Mar 14, 2011 12:47 AM
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(Updated Mar 14, 2011 12:49 AM)
Introduction
The Ford Figo is a large hatchback and Ford India is on an all time high with the success of the Ford Figo.The new Ford Figo's name is colloquial Italian for "cool. The Sale of 9, 293 vehicles in February 2011 as compared to 3, 223 vehicles in February 2010 . At the rear Figo it resembles "Fusion" a lot with high mounted vertical tail lamps in D-pillar.
Glory
The diesel engine is the same 1.4 Duratorq 68bhp engine that powers the Ikon & Fiesta models. The Dura-torq engine is incredibly responsive at low speeds and hugely economical and suits the urban driving conditions.The Diesel Engine is a proven work horse and highly reliable too.
The petrol engine is the scaled-down version of Sigma petrol engines that power the Fiesta . It generates maximum power of 70 Bhp. Belonging to the same engine family, it shares common architecture like double overhead cams, four valves per cylinder an aluminium block.
A five-speed manual transmission is standard equipment on both engines. The clutch has been designed for low effort due to frequent application for shifting in high traffic. From Zero to 100 kmph. the acceleration is 15.5 seconds for the petrol engine and 15.8 seconds for the diesel variant. The chassis dynamics have been improved a lot by new steering and suspension components design.
Pit falls
Though the vehicle wheel base is generous, the optimum utilization is missing. For example to provide more boot volume, rear side passengers leg space has been sacrificed, The height of the vehicle could have been taller for the taller passenger / At the first glance I too failed to understand why the broader wheel base has not benefited the passengers cabin. With the small research I found the answer as the owners have found in a harder way.
The real culprit is placement of the wheel arches of the car.
The wheel arches are blocking the rear window glass space when it was retarded . The rear wheel arches does not permit the rear windows glass to be lowered fully. YOU CAN CHECK BY TRYING TO LOWER THE REAR WINDOWS ON ANY MODEL. Even the higher end model does not have power windows at the rear because of this reason.This will lead to the car rear windows glass to be always in fully raised and closed state otherwise half retarded rear glasses may be bound to be damaged accidentally . BE WARE. By closing the window all the time in non A/c model is still pathetic.
The Front wheel arch has swallowed the Drivers leg space for operating Accelerator, brake and clutch pedals.The driver's both legs to be crumpled with in that space only 2 have precipitation between the legs during long drive even with A/C on.
The position of Accelerator, brake and clutch pedals in the left hand side of the road drive of this model(like USA) may be comfortable as wheel arch can be used as a dead pedal .In India with Following British colonial influence, drives on the left hand side of the road and driver sitts on the Right hand side, driving the position of Accelerator pedal comes in right side and wheel arch of this car only intruding the space . The accelerator pedal need to be operated all the time compare to brake and clutch pedals.In the nutshell long drive with "healthy built driver "suffers.
I fail to understand how this car can be termed as "designed for India"?
In my opinion the conversion to india is much below the standards.
