Hi, I own a ford ikon flair. It’s about little more than a year old. I bought it from one of the so called best Ford dealer in Delhi. Car has clocked some 21000 odd KM till date. So far I have nothing great to write about the car. The overall experience is okay but not satisfactory. The problem is not only with the quality of the car , but also with the service network and attitude of the people and dealer.
My experience with the ownership is not good. Firstly I feel cheated with the dealer sales people.
They sold me an old model (year) car for a price of a new year car . I come to know about this deal when I got my registration papers in hand that too after one month of purchasing the car. I have spoken to their DGM sales few time over this , but in vain. He never bother to reply back though he noted all my details etc.
Then the problem with the car product quality. On my first visit to the garage , the supervisors told me that this is one of the expensive car to maintain as service charges etc are on the higher side compare to Hyundai Accent.
And the best is yet to come , the supervisor told me if he was in my place , then he will never buy Ford in first place, and believe me this is such a bad note to begin a ownership of the car. Then I decided to buy extended warranty of the car for additional 2 years, and I am glad I did that.
Anyway after the first month I noticed some strange noises coming under the bonnet upon clod start of the car. Went to garage several time and engineer visited me many times to diagnose some problem with the belt , pulley etc . I have to visit more almost more than 8-9 times over span of 9 months to get rid of the noise. And ultimately I have been told this is because of some problem with the belt pulley alignment and earlier Ford didn?t had any tools to rectify the same and now they supplied it and it will be rectified.
I am so thankful to ford for supplying toll in time before I was actually fed up with the car and service experience.
Moreover I have reported this to Ford India and spoken to their service managers too in Delhi office many time over 9 months and apprise him of my problem. I haven?t got a good response from them either. all they could do for me is to arrange an immediate call from the garage and appointment for pick up of the car for service. And after that no follow up from the FORD INDIA on my complaint.
I got a gut feeling that these people are least bothered about providing a good service to their customer and make a ownership of the car a pleasant experience.
I do understand there might be a problem with the car a manufacturing is not error free in India and that?s what the dealer are there for to provide you service, but if one is facing a major problem with the car then I might say things are really in bad shape.
In the first year of my ownership following things got replaced under warranty (thanks god no cost paid by me ) Clutch assembly, Power steering assembly. Engine belt and pulley ( 4 times ) , wiper assembly and blade. few rubber parts. And other small things I don?t remember now.
Well in general I will conclude the product quality is not up to the mark here .
Thanks fully in this second year of ownership I am not facing any problems so far.
Car is expensive to own I will say .
My first paid service bill at 20000 km was some Rs. 3800 , only for service cost and engine flushing. I will share my experience with you after few month about the ownership of the car further.
Wise I am happy with the road characteristic of the car. as I read in few reviews about the poor mileage etc , unluckily I am pretty satisfied with my car average . I am getting about 10.8 to 11.0 kmpl in Delhi city driving condition with mix usage of AC etc. and some 13 kmpl on a highway say on a trip to chandigarh form Delhi and back.
I think this is a decent mileage for a Ford car or any mid size saloon in India . Even I was looking for a good average then I would have bought Honda or maruti instead so I advice people if you planning to own a Ford don?t bother much about the average , its decent for the brand and size of the car.
product quality is okay not very good to something to write about. again if looking for a good product quality then might go for Honda , Hyundai or try GM may be. Ford worldwide is not known for producing a good quality cars so why cry if you know this.
Driving and handling of the car is pretty impressive, I could drive at 120 kmph and still engine shows the sigh of roaring for more. Max I touched on my car is somewhere around 130-140 kmph on a freeway in NOIDA. I will also say the suspension and handling of the car is pretty good. Car was pretty stable at high speed and to add pick up acceleration is good to zap the car from a stop light
Over all this seems to a decent value for money compare to other cars in mkt of same price range.
Like Accent is slightly expensive, corsa is cramped and small for the size and esteem is good but old design and every one owns that. So Ford IKON offers a good design and peppy car to drive. I will say if one has to enjoy a good driving then go for ford , but be aware of other pros and cons of the package too.
To sum up this I will say so far first year of ownership saw my visit to garage for small problems and I am not happy with the dealer service and FORD India on providing me a comfortable ownership of the car. I am now got this impression that taking your issue with higher ups also wont help you much in easing you pains of ownership and also the comfort of someone there for you to listen to your grievances is not there .
Good car to drive and if the normal running with not much of breakdowns then the car is not expensive to maintain too.
Other wise from the feedback and experience getting your ford serviced might pinch you a little bit if you are earlier owner of maruti or may be Hyundai. but hey you are owning a ford.
Quality is a serious issue with the product and Ford should do something about it .
Need some more improvement in dealer network and customer care attitude for FORD for a comfortable ownership.
Not a car to keep it for a long time. Resale of the car is not great ( except maruti and Hyundai which car got a good resale so no cribbing on this.)
I am not looking for a long term ownership of this ford. I could have upgraded to a Accent or Honda , but the resale value and financial for the car hold me of the decision. I am planning to sell this car in its 3-4th year now and will upgrade to a new one.
I will rate it as 4 out of 10 on the scale for overall ownership experience in my first year.