Hi folks,
I had been driving a Daewoo Matiz for the past 5 years and covered more than 40K kilometers. I can say it’s a wonderful vehicle in all aspects. It served me very well in all fronts - Mileage, Comfort and Handling . Power wise it was just perfect for a car of
that size and maintenace cost came around INR40K which is good enough. But lately she developed problems with the exhaust console. Due to accumulation of moisture from the exhaust the middle portion of the exhaust rusted and started forming holes. On enquiry I understood that it requires around INR7500 for replacing the entire exhaust console. This apart I should say she served me well and right through my occasional journies to hill stations 60km away with 5 of us packed in.
12-01-06
Now let me get to the point. Now I drive a Ford Ikon Flair. She has been with me for
only the last three weeks and I am a bit apprehensive if I should write the review now or wait for 1 more year. But I can say my initial experience with Ford Ikon Flair has
been good.It was a real smooth shifting from B class to C class and I enjoy drivng Flair just as much as Matiz if not more. Getting in and out of Matiz was like walking out of a door but Flair scores down on getting out especially for a person who is as tall as me - 6 feet. Once seated it’s no problem handling the controls. Stearing, gears and pedals are well placed even for a 6 feeter like me.
Handling and road grip is superb even when you are cruising at around 120kph.
Turning radius is small enough to handle her in the chaotic roads like ours.
Now the best thing I like about it - suspension - devours small and medium sized pothole almost in one gulp and doesn’t whine and grumble.
Lookwise she is not that glamorous but doesnt look boring though she has been here for some time now. New headlamps, taillamps, indicators, front grill and sidebumpers make it look pretty enough.
Power wise she is hmmmm maybe just ok... A smooth 1st gear to 2nd gear change - I am still strugling at. She needs to be around 20kph to change the gear smoothly from 1st to 2nd. The rest of the gears are perfectly timed and I do enjoy riding through 3rd gear. One problem is that I have to wait for the engine to go well above 1500rpm to get a smooth shifting of gear(low-high)... Caution - Overtaking with AC on and 5 passengers is not a good option. May be she is a bit too heavy for a 1300 CC 70 BHP powerhouse(??). You need to practise it, doesn’t matter for me since I had been practising the same for the last 5 years. (;-)Here’s the procedure for overtaking -
Turn off the AC - Downshift through gears - Overtake - Turn on the AC .
A/C is quite good and gets the temperature down to comfort level within 5 minutes even when the car was parked in scorching sunlight at around 35 degree celsius. There is a dedicated vent for rear passengers and it helps when everyone in the family decides to move along.
Power steering is smooth although it makes a humming sound when turned to the extremes during parking in tight corners.
Interiors and controls are OK.. no complaints at this price.
Legroom is good enough for both seats and shoulder room for rear seat is real good. Trunk is spacious enough and you can fold the rear seat to accomodate more luggage incase you are shifting places. Need to open the trunk? - get out of the car - don’t waste your time looking around the driver seat.
Ground clearance is fair enough to clear the atrocious ideas of hump makers in this country.
Mileage is around 10-12kmpl in city and 15-17 kmpl on the highway with a/c on 50% of time and I am satisfied on that front. And guys I just scored a 17.5kmpl when driving from Kochi to Trivandrum without A/C throughout ..
To sum it up good car at this price and if you are thinking for an upgrade from B segment to C segment don’t look anywhere else.
Update05-02-06
Yes readers, there are a few happenings after I finished the above block.
Firstly I had an unplanned visit to the authorised service center ie 2 months before the first free service which falls on the end of the 3rd month from purchase. One fine morning we thought about going for the weekly shopping to the super market and the battery warning lamp didnt go off even after firing the engine. Within an hour I was at the service station and they said it was some alternator complaint and that it seems to be a common problem with 1.3L Ikon. So there it is.. And it took almost 2 days for me to get the alternator replaced. Reason -- It’s rush hour.. Service Station - Kairali Ford Kochi..
Now that the alternator issue is all said and done I thought about a long winding journey to put the car in to the real test. A journey to Munnar which is an hill station close to Kochi. The journey sppaned 3 days and around 600 Kms. The route - Kochi - Munnar - Top Station - Munnar - Devikulam - Munnar - Marayoor - Kanthalloor - Marayoor - Chinnar - Udumalpettu - Pollachi - Palakkad - Thrissur - Kochi. That means a full circle spanning around 200 Kms of hilly roads and rest on the plains. Let me tell you this - not once did she turn me down or made me think ’ Why did I start out?’. But be careful not to go through sharp potholes at 2 digit speeds.. It’s bound to hit the ground and I had an experience when we were speeding to reach Rajamalai where we had to reach before 4.30PM to get an entry to see Ibix and we started from Munnar only after 3:45PM.. It’s only 12 Kms but the roads are quite tight for the last 3 Kms.
https://in.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/thundersnakein/detail?.dir=9a3d&.dnm=16ddscd.jpg&.src=ph
This is the link for the images.
Now I notice a weird sound when I rotate the steering with the vehicle standing still. Kind of sound which comes out of a door when it was not oiled or opened for decades.. and I can feel the sound in my hands on the wheel. Hmmm.. I’ll have to wait until I get to a service engineer...
PS: My cousin got himself a Maruti Swift 1 week after I got the Flair and I tried my hand at her wheels... She feels good at the wheels and rightmost pedal..
do you really need a trunk and a brand name who is the pioneer???.. Think Twice...