At this stage of things arrives the new Blue Oval bearing upstart. The first thing I noticed about the car was its registration number-plate from Gujarat. Now, the uninitiated may ask about the significance of this, but those who are in the know will realise that this is the first physical evidence of the fact that Ford’s new plant in Sanand, Gujarat, is truly operational and has gone into action in the war with the Japanese. Juxtapose the DZire, Amaze and the Figo Aspire with each other and there’s no doubt as to which wins the beauty contest. I’d pick the Ford over the other two 10 times out of 10. There’s a certain flair to the design (in spite of, or perhaps because of, the Aston Martin-esque grille) that makes it stand out in the crowd. The boot design is well integrated and, as in the Amaze, doesn’t feel like an afterthought.
While you could argue that looks are subjective, what one can’t argue about is that the Ford also feels the most premium of the three. The cabin is crafted of materials that feel richer than what you see in the other two, and they’ve been fitted well, too. Although it doesn’t feel so when you simply look at the space inside, the Figo Aspire is actually roomier than the Amaze with more head-, leg- and knee-room. The DZire, however, continues to hold the shoulder-room crown. At 350 litres, the Figo Aspire loses the boot space battle to the Honda. On the equipment front, the Figo gets auto climate control and Ford’s SYNC with AppLink system with Emergency Assist (the latter places a call to a pre-programmed emergency service number via your Bluetooth sync-ed phone in the event of a crash). On the go, the Ford’s cabin is also the quietest of the lot.
