UPDATE!
So another twist is here.
After about a week or so of having booked the Magnite, the buyer was content having made a decision that his head attested (mileage+cheaper variant) but not the heart.
Here comes the twist,
A friend of a friend is a used cars dealer and had a nice EcoSport Automatic waiting to be sold. My friend sent the details to me, and after a conversation with a few BHPians and the Fellow Wheeler Dealer Hexaboy :P , I asked them all to come over with the EcoSport.
It was a Jan 2019 Ecosport Titanium with the 1.5 L Dragon engine and 6 speed Torque Converter. Initially quoted a price of "9 but negotiable". 39000kms
The dealer was using it with no fuel in the tank and a zero DTE warning on the dash. That was a red flag. The seller got out and we went for a test drive, immediately fueled up, and did a little bit of the proverbial looking under the hood.
The car had a broken tail lamp, few scrapes, but all original paint.
The engine had bad vibrations at low speeds (3cyl) but was very refined once it picked up pace.
There was one issue. The left indicator arrow in the cluster, was hyperflashing when I applied the brake. But the indicators outside the car were flashing normally.
This seemed like an issue. At 9L this was not a good buy. So we began the negotiation. Friend took the car to Ford ASC and got a full paid inspection done.
Ford guys took it for a spin, raised it on the lift and inspected all the brakes, suspension parts and the underbody, and said only one thing.
"kallu muskoni teeskondi saar"
Translates to "Just buy it eyes closed!"
We talked it down to a sweet sweet 7.6L undercutting all the Magnites and Punches we were looking at , and got a package from a segment above.
The car went to it's new home 3 days back.
We took it out on the weekend early in the morning so the new owner and car can get to know each other well.
Went for a nice breakfast ......
Then took the car to go get it's plates changed. You might have noticed a rather fancy font and number :P
Guess what I found there.......Live To Drive!!
We went in there with the aim of getting plates that are closer to the HSRP format....but well,
These looked so damn good!!
Bought some noodle mats for the car as the car only had the Ford carpet mats, Really premium quality, but they would get soiled quite fast, hence went for noodle mats on top of that.
Notice the plastics on the centre console still in place!, car was kept quite well. Even the protective films on the Auto Climate Control screen were untouched
Incidentally got pulled over by the cops over the plates RIGHT after we went and gave the order for new plates! LOL
Showed the cop the receipt for the new plates, and he let us go after we told him we just got the car.
The Gearbox is just awesome, and the engine despite being an N/A is a hoot for it's size.
Not once throughout the drive did I notice the Gear change unless I floored it hard to watch it GO.
The owner is new to automatics and is already enjoying the convenience of the Automatic Gearbox.
The interiors are super nice to be in, and the SYNC 3 system is just so DAMN GOOD! Sound quality from the stock speakers are at par with the Polk Audio MM160x components in my Safari, really nice sound considering it's stock. The ride quality is really nice and the handling is far better than any other cars we considered!
All in all, a nice purchase, the owner is very happy about the Automatic purchase. Their family is thrilled too.
And I,being the car geek I am, was happy to help