I live in Trichy(South India) and I was owning a second hand Maruti 800 for 7 years, and wanted to change. Basically, I was looking for a small car and was deciding between Santro, Indica, Zen as I thought that I cant afford a mid sized car for now.
But, quite often these mid sized cars like Ford, Accent, Indigo and Esteem would draw my attention whenever one crosses me. Then, I had an opportunity to drive each of these vehicles. After driving and feeling the comforts these cars offered I finally decided to spend a little more and go for a mid sized car.
I did not like to go for esteem, as basically I did not like its outdated looks, though the driving was good and comfortable, and found its the best for mileage from a few owners.
I liked Accent, but it was slightly costlier than its equivalent counterparts feature to feature, and I cant go so much higher from my small car budget. I was also told that the spares are costlier. But otherwise the car looked impresive.
I liked the style of Ford Ikon and the driving was really superb.
I liked Indigo the same way as Ford Ikon. The driving was smooth and comfortable.
Both Ford & Indigo were looking stylish in their own way. Both were comparable on price too. Mileage seemed almost same from the experience of both owners. Feature to feature, both were almost same, but both had some advantages over the other and vice versa on some simple features that did not matter to me much.
But finally I decided Indigo based on a very few points that appeared favourable and applicable to me personally.
Indigo’s suspension seemed better for the kind of roads we have here.
Indigo’s seating and drive position was so comfortable for my height 6’ 1’’, I could rest my thighs on the seat without ay inconvenience on the driving pedals.
The looks from side, very elegant and always waiting to get set and go.
I really dont need a Ford for its pick up and cornering as I am going to use the car for pleasure and not for making stunts.
The boot is very spacious and foldable backseat offered even more space at the rear. After folding, children can sleep nicely and comfortably with the fully covered A/C for longer drives.
The back seat and back rest are straight and people sitting at the ends and centre feel the same good level of comfort. Very comfortable sitting for three people.
I bought the GLS model of this car with power streeing (and without power windows) for Rs. 4.8 Lakhs on road, trichy under corporate offer in August 2005 and driven 8900 KM as of end march 2006. So far I have not spent a single rupee for this car. I had gone for long drives to chennai on NH 45 and also returned along the smoother East Coast Road and the bumpy Nagapatnam - Velankanni- Tanjore roads. Had gone to Kodaikanal and back once. Been to Madurai twice. I regularly drive the car to my home town 100 KM away every month. And I use it regularly for my office going. All the way, the car was so comfortable and giving good performance, and has never let me down in any way.
The A/C is powerful and the air is quite chill in just two minutes. It has reading lamps for backseat also, the opening of fuel lid and boot from driver seat is very useful in practice. The digital clock and the broad dash makes me feel good and great. I am told there are many other things that makes this car worthy, if anyone wants they can always get a user manual from previous owners and go through. Any way these things may exist in other cars also.
My regular use is for office which is a highway but with traffics at times and few times in city which has heavy traffic mostly. The mileage for this type of conditions is around 12 to 13 KM/Litre after every fill. On NH45 and on my trip to Madurai, I got exactly 14.2 KM/Litre. Only on two occasions, I got less than this range to 11.5 KM/Litre.
I normally drive at 70 to 80 KM/Hr on a comfortable road and to 100 if the road is very free. I tried once at 125 KM/Hr on the four lane Tindivanam-Chennai stretch and was scared to go more than that. But the car zoomed so good at that speed and it was just fantastic to drive the vahicle.
Its less costlier than any other car in its range for its features. Best suited for my style of driving and the kind of roads that exist here. And cheaper to maintain and same as others on mileage (exception on mileage: Maruthi Esteem - its the best).
Finally, I have owned this car for almost 8 months now and no complaints at all. I am happy and would suggest people in my kind of lifestyle to go for it. It saves you money on the long run and you also feel satisfied owning a stylish car with all comforts.