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#1
Hi guys ,
I'm back with my second ownership review of my all time favorite Ford Ikon 1.3 flair !!!
Our family's first ride '99 model Hyundai santro was getting really old. It was high time for us to get a new ride !
Dad always fancied an Ikon as mostly get driven around Chennai whenever we go there ( thanks to my uncle , who was working at Chennai ford ) It's air con n the back seat comfort were amazing to him !
But my uncle always advised him against it as Ikon was not such a fuel efficient ride! and that was the only reason Santro found its way in our garage !
But this time he was dead set for an IKON![[lol]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Laugh.gif "Laugh [lol]")
.
It was 2010 and Ikon was at the verge of getting discontinued ! and we didn't want to invest 5-6 lakhs in a car that's about to be phased out!
It was then we came to know about the sale of factory second cars at ford!
factory second cars are essentially the cars driven only inside the factory compound and for testing purposes without registering ! so cars that are used for emission tests cover basically a few 1000 kms on the odo! and the best part is that they are sold at less than half the market price!![[:D]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Big%20Smile.gif "Big Smile [:D]")
.
So it was decided to get an Ikon through factory sale ! and we were waiting for a new lot to be released for sale! so one fine day after getting all the info we decided to hit the ford factory at Marai malai nagar, Chennai.
I, my dad and my uncle reached there on time and got the visitors pass! and in the yard a entire fleet of Ikon's , fiesta's, endovear's were waiting to be taken ! The ford driver ( the middle man) accompanied us too.
There were ikon's from 2008 to 2010! and all the 2010 models were diesels and dad was not in for diesel cars as our daily usage is pretty low !! ( not more than 20 kms per day ) . So the remaining lot were 2008 ikons. I found two to four cars to my likes !
But the drawback of the sale is that you are not allowed to test drive these cars and you have to take them in as such condition !
so were given keys are thy allowed us just to crank the car n rev it ! .
so managed to shortlist three cars finally
1) A silver color 1.6
2) A sports model blue 1.6 and
3) A mystic wine 1.3 flair !
all the three engines were pretty smooth ! and the engine bay looked neat!
so going to the first one !It had 3k on the odo, had quite a few interior panels missing ! a few bolts inside ! with my previous experience in santro I knew that interior parts are hard to source out , provided that the car is going to be phased out soon ! so I kept it on hold !
next was the sports model !!! it was superb had everything intact mostly but a nasty dent on the left side for the entire length of the car! now this was saddening knowing that ford service is pretty expensive and my dad wont leave the car in local garage made ponder over this one!
So on to the last 1.3 flair.
With 2700kms on the odo and neat body lines ,almost nil dents and scratches and mainly no missing interior panels this one impressed me ! got the keys , cranked it and got a smooth roar from the 1.3 ROCAM under the hood! ! Revved it a bit and it was music to my ears![[evil]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Evil.gif "Evil [evil]")
!
The aircon and the electricals were in perfect shape!
Popped up the hood and the engine bay was clean except for the rust in the front suspension . My dad who happens to be an expert on corrosion sciences felt this to be a negligible problem ! but wait !!! no jack n no boot mat ! . Thinking that this should not be a major problem I decided to go ahead with it !
The ford driver asked me to select another one as a back up as the cars are sold on bidding basis! so my obvious vouch was the sports model! .
but he assured me that he would get the 1.3 flair at any cost and the other one is a back up just in case! the cost of the 1.3 flair was 2.13 lakhs and the price he quoted was 2.90 lakhs ! And we completed all the formalities with only waiting to be done ,we left the factory !!!
Two weeks later he said that the bidding is over and we have got the 1.3 flair as he promised ! he said that he will get the car out ! get it temporary registered at Chengalpattu RTO and leave it at Chennai ford for service from where it was our responsibility !
so a week later the car was at Chennai ford! Since it was my uncle's previous work place he knew everyone there! They scanned the car inside out and nothing was major! only cleaning work was left ! oils changed and the problem started when we asked for the spare jack and key ! (No stock sir ) was their reply !!!!!! I had expected this ! but not before the car got phased out ! .
I was in my collage hostel and dad came to pick me up over the weekend ( coz they don't allow hostellers out alone with out the guardian or parents ) .
The Josh Machine was all serviced and ready !!! but hey we had to accessorize it ! So took it to Radio ware house , Anna nagar , Chennai!
Dad settled for a kenwood HU and sony speakers ( I wasn't an audiophile back then) it came to 8k plus 2k for the speakers and the fitting began!
They had enclosed the rear speakers in wooden boxes for better acoustics while fixing we came to know the front speakers were removed too ! so had to buy them also! fixed a reverse siren ! and voila we were good to go !
seat covers and carpeting had to weight ! So the next day(Saturday ) we started off in the morning to our home town karaikudi ! The driver who drove the car pushed it to its limits and the results were amazing !!! ( don't ask about the F.E though ) ! my dad was having his heart at hands ! even at such speeds the car felt grounded to the road ! he made high speed maneuvers and the way it obeyed him was mind blowing ! Never felt this kinda stability before! almost negligible body roll !!!
he covered a distance of 400 kms in less than 4 hours ! usually it takes 6 hours plus! And finally we were home !! safe and sound with the new beast !
After a month we decided to put seat covers and check out a local accessories shop! found a two tone (beige / coffee) cover which matched the interiors and the exteriors! will post the pictures later when I go home !
My driving experience in this baby has been always beyond words description !!!!! I simply loved the way it used to pin me back to the seat as I pushed the gas pedal! and the way it used to corner always leaves me with a wild grin in my face ! Now I know why its called the IKON!!!! and the steering feedback was sensational ! always gives me confidence to push to its limits !!! which I never do .
One fine day it just simply refused to start ! tried everything we could ! but nope !!! no use!!!
so finally we had to tow it to the local garage ! they spent nearly a complete day in diagnosing!
finally it was a the fuel pump which got clogged! It was cleaned and fixed with in 2 hours and viola in two days he was back on road!
Managed to cover 10k kms and its time for service! (don't remember how long it took to cover 10k kms ! complaints were very few or I must say almost none ! Since we don't have a F.A.S.S at karaikudi , it has to be either Trichy or Madurai! This time I choose Trichy (Rockcity ford) . We started early and arrived early !! probably the first car ! Must say that the ROCKCITY FORD is a disaster when it comes to service! very pathetic ! And again no stock of jack and tow hook! I don't recollect much of the horrendous service experience much ! but we remember it enough to avoid it the next time ! stay tuned !!! will update the thread with more pics !!
I'm back with my second ownership review of my all time favorite Ford Ikon 1.3 flair !!!
Our family's first ride '99 model Hyundai santro was getting really old. It was high time for us to get a new ride !
Dad always fancied an Ikon as mostly get driven around Chennai whenever we go there ( thanks to my uncle , who was working at Chennai ford ) It's air con n the back seat comfort were amazing to him !
But my uncle always advised him against it as Ikon was not such a fuel efficient ride! and that was the only reason Santro found its way in our garage !
But this time he was dead set for an IKON
.It was 2010 and Ikon was at the verge of getting discontinued ! and we didn't want to invest 5-6 lakhs in a car that's about to be phased out!
It was then we came to know about the sale of factory second cars at ford!
factory second cars are essentially the cars driven only inside the factory compound and for testing purposes without registering ! so cars that are used for emission tests cover basically a few 1000 kms on the odo! and the best part is that they are sold at less than half the market price!
.So it was decided to get an Ikon through factory sale ! and we were waiting for a new lot to be released for sale! so one fine day after getting all the info we decided to hit the ford factory at Marai malai nagar, Chennai.
I, my dad and my uncle reached there on time and got the visitors pass! and in the yard a entire fleet of Ikon's , fiesta's, endovear's were waiting to be taken ! The ford driver ( the middle man) accompanied us too.
There were ikon's from 2008 to 2010! and all the 2010 models were diesels and dad was not in for diesel cars as our daily usage is pretty low !! ( not more than 20 kms per day ) . So the remaining lot were 2008 ikons. I found two to four cars to my likes !
But the drawback of the sale is that you are not allowed to test drive these cars and you have to take them in as such condition !
so were given keys are thy allowed us just to crank the car n rev it ! .
so managed to shortlist three cars finally
1) A silver color 1.6
2) A sports model blue 1.6 and
3) A mystic wine 1.3 flair !
all the three engines were pretty smooth ! and the engine bay looked neat!
so going to the first one !It had 3k on the odo, had quite a few interior panels missing ! a few bolts inside ! with my previous experience in santro I knew that interior parts are hard to source out , provided that the car is going to be phased out soon ! so I kept it on hold !
next was the sports model !!! it was superb had everything intact mostly but a nasty dent on the left side for the entire length of the car! now this was saddening knowing that ford service is pretty expensive and my dad wont leave the car in local garage made ponder over this one!
So on to the last 1.3 flair.
With 2700kms on the odo and neat body lines ,almost nil dents and scratches and mainly no missing interior panels this one impressed me ! got the keys , cranked it and got a smooth roar from the 1.3 ROCAM under the hood! ! Revved it a bit and it was music to my ears
! The aircon and the electricals were in perfect shape!
Popped up the hood and the engine bay was clean except for the rust in the front suspension . My dad who happens to be an expert on corrosion sciences felt this to be a negligible problem ! but wait !!! no jack n no boot mat ! . Thinking that this should not be a major problem I decided to go ahead with it !
The ford driver asked me to select another one as a back up as the cars are sold on bidding basis! so my obvious vouch was the sports model! .
but he assured me that he would get the 1.3 flair at any cost and the other one is a back up just in case! the cost of the 1.3 flair was 2.13 lakhs and the price he quoted was 2.90 lakhs ! And we completed all the formalities with only waiting to be done ,we left the factory !!!
Two weeks later he said that the bidding is over and we have got the 1.3 flair as he promised ! he said that he will get the car out ! get it temporary registered at Chengalpattu RTO and leave it at Chennai ford for service from where it was our responsibility !
so a week later the car was at Chennai ford! Since it was my uncle's previous work place he knew everyone there! They scanned the car inside out and nothing was major! only cleaning work was left ! oils changed and the problem started when we asked for the spare jack and key ! (No stock sir ) was their reply !!!!!! I had expected this ! but not before the car got phased out ! .
I was in my collage hostel and dad came to pick me up over the weekend ( coz they don't allow hostellers out alone with out the guardian or parents ) .
The Josh Machine was all serviced and ready !!! but hey we had to accessorize it ! So took it to Radio ware house , Anna nagar , Chennai!
Dad settled for a kenwood HU and sony speakers ( I wasn't an audiophile back then) it came to 8k plus 2k for the speakers and the fitting began!
They had enclosed the rear speakers in wooden boxes for better acoustics while fixing we came to know the front speakers were removed too ! so had to buy them also! fixed a reverse siren ! and voila we were good to go !
seat covers and carpeting had to weight ! So the next day(Saturday ) we started off in the morning to our home town karaikudi ! The driver who drove the car pushed it to its limits and the results were amazing !!! ( don't ask about the F.E though ) ! my dad was having his heart at hands ! even at such speeds the car felt grounded to the road ! he made high speed maneuvers and the way it obeyed him was mind blowing ! Never felt this kinda stability before! almost negligible body roll !!!
he covered a distance of 400 kms in less than 4 hours ! usually it takes 6 hours plus! And finally we were home !! safe and sound with the new beast !
After a month we decided to put seat covers and check out a local accessories shop! found a two tone (beige / coffee) cover which matched the interiors and the exteriors! will post the pictures later when I go home !
My driving experience in this baby has been always beyond words description !!!!! I simply loved the way it used to pin me back to the seat as I pushed the gas pedal! and the way it used to corner always leaves me with a wild grin in my face ! Now I know why its called the IKON!!!! and the steering feedback was sensational ! always gives me confidence to push to its limits !!! which I never do .
One fine day it just simply refused to start ! tried everything we could ! but nope !!! no use!!!
so finally we had to tow it to the local garage ! they spent nearly a complete day in diagnosing!
finally it was a the fuel pump which got clogged! It was cleaned and fixed with in 2 hours and viola in two days he was back on road!
Managed to cover 10k kms and its time for service! (don't remember how long it took to cover 10k kms ! complaints were very few or I must say almost none ! Since we don't have a F.A.S.S at karaikudi , it has to be either Trichy or Madurai! This time I choose Trichy (Rockcity ford) . We started early and arrived early !! probably the first car ! Must say that the ROCKCITY FORD is a disaster when it comes to service! very pathetic ! And again no stock of jack and tow hook! I don't recollect much of the horrendous service experience much ! but we remember it enough to avoid it the next time ! stay tuned !!! will update the thread with more pics !!
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! Engine oil has been changed and so were all the filters and all! Regarding the paint job! The technician at ford seems to be from our home town! He approached my dad and said that don't leave the car here for paint work ! they will loot you ! I'm from your place and this can be restored by buffing and polishing ! So he agreed to come and do it at our door step the next day 
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