I bought my Ikon 1.3 Flair~ April’04. I was in love with this car, until soon after it’s first birthday. Less than a month after it’s first anniversary [a.k.a. manufacturer’s warranty expires], there was a major issue/leak in the power steering. Dealer told me that it will cost me~20K to fix. I blew my top saying that considering I always took this car diligently to the same Ford dealer where I originally bought it from; and the last service was only 2 months prior, this kind of thing shouldn’t have happened.
As typical in these cases, the customer service rep blamed it on my driving skills, Bangalore road potholes etc. I skipped his sermon, went directly to the service manager and asked him what he was going to do to keep me as a customer.
Long story short, he worked it out such that I didn’t have to pay a paise from my pocket. So from a service perspective, I think Ford has got it good.
But still, some squeak, rattles remain in my almost 3 year old car [my friend drives an Accent, and it really silent inside].
My car still drives great, love the road-feel, great feel going into the corners [trust me, I’ve driven Accent, Accord, the old Civic, Optra, yeah even a Scorpio], only car that bought back such great "exhilaration" was my old VW Passat 1.8T that I had back in the US.
Please note that I DO NOT check mileage. No point in crying over spilt milk. If people are concerned about kmpl, please read other reviews, BEFORE BUYING! After the deed is done-ENJOY IT! I need to top up the tank every 1.5weeks, and I do an average of~ 40km per day. I’ll let the mileage freaks do the math on that:-)
Overall, great car, I would buy this car again.would not keep it for more than 3 years, and definitely would NOT buy a Ford again, if these rattles and crakles keep showing up. I cant afford to buy a car every three years. A car is not a PC, and Ford is definitely not a monopoly like Microsoft.
P.S: I got my car from Metro Ford in Bangalore. I would recommend this dealer to you, both from a pre-sales, as well as post-sales [aka service] point of view.
With respect to my ratings:
SPACE INSIDE: 3/5 [What do you expect from a < 6 Lakh car.even a~9Lakh car like Scorpio is crammed inside, and that would get 2/5, now Optra gets 5/5 for~9 lakhs]
DEALER SATISFACTION: 4/5 [read my comments above]
FUEL CONSUMPTION: 3/5 [Not a pertrol-guzzler, .yet]
COMFORT: 4/5 [excellent driver seat, and love the ergonomics of the back seat]
RELIABILITY: 2/5 [see my comments above]
LOOKS: 3/5 [Average, trust me, I didnt buy it for the looks]