This post is Part 6 of our ongoing Ford Car Lovers Series.  After Anish Iyer (Part 1), Manishi Dutt (Part 2), the Quadros family (Part 3), Rohan Charles (Part 4) and Mr Kumar (Part 5), Dixit Shah from Mumbai shares his Ford experience.

Dixit Shah bought his diesel Ford Fiesta four years ago in Mumbai. “It’s a beautiful car,” he says. “To start with, the torque and pickup is excellent and the car is fuel-efficient too. I am a frequent traveller between Mumbai and Pune and I easily get a mileage of 20-22 km/L of the diesel, which is excellent.  I have completed 60,000 km so far, and no issues whatsoever.”

It’s not just the car that has delighted Dixit, but his service experience as well. Dixit reminiscences, “I earlier thought that a Ford vehicle will be good but the servicing or parts will be expensive, but I was wrong. Maintenance costs are reasonable, and if the service guys change some part, they give you back the old part. I recently got the car’s clutch replaced, and the old one is still in my trunk. The Ford dealers are genuine.”

Dixit attributes the sparkling condition of his Fiesta to the great service he has received over the years. “I feel that service folks at Ford really care about the car and its performance, whether it is pickup, mileage, a knocking sound or anything else,” Dixit

This post is Part 5 of our ongoing Ford Car Lovers Series. After Anish Iyer, Manishi Dutt, the Quadros family, and Rohan Charles have shared their experiences with Ford, Mr. Kumar from Chennai too has some anecdotes to add.

Kumar’s first encounter with Ford was about five years ago, when he had rented a Ford car in the UK. He was so pleased with the driving experience, that he promised himself to buy and own a Ford car back in India. He has been owning a Ford Ikon since then and refuses to think of any other brand. “I didn’t even have a second thought about going for another car,” he passionately says.

Mr. Kumar’s trust in the Ford brand started building up with his service experiences through his years of owning the Ikon. The service engineer who attended him the first time he visited that Ford service station, still keeps his Ikon Ship-shape. “The first time I got my car serviced, the engineer even gave me his number. During the service, I was kept updated on what’s happening on the car, and what is expected. I felt I was safe. Since then, the same engineer he has been attending my car. For the past four-and-a-half years…”

Mr. Kumar feels that if a car owner loves his car and is responsible enough to maintain his car periodically, costs remain in check. “I spend only Rs.4000-5000 a year for my car’s service.” he says.

Mr. Kumar is emphatic about the easy availability and accessibility of

Rohan Charles has been driving the Ford Fiesta 1.4 TDCi over the last 4 and half years and is proud to own it. He has used his Fiesta for the smallest of errands in his hometown besides travelling long distances into other states.

Swearing by the handling and driveability of the Fiesta he says, “I was going to Pune once and was on the Bombay-Pune Express Highway when I had gone off to sleep. When I got up, I realised my wife was actually zipping at around 150-160kmph. I did not feel anything at all. The vehicle is very sturdy and the road grip is excellent. It’s a powerful vehicle and you know the great part is that it gives you a manly feeling”, he says.

Rohan feels that the Fiesta complements his macho demeanour as the car is sturdy and at the same time very agile and great to handle on-road. He adds, “This car gives you that power and that macho feeling. That’s very personal. It’s more like a guy car.”

Well, initially Rohan didn’t quite realise that the Fiesta would be a good purchase decision and so consulted many people he knew. Most warned him that a diesel car will be satisfying on fuel efficiency but might prove to be expensive to maintain. Rohan still bought the Fiesta and today when he looks back, he smiles, patting himself on the back to having made this wise decision of buying the Fiesta 1.4 TDCi. The car delivers an average of 17 kmpl in the city and 23/24 kmpl on the highway, which gives him peace of mind. So in a nutshell, he’s enjoying the fuel efficiency of a diesel car and the performance of a petrol in his Ford Fiesta 1.4 TDCi.

Rohan likes making friends and did so with one of the Ford service technicians. The technician now services Rohan by providing him with a temporary car until his car is readied at the service centre. Rohan was not only impressed with this treatment but also when he discovered that Ford has a uniform service approach at other dealerships and service

This post is Part 3 of our ongoing Ford Car Lovers Series. After Anish Iyer (Part 1) and Manishi Dutt’s stories (Part 2), let’s hear it from Pune’s Veronica and Gilbert Quadros.

Veronica and her son Gilbert Quadros have had a Ford Fiesta for many years, and she sums up her experience in a single sentence, “I am in love with the car.”

The Quadros family’s journey with the car started when Veronica and her son Gilbert were trying to decide the right car to own from the multiple choices available. They visited Planet Ford in Pune in addition to other brand dealerships. Describing their experience at the Ford dealership Gilbert mentioned, “We got a good welcome there and the staff was very cooperative. We did not know anything technical about cars, but they explained the car’s features to us, and took us to the workshop. I was quite convinced that if something would go wrong with the car, the service would be excellent.” The car, too, drove beautifully. The choice was final – the Ford Fiesta. Veronica and Gilbert booked the car right away.

The post-purchase experience has been delightful and equally rewarding for the Quadros family. Gilbert is thrilled with the dynamics of his Fiesta and thinks the car’s handling is “awesome”. He says, “I have driven many other cars, but the Fiesta is seriously awesome. I really like the clutch, and the power of the car is just amazing.” Veronica adds, “It’s a pleasure to be driven in the car, I feel comfortable and relaxed as it’s quite spacious.”

As a normal practice, when we sought their feedback on the Ford experience, Gilbert reminisced. “I once went to Mumbai during the Ganpati festival. There is heavy traffic at that time, and driving in that

DRIVOBLOG has come out with a Ford Figo Initial Ownership Review report and man, we must say it was a good read. Tirthankar Basu of DRIVOBLOG, an erstwhile SUV owner who bought the Figo in May and has driven the car for around 3200 kms so far, writes he gets around 10-15kmpl in city driving and 20-30kmpl on the highways.

‘Every Vehicle Brand has its own merits but what matters us how much engineering and detailing effort that has gone to it. And FORD struck the right chords at the opportune phase when what most hatchbacks aggressively pitch on Fit & Finish, Fuel Efficiency and Resale but compromising on engineering, performance and perfection. FIGO is the best hatchback available in India as of 2010,’ he adds.

These are some more excerpts from the report:

On engine, performance, & handling: At 150 kmph the NVH is still bearable and the car does not feel ‘running out of breath’. Even with 5 people the vehicle propels up a Fly-Over/uphill in-hesitantly, something which I have not found most of the vehicles I have driven before.

On comfort & ergonomics: As regards the front seats, I am 5’11” and seat myself 6 hours every-day on an average on a sustained basis devoid of any discomfort. The front seats are actually engineered to grip the body during C-Curve maneuvers and prevent one from swaying by perfectly contacting the shoulder-plate(s).

On service: I believe an ‘informed owner’ need not face issues with Ford Service if he communicates accurately with the Authorized Service Centre. Recently my vehicle’s Radiator Fan failed prematurely and it was promptly replaced on priority basis under warranty. No questions asked and minimal paperwork.

Without taking away much from the report here, we would like to urge our readers to head to

Soon after we began our Ford Car Lovers Series (Part 1 and Part 2), we also noticed a comment on our Ford Figo fan page on Facebook from Emmanuel Pradeep, a Ford employee and a proud Ford car owner, recalling his experience with Ford’s Roadside Assistance. We thought this would be great complementary reading on this blog, as we talk about customer experiences with Ford.

Has someone ever let the air out of your tyres or slashed them? This was the situation Emmanuel found himself in late one night after a visit to his relatives—four flat tyres and nowhere to turn for help.

“It was past midnight, and I was alone on the deserted road. I didn’t know what to do,” Emmanuel recalls.

After a few minutes of panic, he called Ford’s Roadside Assistance for help. “The operator was very helpful and first tried to calm me. He enquired about the problem, pulled out my car’s details, and put me in a conference call with the recovery technician to pinpoint my location,” says Emmanuel. The operator informed him that the recovery vehicle was on its way.

The recovery vehicle arrived in half an hour with three technicians. They reassured Emmanuel, and gave him a bottle of water and wet tissue. After inspecting the tyres, they inflated a couple with a manual leg pump. But the second tyre leaked, so

We hope you enjoyed our earlier post in which Ford owner Anish Iyer spoke about his Ford Fiesta. This is the second part of our Ford Car Lovers Speak series.

Meet Manishi Dutt from Mumbai, who fell in love with Ford more than two decades ago, when he rented a Ford Escort in Germany. Back in India, he got rid of his old car for a Ford Ikon, and has bought three Ikons ever since – he upgraded to the next Ikon everytime Ford introduced an upgraded version. Today, Manishi owns a Fiesta.

To begin with, we asked him, “Why Ford?” and Manishi passionately admitted to having become attracted to the unusual styling of the Ikon, a liking that stuck with him through the years.

“Unlike other cars in those days where one always had to struggle with power, I never felt the lack of power in the Ikon,” he continued, “There was enough reserve power to pull up under any circumstances. Besides the power, the driver’s confidence was of paramount importance. What matters is also not just the braking and handling, but the complete package.” Manishi had tremendous confidence in Ikon and continues to feel the same about his Fiesta.

He shared with us an experience he had with his Fiesta. “In the last two years, I have done several trips on the Expressway enroute to Pune from Mumbai, in all sorts of weather. Even in the monsoon, when I touched 160 kmph, the car was rock-stable. The most memorable incident happened during the monsoon once. We got diverted into very steady terrain and then there was no road to speak of. We came onto a particular off-road stretch, where there were boulders, rocks, and mud, and it was raining. At one point the car was tilted at around a 45-degree angle and my wife and daughter were quite scared that the car would topple over. But I had no such fears. I got out of the car to inspect the terrain, and at some