Have you driven the Figo yet? If not, go to your nearest Ford dealer now. Meanwhile, check out our guest blogger Rohini’s experiences with the Figo, written from the woman’s point of view.

I was one of the few lucky ones who got to drive the Figo in Goa this January. I drive a small car, and even some of the bigger cars whenever I get the chance, so I was already looking forward to driving the Ford Figo.

But first things first. For most women who claim to know nothing about cars, how a car looks is something we can definitely talk about, right? My immediate reaction to the Figo was: “It doesn’t look small at all!” I loved the Figo’s front and the long comet tail on the side. I found the green colour (called squeeze) the perfect colour for Indian roads—bright and cheery, not too harsh. The sea grey looked very stylish and elegant too.

So there I was, in the driver’s seat of the sea grey petrol Figo, with Sarosh, Vehicle Integration Engineer, to accompany me for the ride. The door closed with a strong thud. “Great build quality, nothing small car about it”, I noted as I shut the door. I’m a bit on the petite side, so I quickly adjusted my seat. Unlike some cars in which shorties have to lean forward to get a better view of the road or the car ahead, I didn’t need to do that in the Figo. I had a great driving view. I started the car, went into first gear without a hitch, and we were off.

As the car picked up speed, the car’s locks clicked (Sarosh told me that happens beyond 7 kmph). The pickup was quick and the gears had a short throw, and I knew it was going to be a good drive. A few minutes into the drive, I felt something was missing. It seemed odd at first, but then it hit me—there was practically no noise in the cabin. The silence felt like being in a safe haven, cut off from the world. I recalled that Anthony Hall had mentioned the Figo’s silent cabin the previous evening.

The steering was smooth and steady, but not heavy for a woman. I could turn it without any major effort. The ride was smooth—smoother than any other small car I’ve driven before. The Figo rolled over speed breakers, bumps and potholes with grace.

Sarosh suggested I drive to a scenic spot up a hill which he knew of. As we drove uphill, I compared it to my daily commute, which requires me to go up and down steep slopes. While I often struggled between the first and second gear going these slopes, I had no problem climbing up this one, despite the road being a tad rough.

As we went back down the hill, Sarosh decided to test the Figo (or was it me?) by asking me to change the gears from third-to-fourth-to-third a couple of times. Not sure what that was for, but I did notice the smooth transmission of gears, a blessing during rush hour.

On our way back, I began to relax and really enjoy the ride despite the heat, what with the powerful air conditioning. Someone from the Ford team had mentioned it would work well even at 49 degrees Celsius!
I began to wish I had my iPod to connect to the music system’s aux input, but a van trying to overtake me on a narrow street immediately got my attention. I had to quickly pull over to the left to let the impatient driver go by. There were no jerks, no screeches.

“That was close,” Sarosh said, visibly relieved.

“Awesome brakes!” I replied with a smile. The Figo really was a cool car to handle!

Back in the parking lot, I decided to challenge myself by reverse parking my Figo between its twins since women are known to be terrible at parking. But the Figo was a parking wonder—the visibility in the rear view and side mirrors was excellent, giving me great judgement of space, and I managed to park the car without too much back-and-forth.

As I handed back the Figo key to Sarosh, I only wish I’d driven the Figo longer. Later, back home, when someone asked me about the Figo, I said, “It really is a substantial package!” And women are going to love it.

Have you driven the Figo yet? Tell us about your drive!

Tags: drive ford figo, driving ford figo, ford dealer, Ford Figo, ford figo colour, ford figo for indian roads, ford figo in goa, ford figo reverse parking, ford team, test the ford figo

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 7:15 pm and is filed under Ford Figo Launch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.