Greetings fellow BHPians,
Meet Shadowfax!! (Trend+ AT Canyon Ridge)
The road so far -
When I first laid eyes on the EcoSport back in 2013, I had told myself that this would be my first car. It was the dream of a relative fresher in his first job and driving father's good old Maruti 800. Fast forward to 2017, a married and more world-weary me, started researching for a new car, my first purchase. My wife and I thought a humble hatchback would suffice our needs. My first and foremost criteria was an automatic. So we started looking at Baleno, Elite i20 and Jazz.
Few rides later in a colleague's Duster, the compact SUV bug bit me again. I started yearning for that higher ground clearance, higher seating position and commanding view of the road. Not to forget some amount of respect other road users seem to accord the SUVs which they never do for a hatch. Mind you I was still driving the Maruti 800, which felt like sitting in the ground floor at traffic signals while SUV owners were on the first floor beside me!
With minds changed and decisions made to get a petrol automatic compact SUV, only the EcoSport and Duster fit the criteria. The Duster was discarded due to rubber band CVT and outdated/lackluster interiors. Waited for the facelift EcoSport to launch. Since we wanted to get all the bells and whistles, the Titanium+ AT was our initial choice despite it being out of budget. But repeated price hikes and tyre/battery concerns were the dampeners. This led me to book the Trend+ AT variant at Capital Ford, Bhubaneswar.
Back to the present -
After some drama due to allotment issues from Ford, I finally brought it home today!
Payment was not very smooth as I had multiple issues with online RTGS and IMPS from HDFC netbanking. Another confusion was with the dealership giving me Tata AIG insurance instead of Royal Sundaram as agreed upon earlier. The Tata AIG policy was also without 'Return to Invoice' add-on, hence I refused to take the same. The dealership have agreed to this and would be providing me another updated policy.
Apart from these hiccups, the delivery experience was smooth. I had taken sweets for the showroom staff, which was appreciated. Sales adviser Mr. Jyoti Ranjan and the other staffs were very helpful and cordial. The car was already cleaned and inside the showroom floor when I arrived. The accessories (mud flaps, floor mat, boot mat) were installed in my presence. Free car cover was also provided as part of the deal. I had done the initial PDI earlier this week and did it again today. Team BHP PDI checklist was of great help through out the process. I did find few small marks on the body which were promptly removed through polishing. A proper and detailed demo was provided explaining all the features of the car inside out. With all the formalities and celebrations done, I left the showroom.
Shadowfax drank petrol worth Rs.1000 and I decided to take a long detour through the highways to home. Wanted to get a hang of the car on the open highways before entering city traffic. Coming from the very basic and old Maruti 800, the ride was very enjoyable but nervous at the same time. Rains decided to greet Shadowfax and heavy downpour started. I kept the speed around 50-60 kph. Car was very smooth and stable. I drove with a light foot providing gentle throttle inputs and could feel it upshift around 2000-2500 RPM. This being my first auto box, needs some getting used to. Left leg kept going towards non-existent clutch pedal and left hand kept darting towards the gear lever!
![Big Grin](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.png)
Hoping to get more familiar with the car by driving more often and going through the owner's manual. Will install the accessories I have already bought online and need to order key cover and dashcam soon. Next steps would be to research about vinyl wrapping and ceramic coating services in my city!
I'll post my ownership review in this thread once I have enough miles on the car. Also will post pictures with the Team BHP sticker in relevant thread soon. Till then
MAY THE FORDS BE WITH YOU!