Overall, I’m really happy with the car. I’m getting a fuel efficiency of around 9-10 km/l in city traffic and 14-15 km/l on highways.
VJTian VJ305 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
How I got my first car the legendary Ford Figo 1.5 Dragon AT. They say sometimes things are bound to happen and my ordeal of buying the Figo was definitely such a case! I can’t thank team bhp, Giri and Jithin enough for educating me about this car.
Just to give a background, I live near Anand Vihar, and my office is in Noida sec 62, which basically means that I either spend more than ₹600 daily in cabs to commute to my office or more than an hour in the metro for a journey that takes 30-35 minutes by road on good day.
Background
We have a 2016 Creta CRDI that has done 280k (that’s a story for another day) which was our primary car and since I was in college till 2020 and with COVID, my job was remote and hybrid till late 2023 so we were not facing any major issues with a single car.
The problem started when my office was compulsorily opened in late 2023 and the daily commute became a hassle. Since I am in a startup, the timings are not an issue, but my father’s office and mine being in the opposite direction caused a lot of time waste as I used to go to his office to pick up the car and he used to come back home from the cab.
We were facing financial stress so buying a new/secondhand car was out of the question for a long period of time. But by mid-2024 my father’s work required him to travel out of Delhi for days at a stretch which meant I had to travel by either cab or metro resulting in a lot of time and money being wasted. My office timings shifting to US hours was a cherry on the top.
Now comes the twist in the tale! Our increments were due and my company announced that we will be receiving our increments from September onwards. This was announced by our CEO at his home in a get-together (we are a small team of 14 people). While I was dropping my office friend home around 1 am I looked at the fare and it was around ₹500. I was discussing with her how cabs are legit draining my money and at 1 am cabs are the last thing I’ll consider to travel in NCR but I’ve no option.
This is where she said, Vansh, why don’t you buy a car and consider your increment didn’t happen? Imagine the increment is your car EMI and boom, our minds synced and there was no turning back. I know this is not sane financial advice for someone already having financial issues but my job requires me to work odd hours and I have a lot of city commute so relying on cabs and metro is not something I prefer.
Finding the car
While dropping her off, there was some road closure and we had to travel in the inner parts of Ghaziabad, something that you don’t want to do at 1 am in a cab. Luckily nothing happened and just as I dropped her I opened an online used car sales platform, my favorite pass time to browse a hatchback. Since this was supposed to be a city car, I was looking for an automatic car but barring a few all hatchbacks have AMT and it was a clear no-no for me.
Marutis and Hyundais were ruled out because after driving a CRDI going to boring 1.2 NA engines was something I couldn’t imagine myself doing. Also, safety is a big factor for me and Maruti and Hyundai simply don’t pass this test. The only exception was the Grand i10 because for some brief period, it had a TC gearbox and I was ready to compromise because cheap maintenance and reliability trump performance for a city car because we hardly get to floor the car in city traffic. Sadly, I couldn’t find a decently maintained one.
I was always a fan of Ford and their solidly built cars. Figo was always on the top of my list whenever I used to think about buying a secondhand car. I found a manual well well-maintained 2020 model Figo on the online used car sales platform and decided to take a test drive the following day but out of curiosity, I searched for Ford Figo automatic on Google and there was one available at a dealer. Their website had basic information about the car mentioning only the year and transmission of the car. The engine information was not given and only petrol was mentioned. It was mentioned that it was a 2019 model with an automatic transmission with the Odo at roughly 18.8k. I did 2+2 and my eyes widened. Can it be the Ford Figo 1.5 Dragon AT?
Test Drive
I dropped the plan to go to the online used car sales platform’s outlet and directly went to the dealer with my father after enquiring on the phone the previous day if the car was still available. The car was standing in their parking lot in pristine condition with no visible dent or defects. It looked like a nearly brand-new car. The interior was excellent too.
Now came the time to test drive. The showroom was in a busy area with some potholes and moderate traffic that helped me gauge the braking and suspension performance. But the real reason why someone buys a 1.5 Dragon AT is that rockstar engine and I was itching to test that. The car dealer’s sales person took me to an empty street and said sir now you can test it properly.
The moment he said this, I put the transmission in Sports and floored the car. Oh, man! the car took a second, downshifted and boom it became a rocket. My brain couldn’t process that a hatchback was accelerating in such a stable manner with 3 people on board with me and my father being more than 6 feet tall and considerably “healthy”. I was sold then and there.
Tried a 2019 1.2NA petrol i20 sports which had around 60k on the odo but I had already tasted blood and there was no turning back. Father and I were sold on the Figo.
Buying process and hiccups
The Figo was listed for around 5.23 lakhs and since the dealership was clueless about this gem and considered it a normal automatic Figo, father used his skills and finally brought the price down to just under 5 lakhs. You can never go wrong with the experience of a person who has driven more than 10 lakh kms in the last 40 years and has owned cars ranging from the OG Fiat, Sumo to the Creta.
The deal was finalized, 25k was given as advance and this is where shady things started to happen. We were told that this advance is refundable if the deal doesn’t go through. When they gave us the receipt it was mentioned that the advance is non-refundable. I talked to the SA and he said to his junior “Arre sir ko tumne proper letter nahi diya? Ruko sir letter me proper likha hoga”. To our surprise in the letter, the same point was highlighted with a marker. We chose to ignore this since we were pretty confident about the loan.
I asked about the service records as the first query and they said that they have proper company records from Ford and in the excitement of the car I didn’t ask them to share it (Big mistake). 3-4 days went into arranging for the car loan and now came the final step of making the payment and getting the delivery of the car.
I asked about the car service records before giving the go-ahead of the payment and after seeing the service records my heart sank. There was engine work done in the car which we later found out was due to the engine being seized as it was not driven much. The cylinder assembly had been worked upon and a cylinder head was also replaced. The car had a new radiator installed too along with miscellaneous other things.
The SA was smart and only shared this since he had another buyer who was willing to pay 5.10 for the same car even after knowing the service records. I don’t know if this was a tactic he used or if he genuinely had a buyer. But now I was in a dilemma. This could either be a 5L lemon or one of the best purchases of my life.
After discussing it with my father, we came to the conclusion that since the car was only serviced at a Ford service centre with detailed records and the repair was not accidental but a result of the car not being driven and maintained enough, we should go ahead with the car. The used car dealer also had a 3-month warranty for the engine and transmission, so this solidified our decision, although we had lost faith in them.
Experience so far
The payment was finalized and we got the car home in a simple affair. Unfortunately, I couldn’t be at the showroom at the time of the delivery because of urgent office work and got to experience the beast only in the evening after getting the pooja done. It was an auspicious day as it was a Tuesday and we are great believers of Hanuman Ji.
My friend and I went to meet my girlfriend and surprised my other friends as the car was kept a secret due to various superstitious reasons. This was the time I really got to experience the car. During my journey of nearly 60 km within NCR I engaged the Sports mode various times and I just laughed with my friend whenever I floored the car.
Initially, the car jolted whenever you put it in D or R as the car was hardly driven with less than 4k kms per year. Driving an automatic for the first time, it was hard for me to get used to the sound of releasing the brake paddle when the car was in Drive and even went to my mechanic to figure out if the car was broken lol.
After driving the car for 3k kms in under 4 months mostly in the city with a handful of highway runs of 100 kms I have the following observations which are identical to that of Giri and Jithin:
Pros:
- The solid build is really assuring and the heft of the gate is enough to inspire confidence in the car.
- The handling is just top-notch. The tyres let it down but you can chuck the car pretty easily.
- Put it in S and it can smoke cars way above its price range. The acceleration brings an instant smile to your face.
- Sorted TC gearbox that is really easy to get used to. The shifts are barely noticeable if you’re driving at sane speeds.
- Acceleration is linear but the engine is very happy to redline in fact it begs you to do so.
- The quality of buttons is way better than anything in its category even when you compare it with hatchbacks of the current times. HVAC and media controls are very ergonomic and driver-friendly.
Cons:
- The tyres. Seriously Ford? Who was even responsible for this fiasco? It’s like asking Bumrah to bowl on Perth with a white SG ball.
- No AA or Carplay and mediocre speakers. The audio system is just acceptable.
- Headlights are barely acceptable.
- No bottle holders in the rear seats and the lack of an armrest in the front in an automatic car are a big miss.
Overall I’m really happy with the car and I’m getting around 9-10kmpl in city traffic and 14-15 on highways which are acceptable for the engine.
I’m planning for the following upgrades this year:
- Tyres: Will upsize to 15-inch alloys and get grippier tyres. I’m looking for aftermarket alloys though I prefer the ones in Figo Blu so any leads in NCR will be highly appreciated. Looking for suggestions for the tires as well.
- Audio setup: The speakers and head unit are mediocre so want to get a system with wireless Apple carplay and some decent speakers. I don’t think any Sync 3 systems are available for Figo.
- Headlights: Will get an all-LED setup.
Thanks to the team bhp community for enlightening me about this car! Cheers!
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