Ikon Flair Confusion..

shuvc · 23rd August 2006, 23:28

A couple of Q's.
Would your parents be driving or be chauffered ?
Do you HAVE to buy a sedan ?
I'd say go for a top end Getz. Spacious, Comfy, good FE, good A.S.S, within your budget, good looking.

nitinhegde · 24th August 2006, 13:43

Techfrek,here's some more help...

I had recently bought a Flair(4 months ago) and till date its run 5k......I am quite satisfied with it...

Ford Fiesta is doing quite well,so is the Flair with the discounts...I don't think that FORD is going to shut shop....silly comments

Regarding A.S.S.
The service in Pune is quite good.PLANET Ford appeared professional.I don't know about other cities...so,you have to check it out in Bangalore.....

Mileage
I am getting around 14 (70 % highway,30 % City driving with 30 % AC)
You can expect around 11-12 in city conditions.

Handling,Ride quality,comfort is quite good...

Accent....I didn't consider as its 50K more than Flair and was out of my Budget...My initial shortlisted cars were Swift,Getz ->I switched to Sedan for more spacecomfort in the rear + boot space....

Cons :

-Braking can be improved...but till date have not faced much problems...but this is one of the concern areas especially at high speeds on highways...sometimes it feels as if the Car is not going to stop as desired....have to push hard sometimes...

-Little Underpowered as compared to other cars in this segment but still a pleasure to drive

-I haven't faced any issue with AC till date...

Overall,its a practical value for money car...

Aeroman · 24th August 2006, 14:25

Accent has good interiors too compared to esteem and flair. I may also be going in for this car. Now that it is clear that accent gle will be continued to compete with esteem and flair. While new accent(Verna) will compete with fiesta and aveo.

Did you check the discounts on Accent? they must be good discounts. Last month there were discounts of around 30K

adarsh76 · 24th August 2006, 14:37

Well, if you can stretch your budget for an Accent GLE it is worth buying. It is better than flair in every departments except high speed handling. Handling is said to be not upto the class of Ikon Flair at high speeds but isnt bad either.

I've one purchased in June 2005. Till date it has run 46,900 kms. You can imagine how roughly it was used. No major maintenances. Issues were rattling sound heard from the dashboard but it was quickly rectified as it was the coffee tray making the sound and was replaced free of cost. Mileage I'm getting an average (City and Highway combined) of 11.6 to 13.8 kms per litre. I've clocked 17.07 kms/l on a long stretch highway drive once and 15.52 on another occasion. If you drive properly a good mileage is on the hands. Also the maintenance costs is low and also service quality is better for the Accent. Features such as intermittent wiper speeds I guess are absent in Flair.

The noticeable discomfort is the rear seats which wont be comfortable for tall persons (above 5' 8") coz of the low seats. But that can be rectified if you fit a 5mm foam under the seat cover if needed. Have a sit on the car and decide that. Not everybody needs it. Also it doesnt come with central locking as standard, but most dealers offer anti theft system as free which can act as central locking though in certain models like Pricol's Xenox offers only all door closing inside from driver's side only. You can ask for a central locking option but dont exactly know how much they charge for it.

Overall factor, the Accent GLE is a reliable car and better than Ikon Flair.

manson · 24th August 2006, 15:15

sorry for the late reply:

matters related to your confusion mentione din the first post:

1. its ideal for you parents, sure they won't need any more power than what it already has, and the ikon has a lotta strength in the lower rpms which makes it ideal for city driving.

2. no idea, but after reading through a thread on metro ford, i would stay away.

3. i suffered from the hot air problem, and the guys at the workshop replaced whatever part needed to be replaced. this was done free of cost, a day after the warranty expired.

4. well the brakes do feel kind of weak, but then again the car is for your parents who i doubt would want to do any sprited, rather the so called josh driving.

overall the car is the best vfm package if one does not need a car for too much running, as it is not the most fuel efficient of the mid size lot, expect something around 9-11 kmpl varying on driving style.
i have even posted a short review on the same in the reviews section, go through the same.

leave me a pm if you have any queries.

manson.

1100D · 24th August 2006, 16:03

About the AC problem , it is the "Diverter valve" that goes faulty. This valve controls the coolant flow between the engine coling system and the AC. This happened twice in my car and was done up under warranty, but I guess the valve itself is not much costly.

adarsh76 · 24th August 2006, 17:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by shuvc

A couple of Q's.
Would your parents be driving or be chauffered ?
Do you HAVE to buy a sedan ?
I'd say go for a top end Getz. Spacious, Comfy, good FE, good A.S.S, within your budget, good looking.

Yes, if you dont need a boot it's the Getz which is a practical choice.

rambono5 · 24th August 2006, 18:30

As far as dealers in bangalore go, I have had a pretty good experience with Cauvery Ford. They are located a bit far away from the city but they gave me great service when I had an Ikon 1.3 (which i sold in 2003). In fact after I sold the car back to them (i was moving to the u.s.), they asked me what i was planning to do till the time I left. I told their salesman that I planned to use taxis. The very next day a M800 was driven to my house and left for me to use (in spite of my not even asking for it). And all this when I had given back my car and was leaving the country.

tecfrek · 25th August 2006, 07:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by rambono5

As far as dealers in bangalore go, I have had a pretty good experience with Cauvery Ford. They are located a bit far away from the city but they gave me great service when I had an Ikon 1.3 (which i sold in 2003). In fact after I sold the car back to them (i was moving to the u.s.), they asked me what i was planning to do till the time I left. I told their salesman that I planned to use taxis. The very next day a M800 was driven to my house and left for me to use (in spite of my not even asking for it). And all this when I had given back my car and was leaving the country.

Wow... this is news.. REALLY... Just go throught the forums here or through the reviews at mouthshut... you'll be shocked to hear what people have to say about cauvery ford. The distance of the dealer is the last of my worries...that is not at all my concern...

Quote:

Originally Posted by nitinhegde

Techfrek,here's some more help...

I had recently bought a Flair(4 months ago) and till date its run 5k......I am quite satisfied with it...

What does the service bill look like? I have heard flair's need deep pockets in the maintenence dept....

nitinhegde · 25th August 2006, 15:28

There have been words exchanged saying that even the first free servicing is charged and stuff...I think its quite hyped up.......there's a huge debate on this topic in past few threads...I have done my first free servicing..its didn't cost me a penny...Supreme Baleno had said in some thread that his friends had a hefty bill of 2-3k in first and second free servicing..I keep wondering how!!

I feel that the maintenance may be marginally expensive...I am still not sure but not really worth rejecting a car on that basis....

koolncrazy · 26th August 2006, 23:54

Hi Tecfrek,

I have bought my Ford Ikon in last August and have since enjoyed my time with it mostly.
Here are my answers to your queries.

1) Guess the power it generates is good enough for the city especially if you are in cities like Blore, Chennai etc.
My Ikon gives me a avg mileage of 12.5-13.5 kmpl in city with A/C and it recorded a highest of around 17.2 on the highways.. Avg on highways is around 14-15kmpl usually.

2)Sales wise, when i negotiated with both Cauvery and Metro Ford in Blore, I was much impressed with Metro and bought my Ikon from them. After reading a thread abt the service of Metro Ford from one of our BHPian's experience, i made a change and went to Cauvery Ford for my first paid service. They are quite ok and my car was serviced good although as some one stated, Distance is the only factor which may go against them.
Discounts wise, i am sure you can negotiate. Ford Ikon is now available for around 4.67 lacs and i am not sure if its On-road or ex-showroom.

3)I haven;t faced the problem of hot air flowing thru AC vents atleast till now and its 13 months already.

4)Brakes are ok but u will have to check them if you are changing for Alloys. I had a problem initially with Aura Alloys but had been sorted oout and is now very good.

HTH,

Koolncrazy

Tarun A.R · 29th August 2006, 02:08

Hi Tecfrek,

I bought my Ford Ikon Flair on 7th Sept 2005 & till now I have not faced any issues. I'm getting 10 kmpl in city & 12 kmpl on highways.

I bought my Ikon from Cauvery Ford & their services has been pretty good till now. There were instances where I could not go to their workshop to collect my car or drop my car for servicing & they would send their person to pick my car for service or drop it after service.

Overall its a pretty good car. But I would still suggest you to think twice before you decide on Ikon or Accent. As lot of them have mentioned Ikons doesn't have a resale value wherein Accent will also face similar problem once Verna is launched & as the talks go even Accent prices will drop drastically just the same which happened with Ikon.

I bought a new Getz GLS from Advaith on 18th Aug 2006 & not very happy with the drive as it is quiet bumpy as compared to Ikon since you say its for your parents I suggest you go in for a saloon car than a hatchback.

My suggestion: Ikon is still a better bet for the price you pay provided you dont decide to sell immediately.

_________________________________________________
4 M800 ; Ikon ; Getz ; Alto & Swift
Planning for a Baleno by Jan '07

supremeBaleno · 29th August 2006, 11:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by nitinhegde

Supreme Baleno had said in some thread that his friends had a hefty bill of 2-3k in first and second free servicing..I keep wondering how!!

Well, I stand by what I said.

They paid between 2-3K during free services, which I think is much more than normal. Considering the fact that free services are just basically a quick check-up, water wash and in some cases an oil+filter change (of which only the last is chargeable to customer), I find a bill of 2-3K to be on the higher side.

An oil+filter change for my Baleno costs around Rs650 and that was the bill for the 1st and 3rd free services. My friend is paying 3 times this amount (even if we take the lower figure of 2K). This is definitely not a marginal increase. Another guy I know (works with CA), reports 5-6K bills for paid services, with a sigh. But then I cannot do a comparo as my Baleno has not had a paid service yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nitinhegde

I feel that the maintenance may be marginally expensive...I am still not sure but not really worth rejecting a car on that basis....

Well, depends on how we look at marginal. I get a minimum of 16kmpl on highways (with AC on 100%), while my friend's Accent returns 14kmpl. Might look like just a difference of 2kmpl, which we could call marginal. But then over years of usage, we would feel the pinch.

I did a tankfull (till the nozzle auto-cut off) at Kerala and drove 770kms to Chennai last week - no fuel stops anywhere. On reaching Chennai, the fuel indicator still showed around 6-7 litres. Fuel consumed : 45litres. My friend would have needed 55 litres for the same drive, translates to an extra 10L = 500Rs odd.

For a guy who is worried about FE, this difference is crucial. But if FE is not on top of the priority list, this can be ignored as marginal. To each, his own.

nitinhegde · 29th August 2006, 15:48

supremebaleno,I didn't pay a single penny during my free servicing nor did my friends who own an Ikon 1.6 nxt,Fiesta...Please check my previous post.
Also for paid servicing,I don't think that the difference is so huge...I would like to rely on the figures I have seen and experienced.When I had put my car for servicing,The bills I saw for other customers weren't near the figure you are quoting for paid/free servicing...so,I will wait and watch before commenting.I am not saying that what you have said is totally false but the figures appear exaggerated...so,no more arguments please - end of discussion !

esteem_lover · 29th August 2006, 16:43

my name is a dead giveaway. but the esteem is a truly great car, even if it is "dated". it offers pure exhilaration at a modest cost & much less expensive to maintain than the ford ikon, which is also dated now & absolutely low resale value.

23rd August 2006, 23:28	#16
shuvc Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2005 Location: Kolkata Posts: 2,913 Thanked: 353 Times View My Garage	A couple of Q's. Would your parents be driving or be chauffered ? Do you HAVE to buy a sedan ? I'd say go for a top end Getz. Spacious, Comfy, good FE, good A.S.S, within your budget, good looking.
	() Thanks

24th August 2006, 13:43	#17
nitinhegde BHPian Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: ~ Posts: 242 Thanked: 91 Times	Techfrek,here's some more help... I had recently bought a Flair(4 months ago) and till date its run 5k......I am quite satisfied with it... Ford Fiesta is doing quite well,so is the Flair with the discounts...I don't think that FORD is going to shut shop....silly comments Regarding A.S.S. The service in Pune is quite good.PLANET Ford appeared professional.I don't know about other cities...so,you have to check it out in Bangalore..... Mileage I am getting around 14 (70 % highway,30 % City driving with 30 % AC) You can expect around 11-12 in city conditions. Handling,Ride quality,comfort is quite good... Accent....I didn't consider as its 50K more than Flair and was out of my Budget...My initial shortlisted cars were Swift,Getz ->I switched to Sedan for more spacecomfort in the rear + boot space.... Cons : -Braking can be improved...but till date have not faced much problems...but this is one of the concern areas especially at high speeds on highways...sometimes it feels as if the Car is not going to stop as desired....have to push hard sometimes... -Little Underpowered as compared to other cars in this segment but still a pleasure to drive -I haven't faced any issue with AC till date... Overall,its a practical value for money car...
	() Thanks

24th August 2006, 14:25	#18
Aeroman BHPian Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 25 Thanked: 0 Times	Accent has good interiors too compared to esteem and flair. I may also be going in for this car. Now that it is clear that accent gle will be continued to compete with esteem and flair. While new accent(Verna) will compete with fiesta and aveo. Did you check the discounts on Accent? they must be good discounts. Last month there were discounts of around 30K
	() Thanks

24th August 2006, 14:37	#19
adarsh76 BHPian Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Trivandrum Posts: 661 Thanked: 231 Times	Well, if you can stretch your budget for an Accent GLE it is worth buying. It is better than flair in every departments except high speed handling. Handling is said to be not upto the class of Ikon Flair at high speeds but isnt bad either. I've one purchased in June 2005. Till date it has run 46,900 kms. You can imagine how roughly it was used. No major maintenances. Issues were rattling sound heard from the dashboard but it was quickly rectified as it was the coffee tray making the sound and was replaced free of cost. Mileage I'm getting an average (City and Highway combined) of 11.6 to 13.8 kms per litre. I've clocked 17.07 kms/l on a long stretch highway drive once and 15.52 on another occasion. If you drive properly a good mileage is on the hands. Also the maintenance costs is low and also service quality is better for the Accent. Features such as intermittent wiper speeds I guess are absent in Flair. The noticeable discomfort is the rear seats which wont be comfortable for tall persons (above 5' 8") coz of the low seats. But that can be rectified if you fit a 5mm foam under the seat cover if needed. Have a sit on the car and decide that. Not everybody needs it. Also it doesnt come with central locking as standard, but most dealers offer anti theft system as free which can act as central locking though in certain models like Pricol's Xenox offers only all door closing inside from driver's side only. You can ask for a central locking option but dont exactly know how much they charge for it. Overall factor, the Accent GLE is a reliable car and better than Ikon Flair.
	() Thanks

24th August 2006, 15:15	#20
manson Team-BHP Support Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 3,944 Thanked: 4,217 Times View My Garage	sorry for the late reply: matters related to your confusion mentione din the first post: 1. its ideal for you parents, sure they won't need any more power than what it already has, and the ikon has a lotta strength in the lower rpms which makes it ideal for city driving. 2. no idea, but after reading through a thread on metro ford, i would stay away. 3. i suffered from the hot air problem, and the guys at the workshop replaced whatever part needed to be replaced. this was done free of cost, a day after the warranty expired. 4. well the brakes do feel kind of weak, but then again the car is for your parents who i doubt would want to do any sprited, rather the so called josh driving. overall the car is the best vfm package if one does not need a car for too much running, as it is not the most fuel efficient of the mid size lot, expect something around 9-11 kmpl varying on driving style. i have even posted a short review on the same in the reviews section, go through the same. leave me a pm if you have any queries. manson.
	() Thanks

24th August 2006, 16:03	#21
1100D Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Calcutta Posts: 4,390 Thanked: 4,101 Times View My Garage	About the AC problem , it is the "Diverter valve" that goes faulty. This valve controls the coolant flow between the engine coling system and the AC. This happened twice in my car and was done up under warranty, but I guess the valve itself is not much costly.
	() Thanks

24th August 2006, 18:30	#23
rambono5 Newbie Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: bangalore Posts: 19 Thanked: 0 Times	As far as dealers in bangalore go, I have had a pretty good experience with Cauvery Ford. They are located a bit far away from the city but they gave me great service when I had an Ikon 1.3 (which i sold in 2003). In fact after I sold the car back to them (i was moving to the u.s.), they asked me what i was planning to do till the time I left. I told their salesman that I planned to use taxis. The very next day a M800 was driven to my house and left for me to use (in spite of my not even asking for it). And all this when I had given back my car and was leaving the country.
	() Thanks

25th August 2006, 15:28	#25
nitinhegde BHPian Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: ~ Posts: 242 Thanked: 91 Times	There have been words exchanged saying that even the first free servicing is charged and stuff...I think its quite hyped up.......there's a huge debate on this topic in past few threads...I have done my first free servicing..its didn't cost me a penny...Supreme Baleno had said in some thread that his friends had a hefty bill of 2-3k in first and second free servicing..I keep wondering how!! I feel that the maintenance may be marginally expensive...I am still not sure but not really worth rejecting a car on that basis....
	() Thanks

26th August 2006, 23:54	#26
koolncrazy Newbie Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Bangalore-Hyderabad Posts: 5 Thanked: 0 Times	Ford Ikon Flair Hi Tecfrek, I have bought my Ford Ikon in last August and have since enjoyed my time with it mostly. Here are my answers to your queries. 1) Guess the power it generates is good enough for the city especially if you are in cities like Blore, Chennai etc. My Ikon gives me a avg mileage of 12.5-13.5 kmpl in city with A/C and it recorded a highest of around 17.2 on the highways.. Avg on highways is around 14-15kmpl usually. 2)Sales wise, when i negotiated with both Cauvery and Metro Ford in Blore, I was much impressed with Metro and bought my Ikon from them. After reading a thread abt the service of Metro Ford from one of our BHPian's experience, i made a change and went to Cauvery Ford for my first paid service. They are quite ok and my car was serviced good although as some one stated, Distance is the only factor which may go against them. Discounts wise, i am sure you can negotiate. Ford Ikon is now available for around 4.67 lacs and i am not sure if its On-road or ex-showroom. 3)I haven;t faced the problem of hot air flowing thru AC vents atleast till now and its 13 months already. 4)Brakes are ok but u will have to check them if you are changing for Alloys. I had a problem initially with Aura Alloys but had been sorted oout and is now very good. HTH, Koolncrazy
	() Thanks

29th August 2006, 02:08	#27
Tarun A.R Newbie Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 2 Thanked: 0 Times	Hi Tecfrek, I bought my Ford Ikon Flair on 7th Sept 2005 & till now I have not faced any issues. I'm getting 10 kmpl in city & 12 kmpl on highways. I bought my Ikon from Cauvery Ford & their services has been pretty good till now. There were instances where I could not go to their workshop to collect my car or drop my car for servicing & they would send their person to pick my car for service or drop it after service. Overall its a pretty good car. But I would still suggest you to think twice before you decide on Ikon or Accent. As lot of them have mentioned Ikons doesn't have a resale value wherein Accent will also face similar problem once Verna is launched & as the talks go even Accent prices will drop drastically just the same which happened with Ikon. I bought a new Getz GLS from Advaith on 18th Aug 2006 & not very happy with the drive as it is quiet bumpy as compared to Ikon since you say its for your parents I suggest you go in for a saloon car than a hatchback. My suggestion: Ikon is still a better bet for the price you pay provided you dont decide to sell immediately. _________________________________________________ 4 M800 ; Ikon ; Getz ; Alto & Swift Planning for a Baleno by Jan '07
	() Thanks

29th August 2006, 15:48	#29
nitinhegde BHPian Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: ~ Posts: 242 Thanked: 91 Times	supremebaleno,I didn't pay a single penny during my free servicing nor did my friends who own an Ikon 1.6 nxt,Fiesta...Please check my previous post. Also for paid servicing,I don't think that the difference is so huge...I would like to rely on the figures I have seen and experienced.When I had put my car for servicing,The bills I saw for other customers weren't near the figure you are quoting for paid/free servicing...so,I will wait and watch before commenting.I am not saying that what you have said is totally false but the figures appear exaggerated...so,no more arguments please - end of discussion ! Last edited by nitinhegde : 29th August 2006 at 15:53.
	() Thanks

29th August 2006, 16:43	#30
esteem_lover Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Madras/Py Posts: 7,556 Thanked: 505 Times View My Garage	my name is a dead giveaway. but the esteem is a truly great car, even if it is "dated". it offers pure exhilaration at a modest cost & much less expensive to maintain than the ford ikon, which is also dated now & absolutely low resale value.
	() Thanks