I had written a post here in december last year when I took the test drive of the ford ikon flair 1.3, after three months(financing took a whole lot of time), got it in feb 2nd week of 2009. Its been 3 months now and have driven around 1000kms only, have not gone on any long drive as yet, but I find the car to be a very practical choice, if you want a good sedan, that too under a tight budget of rs. 5 lakhs, I got it fully loaded with remote central locking, reverse parking sensor, USB mp3 player with 4 speakers, body cover, mats, etc in 4.98 lakhs on road.
My experience with the car has been good till now, have driven in the city and tight turning radius of this car helps a lot, it turns swiftly, though there’s a little lack of power when picking up at 2nd gear from almost zero speed. Have touched high speed of 110 km/hr and found the car to be stable and well behaved and even the brakes till now have been spot on. Air conditioning of the car has been very effective as of now and it runs on 1st level. though once or twice have turned it to 2nd level. the cooling in the rear seat is comfortable but myhands on the steering get chilled if the weather is a little good.
Features like, all doors power window, central locking are indeed good in this price, but do miss the remote boot release when enter any mall. Even security person expects a car to have a remote boot release and goes to the rear directly to check the boot, but sadly I have to roll down the window, switch of a/c, turn off the engine, call the guard and hand him over the key to let him check the boot. believe me its so painful not having the remote boot release.
As per the FE, I think it is approximately 10(9.80, as I calculated) with 100% AC on and complete city driving. The first service is due in may first week, lets see if the mileage increases.
Will end the post here, hope its not too long for you all reading out there.Will update more later, but yes I firmly believe that the car is as good as you keep it. Drive well and safe, and enjoy ur ride. have fun till then. But Ikon onwership as been a good experience overall, people do say, , Ohh!! you have a Ford Ikon :)