I have been an owner of FORD Ikon 1.6 Zxi(2001) since the last 6 years and I thought I would share my experiences for the benefit of those who are planning to invest their money in this brand.
FORD is a global name and anyone buying their cars have this notion in the back of their minds that FORD is synonomous with quality and service. When I bought the car I was really impressed . Comfortable interiors, powerful engine, good acceleration, reasonably good fuel consumption on city roads and effective AC cooling. Everyone who owns a car knows that every car requires maintenance no matter how good the initial quality is. This is when I realized the true colours of FORD.
FORD has the worst service centre network in New Delhi. In the last 6 years I have been to all their service centres: MGF Ford, Indus Ford, South City Ford(NOIDA) and Harpreet Ford in New Delhi. MGF and Indus closed down long time back. So now one is left with just South City Ford and Harpreet Ford.Some issues that I have dealt with in the last few years are summarised here:
1.You always have to take an appointment before you can go to the service centre otherwise they will send you back saying they are already overbooked. So even if one has an emergency.he has to wait for the next day!
The service advisors are inexpeirenced. They will always advise change of some mechanical part or the other. In the last 6 years almost every mechanical part except the engine(Touchwod!) has been changed in my car yet the car gives me problems.!
The parts are very expensive and even if they fail within a few months of installation, you would have to get a new one. I got a new original AC compressor installed in my car for 30, 000 rupees and its not even been a year and it has conked off. Now they want me to pay for a new one.
I got my car serviced at South city ford with change of engine oil as per their protocol and within a month the oil leaks and other parts go haywire. Again handed a hefty bill.
5.It is a rarity if your car is delivered at the proposed time.
6.South City Ford(NOIDA) also happens to be a training centre for FORD. So it is usualy the trainees that attend to you without any supervision. Once the car was delivered to me without even checking and it broke down just as I pulled out of the centre .!
7.Service centre people are more concerned about convincing you to go for teflon coating, dry cleaning or perhaps a new stereo rather than providing the basic minimum quality of service.
Dont ever take help of FORD emergency. They had my car towed to a service centre that was in the opposite corner of the city. about 40 kms from my place rather than to a centre that was nearer ot my place. and dont expect them to drop you off or pick up.
The customer service is extremely non-existent. E-mails were never replied to. Repeated letters to them have had no effect. They instead make the service centre call you up and harass you.
One thing that strikes here is why hold on to a car that gives you so much of problems. and that brings to the other point: The car has a very poor resale value. This is probably because everyone now knows the reputation of FORD and hence no one wants to risk buying a used car.
Maybe its just my stars that are against me.:-)
FORD may be a good brand but poor service network and bad customer support makes it a strict "No No" . Dont be fooled by the marketing strategies and media advertisements.
I have owned a WagonR for the same duration and my experience with Maruti has been just the opposite. In my opinion Maruti is the company that has the widest service network and cheap parts and is a good option for people thinking of buying a new car.
All this proves that FORD is just another multi-national company that wants to take advantage of the growing Indian economy by launching their poorly designed cars and then leaves the customers in the lurch when it comes to after sales service. The customer care centre is a joke. My expectations of ‘value for money’ and professionalism from Ford were very unrealistic. It appears that Ford and it’s affiliates are more concerned with the customer’s money rather than the customer.
Some people here on mouthshut have posted their reviews for FORD - some good and some bad, and it is upto you to decide whether you want to take the risk.
Edit: the annual maintenance cost keeps increasing every year. the parts are very poor quality and Ford gives only 6 months warranty on them. Never go for any Ford car. No wonder the company is in tatters.