[sumathindra]

I had reported the airbag indicator suddenly glowing a couple of weeks back in my figo. Finally went to Lathangi today and on diagnosis, it was found that the clockspring in the steering is to be replaced.

The did not have stock and intended one and will arrive in 3 days time. This will be covered in my 4th year warranty.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by jayded

It's high time ford replace the petrol engine in the figo to an ecoboost. The current 1.2 is a disaster in my opinion. It is neither powerful enough for the car, nor is it fuel efficient to justify the lack of it. With the ecoboost plonked in, worst case, even if the mileage figures hover around the current figures, you at least get the thrills driving it around. With the current 1.2, the figo is just a bore.

I really wish Ford does this and more than doing it, makes it available in India. Before it was the 1.6 Fiesta engine we hoped for, now the 1l Eco is just perfect. That will make a good option among the new breed of turbo hatch cars.

Originally Posted by Captain Slow

Tell me about it! From what I know the 1.2L engine is nothing but the OLD Ikon 1.3L engine which has been redone to a 1.2L.

Its about time this engine is put to rest!

Power? hah! Try climbing a steep incline with 3 adults the car will struggle! At times I have to manually switch off the AC just to get a little bit of more power.

The 1.2 on the Figo is actually the scaled down version of the 1.4 on the Fiesta.
I wouldn't de-mean it a lot.

It is more of adjusting to how the engine works. From driving it for 3 years now, I know how to extract maximum efficiency and power from it. It is not that it is under powered or bad on efficiency. It is definately, when compared to Japs and Koreans.
It is not an engine wherein, whichever way you drive- harsh or sedate, it does not make much of a difference in efficiency. It is the right opposite . For that matter, even under-inflated tires make a difference on the long run in this car.

Try this once on an empty road- keep the revs b/w 2.5 and 3k rpms in second gear for few seconds like you are going to overtake an imaginary car and then floor it in the same gear and see how it picks up, its not all that bad. With A/C off ofcourse.

Atleast it is a 16v SEFI engine. Imagine it without even this tech, it would be like a 1l K10 engine in a Figo!
Yes, when loaded and with A/C there is nothing much that can be done which holds true for some other 1-1.2 l cars as well.

Keep the revs high, there is good enough power to use on city roads, drive with a light foot with right rpm'd gear changes, you will get around 11kmpl in city and on highways above 15.

One thing I have noticed is that any change in driving behaviour affects efficiency. Multiple drivers may be the cause in your case. Just my thought.

As you stated, selling this car is not an option in 3 years. So may as well enjoy the drive.
But as mentioned, the mileage figures you quoted needs to be looked into.

[indivic]

Originally Posted by Captain Slow

I got the worst FE ye again..Managed 7.9L Per Km
Driving this car sure does hurt my wallet!

May be it does not like clean fuel? My Civic always returned lower figures with Shell as compared to BP or HP. I got the best figures with HP, I never tried IOC since most IOC dealers I have tried cheat.

[sandeepest]

Originally Posted by Captain Slow

I got the worst FE ye again..Managed 7.9L Per Km
Driving this car sure does hurt my wallet!

My figo is around 15K kms old, and prior to the first engine oil change, it was giving me erratic FE. Sometimes plunged to 10 and at times went for 13. But after i changed the engine oil at 9000 kms, suddenly the FE has gone up and now goes steady at above 13. Remember that i always keep the AC on. Recently went for a short highway trip and over 300 plus kms, it gave me a whopping 21 kmpl !! Kept the speed between 70 and 90. I think you can try different fuel stations too.

[enkash]

My figo (tdci) here is 19,500 kms old/3 yrs old, I'm managing a fuel efficieny of between 14.5-18 kmpl. Keep your tyres well-inflated, light foot and give the turbocharger enough spin-up & cool down times. My mileage was erratic too but seems to have stabilized ever since I moved to 100% synthetic oil. It could have just been the oil change more than the synthetic part of it.

[Arch-Angel]

Regarding tdci, well i have been doing a small experiment to extract the best fe.
Here are some points (Nothing to hold your breath on, you may have come across these). These observations are what i noticed over a period of 1 month with some amount of city running and outstation trips.

1. Erratic traffic, frequent gear shifts and 1st gear stop and go : FE= 15 Kmpl
2. Somewhat free roads, consistent shifts and varying the rpms a little, i shift only after 2.1k rpm, which means i am well in the turbo zone. Top speed upto 80 Kmph : Mileage: 18 kmpl
3. Complete highway with consistent 80 kmph speeds with only a few gear shifts( no over revving at all) : Mileage: 20 kmpl

Maybe my mileage will improve even further after the upcoming first service + oil change.

[Mad Max]

On a side note, any of you experience better driving feel when its colder? Today, Bangalore morning weather was damp and cool. On the way to work on NICE road, the engine was just smooth and very responsive. Maybe it was the cold air. Not sure, but I've noticed that when its hot, I can hear the engine strain sometimes at higher speeds. Really enjoyed the drive today. Glad I bought this car. And FE has been stable around 15-17 with a mix of city and (not so sedate) highway driving.

[Sheel]

My Figo TDCi is 30 months young now. Has done 23,000 kms. No issue, niggle to report. There are faint squeak sounds from the rear roof area and that is it. Runs like a clock work.

Sometimes stands idle for weeks & on occasions does around 300kms every day. Sometimes stretching to 400.

Came across a blown tire as an only irritant on my 1st wedding anniversary (may be a warning of things to come ) while on an outing to the hills with wife in tow. Replaced with stock MRF's as of now. Next installment would be a replacement to the XM-2's in all probability.

While coming back, had a stop @ Gateway Ford for inspection of all fluids. Everything was okay. No top ups required. Rear wiper blade has started to give up, but wasn't available. They have promised to provide one even if I don't take the Car. (as I take the other Cars more than the Figo)

Very satisfied with all the traits (typical of Ford) & I frankly find it very safe to drive the Figo on the expressway doing a constant 90kmph throughout. FE stays at ~18 with A/C & idling.

Thanks

[supertinu]

Originally Posted by Arch-Angel

1. Erratic traffic, frequent gear shifts and 1st gear stop and go : FE= 15 Kmpl
2. Somewhat free roads, consistent shifts and varying the rpms a little, i shift only after 2.1k rpm, which means i am well in the turbo zone. Top speed upto 80 Kmph : Mileage: 18 kmpl
3. Complete highway with consistent 80 kmph speeds with only a few gear shifts( no over revving at all) : Mileage: 20 kmpl

This is consistent with my observation as well, though my numbers are slightly lower than yours for city driving, about 14kmpl. Key thing that I observe in city driving is that its very important to modulate the accelerator input at low speeds. At low RPM when the engine is out of turbo zone, just flooring the pedal doesnt really help and reduces average quite a bit. Rather than that gradual pedal inputs till the RPM is in turbo zone helps get better numbers.

[Arch-Angel]

Originally Posted by supertinu

This is consistent with my observation as well, though my numbers are slightly lower than yours for city driving, about 14kmpl. Key thing that I observe in city driving is that its very important to modulate the accelerator input at low speeds. At low RPM when the engine is out of turbo zone, just flooring the pedal doesnt really help and reduces average quite a bit. Rather than that gradual pedal inputs till the RPM is in turbo zone helps get better numbers.

Absolutely. People make this mistake all the time since they don't know how to deal with turbo lag. The turbo lag is something i used in a generic context since the one in the figo, being a twin scroll turbo can start spooling initially since it uses one of the two orifices to get in exhaust gases and the next one opens at a slightly higher rpm range. It has a slight "delay" rather than the "lag" like in the manza and the punto. This is what helps the figo get a good low end and the tradeoff being in the higher end, there will be this feeling that the car has hit its limits. This is where the DOHC/VGT difference will begin to show albeit on a slightly different scale. One trick is shift at a reasonably high rpm to that you have enough pressure to keep the turbo spooling in the next gear. Also, figo has an abnormally high amount of engine braking which i feel is quite surprising considering its weight and i use this as an ally to help me slow down without using my brakes too much. I do indicate this before i shift my gears by briefly pressing the b- pedal. The trick is to keep the turbo spooling throughout- more air- more power- better combustion- better FE. I feel i will learn to drive this car in a very efficient way once i get to understand it. After all, i got to keep it with me for a really long time.

Also, keep in mind the precautions for driving a turbo car. No room for laziness or you end up screwing stuff bigtime. Bills can run upto 1L+ just because of this.

[Mik]

Came back from a 2900 km trip from Gurgaon to Kashmir and back. The figo didn't complain with three on board with generous luggage. Mileage ranged from 17.xx when i was ripping it to an amazing 21.xx on a conservative late night run from ludhiana to Gurgaon.
My petrolhead friend(bhpian) wasn't used to taking a diesel car up the hills so struggled initially with the lag but once i showed him the fun in the turbo zone - he was in a rally mode all the way!
We did Gurgaon to Srinagar in 19 hours with just bio and fuel breaks. The car didn't seem to complain much. Took it on a heavily water logged street in Ludhiana with a few cars already stalled, and my baby protested with some strange sounds but made it through.
One frequent issue we faced - stalling the car from a stand still on an incline. This hasn't ever happened in my previous trips to the hills.

One shot of the memories

[Sedate]

Originally Posted by Captain Slow

.................

Power? hah! Try climbing a steep incline with 3 adults the car will struggle! At times I have to manually switch off the AC just to get a little bit of more power.

Wont the AC turn off(the button will still glow, but no cooling) by itself when you floor the A pedal? I have observed this 2-3 times when I was too lazy to change to a lower gear. Not too sure whether it is due to temperature being reached, which happens most of the time.

Also, the real power from this car comes after 2K rpm. After that rpm it is rocket with a steering(-at least in my sedate standards). But the climb from 1500 - 2000 rpm in a higher gear takes ages!

[vina]

Originally Posted by Arch-Angel

Regarding tdci, well i have been doing a small experiment to extract the best fe.
Here are some points (Nothing to hold your breath on, you may have come across these). These observations are what i noticed over a period of 1 month with some amount of city running and outstation trips.

1. Erratic traffic, frequent gear shifts and 1st gear stop and go : FE= 15 Kmpl
2. Somewhat free roads, consistent shifts and varying the rpms a little, i shift only after 2.1k rpm, which means i am well in the turbo zone. Top speed upto 80 Kmph : Mileage: 18 kmpl
3. Complete highway with consistent 80 kmph speeds with only a few gear shifts( no over revving at all) : Mileage: 20 kmpl

Maybe my mileage will improve even further after the upcoming first service + oil change.

Since we are on FE, my observations (Figo tdci):

1. Worst efficiency when going on short runs - this is probably because fuel is being burnt to warm up the engine, the oil, and the coolant; rather than moving the vehicle.
   1. It is better to club a lot of activities in one car run if several short trips is what you re looking at.
2. best FE on long runs at 2000-2500 rpm; FE drops on both sides of this range. This is for a given gear. 1600 in 5th will probably give better FE than 2000 in 4th. Higher gear when possible helps - I keep highest possible gear at which engine doesn't give lugging sounds.
3. below 1600rpm, going all out on pedal not only doesn't buy any pick-up, it causes lots of noise and in all probability is a FE killer (God knows what else it kills)
4. If drive is primarily within city with decent roads and speeds south of 90-100, keeping tyre pressure above 32 (34 is better if you can then handle the bumps on occasional potholes) helps FE a lot. On a highway at high speeds, this can be dangerous, 30-32 is good enough (higher for a loaded car).
5. On cold damp days the engine does have better response; I'm not sure that translates into better FE.
6. Engines give better efficiency at higher power output (at a given rpm) - it makes sense to "modulate" the pedal input by, for example, depressing and releasing pedal continuously. This happens in city traffic anyway.
7. For safety and FE both, practice anticipative driving - this would help you avoid brakes. Brakes are one of the biggest enemies of FE.

I typically get 17-19kmpl in Hyderbad (lower when wife uses it more for short runs; higher when it is used primarily for commute to work with few medium-length runs). Have got 22 and above on Hyderabad-Mysore runs.

[sansvk]

Has anyone received their 4th year warranty? I had paid for it 2 weeks back and havent received it so far. The dealer say that ford would send it directly. How true is it?

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by Arch-Angel

.....

Arch. Are you sure that the TC in the 1.4 tdci is a twin scroll unit?

Wiki page says only the 1.6 110 PS version is equipped with that turbo.