Ford Figo TDCi: 3000 Kms Ownership Review


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Hello everyone..posting my first thread in TAI

I recently completed 3000kms on my Figo TDCi Zxi(Sea gray with coral dash).Thought I would put forward my experience till now with the car and the Ford service.

Reason to choose Figo?
Was looking for a car comfortable for 5 people and with good trunk space for the weekend trips. Punto was out of budget(vis-a-vis figo and vista features), and Vista drivetech4 had issue being a TATA product.No doubt that TATA is improving exponentially with every new release of their cars, but I would still wait for another 3-4years to buy their car.Further the disinterest of the sales people at Tata showroom to sell their car was highly discouraging.

Buying experience: Mixed. The sales guy Sachin of Bhavana Ford, Nerul was very co-operative and went out of way to speed up the delivery of my Figo. A nice chap, genuine and helpful. But the amount of rush to enquire/buy Figo was taking toll on the highly under-staffed sales dept. It showed in the hurry with which most of the buying and delivery process went. I was disappointed that the car wasn’t looking as shiny new while taking delivery.I assumed even the cleaning was rushed. The staff really looked helpless and out of breath with the amount of work load.
(The car was eventually cleaned properly and interior polished after a week when I told about my disappointment with delivery)

About the car then :

Exteriors: The sea-gray color is delicious, albeit a dust magnet. The paint-job looks top-notch. After giving a shampoo wash (used motomax car shampoo till now) it appears very shiny and classy. The exterior build quality feels sturdy. Recently though, the monsoon has revealed a glaring issue. There is a water leakage inside from the top-rear. The roof fabric where the hinges of the dickey door is located becomes drenched with water in rains. Had pointed this out during the first service, but even after making two rounds to the service station, their body expert was not able to resolve the issue, and delivering the car with the false “abhi thik kar diya maine” promise. Will be writing a strong email to Bhavna Ford tomorrow.
Exterior rating-6/10 (for all its sturdiness, the leakage is just unacceptable to me)

Interiors: Apart from the disappointing hard plastics, everything else inside is fantastic. The quality of fabrics all around is great; the space is good enough for 5 people; and all seats are nice and comfortable. The rear ones have a better lower back support though.The coral was my wifes choice.It doesn’t look that bad, but black would’ve been classier with the silver finishing around the ac-vents. The sound quality of music system is decent. I really liked the amber colored lighting of the instrument cluster and music system. AC is chiller, but blower is noisy at position 3 and 4.
Rating: 8/10

Ride quality, drive and handling: The ride quality is neither too bumpy nor plush. I feel it is just right(catch is to have right air-pressure in the tires though). The TDCi engine provides adequate amount of power as when required and doesn’t feel underpowered in any gear even with 5ppl aboard. That being said, I do not race around the city or over-speed on highways. The gear throw used to be somewhat rubbery in the beginning , but with usage and the first-service its become really nice and precise now. Handling is superb, the car responds well to every command. Brakes could have been a tad better though as I found braking while descending on ghats was some what inadequate.
Rating: 8.5/10

Fuel Economy:
City: 2ppl -14.5 kmpl, 5 ppl – 12.5kmpl
Highways: 2ppl – 19.5kmpl, 5 ppl – 17.5kmpl
(Above figures are before first service)
Rating 9.5/10

Value for Money: Well, if there is any department where this baby can score a ten-pointer, then it is this. 10/10 !!

All in all am very happy with the car. It serves the purpose for which we bought it very nicely.

Now the only sore point is the water leakage. I was dealing directly with one of their body expert till now. I will approach through a proper channel now and see how much difference does that make. I have heard Ford has taken pains to improve their service reputation post Figo launch; its time I see how they really deliver on that front.

-HT
 
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Hello HolyTorque, Welcome to The Automotive India. Glad to have another Figo owner on board. You have good writing skills man. This is one of the best ownership report i have read so far. Enjoy your stay here.
Cheers,
Akash
 

350Z

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Fantastic. It is definitely raining Figos. No doubt, why Figo has proved to be an incredible success from Ford India. Congratulations for your acquisition, HolyTorque and also a warm welcome to The Automotive India. I’m looking forward to view some pictures of your car. Till then, leaving you with some related links of “Ford Figo threads” where you can all ask, share and discuss about Figos and only Figos with other owners around.


Drive Safe,
350Z
 
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Congrats and excellent review of Figo HolyTorque!! [clap] please add some pictures also to make this thread complete.
 
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Hello HolyTorque welcome to TAI , and boy am glad to see another Figo owner here! Please post some pictures of your beauty and good write-up! What about servicing costs?

Regarding blower speed its almost the same case with almost all cars. Pretty noisy in 3 and 4 position! Hoping that your leakage problem gets resolved son.
 
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Thanks everyone..

Was totally off-internet for a week..Will upload the pics soon..

Meanwhile, I'm still fighting it out with Bhavna Ford to fix the water leakage problem.After 3 visits and 5 days stay of my car at their service station, the problem still persists.The body-shop manager has now declared that he is clueless about the root cause...Fantastic, isn't it?
 

350Z

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That was not a professional response. Why not you ask him what should be done next? By the way, From where exactly the water is leaking? Please share some details.

Drive Safe,
350Z
 
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The dealers might not have competency to fix some of the issues in modern cars.
Try contacting Ford higher-ups (don't loose your heart if you don't get the response in first few attempts). Try making contacts with them, I am sure they would send someone or advise your dealer what to do. Ideally dealer should do this, but its your car and unfortunately you have to put some effort.
Find and send emails to their customer support contacts, do mention link of this thread, I am sure they don't want to spoil their image at this stage.
 
Thread Starter #10
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@350Z - The left-rear portion of the roof fabric gets extremely wet during rains.Yes, I did asked him his next action plan..He will be talking with Ford to get the dickey portion replaced under warranty.

@RSM: I had sent a mail to Bhavna Ford after the disappointing results of the first two visits.They were very prompt to call me up and setup a 3rd vist after that...but whats the point of being customer-centric only after the customer escalates?
And yes the competency of technicians who actually troubleshoot and fix issues on floor is really questionable.During my 3rd visit, I was on the floor myself to see how they do it.And sadly, many a times I had to advise them what can be tried next to find and fix the pain area.
 

350Z

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The problem could be most likely due to some improper fitting of hatch but each car goes through an extensive shower test before rolling out from factory and pasting those OK stickers. It leaves me into surprise how Ford can be casual with this? Also this problem doesn’t seem to be so difficult to locate that Ford workshop gave up.

Drive Safe,
350Z
 
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Better late than never!
Your ride looks awesome. Do you have any plans for upgrades like alloy etc?
Also pos some pics of instrument cluster too.
 

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