done a neat job and I'm very happy to receive my car again in new condition

Here are my statistics with my Ford Aspire:
Total Kms driven:3700
Mileage:
Best Mileage on highway - 26.2 ( as per the instrument panel with driving exactly at 80km/hr with gentle braking and acceleration.

If I am driving at 90-110 the mileage is dropping to 23.

City - 18-19 with peak traffic.
Average - with peak city traffic and highway (80km/hr) combined 23.

But I have done tank full to Tank full method calculation and found that, there is 1-1.5km difference in mileage compared to what my instrument panel mileage. I have seen some other aspire aspire owners reviews and they also written the samething.
 
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congrats blue horse for your new purchase. best car in its segment.,
mine is smoke grey TDCI titanium variant giving me mileage of 20 kmpl combined with (25% city and 75% highway). best part of vehicle is its engine and its worst part is build quality., its metal is so thin that a slight hit can make a dent making tough days ahead to maintain its sheet. other than that its gem on highway and in city, having so much torque that we even need not press accelerator to maintain minimum speed in specific gear.[:)]:smile:
 
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congrats blue horse for your new purchase. best car in its segment.,
mine is smoke grey TDCI titanium variant giving me mileage of 20 kmpl combined with (25% city and 75% highway). best part of vehicle is its engine and its worst part is build quality., its metal is so thin that a slight hit can make a dent making tough days ahead to maintain its sheet. other than that its gem on highway and in city, having so much torque that we even need not press accelerator to maintain minimum speed in specific gear.[:)]:smile:
i agree with you ravi kiran i own a 2007 model ford fiesta even its body metal sheet is thin. and every tough to maintain.and i also agree what you say in highways ford cars are really a gem to drive.[:)]
 
Thread Starter #12
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congrats blue horse for your new purchase. best car in its segment.,
mine is smoke grey TDCI titanium variant giving me mileage of 20 kmpl combined with (25% city and 75% highway). best part of vehicle is its engine and its worst part is build quality., its metal is so thin that a slight hit can make a dent making tough days ahead to maintain its sheet. other than that its gem on highway and in city, having so much torque that we even need not press accelerator to maintain minimum speed in specific gear.[:)]:smile:
Congrats to you too ravikiran. Completely agree with you. Initially I also got the similar mileage (21) with 25%city and 75% highway. But later with lighter foot on brakes and minimal clutch I got excellent mileage.

Hi,
Post the image of the car after the repair job done by Ford bodyshop.
Thank you amby lovers. I tried to upload pics from my phone, but the 1mb size limit for jpg not allowing it. Please tell me how can I upload them?
 
Thread Starter #13
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Hi all, I have completed 4250kms till now in two months with weekend trips. I went to srisailam, a local hill (which is very steep with a lot of curves and then only I realized I have got gem of a car with great brakes, excellent powerful engine, great steering with very good driving dynamics). My car performed really well till now, but at the same time, I also have some complaints.
1. Doors quality is weak, even I suspect rest of the build quality also. Only the bonnet is heavy.

2. Shifting to Second gear is a bit notchy and irritating.
3. Finding comfortable driving position is little problem for short 5.5inch people like me.
4. If you switch on the AC, its default setting is H1
5. If you up/down windows, the door moves a bit.
6. Have a little rattle sound in driver side door, but the service people promised they will correcthigh
7. My reverse parking sensors sound is very low(factory fitted).
8. Some times reverse gear is not properly engaging, so bad.
9. Smaller wheels of the car not giving much confidence for the powerful car like this.
10. Tyre noise (my car has MRF ZV2K 175/65 R14, 82T) is high on rough roads and on cement roads, some times, even the bumps can be heard in the cabin.
11. The engine does not have cover, even there is no under body cover for the engine. Engine is little noisy out side, but very little, however cabin insulation is very good.

Now a small query

When I hard pressed the brakes to stop the car while driving at 80- 90kmph(just checking the brakes on open road) they car stopped very well, but there was a "tukkk" sound when it stopped. Is it due to ABS clicking in, I don't know how ABS clicking sound will be like. Anyone know what is this sound?

Sry.. One more clarification from my side.. I mean to say srisailam as well as another local hill which is very steeper.
 
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Hi all, I have completed 4250kms till now in two months with weekend trips. I went to srisailam, a local hill (which is very steep with a lot of curves and then only I realized I have got gem of a car with great brakes, excellent powerful engine, great steering with very good driving dynamics). My car performed really well till now, but at the same time, I also have some complaints.
1. Doors quality is weak, even I suspect rest of the build quality also. Only the bonnet is heavy.

2. Shifting to Second gear is a bit notchy and irritating.
3. Finding comfortable driving position is little problem for short 5.5inch people like me.
4. If you switch on the AC, its default setting is H1
5. If you up/down windows, the door moves a bit.
6. Have a little rattle sound in driver side door, but the service people promised they will correcthigh
7. My reverse parking sensors sound is very low(factory fitted).
8. Some times reverse gear is not properly engaging, so bad.
9. Smaller wheels of the car not giving much confidence for the powerful car like this.
10. Tyre noise (my car has MRF ZV2K 175/65 R14, 82T) is high on rough roads and on cement roads, some times, even the bumps can be heard in the cabin.
11. The engine does not have cover, even there is no under body cover for the engine. Engine is little noisy out side, but very little, however cabin insulation is very good.

Now a small query

When I hard pressed the brakes to stop the car while driving at 80- 90kmph(just checking the brakes on open road) they car stopped very well, but there was a "tukkk" sound when it stopped. Is it due to ABS clicking in, I don't know how ABS clicking sound will be like. Anyone know what is this sound?
Bang on every point. Yes even the sibling New figo carries same characteristics. Ford has came down in terms of quality as a part of price cut and we have to live with it.
For point 8 : To engage reverse gear bring to neutral wait for 2-3 secs then proceed. This point is discussed in New ford figo ownership review by allHyundai thread just go through it.
 
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Hi Bluehorse
Congrats for your new purchase. Nice written review about your Figo Aspire. Sad to hear about unfortunate accident. But your review is incomplete without any pictures. So can you please share detailed pics of your car?
 

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