Well let me tell you buying a car is not an easy exercise as I thought it would be. Instead you need to spend a lot of time in search for a perfect car. I already own Maruti-800 (the trouble free and low maintenance car) and wanted to shift to a 1.1litre engine or 1.3 midsize segment.
Initially I wanted to upgrade from a maruti to a 1.1 litre car as the need was to buy a second car for the family which should not be high on maintenance and running. The target budget was just sufficient to buy a 1.1 litre. After all the evaluation in the 1.1 segment Xing XS seemed a clear winner coz of its new looks and performance. And I was sure that if I don't buy anything in the 1.3 segment I will go in for a Xing.
Later I thought of evaluating the C Class segment cars, are yaar evaluate karne main kaunsa paisa lag raha hai, so I evaluated (in order of preference) Maruti Esteem, Ford Ikon Flair 1.3 Flair, Hyundai Accent, Opel Corsa 1.4, Tata Indigo, Fiat Siena. Moreso in case 1.3 main best deal milgayi then I could jump into the midsize segment by adding just a little more to my existing budget.
I met the dealers,test drove all the cars, took every bit of information available on internet.. consulted my friends who own similar cars and spent almost 3-4 weeks in this process.
My personal review about other cars in this segment...
Maruti Esteem 1.3 Vxi : Yes I have been using a maruti for almost 12 years now and am quite satisfied with it coz for any maruti car I believe BHIGOYA DHOYA HOGAYA-I hope I'm able to convey the message. Because of this reason I chose to upgrade to a C class maruti car. It costs a much high than ford flair but the price was almost comparable to that of the ikon as certain promotional schemes at the year end were announced by Maruti. I testdrove it and its got power but purely because of the reason that the body to weight ratio is quite high. The reason not to buy esteem was that we all have grown over years seeing the same old esteem, it desperately needs a FACELIFT;( and is a car that compromises on SAfety.
Ford Flair: 2nd choice in preference, but now that I own one I will give you all the details down below.
Accent GVS : A good car.... costs 90 k more than flair. Comfortable car.. really comfortable ride, a real mushy gear shift, but lacks the josh, legroom is surely less than ikon both in front as well as rear. It has got sedate corporate exterior looks as compared to that of Ikon.
Accent CRDi: Not one of my choice coz of budget constraints but since I test drove the Accent CRDi I thought I will share my experience. Boss believe u me its a beauty, push the accelerator and it just sails in the air at 102bhp power. If you have about 7.3lac of rupees and want a diesel beauty buy this one surely !!! If you are not told that its a diesel car you will never get to know as it performs equivalent to that of a petrol.
Tata Indigo : Very well designed, very spacious inside but Sorry diesel not my cup of tea.....I read that Tata Indigo has a 83bhp and that was the only reason that I test drove it. Believe me its just like indica...you have to literally stand on the accelerator to make it run. I am a sales person by profession and travel almost 200kms daily, yes saving money on fuel could have been a good reason to buy the Indigo but for me driving pleasure is something that holds prime importance :) even if it comes at an extra cost....so indigo also ruled out. And doston indica/indigo ke engine ka sound...that ghad ghad simply puts me off. (My personal opinion, so No hard feelings plz all the indica/indigo owners)
Fiat Siena : Though Palio is one of my favorite cars coz of it looks but not one owner could say that its a car worth buying. everyone had service and spare problems, so fiat earned a bad name there. Hence did not consider the Siena as well as its under the same umbrella. Moreover it doesn't give you that kick of a mid size segment especially the tail lights put me off.
Opel Corsa 1.4 : a decent car.Costs same as flair as far as I know from the newspaper ads. Frankly speaking I didnot consider this car at all, the reason being it is totally cramped inside-if I have to illustrate with an example the space inside is somewhat similar to that of a Zen. Moreso the exterior appeal is not so high. Why should I settle for a car as small as zen inside when I can get cars having much more space in the same price. The feedback about the car isn't so good, people known to me who own it say it is high on maintenance and the volume of the engine is a little high inside. So a totally NO-NO for me.
Flair Ikon 1.3 Nxt (Proud to be an owner)
Looks : Killer sporty Looks, Cat eyed headlamps.
Power Steering and Handling: The moment the engine is on you can actually Just play with a finger on the steering. Excellent steering and handling. Pretty ok view of road . NIce cornering excellent balance, it is actually so comfortable that my brother when he drives says that he would like to drive on a zig-zag road so that he can take more and more turns with fun
Drive: Very Good Acceleration gives the zippy feel to the car. BUt this is really a drivers car and the way the car responds to drivers inputs is exceptional. Just push the throttle a little and it zooms away and it seems that its a car 'Jo always maange MORE....'
Interiors : Cool soothing interiors, will bring a smile to your face. Though the dashboards are sloping and feel useless as u cant keep anything on them. the tray at the rear also is slanting and does not allow you to keep any stuff-I have been trying hard to find a place for a tissue box to be placed in my flair, but that should not be a reason for you not to buy it.
Legroom : Bahut jagaah hai in both front and rear.
Seats : Pretty comfortable. Rear seat riding is also comfortable with good suspensions.
Gearshift : ok.
Brakes : Effective Braking Power but Ascent or for that matter any Hyundai car equipped with ABS-Anti Braking System is superior braking power-a step on the paddle and the car actually stops there and then.
Against-No place to keep tissue box, mounted boot hinders the view from rear windscreen but slowly you will get the hang of it. I am told it is a bit high on maintenance, can't really comment on it-now that I have bought it we will see when time comes.
Fuel Efficiency : Gives 12-13+ in city conditions (without A/C)
In city (with A/C on) should be ideally a km or two less than the above.
I cant comment as I have not driven my car with an AC.
Desperately Waiting to check it on a highway, plan to hit NH-8 sometime soon
Few things important to note : ONly for Ford Ikon Flair 1.3
Has no left side door mirror, fog lamps
Has no rear boot release button
It comes with two company installed front speakers(door) . no rear ones though the wiring is there.
Original Fog LAmps cost me around 6,500 bucks
Original rEar Boot Release Kit comes for Rs 5000 app. I may go for it.
Advice for Music System : Go for Pioneer(cd + mp3 player + fm/am player)
Cost around Rs 7000 in grey market. Superb Bass and Clarity.
INstall Pioneer 200/250/300 watt 3 way rear speakers (cost range between 2500-3500 in grey market).
For more enthusiasts: Go for additional Amplifier and Subwoofer.
To doston ye thi dastan-e-Gaadi......Ahh I have written my heart out ....No doubt I am all ga-ga for my car but don't you think ford should actually recruit me in their marketing deptt as anyways I am giving a push to their sales with this review.
