Ikon - to buy or not to buy ?. Review on Ford Ikon

Ford cars have always lured me. I had driven various Ford cars to my satisfaction when I was in the U.S. for 6 months. Back in India, when I wanted to upgrade from my good old M800 to a 3 box sedan, Ford Ikon was also on the radar.

I did a comparison and found that Esteem was no where near the Ikon and the Accent was pretty similar to the Ikon or better, but did not have lower end variants. Remember this was in april 2001and I ended up buying the 1.3 L CLXI Ikon. I added the power steering and cassette player and ended up paying a landed price of 5.5 L Rs.

Pros ?

1. Stability :

The Ikon is more stable on the road when compared to Esteem or Accent. I have driven a few Accents’ also and was more comfortable with my Ikon. Ikon is surely superior.

1. Engine performance :

The 1.3 L engine turned out to be good. Once you got used to the fact that you will have to be on the correct gear to get going (like being on 4th gear while overtaking on highways), you are on par with the rest of the pack. I have driven this vehicle frequently at speeds up to 130 Kms on some good road stretches. Myself and my wife have also driven consistently at 100 Kms or more on highways.

The best part of this vehicle is that you will never feel the speed and there is no strain on you or on the vehicle that is obvious, even at 120 – 130 Km/hr. This is significant considering the fact that the max speed of this engine was only around 145 Km/hr.

3. Durability and Finish:

The vehicle is very rugged. Their build and paint quality is really good. I have used it in various terrains without any issue for 3 ½ years. The painting of Ikon is much superior. It may not necessarily have the same gloss as a new Accent, but surely lasts longer than competition without any degradation over time. A friend of mine had purchased an Accent at about the same time as me. His vehicle started showing signs of rust at around the 30 month mark, while mine is still going strong.

4. Ride and Handling :

The vehicle is very good to drive. The max that we had done in one stretch is around 550 kms in a one day. We had done this quite a few times and during each such trip, we will end up without any tiredness or aches. The vehicle handles below average roads in a very good manner too.

1. Boot space :

Though Ikon has a big boot, the Accent boot looks much better and is much more user friendly (you do not see the big projection from the rear shock absorbers).

This is the worst part of the Ikon. It is dull and is not at all user friendly. You do not even have space to keep a box of tissue papers. Both the front IP / dash board and the rear tray are unusable for all practical purposes. They have tried to improve the aesthetics in the past one year, but they are still not in the same league as the Accent.

3. Fuel Efficiency :

I never got above 8.5 kms / litre when driving in city. But I did get between 12.5 and 13 kms / litreconsistently during our highwaydrives. The best mileage that we registered was on the Chennai – Bangalore highway, when we got 15 kms / litre.

1. Standard Accessories :

Ford seemed to be poor in providing the right standard fitments and accessories. They have improved in the recent years, but when I purchased my vehicle we were surprised to find that we did not even get the left rear view mirror as part of the standard fitment.

1. The Big Issue :

The one major issue (and this will surely tilt scales) with the Ikon is the maintenance cost. It approximately costs double of what it takes to maintain an Accent. Reason as far as I see is very is simple – looks like Ford does not believe in repairing parts. They just believe in replacingparts. This concept works well in countries where labor cost for repair is high, but we are in India and it has a direct opposite effect on the overall cost.

For example :

We once hit a manhole cover by mistake and realized that one of the gaskets in the power steering pipe line was leaking. We went to the dealer who told us to change the whole connection between the two front wheels and the steering column. It cost us 13500 Rs and an unwanted member in our attic. The same problem when occurring in an Accent could potentially be fixed under 1000 Rs by just replacing the damaged gasket alone (which sounds logical – does it not?). Ford also does not believe in repairing doors / sheet metal either. If they get damaged, they recommend you to just swap it with a new one, which is bad news for us.

Why did I purchase ?

When I purchased the Ikon, the negative points with respect to maintenance and fuel efficiency were not all that evident. At the same time, the positive points were very evident to me as a person who has driven Ford vehicles in the past. So at that time buying an Ikon was perceived as a good decision by me. But as months progressed, I began to realize the negative effects of fuel efficiency (in city) and maintenance. Then I started wondering whether it is still a good buy or not.

Improvements in Ikon over years?

The good news for prospective buyers is that Ford India has addressed the many of the critical issues (since I purchased my car). The significant improvements are :

1. The interiors have been improved significantly and it now looks more like the car you paid Rs 5 L +.

   
   




2. They have also improved some things on the exterior. They have added clear lens on the lights and have changed the color of lenses at the back for good. The new bumper is looking really good. But this only brings them on par with the competition.

   
   




3. The new 1.3 L engine that is manufactured in India is also giving a better fuel efficiency than the old one (some people do complain that it has more noise than the old engine and is not as responsive).

   
   




4. The most important of all improvements –they have significantly improved the standard accessories fitment. You can now get an Ikon for the same price as myself or at a lesser price and will still end up getting power steering, power windows, cassette player and remote entry.

   
   

Current hurdle :

The major concern - maintenance cost still continues to be a very big hurdle and has not been addressedyet. I also do not see any solution in the near future.

My personal recommendation :

I would recommend you to buy an Ikon if your car would be maintained by your company. (After all these years I still love the car, though it is time for me to get a new vehicle now.)

I would request you to think twice before making the final decision if you are thinking of buying a car, for which you would have to spend money from your pocket for maintenance.

Wish you a happy driving.

Let me know your comments.