I know different people have differing opinions about the Ikon Flair, but my experience with this car is really good. There are a few minor issues, but overall I’m very satisfied with both the car and the car dealers (Metro Ford, Bangalore). Let me give an insight on how I bought this car:
I decided to buy my first car in mid-2004, and started off calling dealers for test drives. Initially I was not sure as I could afford a Ford, and was toying with smaller cars. I first test-drove the Wagon-R, and found it quite decent and good value-for-money. Then I also tried Mahindra Bolero, because I quite liked it’s looks. I also tried the Opel Corsa Sail, which was recently being advertised for 3.99 lakhs, but the salesman told me that it was a marketing gimmick by ICICI bank, and the actual price you pay would be a little more than 4.6 lakhs. I also found that this car was under-powered, as I had a hard time overtaking other cars.
Then I thought of test driving the Ikon Flair – just to see what it’s like. I was quite sure that I would not be able to afford it, so I called for a test drive just for the heck of it. It turned out that this car handled the best… even better than the Wagon-R. It accelerated fast, overtook other cars with ease, and handled real smooth, like butter I was hooked onto this car, but was unsure if it was worth the money. Also, everyone was saying that Ford cars are expensive to maintain.
I then tried the Santro, but for some reason I was not impressed by this car. It was OK, but nothing great really. So I thought I would fall back to the Wagon-R. I called Maruti again for a test drive of Wagon-R, and this time I took a friend along. It was then that I realized that this car has very little space sideways. Both me and my friend are well-built, and are shoulders were constantly rubbing when I changed gears. So finally I decided that the Santro would be the one to go for. I really wanted the Ikon, but then I thought that it was too expensive. Then the Ford salesman called me and requested me that I meet up with his loan executive so that they could work out an EMI suitable for me. Since they knew that I was close to booking a Santro, they gave me a pretty good deal, with a cash discount, and worked out the EMI to around 10,000. I compared this to the EMI for Santro, which was about 9,400. I realized that the difference was not much, and the Ford salesman was also throwing in a few free accessories (cassette player, remote entry and auto-cop). So on 2nd November, 2004, I booked the Flair and got the car 2 days later.
Now coming to my experience with it, it’s been over a year, but I still enjoy driving this car. It is really a wonderful experience – whenever I want I can sail smoothly, or overtake aggressively. I can take corners at high speed – if you have driven in Bangalore, on the turn of the Inner Ring Road halfway between the Indiaranagar and Koramangala end, most cars slow down to 60, but I can take the turn at 80!
I have taken the car on the highway about 4 times, mainly on the Bangalore-Ooty road. It did have some problems on the Ooty ghat roads, and would not accelerate on the steep inclines, but then I guess almost every car meets it’s match on this road (the one with 36 hairpin bends). What I must mention though, in this car, even a 5 to 7 hour trip does not feel uncomfortable! As a driver, you would be mildly fatigued, and as a passenger, you would probably arrive quite fresh! This is considering, of course, that the Bangalore-Mysore-Ooty road is one of the better maintained highways around Bangalore.
Mileage is not that great, with a max of 12 without the AC, and about 10 ~ 11 with the AC on. On the highway, I get about 14.3 (AC on). Speaking of the AC, it is really really effective. I have compared it to my friend’s cars (Indica and Zen) and it is much more effective than these cars. Even if parked in the hot sun, it would take just about a minute to cool it down to comfortable levels.
About the dealers - Metro Ford. So far, I have faced no problems with them. Their staff are very courteous, and offer a pick-up and drop-off facility for servicing. Even if you’d rather pick-up the car yourself, they have a comfortable lounge to wait in while the car is being prepared. At times, they have made repairs to my car completely free of cost. Yes, not even pick-up or drop-off charges or anything, absolutely zero bill!! This was when I faced a problem with the power windows.
Now I would also mention the problems that I have faced so far, to give a fair picture, although there are only two:-
1) This is with the AC thermostat – I found that if I place the thermostat in the coldest position, it works just fine, and cools like a charm, but if I move it to the semi-cold position, (maybe 2 or 3 notches lesser than max), hot air starts coming through the vents after sometime. The service guys tried to fix it, but then advised me to change the part, since the car was under warranty. I got the part changed, and it worked fine for a few months, and now the problem is again back. I am not sure what to do about it, but it is a small problem, and does not happen all the time, so I think I can live with it, unless it gets worse.
2) Power Windows – the front passenger side switch of the power window stopped working. Metro Ford fixed this completely free of cost (as I have mentioned above), and now it’s working fine.
In conclusion, I would most certainly recommend this car to anyone who is looking out for good driving pleasure and is not obsessed with mileage figures. I would also recommend Metro Ford, as they have always given me good service so far. Also, it is not that much more expensive to maintain than a Santro – I have asked a colleague who owns a Santro, and his servicing bills are quite close to mine (generally 2,500 to 3,000 for a paid servicing). So I feel I made the right decision by buying this car. However, if it is purely mileage you want, and driving comfort, handling, passenger comfort, performance etc. is secondary, then the Ikon Flair is not the car to go for.
