Great Car, Lousy Service. Review on Ford Fiesta TDCI

I have owned the Ford Fiesta 1.4TDCI for almost 8 months now, I waited for long before writing this review as I was looking at all aspects before voicing my opinion. I am several times bitten by Ford Service and I would have probably given a very negative overall rating had it not been for the great machine that this baby is. OK coming to specifics.

The drive: Ford has found the right combination of city driving and highway driving for India in the Fiesta TDCI. While the engine seems a shade under powered at 68BHP its certainly fast off the kerb and there is no feeling of under powered till you hit 40Kph on 4th Gear. At that point minor slowness of response is visible but at around 50Kph the turbocharger kicks in and you are cruising hot rod till you hit the next threshold in the 90-100Kph bracket where overtaking often requires a shift down to 4th if you want to go past vehicles going at 100Kph. Beyond 100 the Turbo diesel preety much goes at a leisurly pace and on good roads you can go past 150 in 10-15 seconds after hitting 100. the one place where you would feel the engine underpowered is while climbing hills where you often need to shift down to 2nd or even 1st on sloping roads.

What's best about the car is that even at these high speeds the suspension holds firm and no rocking or any other hint of instability is apparent, which is not the case with other cars I had test driven before deciding for the Fiesta. At high speeds the steering is effortless and you don't feel the tension that you would normally feel in other comparable cars when they're pushed to this extent. Fiesta power steering and brakes have excelled in difficult situations, I have gone through sudden braking and sharp steering to avoid collisions and the car has complied without problems.

Moving into the city the driving mode changes but the Fiesta's behaviour on the road doesn't. Its still fast off the kerb and very steady at 40-60Kph range. the long gearing ensures that you can do without shifting gears too often in the city(just keep going on 3rd till you cross 40), though I keep shifting between 3rd and 4th in the city due to force of habit. And yet inspite of the difficult traffic condition and slow driving the city mileage has rarely gone below 18.5 with full A/c. During winters the car has delivered well over 19 in cities and 21+ on the highways.

Comfort: The front seats are very comfortable and there is very little driving fatigue especially when compared to other similar cars. rear seat comfort is good and there is very little drive fatigue on long drives. But here I must concede the top position to Honda City & SX4 both of which better Ford by a margin, perhaps the Petrol engine makes the difference. The rear leg space in Fiesta could have done with an extra inch or so but the seating space is really good and three people can sit without any problems.

Air Conditioning: The air-conditioner is very powerful and the draft is good. cooling a sun warmed car usually takes a couple of minutes on full blast and that irritates as the A/c draft is noisy at full fan power(4). Once the car has cooled you can switch to 1 or 2 which is very quiet yet good enough to cool the entire car even at 40 degrees delhi summer.

Interiors: Ford has limited options for interiors in the diesel variant however the interiors don't disappoint you in any way. the presence of aluminium does give an odd hybrid look(sporty mixed with executive) but thats excusable. What is not excusable is the audio system thats where Ford must have the company provided audio system as mandatory and do away with the Sony options. The Sony Xplod that I got fitted in my car stands apart from the dashboard finishing and looks almost out of place. the only thing that keeps it there is the sound quality.

Boot Space:Ample space for a full family of five on a vacation. We have really packed it in and have not been disappointed.

Enough about the good stuff, now coming over to the not so good parts. And I will have a lot here.

Post-sales Service: In one word Disappointing. I have dealt with four dealership/service locations across two different companies and my experience has been largely the same. They take their own sweet time to do anything and every thing. I have had multiple arguments with the service staff over things as minor as noise and not properly cleaning up the car to major things like warranty issues on important components their lack of knowledge of Ford policy and unwillingness to go an extra inch for the customer is simply disappointing(see my review of SouthCity Ford https://mouthshut.com/review/Ford_South_City_Ford_-_Delhi-146966-1.html)  I must say that Ford needs to take lessons on after sales service from Maruti and Hyundai, the two clear leaders in the game.

Another aspect of post sales which I have disliked about Ford is the fact that on average spare parts are costlier and there are very few options in terms of the accessories that can be fitted. Moreover Ford Service stations do not take responsibility for accessories(which are typically fitted by reseller of the accessory) so if the car is somehow damaged during accessory fitment the customer loses. On the other hand if you get anything fitted from a non dealer location and the car warranty is null and void. This policy on accessories makes Ford a complete loser on the after-sales service column.