mayank4823
Disciple
Swift FTW, though the waiting time suckks due to strike at manesar plant,, 
Car & Bike Which car is best Ford Figo Diesel Vs Maruthi Swift diesel?
- Thread starter riyachouhan
- Start date
Shadowfax2009
Disciple
Well, I have both the cars (Swift: Famly, Figo: Personal). Since I chose Figo, over my family's Maruti fascination, I might be slightly biased for it. So read my suggestions with a pinch of salt! Or consider it as practical experience rather than opinion.
The Fine Print:
1. Both are GREAT cars, whatever you choose you win. So don't go nitpicking bro. See both the cars, feel what suits you, and go with your heart.
2. No car in "poor" India is perfect. There will always be sign of cost cutting unless you are migrating to the 8lakh+ segment. So there will be faults. (learnt this the heard way after numerous test drives during day and forum reads during the nights!)
Buying experience:
Swift: Huge waiting time. Put me off. Man, I cant wait 3-5 months for my car to be delivered. That's like half a year. I want it like NOW! (At-least it was like this last year. Has it improved now?)
Figo: Got it in 3 days flat (Because I paid in cash and demanded NOW!), but others have got it in 2 weeks. (I have swayed 2 friends to buy figo. So bad of me )
External styling:
Swift: New one looks great! exciting! the head lamps and tail lamps are cool. But looks are very subjective. My mom doesn't like it. Says its fatso. You might like it or not like it! But you cant be in between. swift polarizes all opinion to strong like and strong dislike.
Figo: Veryyy sedate looking. Not exciting. So 1990s from Hollywood movies (it is! based on the old fiesta platform.) Look how it lacks a kinetic/fluidic design? The waist-line does not rise. The rear quarter glass doesn't taper up. The tail-lamp cluster is a Christmas lamp like the old Indica and old European cars. But then there is nothing that makes you dislike it. It looks like a CAR, no fat-boy, blue-boy, baby-elephant stuff. Its glass house is wide and good. It never excites people, but no one dislikes it either.
Inside:
Swift: It is bigger from outside, but smaller from inside. Because of its tapered design. Go sit on the back seat off a swift and you feel its small (or you might like the feeling of being cocooned !)
Figo: More open, more airy. Back seat feels good.
The rear window debacle:
Swift: the glass rolls all way down. Figo: It rolls about 40% down (despite whatever the SS people tells you). Ford says its safety! I say, its nonsense. the glass cannot come down because it hits the wheel arches. a down point of having wheel arch flair design with large windows. But practically how does it mater? I stay in Delhi and KEEP ALL 4 WINDOWS ROLLED UP ALL THE TIME FOR DUST, NOISE, KILLER HEAT. Well if you are lucky to be in a city where there is plenty of fresh cool air and you need to carry people on the backseat then it is going to pinch you. Other wise its a over-hyped short coming. YES, it should have been there, but its something you will not feel inconvenienced by. The only time I was in a fix was when I have my "niece" in the back seat, and she had to puke. Oh! boy, it was a mess! The bloody window does not roll down enough to put your head out. So my only suggestion is carry plastic bags in figo if you have a puker on board for long drives.)
Apart from this, there are minor difference in both. The quality of plastic is equally cheap but OKish in both. The central console is better in the new swift. The seating is slightly better in Figo. But these are all nitpicking. Nothing to write about.
Driving:
Swift drives more spiritedly. It revs better. It gives more mileage. BUT I have to admit, the city drivability of ford is better. The power steering is hydraulic, not on-wire electric, so you feel in precise control of the car. The turning is also more precise and stable. The ride is well sorted out. More importantly, there is minimal turbo lag; ie you feel the car responding to your acceleration almost immediately and not slightly after till the rev picks up. Perhaps the most benefit for city driving in Figo is that the second gear is pretty strong. It can pull from 0 till 40 easily and even above for short burst. So you tend to change gear less. In comparison you go 1st-2nd-3rd-2nd-3rd-2nd-3rd in most other cars. Well, It might not be a good practice to drive in second till 40 and I change to 3rd after 30, but sometimes after a tired day it comes handy.
The flip side is that you don't get good mileage. I get 14/15 max with city driving, with 100% AC on.
Figo also takes slope quite badly and you have to downshift to first to ride up.
Most irritating part of driving a Figo was that, if the rev falls below 600 it might suddenly stop (that happens when you are driving too carelessly! and leave the clutch a bit too soon.). Now, the irritating stuff is that, Figo has a engine protection build into it so that once stalled you have to switch off the car completely to switch it up again. Now imagine stalling on a BTB traffic, restarting the car taking more time and getting dirty looks. (I have learned now how not to stall the car, by waiting slightly after pressing the gas, for the rev to climb up, and then leaving the clutch. You will learn too. !!)
But over all i felt it was EASIER to drive figo around in the city compared to the swift.
Also, It is difficult to get an understanding of the proportion of the swift initially from the drivers seat. Its curvy exterior flairs quite beyond what you can see, and most swifts have dents on the front or the rear wheel arches! Go out on the road and just look. In contrast, more linear cars like Polo rarely have scratched wheel arches because of the excellent proportion. Gradually you get used to the swift, but it takes some time. Figo, gives better road view and better feeling for the proportion of the car. Though you might scratch the left rear wheel arch sometimes.
Ground clearance: It is a problem in Figo. But you are supposed to upgrade your tires (Kind of unwritten rule in most forums/car experts) from the 175 patch that come default to 185/65/r14. After the upsize the ride becomes DEFINITLY better and there are no ground clearance issues. It is the one upgrade that you MUST do after you buy a new figo.
Car modding: There are definitely more aftermarket parts available for swift that figo. as swift is a global car.
Servicing and maintenance : Figo is as cheap as swift to maintain. Maybe even cheaper. There was a cost comparison chart somewhere in TeamBHP. search it out. Ford has now introduced sub-pars (Like ORVM mirror cowl, rather than the whole assembly to further reduce cost.) I dont find any difference between the two service centers. Maruti service centers are more but there is always more waiting as they serve more cars. Ford servicing in Delhi is OK experience. I have had both frustrating experience in Harpreet ford ( Moti nagar) in past and excellent experience at Harpreet Ford (Okhla) recently. Ford has 24 hour roadside assistance. My car was banged from side by a Toyota cab (overtook from left and pressed me to the wall!! %&%^$^). One phone call and a pick up truck came in half hour to take my car to the service center. That was cool!!
In summary, Figo ticks all the right boxes, if you listen to your brain. It is better that Swift logically. But it is not exciting. So what are you going to do? Happy car hunting! And enjoy the experience.
The Fine Print:
1. Both are GREAT cars, whatever you choose you win. So don't go nitpicking bro. See both the cars, feel what suits you, and go with your heart.
2. No car in "poor" India is perfect. There will always be sign of cost cutting unless you are migrating to the 8lakh+ segment. So there will be faults. (learnt this the heard way after numerous test drives during day and forum reads during the nights!)
Buying experience:
Swift: Huge waiting time. Put me off. Man, I cant wait 3-5 months for my car to be delivered. That's like half a year. I want it like NOW! (At-least it was like this last year. Has it improved now?)
Figo: Got it in 3 days flat (Because I paid in cash and demanded NOW!), but others have got it in 2 weeks. (I have swayed 2 friends to buy figo. So bad of me
)External styling:
Swift: New one looks great! exciting! the head lamps and tail lamps are cool. But looks are very subjective. My mom doesn't like it. Says its fatso. You might like it or not like it! But you cant be in between
. swift polarizes all opinion to strong like and strong dislike.Figo: Veryyy sedate looking. Not exciting. So 1990s from Hollywood movies (it is! based on the old fiesta platform.) Look how it lacks a kinetic/fluidic design? The waist-line does not rise. The rear quarter glass doesn't taper up. The tail-lamp cluster is a Christmas lamp like the old Indica and old European cars. But then there is nothing that makes you dislike it. It looks like a CAR, no fat-boy, blue-boy, baby-elephant stuff. Its glass house is wide and good. It never excites people, but no one dislikes it either.
Inside:
Swift: It is bigger from outside, but smaller from inside. Because of its tapered design. Go sit on the back seat off a swift and you feel its small (or you might like the feeling of being cocooned !)
Figo: More open, more airy. Back seat feels good.
The rear window debacle:
Swift: the glass rolls all way down. Figo: It rolls about 40% down (despite whatever the SS people tells you). Ford says its safety! I say, its nonsense. the glass cannot come down because it hits the wheel arches. a down point of having wheel arch flair design with large windows. But practically how does it mater? I stay in Delhi and KEEP ALL 4 WINDOWS ROLLED UP ALL THE TIME FOR DUST, NOISE, KILLER HEAT. Well if you are lucky to be in a city where there is plenty of fresh cool air and you need to carry people on the backseat then it is going to pinch you. Other wise its a over-hyped short coming. YES, it should have been there, but its something you will not feel inconvenienced by. The only time I was in a fix was when I have my "niece" in the back seat, and she had to puke. Oh! boy, it was a mess! The bloody window does not roll down enough to put your head out. So my only suggestion is carry plastic bags in figo if you have a puker on board for long drives.
)Apart from this, there are minor difference in both. The quality of plastic is equally cheap but OKish in both. The central console is better in the new swift. The seating is slightly better in Figo. But these are all nitpicking. Nothing to write about.
Driving:
Swift drives more spiritedly. It revs better. It gives more mileage. BUT I have to admit, the city drivability of ford is better. The power steering is hydraulic, not on-wire electric, so you feel in precise control of the car. The turning is also more precise and stable. The ride is well sorted out. More importantly, there is minimal turbo lag; ie you feel the car responding to your acceleration almost immediately and not slightly after till the rev picks up. Perhaps the most benefit for city driving in Figo is that the second gear is pretty strong. It can pull from 0 till 40 easily and even above for short burst. So you tend to change gear less. In comparison you go 1st-2nd-3rd-2nd-3rd-2nd-3rd in most other cars. Well, It might not be a good practice to drive in second till 40 and I change to 3rd after 30, but sometimes after a tired day it comes handy.
The flip side is that you don't get good mileage. I get 14/15 max with city driving, with 100% AC on.
Figo also takes slope quite badly and you have to downshift to first to ride up.
Most irritating part of driving a Figo was that, if the rev falls below 600 it might suddenly stop (that happens when you are driving too carelessly! and leave the clutch a bit too soon.). Now, the irritating stuff is that, Figo has a engine protection build into it so that once stalled you have to switch off the car completely to switch it up again. Now imagine stalling on a BTB traffic, restarting the car taking more time and getting dirty looks. (I have learned now how not to stall the car, by waiting slightly after pressing the gas, for the rev to climb up, and then leaving the clutch. You will learn too. !!)
But over all i felt it was EASIER to drive figo around in the city compared to the swift.
Also, It is difficult to get an understanding of the proportion of the swift initially from the drivers seat. Its curvy exterior flairs quite beyond what you can see, and most swifts have dents on the front or the rear wheel arches! Go out on the road and just look. In contrast, more linear cars like Polo rarely have scratched wheel arches because of the excellent proportion. Gradually you get used to the swift, but it takes some time. Figo, gives better road view and better feeling for the proportion of the car. Though you might scratch the left rear wheel arch sometimes.
Ground clearance: It is a problem in Figo. But you are supposed to upgrade your tires (Kind of unwritten rule in most forums/car experts) from the 175 patch that come default to 185/65/r14. After the upsize the ride becomes DEFINITLY better and there are no ground clearance issues. It is the one upgrade that you MUST do after you buy a new figo.
Car modding: There are definitely more aftermarket parts available for swift that figo. as swift is a global car.
Servicing and maintenance : Figo is as cheap as swift to maintain. Maybe even cheaper. There was a cost comparison chart somewhere in TeamBHP. search it out. Ford has now introduced sub-pars (Like ORVM mirror cowl, rather than the whole assembly to further reduce cost.) I dont find any difference between the two service centers. Maruti service centers are more but there is always more waiting as they serve more cars. Ford servicing in Delhi is OK experience. I have had both frustrating experience in Harpreet ford ( Moti nagar) in past and excellent experience at Harpreet Ford (Okhla) recently. Ford has 24 hour roadside assistance. My car was banged from side by a Toyota cab (overtook from left and pressed me to the wall!! %&%^$^). One phone call and a pick up truck came in half hour to take my car to the service center. That was cool!!
In summary, Figo ticks all the right boxes, if you listen to your brain. It is better that Swift logically. But it is not exciting. So what are you going to do? Happy car hunting! And enjoy the experience.
Dushie
Adept
I was in the same boat, checked couple of cars out and looking at the waiting time for Swift i bought a Vista. which has the Fiat engine and gearbox. No complaints till now, i am happy with my purchase for the money spent. When you do the test drive, test all 3 vehicle out and buy the one you like post test drive.