Ford Figo 1.5P Titanium AT: 11000km Long Term Review

Moving to a new city can be quite a life-changing experience. And after shifting base to Pune from Mumbai, I can tell you the experience has been bittersweet. Bitter because I miss Mumbai, and driving back to the coastal city every weekend gets a bit taxing. And sweet because I am charmed by Pune’s wholesome life. The weather is nice and people don’t seem to be in a hurry, except when they’re at traffic lights.

The Figo was handed down to me since I was frequently shuttling between Pune and Mumbai. And, like the move to Pune, there was something bittersweet about the Figo as well. Bitter because it is a petrol car – which means spending a lot on fuel. And sweet because it has a dual-clutch automatic transmission (DCT), so it offers quite an effortless ride in the city.

Like the city I moved to, the Figo has amazed me and also left me wanting for more as far as the feature list goes. The first thing I noticed on the car when I was backing it out of a garage is the lack of parking sensors. It’s reasonable to expect this in a car that cost Rs 8.8 lakhs on-road Pune. Another glaring omission is the sunglass holder. This can be quite irritating, especially when the sun keeps playing peekaboo on a cloudy day; my sunglasses end up riding shotgun often now. Sure, you can say I am acting nit-picky here, but then again, this is something I expect from any modern-day car.

The good news is that Figo offers a number of cubby holes. The most impressive bit is the mobile phone dock; it’s right on top of the centre console. This provides easy access to the phone and also makes life easier when using navigation; something I use quite often in Pune since I’m still not familiar with the routes.

The Figo does a fine job of ferrying me around the city. The ease of a DCT is a boon in stop-and-go traffic. My only grouse is that it doesn’t feel as smooth or quick as other DCTs I have driven. On the highway, the lag is noticeable while downshifting for quick overtaking manoeuvres. You can shift gears manually, but it can only be done in ‘Sport’ mode.

‘Sport’ mode feels nice with the DCT holding the gear all the way to the redline before upshifts. The only downside is the oddly placed gearshift button on the gear lever. It doesn’t feel very ergonomically placed and even after a month, I’m not used to it. Plus, I really wish I could override gears in ‘drive mode’ which doesn’t happen.

Having said that, the 1.5-litre petrol engine feels peppy and offers a nice blend of power and fuel economy. And I am impressed with both. At 112PS, the engine seems happy to play ball whenever I wish to. At the same time, the best kilometre-per-litre figure I have managed to squeeze out of the Figo is 12.5kmpl. So yes, it seems like the Ford Figo can take the ‘kitna deti hai’ fight right back to Maruti.

Over the past month, as I mentioned, like Pune, the experience with the Figo has been bittersweet. A few missing features are not a deal breaker, but would certainly add value to the overall package.

Things were going pretty well with the Figo till my last trip to Mumbai. Before starting from Pune, I went to a Shell fuelling station. The attendant there checked the engine oil level in the car and found it to be critically low. With the car clocking just over 10000km, I knew a service was due. What surprised me though was the absence of a low oil light flashing on the instrument cluster.

For now, the Figo has gone for a much-needed service. And I’m left relying on radio taxis in this laidback city of Pune. And that’s another story for another time…

Long-Term details

• Total km covered: 11081

• Km since the last update: 395

• Fuel filled: 31.95ltr

• Fuel efficiency: 12.5kmpl

Cheers: Punchy engine, fuel efficiency, handling

Sneers: DCT disappoints, plastic quality