Figo Sports is aimed squarely at value buyers

The American automaker Ford has decided to bring back the S badge that we saw on the older Fiesta and now the Sports Edition of the Figo and Figo Aspire have been launched in India. The experts at MotorBeam had a go in the Figo Sports diesel to check out what more it offers over the regular Figo.

Sometime in 2015, Ford launched the 'Indianised' Ford Ka hatchback called the new generation Figo - aimed squarely at value buyers who want everything for their money.

But many die-hard fans of the brand expressed their disappointment as the new Figo did not offer the overall driving experience of the previous generation model.

Therefore, Ford has now launched the Figo and Figo Aspire Sports edition with minor updates.

To justify the badge of a sports edition, Ford has given exteriors some enhancements like a black roof, black mirrors, body graphics, 15-inch black alloys and a rear spoiler.

It also gets a sporty looking honeycomb grille and smoked headlamps. The dual tone colour scheme also makes the car look more dynamic. No changes have been made to the body panels.

Ford has left the interiors identical to the regular Figo. The dashboard features an all-black colour theme along with piano black inserts on the steering wheel.

Since the Sports Edition is based on the Titanium trim, it gets the MyFord Dock system and only two airbags.

You also get other features like automatic climate control, MID on the instrument cluster, steering mounted controls and remote unlocking.

The seats, gear lever cover and steering wheel cover come with red stitching to add a nominal sporty feel.

The performance figures for the Figo Sports edition are still the same as no changes have been made to the engines of the vehicle.

The car is offered with the same 1.2-litre petrol and 1.5-litre diesel engine.

The 1.5-litre petrol engine with AT is sadly not offered. The 1.2-litre petrol engine churns out 88 HP at 6300 RPM and 112 Nm at 4000 RPM. As is the norm, the motor has decent performance in the city but it feels underpowered on the highway.

Low-end power delivery could have been slightly better too.

The 1.5-litre TDCI mill, on the other hand, produces 100 HP at 3750 RPM and 215 Nm at 1750-3000 RPM.

This powerplant has splendid performance, turbo lag is well-contained and power delivery is linear and strong between 1600-4000 RPM.

Somehow the weight of the Sports edition has increased by around 20 kgs compared to the regular Figo.

But despite the additional weight, there is no noticeable difference in the performance of the diesel engine.

Both the engines are mated to a smooth shifting 5-speed manual gearbox and the clutch is fairly light.

The power to weight ratio is still very good and that's what makes the Figo a good performer. However, fuel efficiency on the petrol mill as well as the oil burner has seen a slight dip.

Ford has brought the real changes to the suspension of the Figo for this edition. It comes with a stiffer setting now and the ride height has been lowered.

You also get meatier 195/55/15 tyres which offer better grip than the tyres on the regular Figo.

Due to the revised suspension settings, the Figo feels much more composed and more fun on straights as well as corners.

When paired with the 100 BHP diesel engine, the Figo Sport really transforms into a mini hot-hatch.

The steering is sharp and offers decent feel, it is also light at city speeds and the brakes also do a very good job.

The changes on the Figo Sports Edition are mainly to the interiors and exteriors while the updates to the suspension have made the car more fun.

We have always stated that the Figo is a fun to drive car while being offered as a value for money proposition and there is no denying this fact.

But the Sports Edition loses out on some features that are offered in the regular Figo in the Titanium Plus trim, so there's a trade-off between a higher variant with more features or a lower variant with sporty additions.

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