[thoma]

Originally Posted by ashis89

This car would be kept for a long time (~10 years) and the monthly usage should be low. No fear of Diesel ban as the car would be in a small town.

There can be another problem in low running diesels, ie, fuel injector getting clogged. If it is run every day then fine, but more start stops and less km of running for a diesel means more wear and tear for the engine.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by phynix123

I have bought a Freestyle petrol titanium on 1st June. Present odometer reads approx 900km.

I think in city practical mileage figure should be around 12kmpl. Whereas highway (proper 4lane ones) practical mileage should be around 16-17kmpl.

PS: all figures with 100% AC.

Congratulations for your new ride and wish you many happy memories with it.
Thanks for the update on the FE.

Originally Posted by thoma

There can be another problem in low running diesels, ie, fuel injector getting clogged. If it is run every day then fine, but more start stops and less km of running for a diesel means more wear and tear for the engine.

It makes sense. And for low running, the lower maintenance cost would be another advantage for Petrol (Post the 5 year warranty). I will try to convince him on these lines.
He has TDed the Diesel till now and is very happy. Petrol was not available and should reach the dealership in a few days. I hope it is equally good.

[itsashishsharma]

Originally Posted by ashis89

The problem is light foot. The user has a pretty heavy foot and loves driving.

And yet he wants some good FE. For an average user, the daily running cost seems a bigger deal than paying 1L extra upfront for the Diesel. So, unless the petrol FE is 'good enough', the Diesel would be the better bet for now. This car would be kept for a long time (~10 years)

Unless he drives more than 1500KMs per month, diesel doesn't make sense, even for an elongated period of ownership as 8-10 years.
FE is just too overrated in India tbh. I for one spend around ₹4k on fuel per month, so if my car is more performance oriented or heavier than what Maruti and Honda offer, resulting in a 10% increment in my fuel expenses, i.e. ₹400 per month, doesn't it render all FE related thoughts and discussions just useless for me?

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by itsashishsharma

FE is just too overrated in India tbh. I for one spend around ₹4k on fuel per month, so if my car is more performance oriented or heavier than what Maruti and Honda offer, resulting in a 10% increment in my fuel expenses, i.e. ₹400 per month, doesn't it render all FE related thoughts and discussions just useless for me?

At the risk of going OT, I completely with your point and that has my exact line of thought. For my <1500 km pm running, I see a 1k pm extra cost if there is a 3 kmpl(optimistic) FE difference between two petrol cars. My logic, I am paying 1k extra to drive a car of my choice. This 1k can be added to EMI cost or ownership cost or sundry expenses, which ever makes us happy. On long trips, I just consider it as a trip cost.

However most of the times, I see people obsessed with the FE figures. It is like a magic number which has a psychological effect on us. We feel something is costing us 'more'. We fail to register 'how much more'. And it also depends on the extent of usage each of us has.

[giri1.8]

Our mind is not matured enough to think "I saved a lot upfront, so no problem in filling the tank every single week", add to this, monthly EMI would be a fixed amount which we can save easily, but fuel cost depends on our running. Sometimes we might clock 3K Km in a month, sometimes less than 1K, this too is a burden to our mind and pocket.

Things are even more different for someone will pays full cash upfront, he/she may have enough cash to get the diesel, but monthly income might not be sufficient to cover the extra expense that petrol demands.

All this, and I am not even considering resale value, petrol's extremely poor FE in bumper to bumper traffic, weak low-end torque and so on.If someone is not comfortable in paying huge bills every month, they can opt for diesel.

No matter how much we explain the maths behind, they will be unhappy at the end.

P.S: I am a happy owner of a petrol automatic, just my observation about people in general, I did all the math and decided to not worry about my monthly bills.

[hardoop]

Originally Posted by thoma

Your's was supposed to be delivered on Monday, right? Are you in possession of your Freestyle? Did you drive down from Kottayam? Do put up a review if possible.

Yes sir. I took delivery on 11th of June from Kottayam Kairali Ford and drove it down to Trivandrum. 700+ kms done so far. 14.5kmpl is the avg mileage being shown. During the 150km drive through MC road from Kottayam till my home in Kazhakootam, avg mileage went upto 19kmpl. I am yet to reset the avg mileage. Will do so and check again when I hit the 4lane to Madurai by first week of July. Shall put up a review after that.

So far I am loving the high GC and the ride quality. Though the steering feels lighter than the HPS unit my 2011 Figo had, this EPS unit is still likable and spot on. SYNC3 and the touchscreen are superb.

Originally Posted by nmenon

Why should a relatively simple exercise of buying a car require escalation and shouting?

The dealership had requested till 6PM today i.e June 20th I'll wait till then for an update, beyond which I have decided to cancel and maybe look at a different vehicle from a different manufacturer.

Sad to see dealership attitude resulting in customers ditching the brand. Did they contact you with an update ?

[nmenon]

Originally Posted by hardoop

.
Sad to see dealership attitude resulting in customers ditching the brand. Did they contact you with an update ?

Well they kind of just about met the deadline and called me at 5:55 PM and told me that they will give me the chassis number by 26th June 2018 when it will supposedly billed and have given me a delivery date of between 10th to 15th July.

This after I gave the Dealership Manager a piece of my mind when he called me up yesterday 20th June.

I've also made a booking at Kairali Ford who straight away told me that if it is silver they can give me delivery by 20th July or if I want Grey by the end of July.

They further listened patiently when I told them what has gone on so far and agreed that any money beyond the token booking amount of 5k shall only change hands after a confirmed allotment of a vehicle with the Chassis Number and a full payment after a PDI.

They were also courteous enough to say that they will refund the booking amount if in case the other dealership (Malayalam Ford) can actually deliver a car before them.

I've given Malayalam Ford an ultimatum that if I don't receive a concrete confirmation by 26th June, I will be at their doorstep on 27th to cancel the booking and collect the refund.

They claim that the company is not dispatching many 1.2 Titanium Plus variants in any colour and especially not in Grey/Black/Silver due to "production constraints" which I'm not ready to believe.

Ford's lackluster response to emails and calls is rather a poor show with them promising a call back.

If I cancel the booking at Malayalam Ford I'm inclined to make a Nexon XM Petrol booking and pit Tata Vs Ford in a race to deliver.

I know I'll miss out on the Safety features if I give up on the Ford but at least I like the Nexon as a car.

PS:. The Malayalam Ford manager offered me a temporary car till delivery is done for the Freestyle which is at odds with their general apathy so far. I declined since I'm not sure what sort of car they would provide and besides what if ,God Forbid, there is an incident with that car.

Thank you everyone for your support so far. I'll keep updating this experience as it goes on.

My only reason for still trying to get a Freestyle is that I'll keep it for at least 10 years and I'll have that peace of mind that I went for the car I truly liked. (My second favourite car with the SCross being the first, but being out of budget and being diesel made me give it up)


Edit: I was given to understand that the engine guard is only for the Diesel variants of the Freestyle. Anyone in the know can comment on this.

[samaspire]

Originally Posted by nmenon

Well they kind of just about met the deadline and called me at 5:55 PM and told me that they will give me the chassis number by 26th June 2018 when it will supposedly billed and have given me a delivery date of between 10th to 15th July.

Like said before - 2 months

Your delivery experience is going almost like mine.

This is what I have written in my ownership report.

The dealer allotment process

This is how it works with Ford (for Figo and Aspire). Each dealer has to order his vehicles 3 months in advance. They do it based on bookings and assumed demand. So, if the variant and the colour you want is in stock with the dealer, you get instant delivery. Or if it is in the next 2 months order list, then you will get it as soon as it comes. They have some leeway to change the variant and colour of the cars in their order list. But if the car you want is not any of these, then you have to wait for a minimum of 2 months, unless you use your influence or contacts with the dealer.

I find it strange that Ford has no issues with making customers wait for 2 months for cars that are not selling that well. The worrying thing is that the system hasn't changed, even after 1 year.

FYI, I waited for the car I wanted and I am very happy with my choice.

[nmenon]

Originally Posted by samaspire

Like said before - 2 months

Your delivery experience is going almost like mine.

This is what I have written in my ownership report.


FYI, I waited for the car I wanted and I am very happy with my choice.

Well I haven't given up on the car.

Keeping my original booking for now.

I've gone and booked another one at a different dealer, who have given me a delivery date between 25th to 30th July for Smoke Grey. They offered me the Titanium in Smoke Grey immediately or Silver by 20th July since it is already billed to them.

But I do intend to have a go at Ford for this stupid policy and their abysmal response.

If you can't produce a car to fulfill demand how exactly are you going to get customers, it's not like they're selling 10k pieces each month

I'm more kind of worried about the Service, since the first dealership I went to (Malayalam Ford) is near my house.

This new one I've gone to (Kairali Ford), have an absurd setup.

Their huge and I mean huge; they've got 3 EcoSports a Freestyle a Figo S and enough space to play football in (typical City Bus conductor's expression of space ) showroom doesn't have an attached service centre, which is in a relatively obscure area.

Anyway, I'm wondering whether to take up the Dealership manager's offer of a loaner car till the Freestyle is received, the main downsides to this offer being an obligation to actually take the car from them and the inherent risks of driving an unknown car.

[samaspire]

Originally Posted by nmenon

I'm more kind of worried about the Service, since the first dealership I went to (Malayalam Ford) is near my house.

This new one I've gone to (Kairali Ford), have an absurd setup.

Wherever you buy from, go to the nearest dealer for service. They will not hold any grudges as, service is a permanent source of income for them. And from my experience, Ford service is very good (and cheap). The sales team and service teams are unconnected, and as long as you don't take things laying down, you should be fine.

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by samaspire

And from my experience, Ford service is very good (and cheap). The sales team and service teams are unconnected, and as long as you don't take things laying down, you should be fine.

I can vouch for this too. Ford service is one of the cheapest and until recently they never used to force any unwanted , so called value added stuff to your bill. Recently I got my Toyota serviced, while the service/follow up was excellent, they had added almost 3K worth value add stuff to bill. They were kind enough to remove all those on my request, but an uninformed customer is definite to fall for this.

[RavenAvi]

Nagendra Shreeniwas shares this silent video walkaround of his Freestyle Ambiente (Base) 1.2L petrol:

https://youtu.be/-cvpVLcAijY

Notice:
1. Absence of front fog lamps. Only rear fog lamps.
2. Body colored B pillars (instead of black)
3. No black plastic cladding before C pillars. It's body colored.
4. No music system (The dealer promised me to install Aspire's music system. But it could not be fixed because of some connector size difference. Otherwise the music system perfectly fits in the space provided. The technician told me that he will try to fix Figo's music system on Sunday)
5. No USB charging. Only 12V charging point.
6. No rear power window. Only front power windows. Buttons on driver window and passenger window.
7. No parcel tray. (It's not there in stock. The dealer has gave it to me FOC.)
8. No tachometer (Why Ford?)
9. Official accessories fixed: black and gray seat covers, sun blinds , weather shields)
10. No turn indicators on ORVM . it's on the body.
11. No alloys. It gets black rims with beautiful black wheel caps.
12. Black roof rails instead of silver. In fact it looks better on white colour.
13. Black skid plates (front and rear) instead of silver.
14. Black interiors instead of dual (black and brown). In fact it looks better than brown.
15. No steering mounted audio control. (how it could be? There is no music system.)
16. Manual AC
17. Internally adjustable ORVM (Manual). ORVM is black instead of body-coloured (looks great on white)
18. No variant badge.
19. Great remote flip key.
20. Day-night IRVM.
21. Freestyle branding on both front door floors. Looks great (other manufacturers charge for it).
22. Super quality floor mats. (Other manufacturers charge for even mats)
23. Passenger side vanity mirror.
24. Rear parking sensors.
25. Notice the number plates? They are temporary and made of rubber. (Wow. Others provide only paper print for temporary number plates)
26. Front power windows, 2 airbags at front, ABS with EBD are there

[Blow Horn Ok]

I think the ambiente is the best bet if one does not require fancy features. With abs and airbags in place the only major things it misses out is audio equipment and rear power windows. Does it come with parking sensors as standard?

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

shares this silent video walkaround of his Freestyle Ambiente (Base) 1.2L petrol:

8 is pathetic.
19,20,24 are real surprise goodies for the base variant

[tharian]

Had a go in the petrol Freestyle for a short spin.
I wanted to experience the new gearbox more than the engine.
The test car had around 1600 kms on the odo.

I would have driven the car for less than 5 kms, but got one stretch where I could stretch it's legs.
I would say from that short blast that the power on paper is just that. It is more eager than the first gen 1.2, but I felt the 1.2 on the Polo revved quicker although corresponding speeds may be more or less the same.
The engine also felt strained probably because it has not run enough. There was this slight push whenever I shifted gears to higher gears when picking up speeds especially when I was flooring it. Something like a over rev were the revs don't drop as soon as you lift off. I had noticed this on some petrol cars. Something to make gear shift smoother probably.
The gearbox was something I wanted to compare with my first gen Figo petrol and current Aspire diesel which are the same.
It is good as there is no effort required, but at the same time there was no feel either and it was not sure slotting like in the Swift. The distance between gears slots felt the same as the old gearbox.
The car was a bit bouncy probably because of higher tyre pressure but it felt on one turn that it held its line quite well, but still not the go kart handling of the old Figo.

Overall I felt it is a good car for city use and the diesel should be good for trips.
The rear leg space seemed much more than my Aspire.