Well to start with I am a proud owner of a Ford Ikon Flair (Josh 100) series. I bought it a month back and so far have no regrets in owning this vehicle. Its a fully loaded model with a 4 speaker Blaupunkt music system, which is fairly good. It also has a co-driver side rear view mirror and leather seat covers.
Before this I had my trustworthy Maruti 800 Dx which had been with me for the last 10 years. And now I have really loved the transition from the 800 to the Flair. Although I am not much of a automobile engineer but I do love automobiles and they are a passion with me. So I thought I would just share my views with you regarding my josh 100 :-)
Comfort and Suspension: Well you can hardly complain about the comfort and the ride quality ford provides you as its simply a class where it should be for a mid size car. What I mean is that the front and rear seats are extremely comfortable, especially the rear ones, they can accomodate 3 persons with ease. The cabin inside is very roomy and not cramped like what you would feel inside other cars in the same segment. The air conditioner is simply awesome it really cools the cabin in no time even in peak delhi summers. The best part about the AC is that its got a dedicated vent for the rear seat passengers.
Engine Performance & Economy: The power plant is a 1300 CC ROCAM engine, which is fairly good in terms of acceleration and top speed. What I love about this car is that its extremely drivable in the city traffic as well on the highways. One just needs to work through the gears and keep it in its power band i.e above 1500 rpm. Actually the power and handling of this car is exemplary especially in the hills. It rarely does leave its ground. You can really corner it hard, the fun factor is really high pushing this car to its limits as its got a good ground clearance aswell a stout suspension system to match up with instant directional changes. It is actually a drivers car and responds to each and every input given by the driver. The only downside to the Flair is that it is a bit sluggish with the AC switched on. If they could just increase the BHP or Torque a bit... So my friends when you need that additional power boost, just switch-off the AC and let the josh machine do the rest.. ;-) The fuel economy is fairly ok considering the size and weight of the car. It consistently gives me 13.5 km in the city and about 16km on the highway. This is with the AC switched on 80% times. The boot is also quite spacious with 400 litres capacity and can ferry five people with there luggage with ample ease and comfort.
Well thats all I have for you folks, I hope my review is of any help to you. In the last I would just like to say something, that if you are planning to buy a car below 5.7 lacs, dont look beyond this car as its got everything that you would ever need. Its much better on long term basis considering the overall owner ship experience with respect to the new hatch-backs available in the market in the same price range.
And if you are a hard core power and performance freak then you can think of settling in for a Ford Ikon 1.6 NXT, its got everything that the Flair has, but at the price of fuel efficiency...
Cheers....