The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Celebrities. The other evening, I was shuffling across the pages of a lifestyle magazine. As I was flipping through the leaves, a pretty face made me go back a couple of pages. She looked familiar, like a celebrity we know.
Curiously, I read between the lines to have my first ‘whoa!’ moment of the year. No it wasn’t a ‘he turned her’, it WAS, in fact, the celebrity! She was ayoung lady, in her mid-late twenties (not so sure now) and quite fit, but she had gone under the knife to carve up the face in the picture.
Suddenly, I felt the gaping question of why some people prefer trusting a man with a knife more than God, being answered. You see, she never really caught my fancy before she went under the knife, but after, unfortunately made me re-track my flipping.
The catch here though, is that she has to make do with the same set of lungs, kidneys and I think a brain as well, but sometimes, that’s a good thing. Much the way of the newest wheels from Henry Ford’s legacy. Meet the Figos.
Implying ‘cool’ in Italian, the Figo does look happy. Happiness equivalent to a sunny spring summer morning, with the paper on your doorstep, and a recent pay cheque and a hot cuppa. Its eyeliner-lined headlamps are something you will love to see after a dreary day at work. A bread and circus car, if you will. It is possibly the only mini in the country that will look great in green.
Following Ford’s global Kinetic design direction pointed by Martin Smith, the Figo comes off as a winsome sibling to Ford’s international hatchback, the exciting Focus. The wheel-arches and skirts give it a muscular stance. At the rear, the lights flank the windscreen like in the Fusion. Although the Figo has clear and crisp lines, I reckon that if the spoiler was a bit more pronounced, the car would’ve looked sportier.
What Ford has done here is take the Fusion, do away with boxy looks and the confusing ride height, add more oomph, and botox the face into a car worthy of a second-look. Safe, but not conservative styling from Ford for its first legitimate B+ segment-er.
Now, before I talk of the interior trim, I feel I must forewarn you about the car’s dash. It’s a weird colour. A result of an un-fortuitous encounter between marshmallows and vomit. Sorry, but it IS that distasteful. The only possible advantage I could conjure up is the reduction of dashboard reflection on the windscreen. If this is the cure, I’d rather have the disease. Ford say the colour is ‘thanks’ to something called injection moulding and they add that there is a ‘normal’ dash version available. Small mercies.
Interior trim levels are not exactly bang-up but neither are they unsound. The splash of silver all around looks nice but feels cheap. Circular air-con vents are functionally great. Quality of switch-gear again treads the middle-line. Seats are comfortable with good side support and the fabrics looks like they’ll last the distance and the steering has good feel. With the driver’s seat configured for a reasonably sized driver, all six feet one inch of me could fit in comfortably but it might be a bit cramped for three at the back.
What took me back was the lack of rear power-windows even on the A+ trim (Titanium). This is like vegetable biryani, unacceptable. Boot space is big enough to fit the entire cast of Kyon Ki… Ford has done well to retain the Fusion’s interior space offering.
Under the hood, you’ll find a choice of two engines. The diesel is the same 1.4-litre, 4-cylinder DuraTorq Mill powering the Ikon, Fiesta and Fusion. The output is fairly unchanged (you can’t say up-ed from 67 bhp) at 68 bhp and torques remain firmly unchanged at a nice 160 Nm. In a diesel, the sweet spot generally is unreachable, but as the case with the DuraTorqs, the power is fathomable at 4,000 revs and the torque at a lower 2,000 rpms.
The petrol is a new 1.2-litre, 4-cylinder DuraTec engine churning out 70 bhp at a rev-happy 6,250 rpm and 102 torques at 4,000 rpm. This engine doesn’t make sense except for a lower asking price. We’ll discuss that a little later on.
The diesel feels nice and familiar. A bit loud on the outside but cabin noise is nicely subdued although a bit of vibrations do percolate. The power is satisfactory, engine is responsive and the gear shifts are exact. The petrol is bit of a let-down. With not enough usable power and fewer torques than its competitors, it is a mere formality of an engine.
The diesel then is the winner. With a tried and tested engine, the diesel is most likely to be a better proposition for the discerning driver/traveler.
Cars from Ford have always caught my fancy. No, not because they look nice – the Escort looked like a squint fish, the Ikon had/has looks that only its mother could like and the Fiesta could never really peek out of its cloak of invisibility. No, I liked them because they drove really well and the Figodoesn’t disappoint. The seating position is excellent. With a clear view of the road, the ergonomics are spot-on.
A good feel of the road reach you through the steering wheel. The horn is sadly a little too loud inside the cabin. Maybe this will help mend those incessant honkers. The handling is precise and the driving feel is quite super.
With the Escort, the Ikon, the Mondeo and the Endeavour, Ford had established a good brand image. Few years later, arrived the Ford Fusion. This car suffered severely from D.I.D, mostly stemming from a marketing mishap. Ford marketers did not know where to fit the car – a MPV, a hatchback, a mini…they were as confused as Bobby Darling’s underwear. Me? I would include it in my garage. Albeit a bit boxy, it comfortably seats five, drove well, had a well powered 1.6 litre 100 bhp petrol heart (the diesel was better value) and a boot that was anything but scant.This car put practicality before anything else and sometimes, that’s a good thing. It’s unfortunate that the masses don’t figure it out and quite frankly, I don’t blame them. What killed the car finally, was the price. This car was priced per a C-Segment-er. This meant it was missing a whole body part, the separate boot.
The Figo is
priced very well. A decent version of the car will set you back by INR 3.81 lakh (ex-showroom) for the petrol and Rs 4.72 (ex-) for the diesel. Compared to the sort-of similar priced
i10, you get a space fest with the Figo. The
Polo versions are again more expensive than the Figo. Good value for money then.
If you are keen about travelling (long or fairly long) in comfort, go for the diesel Figo. It packs a decent punch, has plenty of space and the engine is a proven mill. The petrol is a ho-hum affair. It sure wins the price war but doesn’t win my heart. Go for it if the diesel doesn’t bake your biscuit.
Here is a word for Ford, Get That 1.6-LITRE, 100 BHP DURATEC ENGINE in the FIGO!!
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