Hot Hatches: Figo & Brio

This is a tale of two hot hatches of the season.

The first is the one which took the market by surprise, the response was beyond what the manufacturer expected. Yep, we’re talking about the Ford Figo. I was curious to find out the reason for this success and hence headed to the Ford dealership to check out the 1.2L petrol.

What I found out was that it was not the fastest hatch, nor is it the largest. Yet it is definitely the most balanced car I’ve driven in a while. The power is just fine, the cabin space is quite generous, it has its own lovely features, has a pleasing exterior (don’t even remind me of those hideous toad like creatures called the Ritz & the Swift) and most importantly- it is offered at a good price.

The best part is the ride quality and handling. Yes!! We get the legendary Ford hydraulic steering system which gives excellent feedback. The suspension eats up the potholes easily and the car remains stable even at extreme turns. After getting chummy with the showroom guy and getting his permission to push the car, I did an aggressive U-turn at around 30-40 kmph. Any other car, and our dear Shubham would have featured in tomorrow’s obituary column. But the Ford made it just fine. The motor provides a flattish torque and though it doesn’t break any records on the track, it serves well in the city.

The second hot hatch for the day was the Honda Brio. Here is a product that has immense potential but there are great challenges to face. For starters, Honda did not fully localize its assembly . 20% of its parts are imported. With the earthquake in Japan and recent floods in Thailand, Honda’s landed in deep trouble. They just haven’t been able to assemble enough Brios and the Jazz'.

On the greener side, you’ve finally got a Honda that’s affordable without compromising on quality or performance. The finish is superb and even the base model comes pretty well loaded (Decent interioirs, front power windows n all). The engine is what you expect from Honda: smooth; silent; yet peppy; rev-happy & frugal. It is definitely fun to drive around in the city and it felt at ease when I revved it to the redline in gear two. The economy indicator is a great buddy to help you squeeze out more miles from that drop of petrol.

This is great car for a couple: you know the newly married, carefree types.. Add to that a kid or two or parents/in laws or even visitors- and then you have a problem. For the Brio’s fundamental problem is space. The boot does not open, you have to manage with the glass lid (remember the very first Maruti 800??). Rear leg space is tight and I wonder what you would do if there were four people and two large suitcases. The thought of such occupancy levels in a Brio seems grotesque. So if you are a Brio owner who has a couple of visitors occasionally; like most Indians do, God help you.

There is no winner here for you’d own these cars for different purposes entirely. As I said, the family man would love the spacious, feature heavy & economical Figo. The mod city dweller would like to be seen alone (or with his/her spouse/ gf/ bf) in the trendy Brio. He/She can enjoy the quality, dependable Honda engineering, peppy ride and of course: the fuel economy.. 

If you were to ask me the question: Where do I recommend you to plonk your sacks of money? My answer still is: i-10. For I still crown it as the most sensible car in the segment.

Tale of two Fords

This article comes from my experience with the two Fords that I drove recently.

The first one was KT’s aging Ford Ikon 1.3 Clxi. An 8 year old vehicle, it has still aged pretty gracefully. Not like a Honda or Toyota but still decently. KT doesn’t bother to lock it as he feels no other creature can afford to maintain it or run it. He reckons the body has borne the onslaught of city traffic with a couple of nicks and scrapes; the only thing reliable about this car is mileage. Since day one, it has consistently given 7-8 Km/litre. However, I find a lot of other things built solid as well. I’ll get back to that later but at first let’s have a look at the issues present in the car. The most striking one is the engine dying whenever an attempt to accelerate above 2000rpm is made. Usually, this happens in 2^nd gear. I suspect that in all probability there’s a problem with the fuel lines or the delivery system. High revving proves that the filters are just fine.

Nevertheless, the engine sounds just fine. Another impressive thing to note is the rear suspension. Hyundais, Marutis: as reliable they may be; or Opels: as German as they want to be: cannot match the robustness of a Ford. Just recall all the aging Astras, Esteems, Accents you may have seen with a funny bent rear. A lot I’m sure. Load them a lot and the suspension takes a hit with time. Yet, KT’s Ford stood proudly: upright and attentive.

The second one was the Ford Fiesta 1.6. Relatively new; having served just 2 years, the expectations were high. And the moment I switched on the engine, a racy note greeted me. A marked improvement over its predecessor 1.6L (found on Ikon 1.6 and the old Fusion) instills a lot of excitement. Brilliant: beyond doubt. Torque could have been improvised as the acceleration still could improve to live up to the 101 horses. You have to think for a moment before touching the accelerator. The car pounces forward. With the superbly distributed weight, it seems all the more spectacular accelerating.

Now the problems started. The steering seemed to have a mind of it’s own. Sudden jerks tried to turn it by a degree or two. I know that’s hardly anything but this can be very painful on long drives. You could make out the rack and pinion system meshing on the teeth. Fluid leak? Electronic over assist? Can’t nail the problem.. The lights are operated by a knob rather than a switch. This has been very smartly hidden on the little space between the right of the steering column and the driver’s door. Dropping sarcasm for a while, I wonder why something so necessary needs to be so impractical. The label also said ‘hey! I have ABS!’ But in spite of all my efforts, I was unable to find the switch to disable it.

I suggested that the steering column be checked at the dealership and I see faces smiles morphing to frowns. Ford dealerships are a rarity in any city. Quality of service is not up to the mark and the whole affair is mighty expensive. Owners are also not happy that why after so many years in India has Ford failed to adapt to the right hand side drive? The indicators are on the right panel. Does it prove Ford’s apathy towards local markets? The Japs are ready to rebuild the instrument cluster for the Americans Nissans & Toyotas, then why can’t Americans serve the Asians better?

Point proven. Fords may not be necessarily reliable or top notch on the quality front. Yet, I love Ford. Not sure if I’d like to own one but I certainly respect it a lot. Hard to explain. It’s a lot of factors coming together: the history, the Mustang, value for money and the durability. Some might question the durability so let me be specific: I love the durability of the vital components that make a car. Both the Fords discussed here had superb engines and chassis. However, they were let down by other components. The real substance of a car is what Ford focuses on. Solid build, weight, apt cornering, well mated tyres are an integral part of the Ford DNA. Ford Mondeo: though a flop, is still considered the ultimate driving machine in the second hand market.

That is why I am confident that of the Detroit’s big-3, Ford will be the first to bounce back. While GM cars are feature intensive, they have to work a lot harder to get their engines right. Remember the Opel Corsa, the Aveo and even the new Captiva? Harsh engines screaming for refinement..

So here’s wishing the new Fiesta, the Figo and the new Focus platform the very best. May we see a lot of blue ovals in the near future.

America, Deutschland- strike back!!

My heart aches everytime I see articles like these. Though I do like Randy Cohen's pieces, this one in particular is not entertaining for emotional motorists.

http://ethicist.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/dont-sell-hummer-kill-it/

There's a lot of noise about how inefficient and wasteful the American trucks and European sedans are. I do not have much to say to counter that. True: Hummer, GM Tahoe, Masserati and Ford F-150's may be called something close to ecological disasters. On the other hand the Japanese and the Koreans are the heroes of the day coming up with more sane cars that saved the day with their miles per gallon/ kilometres per litre figures.

They say on that in the last decades, GM, Ford, Chrysler have been focused on the short term profits. Which is why they made big cars/ trucks for bigger profits. So being focused on a long term strategy and defining new markets (refer to Toyota Prius) is the thing to do eh? Learn from the Japs they say- the way they develop vehicles based on market requirement; sometimes even defining a new market.

I beg to differ here. I love the Jap production and management techniques: zero inventory, reduction of waste and the zeal to improve. My earlier post does tell you that I would buy a high performance Jap street car if I had the money.

However, I do not believe in the sustenance of this model for long. It lacks one big thing: Creativity..

Definitely, these guys have been creative coming up with high quality and high performance engines. They did use lot of their brains to 'kaizen' all waste.

Despite this, the Japanese have been unable to come out with a product that is 'Revolutionary and crazy'. Try this simple exercise:

1. Look at the Ford logo and think of their fantasy products:

Mustang, Ford F-150, Ford GT, Land Rover (once upon a time) are some you dream to have.

2. Clear your mind and start with GM or Chevrolet

Humvee, Corvette, GMC. Pontaic GTO might be there in your thought process.

3. BMW

The legendry M-5, the Z8, the 5 series

4. Chrysler

Dodge Viper (grab the life by its horns!!), Jeep Wrangler

5. VW

Who are we kidding??!! Any Porsche!! 911, Boxster: anything.. Audi R8, the Lamborghinis as well..

6. Mitsubishi

You'll come up with only the Lancer Evo/ Spyder

7. Toyota

Lexus?? Nah.. That’s a very good car but not exciting enough..

So in all- Nothing. The MR-2, Celica were considered to be failures by the great company itself.

Right: nothing. Though all their cars have been masterpieces and have redefined quality and performance, none have the 'wow/ oomph' factor. Practically built for practical people.

If you get my point, you'll see that these tough times have been good for ones who are sensible. Kindly note that there is some level of insanity that comes with creativity. It's difficult to expect a piece of art from Toyota, Isuzu, Honda. Difficult to realize today, but I assure you we do need some of that 'insanity' for a better future.

Historically, Japanese manufacturers have emulated and improvised whatever's been created on the other side of the world. For eg- GM and Ford were the leaders in hybrid engine development, but Toyota and Honda had the guts to develop and sell Prius and Insight respectively: at loss propelling the brands to unimaginable heights.

What about the rest? Should Arnold Schwarznegger swap his Hummer for a Toyota Yaris/ Nissan Micra?? Detriot big 3, German beauties: we need you guys to give us something crazy and spectacular to drool on!! Cleanse your insides and get back to what you have always done: defining the future of automobile..

With this, I wish all the best to the Chevy Volt, the 2010 Mustang and the Focus. Hope these products help the companies to restore their lost glory.

With Alan Mulally running Ford and Jim Press (former MD of Toyota America) hopping on to Chrysler, I pray for speedy recovery of the giants.

Ford Edeavour

Ford Endeavor. Exactly my idea of an American truck. Huge, heavy and with power-Lots of it.. But the most important thing also the one that I cherish the most is- being crude...

Though you know you have the injection technologies at work, the delivery of power- though superbly smooth manages to give a crude feel. The Simple 'mind your own business, I'm busy" looks add to that. 

For starters, I'll make it clear that I was driving the new 3 Litre TDCi version and there was never dearth of power. I kept it on low RPM ranges below 2000 at the time of 'getting the feel'.

Moments after I started, I had to encounter a u-turn. I started turning, kept on turning, kept on and on. It was then that the sheer size of this monster actually hit me. I don't want to sound too arrogant but I had taken the turn quite masterfully- having started from the outer curve before 

the turn and almost touching the corner of the inside curve. Yet, the fact was that I'd run out of road and would either have to reverse a bit of get the front left tyre off the road to the mud. Wait a minute. I am driving a SUV!! Jumping out of my silly reverie, I gradually left the clutch and got the left wheels off the highway to the fields that formed the boundary. I could sense the whole vehicle tilt a bit to the left but the process was dampened superbly by the suspension. In a sedan, I would have never dreamt of doing this. But right now I had faith in Ford's unique overlapping cross balanced chassis.

I must warn here that there is loads and loads of body roll coming free with the vehicle. If you plan to take a turn at 50, the body roll is enough to give you shivers. Again, with the sheer size of this thing, that is something you will have to live with.

A great opportunity came my way. I saw a small toy ahead. When you are in an Endeavor, every hatchback is a toy. Note that Ford calls it the "Everest" in Europe and US. I shifted to a lower gear. I wouldn't say this transition is very smooth but is pretty decent. The engine speed jumped from 1800rpm to 2200 rpm. Then, I accelerated a bit. After 3000rpm, the turbocharger comes to life. The effect is instantaneous: the acceleration rate almost doubles. Think of those fast and furious scene where Paul Walker presses the 'NOS/ Nitro' button and is jerked back into the seat with the new fuel delivering more power. This movie scene may sound fictitious, so I'll give a real life description on how the scene is for a observer standing on the road.

Imagine a seagull calmly sitting on the sea shore. Now it notices movement in the calm sea and walks deeper into the water. It knows it cannot afford to walk on it's tiny legs to reach the prey in the shallow water. It spreads its wings and takes off. In no time it is cutting the air with powerful strokes and approaching it's prey fast.

 

An observer standing on the road knows when the turbo-charger kicks in as he can very well relate this to the time the seagull opens its wings.

 

If you are driving this monster, you'll always want to stay in the 3000-4500rpm power band to experience the thrill of the turbo-charger.

 

It is a dream to cruise in the turbo inter cooler. However, the downside is maintaining control at high speed. My nerves were totally blown whenever I crossed the 90 Kmph mark. Carrying that amount of body roll at these speeds guarantee topple at the slightest movement of the steering. Moreover, bringing this gregarious mass to a stop is also a big trouble. The state of the art braking system as well as the mammoth tyres fail to guarantee quick stops.

In all a one of a kind product. The kind that inspires you to flex some muscles and live the attitude. Get this, make lots of trips to places that not many other have the courage to visit.

The turbo… wooooo.. don’t get me started again..