Two very different cars from Maruti-Suzuki and Ford announce their entry into two very different yet extremely important market segments. Kushan Mitra gets an opportunity to test drive both cars
So in the past two weeks your columnist visited Nashik and Udaipur to drive two new cars - the Suzuki S-Cross and the Ford Figo Aspire. The Suzuki S-Cross will possibly be the first car that Maruti manufactures in India where the Indian brand name might be lost. The car is the country’s largest carmaker’s foray into the burgeoning crossover segment.
The Ford Figo Aspire is the American carmaker’s first car to be driven out of their state-of-the-art new factory in Sanand, Gujarat and their entry into the growing ‘compact sedan’ segment. The crossover segment is currently dominated by Ford’s EcoSport along with the Renault Duster and the compact sedan segment is in the vice-like grip of Maruti’s Swift Dzire, with the Honda Amaze and Hyundai Xcent making up the numbers.
First, the Suzuki S-Cross. The first thing one must mention here is the beautiful stretch of road between Mumbai and Nashik which is definitely a success story in India’s highway building project of the past 15 years. It was a pleasure to drive on these roads, even if it was for only a short stretch. That coupled with the onset of the monsoons had turned the area into a lovely verdant green.
As for the car, the first apparent thing is the resemblance to the now-discontinued SX4 sedan, in fact it resembles the SX4 hatchback sold in some markets. The S-Cross indeed is based on the SX4 but as Suzuki has stated is a completely new model. What stands out on the car when you first look at it are its huge headlight clusters. These are the first from Maruti to feature lED spotlights.
The rest of the car feels like it has been beefed up, black plastic cladding is the dominant feature on the lower part of the car. Unlike the Ford EcoSport, the S-Cross is not under four metres in length to avoid the higher excise bracket. It has a traditional lifting tailgate with a large amount of luggage space and good rear legroom as well.
The front seats are comfortable, although the interiors of the car are a study in Black, though a few dashes of chrome remove the monotony a tiny bit. The central console is a very nice on the top-end model that we drove and comes equipped with a responsive touchscreen infotainment system including navigation. Maruti’s Executive Director, Engineering, CV Raman also pointed out that the system is ready for Apple carPlay and Android Auto once Apple and Google license the technology in India.
The S-Cross is going to be sold in two engine variants, the reliable 1.3 litre DDiS diesel engine that serves on the Swift, Dzire, Ciaz, Ritz and Ertiga. And a new Diesel engine which is also sourced from Fiat, a 1.6-litre engine that has 120PS and 320Nm of torque. Basically, a lot more power and Maruti wanted to show off this engine variant.
Indeed the power difference between this and the smaller engine would be apparent to most people. The new engine has a lot more pulling power and in-gear acceleration between 30-80 kilometres per hour is stunning. The car is equipped with a six-speed manual gearbox and on the highway you can shift the car to sixth and not worry at all but six gears do feel a bit too many at times in city traffic. The car is nice and comfortable to drive, although because Maruti has fitted it with offroad tires there is a bit of road noise if you are not playing music. And while the car handled road surface changes with aplomb and will surely do well on monsoon ravaged city roads, this is not an offroad vehicle in the true sense of the word.
Maruti is going to sell the S-Cross as a premium crossover and there are some areas here which they can work on to improve the ‘premium’ feeling of the car. The first is to get a proper automatic gearbox, at least for the bigger engine option variant. The second is to add small ‘premium’ touches and not just set up a new ‘premium’ sales network. After driving premium and luxury cars for years, your columnist believes that these can counter-colour stitching in some parts and fully electric seats.
And on to the Ford Figo Aspire now. Ford showcased the Aspire early in 2014 ahead of the Auto Expo, and the car is based on the second-generation Figo platform. The hatchback model which will be launched later this year will replace the outgoing small car from Ford India. The Aspire is Ford’s entry into the increasingly crowded ‘compact sedan’ segment.
This segment is unique to India where excise regulations have meant that cars below four metres in length get an excise benefit. However, Indians, according to carmakers, have always loved having a ‘boot’ in their cars. Thus products like the Swift Dzire, Hyundai Xcent, Honda Amaze and the original car in this segment the Tata Indigo CS were created. This segment is dominated by the Maruti Dzire which sells upwards of 15,000 units monthly with Hyundai and Honda combining for around 10,000 units.
So Ford’s entry to this burgeoning segment was in some respects overdue. The Figo Aspire is based on the Ford Ka platform which is sold in Brazil, but has been shortened to qualify to Indian norms. But is the car any goodIJ Well, yes. Ford has tweaked their engine offerings by updating both their petrol 1.2-litre engine and the diesel 1.5-litre engine. The reason for these engine sizes is because the excise benefits only accrue to these smaller engines.
The petrol-engine feels refined and quiet albeit far more comfortable on city roads where its power delivery ensures that this car can deal with the chaotic traffic of India’s cities. Despite the constant start-stop traffic of Udaipur and the disregard for traffic rules, the power unit returned decent economy of over 12 kilometres per litre as per its own travel computer.
The diesel unit is by far and away the superior option, but it will likely be a lot more expensive when the car is formally launched in a few weeks time. This engine has over 100PS of power and the power is delivered very smoothly and is always there through the power range. On the highway, you could always call up power both to overtake and to go very fast. This is truly the best highway cruiser of all cars in its segment, but even when you take it to a narrow, twisty stretch of road, as we did on the outskirts of Udaipur towards the famous battleground of Haldighati it was a pleasure to drive.
Inside the Aspire has a similar feel to all modern Ford cars sold in India, EcoSport owners, particularly of the high-end ‘Titanium’ specification will feel right at home, the controls are well placed and while the plastic surrounding the main control panel is a bit too glossy, the quality of the fabric and plastics is top-notch. The interiors are beige and give the car a nice light feel.
That said, the top-end Titanium model which we drove has six airbags, which while a good thing, means that the car is missing side grips because of the placement of curtain airbags, which is irritating for passengers at times. lower models have these grips and Ford is equipping all models of the Aspire with at least a driver and front passenger airbags as well as Anti-lock Brakes (ABS) and Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD).
The S-Cross for example has similar equipment levels in all but the lowest model which only has a driver airbag which was slightly disappointing. Ford, like Volkswagen has to be given credit for having taken this safety focussed move and hopefully the Figo hatchback will have a similarly safety focussed outlook.
Both cars are expected to be formally launched in the coming few weeks, although tentative pricing ought to be between `8-12 lakh for the S-Cross and `6-9 lakh for the Figo Aspire.